For the past year or so I've been playing Lexulous on Facebook with the same person. Lexulous is much like Scrabble or Words With Friends but with eight tiles instead of seven, bonus points for 7 and 8 letter words, and the board has a slightly different pattern when it comes to double and triple word scores. After playing four hundred games with this person it's suffice to say we're formidable opponents. We've had two draws and the win/lose ratio is nearly 50/50.
Ever since getting an iPhone I've been playing the more popular Words With Friends with a lot of other people. At the moment I have 8 active games with seven friends—and two games with complete strangers who I found by selecting the "random player" button.
I've never been really good at anything, but after playing Lexulous (with that extra tile to deal with) I think it made me a better Scrabble and WWF player. Like a batter on deck swinging a weighted bat, Lexulous conditioned me to come out swinging hard when stepping up to the plate to play Scrabble or WWF. I've been winning a lot of matches—and it's not because of long and elaborate words. I also don't use a "Scrabble helper" website to find words, although I'm sure some of my opponents do—and that's fine with me because like I say, long words don't mean much if you really want to win. If you've played me in a game, you know I usually use very common and simple words.
Here's some strategies I use when playing these word games. Although WWF, Scrabble and Lexulous all vary to some degree from each other, you'll get the gist of these hints and if you apply them to the appropriate game, you'll start winning a lot more. You can read a comparison between these three games at Red Letter Day.
- When starting a new game only spell long words or use high value tiles if you can reach a double word square or if the game gives double points when the first word is played. My game opening words are often only two or three letters and (if applicable) use the overly abundant letters such as I, E and A. I often spell "tea" "air" "to" or "at" for my game starting word.
- Shuffle! Shuffle! Shuffle! I shuffle my tiles until a word or possible word jumps out at me. The human brain can read most shuffled words if only the first and last letters of the word are in their correct place. Do you udsrentnad this? Shuffling tiles four or five times won't cut it. You know how many combinations there are for 7 letters? I sometimes shuffle at least twenty times and also try to keep my opponent's available and playable letters that are on the board in my head while doing it.
- Keep adding on! Just because a word has been played doesn't mean it can't grow. "Air" can become "pair" and that can turn into "repair" and finally end as "repairs" or "disrepair." "Air" could also become "airway" and then "stairway(s)." "Build" could become "building(s)" or "rebuild(s)."
- Commit to memory the obscure two letter words (AA, AG, AE, QI, XI, XU, UT, MM, ZA etc...). Learning these will get you out of a bind and often with a lot of points. I also suggest learning all the obscure words that use "Q" because the letter is so valuable and needs to be played on a double or triple valued square. Some unique words using "Q" are "Qaid(s)" "suq" "qua" "quag" and "qat."
- Check to see if you can spell the suffixes "ING" and "TION" (using any combination of your letters and those on the board). You'll find you can add these suffixes to many words. Also, if you have "ED," check to see if you can make a word past tense.
- Cherish the letter "S" and the blank tiles! I mostly reserve my "S's" for words that either begin or end with the letter, and always attach them to an existing word on the board, thus making the word plural. Seeing an "S" in the middle of a word and not attached to anything is usually a waste of a good tile and that can be costly. I treat my blank tiles like gold and often save them until the end of the game when things start to get tight.
- Don't exchange your tiles. Unless you have only "I's" and "E's" it's generally not worth losing your turn to exchange tiles. Plus you'll probably get a lot of "O's" and "A's" in return.
- Save your "Q" and "J" and "Z" for triple word squares—even if you can only spell "Qat" or "Jo" or "Za." I've had longer words to spell using other letters but would spell the shorter word with the "Q" or "J" or "Z" first because the triple word square may not be available come my next turn. Really, if there's a triple word square within your reach, play on it no matter what the word. Incidentally, my favorite word is "Jonquil" meaning "a flowery earth-yellow color." I've only played it once in a game but it garnered me a gazillion points.
- There's nothing wrong with playing just one tile. A simple "X" in a strategic location can be worth a lot of bang for the buck. You need to look for these spots.
Check this out:
I started a game with a random player and they opened with the word "SOAR." It's a pitiful opener because the player didn't reach the double word square, and they wasted their valuable "S." A better word to play would have been just "OAR." I played the word "REGAL" and then the player laid down "COZY." Dear GOD, what a bad move wasting those three valuable letters on squares with no added value. At this point I resigned from the game because it was going to be a waste of time.
Check this out:
This is one of my most favorite games that I ever played. It just worked out that all the words gravitated diagonally and to the right. If you make your way up the staircase, you'll see there just weren't any words that could be played to the left of the given letters.
And finally, take your time when playing. You're on a phone or computer, so take all the time you need. It's not like you have to play your word before grandma comes back from the bathroom. Speaking of grandmas, watch out when playing these games with old ladies. They'll try to cheat by making up words like "numble." Actually they're proabably not cheating, but they do tend to use words that are old and outdated and most likely unfamiliar to you and me.
My 105 year old Grandma has been playing Scrabble ever since it's inception in the early 1950's. I like to think that playing the game with her over the years has also helped make me a better player. Last year while visiting her in Michigan I won a game by playing the word "SOLARIA." It was the first game I can recall ever winning against her, but with the benefit of hindsight I should have let Granny win.
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Why?
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Because it's only a game.FiN.
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