WORDLISTS

• Two and Three Letter Words

BALANCING YOUR RACK

• Try wherever possible to have a balanced rack of consonants and vowels
• The more balanced a rack you have the greater the choice of words that you will have each turn
• Also a balanced rack (especially one containing mostly 1 or 2 point value tiles will enhance your chanced of playing a bonus word (i.e. using all your letters and scoring the bonus 50 points for doing so)
• Remember there are 56 consonants 42 vowels and 2 blanks in Scrabble. This is effectively a 4-3 ratio in favour of consonants

Therefore a “balanced rack” would usually be one in which there is a ratio of 4 consonants to 3 vowels. Sometimes 5 consonants to 2 vowels is ok providing that the 2 vowels are not the same letter. 3 consonants to 4 vowels is not necessarily a train smash but if 2 of your consonants are the same letter or 2 of your vowels are U’s or I’s then problems loom. A ratio of 5 vowels to 2 consonants or any ratio of 6-1 should be considered a grossly imbalanced rack.

Tracking tiles is a useful tool in assisting managing your rack. If there is a surplus of consonants left in the bag you may wish to counteract the strong likelihood that you will pick up consonants by retaining more vowels on your rack than you normally would.This is especially so in the latter stages of the game

WHEN SHOULD YOU CHANGE TILES ?

• You are allowed to change any number of your letters instead of a turn during a game.
• You cannot change letters however if there are less than 7 tiles remaining in the bag.
• On occasion it can be a wise move to change some or even all of your letters even if you can find a word to play on the board

So when should you consider changing ?

If you have an imbalance of vowels and consonants and the available “dump” words will still leave you with an unbalanced rack.

If you have an unbalanced rack and your “dump” word scores little and still leaves you with an unbalanced rack

Your “dump” word leaves you with a relatively unbalanced rack and opens up a high scoring opportunity for your opponent

You have a Q without a U and there is no possibility of playing a Q word that does not have a U in it. However the fact that QI is a word should be borne in mind – especially if there are several I’s still in the bag

There are certain combinations of letters I don’t like leaving on my rack. These would include WU, VU, CG, LL, II, UU, YY, BW etc. I will sometimes choose to change if my only reasonable scoring play will leave these combinations of letters on my rack.

Sometimes it’s a good idea to change on the very first move especially if you have drawn to play first. (I often use this opportunity to get rid of duplicate letters – although I usually do not change an E unless I have 3 on my rack)

Posted on March 2nd, 2007 by Larry Benjamin
Filed under: Uncategorized