| Scrabble is commonly cited as being the world's most | | | | strong battle plan, the biggest army with the most |
| popular word game. Truly, Scrabble is a popular board | | | | weapons will not defeat their opposition. |
| game played throughout the world on kitchen tables | | | | On the Scrabble board, strategic decisions are made |
| and in a thriving international tournament scene. Is it, | | | | with every move. You may have a great word ready |
| however, accurate to describe Scrabble as a word | | | | to play, but which is the best position on the board to |
| game? | | | | play it? There will often be multiple positions where a |
| At face value, a bag of one hundred letter tiles with | | | | word could be played. Rapid mental calculations need |
| each player having racks of seven letters at a time | | | | to be made as to which position will produce the |
| from which to form words and place on the board, it | | | | highest score. Even then, it may not always be wise to |
| may appear to be a word game. On a closer | | | | play in the highest scoring position if, for example, it |
| examination, one must question that common | | | | opens up a triple-triple bonus scoring opportunity to |
| assumption. | | | | your opponent. Settling for a different position on the |
| If Scrabble was truly a word game, one could expect | | | | board for a lower score may sometimes be the better |
| that the most expert players would be those players | | | | strategic decision. |
| with the best linguistic skills. These would include | | | | Likewise, the strategic player considers the balance |
| authors, journalists, language professors and similar | | | | between vowels and consonants in the rack. It is often |
| professions. The reality tells a different story. These | | | | the wise choice to play a small scoring word and |
| occupations are a rarity amongst Scrabble players at | | | | maintain a well balanced rack than to go for a higher |
| the top of the international competitive ranks. | | | | scoring word that leaves you with no vowels at all for |
| If you were to survey the participants at any of the | | | | your next move. |
| biennial World Scrabble Championships, you would | | | | The strategic player will also consider the statistical |
| discover a very significant proportion of these elite | | | | probabilities of drawing good tiles from the Scrabble |
| level Scrabble players come from mathematics, | | | | letter bag. Playing away a single tile from your rack in |
| actuarial, accounting, architectural and engineering | | | | the hope of picking up the Q is generally unwise due to |
| occupations. These professions reflect the strategic | | | | the low probability of actually picking out that Q. The |
| skills, the critical and strategic thinking skills and the | | | | same play for the purposes of picking up a far more |
| mathematical and statistical skills that marks the | | | | common letter that you need to form your next bonus |
| difference between a winner and loser in Scrabble, or | | | | word, such as an E, can more often be rewarding. |
| the difference between a masters level competitor | | | | To further reinforce the case that Scrabble isn't |
| and an intermediate or novice player. | | | | primarily a word game, a look at some of the recent |
| Vocabulary is far less important than one might initially | | | | victors in international tournaments tells a vivid story. A |
| imagine in a Scrabble game. Whilst obviously | | | | growing trend is for competitors from countries such |
| vocabulary plays an important, in fact essential, role in | | | | as Thailand and Malaysia, where English is not even |
| the game, vocabulary alone won't win many Scrabble | | | | the primary language, to walk away with the |
| games. You could liken it a little to war. In a battle, one | | | | tournament trophies. What these competitors may |
| side may have a majority of the weapons and even a | | | | lack in terms of every day English language |
| larger army, though without a solid strategic battle plan | | | | vocabulary, they more than compensate with their |
| the war is all but over before it even begins. Without a | | | | strategic, mathematical, statistical and logic skills. |