12 Tips and Tricks to Help You Win Your Next Scrabble Game

What is Scrabble?

It's a game that involves the aspects of the English language and strategies, and as it is a game, you need a lot of common sense. Scrabble is a crossword-style game wherein two to four players participate. Each player gets a deck of seven tiles, which can form complete words vertically or horizontally on 225 tiles Scrabble board. Players get the new tiles based on the number of tiles used for the previous word.


Although it sounds easy to play, scoring well in the game after a few turns isn't easy. Certain actions can help you through. We compiled 12 tips and tricks that any skill-level player can put into your action the next time you play the game. After this article, you will schedule a game evening with your friends because you'll want to put these 12 tips and tricks to practice. Let's begin in 3...2...1 go!

12 Tips and Tricks to Help You win the Next Game

Scrabble is a simple and fun game, but you need plenty of strategies. Sometimes you even want to bang your head against the wall. It would help if you maximised all the opportunities to score high, like-double letters, triple letters– and double words, and triple word tiles. It would be best if you were very careful about the resources at your disposal, the bonus tiles available, and your opening strategy.

Here are 12 tips that you can follow to win your next game.

1. Place letters around bonus tiles

You'll not go far in the Scrabble game if you don't utilise the bonus tiles such as double letters, triple letters, double words, and triple words. The bonus titles can only be your saviours if you didn't manage to score well with the words. They'll cut off your opponents and prevent them from running the difference in their score high.
Always while opening, try to cover as many bonus tiles as possible. Using bonus tiles will always give you an edge over others in the game.

2. Save these eight magic letters: ALIENRST.

The letters A, L, I, E, N, R, S, and T are the most commonly used letters in the English alphabet. Using these letters, you can form so many numbers of words. Having one or more of these letters on your deck can help you form words easily if you're having difficulty coming up with words.
Tip: Try to save the same number of vowels or one more constant to prevent difficulty finding words.
A few examples are STARLINE, SALIENT, ALIEN, etc.

3. Memorize two-letter and three-letter words so you can rack up points.

Finding two-word and three-words is difficult, but if you can pull them off, that will be the kiss of death for your opponent if you can especially place them on the bonus tiles.
You can also use two-letter and three-words, blocking opportunities for your opponents and opening new chances.
Here are some examples of two-letter words and three-letter words, AT, AW, BY, IF, IN, IS, IT, etc. VOG, DUG, NYM, PAK, TIZ, etc.
Tip: Even if you have a variety of words to form, the wise decision is to place your tiles in mind for your next turn.

4. Be on the lookout for Scrabble "bingos."

As Scrabble pros are familiar with, there's no greater pleasure than being able to use all the seven letters of the deck to form a word, which is called Scrabble's "bingo." If you, fortunately, crack it, you'll be rewarded with 50 extra points on top of the average score you get for the word. If you're familiar with the Scrabble game, you know how much 50 points can make you ahead of the opponents. I' was never lucky enough to crack it. Do you think you can?
Tip: Always try bingo possibilities because you might be lucky enough to get the right tiles.

5. Know your prefixes and suffixes.

Are you interested in making some easy points? Please don't feel guilty; it is a suitable lucrative technique for making easy points. Learn prefixes and postfixes to add them to existing words and make full points on them.
Common suffixes are -FUL, -S, -ING, IEST, -ER, -LY, -ENT, -NESS, -TION, etc. Furthermore, the examples of the prefixes are NON-, TRI-, PRE-, and MIS-.
For example, if you add the suffix '-ER' to 'SNEAK,' you can make the word 'SNEAKER.' Furthermore, if you add the prefix 'MIS-' to 'UNDERSTOOD,' you can make the word 'MISUNDERSTOOD.'
The trick of adding prefixes and suffixes can fetch you points far more than expected, so keep a keen eye on them also.

6. Use Q sooner rather than later.

As most of us know, Q is perhaps the toughest letter during the game because not so many words use the letter Q. Therefore, it's smart to use the letter Q in the opening game rather than later. It will make your game difficult but not easy, so get rid of it as early as possible.
As Scrabble pros know, that Q letter itself weighs 10 points, and if you have an opportunity to open from a power spot like the double letter, triple letter, double word, or triple word, then you can easily get an edge over your opponents.

7. Learn words that use Q but don't need a U

Follow this trick if you're saving Q because you don't have U. Most Q words precede the letter U, and if you don't have U in your deck, you tend to save it till the end. Learn words that include Q but not U. There are more than 33 words in the Scrabble dictionary from Niqah to Miqra that use a Q but not U. Tip: Q is a 10-point letter jackpot, so don't miss it.

8. Try to find opportunities for "hooks."

A hook in Scrabble is when you alter your opponent's word by adding one or two letters. You not only earn the points for the letter used but also for the opponent's word you successfully altered. For example, somebody placed the word 'CARE,' and you added '-ED.' Now, you score not only for the part you added but also scored. So, it's zing zing Amazing!
Tip: Focus on your opponent's previous turns to find the hooks.

9. Use parallels wisely.

Do you want to eliminate the vowels that were spending a lot of time in your deck of tiles? Using them for forming parallel words is a great idea. What do form parallel words mean? For example, if there's already formed on the board and you play the game by placing tiles parallel to the word already on the board. In that way, you can easily rack up the points and eliminate the vowels.
Scrabble pros recommend waiting for sweet spots like double words or better values to form the parallel word.
Tip: Form these types of words only when necessary because they give you fewer points than other tricks.

10. Read the dictionary or subscribe to a word of the day.

Two reasons why you should read the dictionary: 1. To win the Scrabble game. We often play Scrabble to relieve stress and shift our minds toward something different from work, and we should also agree that winning in the games gives us pleasure. So, to win the game, agree or not, you need a vocabulary to play the game. Therefore, it's important to learn at least one word each day without fail. There are a few amazing tools to subscribe and get a word to your notifications and their meaning daily. Google dictionary and Scrabble dictionary are some of the examples.

11. It will help you professionally also.

English is now a global language, becoming a mandatory skill to learn. A great way to learn native-speaker English is learning new words every day. It could probably help you to advance in your career also. Therefore, reading a dictionary or subscribing to a dictionary application is important.

12. If times get tough, trade in your letters.

Most of us are unaware of this rule because it is not widely popular. You can swap one of your tiles by giving up your turn for once. Swapping tiles could help you during tough times to help your chances of scoring in your next turn.
Almost always, there's at least one opportunity for you to form a word with tiles in your deck, but sometimes it seems impossible. Only exchange when you're truly desperate. The only drawback is you need to give up your turn; that's a major downside– But you need to follow the rules for trading them in. 1. It's just a game, so rather enjoy it without any pressure.
Enjoying the game is as important as putting your strategies into action. All of us play board games or any games seeking fun, so have fun and don't take too much pressure if you cannot pull off all the strategies in the game next time you play. Practice brings perfection, so the number of times you keep playing the game will master the game to that extent.
Keep learning, Keep playing; all the best.
Written By: - Likith Bandarupalli
Also Read: - Best Word gaming apps