Sunday, May 25, 2008

Game Notation For Recording Scrabble Games in Text Files

 

Use two lines per move like the following start of a game.

1A: 8G TUNNIES 66 / 66   

Leave: None Picked: LIDIAEV

1B: K5 KEFIR 24 / 24

Tile Information Unknown due to computer side

2A: G4 DILATIVE 64 / 130

Leave: None Picked: MENTNRE

2B: M8 SWIFtLET 84 / 108 (Note Blank is small letter)

Tile Information Unknown due to computer side

3A: F5 MEN / MI / EL / NA 17 / 147

Leave: TNRE 4.5 Picked: UOB (Note 4.5 is the point value of the leave) (Note tiles in Leave: plus tiles in Picked: is the total new rack) (Note all words listed separated by slashes)

Using two lines allows one line to store the word and the second line to store the new tiles picked and the leave point value.

1A: is the first move by side A which moved first and 2B: is the second move by side B which moved second. Moves are delimited by colons.

8G is a number first for the location of the move and means it's horizontal.  M8 is a letter first for the location of the move and means it's vertical.

84 / 108 means the score of the move is 84 and the total score after the move is 108.

Number and Value of Scrabble Tiles

 

Tiles from A to Z and their relative values if left in a leave:

A 9 of them In leave worth + 0.5 an A worth more than an H.

B 2 of them in leave worth - 3.5 but a B worth more than a G.

C 2 of them in leave worth - 0.5 but a C worth more than a D.

D 4 of them in leave worth - 0.5 but a C worth more than a D.

E 12 of them in leave worth + 4.0

F 2 of them in leave worth - 3.0

G 3 of them in leave worth - 3.5 but a G is worth less than a B.

H 2 of them in leave worth + 0.5 but worth less than an A.

I 9 of them in leave worth - 1.0

J 1 of them in leave worth - 2.5

K 1 of them in leave worth - 2.0 but an error here as a J is worth more than a K. (Switch two values)

L 4 of them in leave worth - 1.0

M 2 of them in leave worth - 0.5 but both C and D worth more than an M.

N 6 of them in leave worth 0.0

O 8 of them in leave worth - 2.5

P 2 of them in leave worth - 1.5

Q 1 of them in leave worth +16.0 with U, -11.5 without U

R 6 of them in leave worth + 1.0

S 4 of them in leave worth + 8.0

T 6 of them in leave worth - 0.5 but C, D, M worth more than a T.

U 4 of them in leave worth - 5.5

V 2 of them in leave worth - 6.5

W 2 of them in leave worth - 4.0

X 1 of them in leave worth + 3.5

Y 2 of them in leave worth - 2.0

Z 1 of them in leave worth + 2.5

Blank 2 of them in leave worth + 28.0

Saturday, May 24, 2008

Glossary of Scrabble Terms

 

Abbreviations: DLS - Double letter score DWS - Double word score TLS - Triple letter score TWS - Triple word score ? Blank

Alphagram: The alphabetic arrangement of a group of letters.  Example: BGINO is the alphagram of the word BINGO.  You should arrange your rack of 7 letters in alphagram order.

Anagram: A word that is spelled with the exact same letters as another word.  For example CAT is an anagram of ACT and vice versa.

Back extension: See extension

Back hook: See hook

Balancing your rack: Making a play that leaves the letters on your rack likely to lead to a high score next turn by leaving valuable letters leftover like an S or an X and by leaving a good ratio of vowels to consonants. Also known as rack balance.

Bingo: Earning a bonus of an extra fifty points by using up all your tiles.

Bingo prone tiles: A set of tiles likely to make a bingo.  For example: ERST or ED or ALT

Blank: The most valuable letter as it has no letter printed on it and it can represent any of the 26 letters.  It's usually used in a bingo.

Blank bingo: A bingo using a blank.

Blocking: The act of playing a word that stops an opponent from making a high scoring play in a certain place on the board.  Also called: closing the board.

Challenge: Called when an opponent thinks a word is unacceptable, ie. not in the Scrabble dictionary.  If any of the formed words are not in the dictionary, the whole play must be removed and the player loses his turn.  If the word is acceptable ie. in the dictionary, the challenger opponent loses his or her turn.

Chess clock: Two clocks housed in one clock with time running on one clock until a button is pressed then the opponent's time clock is run.  Each player has twenty five minutes to play a Scrabble game.  You're penalized ten points per overtime minute.

Coffeehousing: To make small talk to distract your opponent from thinking.  You don't talk while playing Scrabble.

Double - Double: To make a play down a line with two DWS premium squares scoring four times the value of the word including any DLS covered.

Endgame: That portion of a SCRABBLE game when there are fewer than eight tiles left to be drawn from the bag.

Exchanging tiles: Instead of playing a word on the board you can use a turn to exchange 1 to 7 tiles for new tiles from the bag as long as there are at least 7 tiles left in the bag.

Extension play: Making an addition of two or more letters to the front or back of a word.  Ie add NING to the end of BEGIN for BEGINNING.

Fishing: Playing for only a few points by burning only one or two low value tiles keeping bingo prone tiles to bingo the next turn or exchanging only 1 - 2 tiles keeping 5 - 6 really good tiles.

Flashcard: A small 1 x 3 card or index card with nine to fifteen alphagrams in order on one side and correctly spelled words in order on the other side.  Lexpert from www.carolravi.com does free flashcard study on the PC.

Front Extension: See extension.

Front hook: See hook.

Hook: One letter only added to the beginning or ending of a word already on the word.  For example:  Adding a F to LUSH to make FLUSH.

Hot spots: Specific squares on the board which are premium squares that offer high scoring opportunities.  Look for vowels adjacent to triple letter squares, single letters in a DWS - DWS column, a word that takes a variety of hooks.

Leave: Leftover letters not used up in a play and left on a rack.

Natural: A bingo that does not use a blank.

Nongo: A bingo that won't play on the board.

Official Scrabble Players Dictionary, Third Edition: Used to verify acceptable words.  OWL is used for tournament play in North America.

Open board: A board with many high scoring opportunities left on it.

Parallel play:  A word placed parallel to another word on the board either on top of it, underneath it or at one side of it. 

Passing: Saying pass and not playing a word and not exchanging tiles and scoring zero.  After six scores of zero the game is over.

Phoney: An unacceptable word not found in the Scrabble dictionary and denoted with a * after the word.  If it isn't challenged to come off the board, it's allowed and stays on the board.

Point spread: The difference between the winner and loser's score expressed as + for the winner and - for the loser.

Power tiles: Ten of them, two blanks, four S's, J, Q, X and Z.  The Q is not a good tile so you can count K instead if you'd rather count that way.

Rack balance: See balancing your rack.

Rack management: Developing your rack towards the goal of playing a bingo over multiple turns by playing non bingo tiles and saving bingo prone tiles.

Rating: A score saying how skillful a player you are in tournament from 200 to 2100.  Experts have scores from 1800 up.

Round: One play of each opponent.

Stems: Certain 5 and 6 letter combinations useful for making a bingo with so they are kept as leaves ie RETINA, SATINE, IERST etcetera.

Tile tracking: The use of a tracking sheet to track all the tiles used so far in the game by crossing off each tile used and at the end of the game calculating what tiles the opponent has when there are no tiles left in the bag.  Used to optimize an endgame.

Total Point Spread: Point spreads for every single game of a tournament added together.  Used to separate players with equal win loss ratios.

Triple - triple: Playing a word that covers two TWS premium squares in one turn scoring 9 times the value of the word. Usually done with an 8 letter word and using all 7 tiles using one letter already in the column from previous plays.

Turnover: Play as many tiles as you can to maximize chances of drawing power tiles.

Two to make threes: Two letter words that take a third letter to make a three letter word in front or behind.  Also three to make fours.

Word list: A list of words all in a certain category, often listed by alphabetical order by alphagram ie all 3 letter words.

Friday, May 23, 2008

Method of Scrabble Word Study

 

Here is my method of studying my 82 daily words.  I use 3 X 5 index cards with nine ruled lines per card.  On the face of the card with the nine lines I write down the alphagrams (all the letters in alphabetical order in the final word) of each word in my word list in the order I placed them on the list - in alphabetical order by alphagram.  Usually there are about 6 to 7 alphagrams for 9 words as 2 or 3 words have two or three words per alphagram so nine words easily fit on one card's face.  

On the reverse of the card, I write the nine words in order on the list so I can easily match each word to it's alphagram on the the face of the card.

On the top line of the card I write down the word group category ie 2 letter words then the date then the card number which is circled.

To study from the cards, I use a blank notebook with plenty of scrap paper.  I take out one card at random and look at the alphagrams then write down every single word that can be formed from them in order on my scrap sheet of paper.   Then I check the list with the back of the card.  After testing each word I write up a sheet listing any words that I missed to highlight on later tests with cards listing only missed words.

For one day of 82 words to study I make 9 cards exactly with the ninth card having 10 not 9 words to study.  It takes about 15 minutes to make up the cards for the day.

History of Scrabble

 

Before 1930's

In 1880 Scrabble was anticipated by Lewis Carroll.  An entry in his diary notes "A game might be made of letters, to be moved about on a chess board till they form words".  In January 1, 1895 he wrote to Winnifred Hawke about a game very similar to Scrabble also drawing letters from a bag.

1930's the Inventor Alfred Butts

The inventor of Scrabble was Alfred Mosher Butts an unemployed architect in Poughkeepsie, New York.

He analyzed games into 3 types: number games such as dice, bingo and card games, move games with a board such as chess and checkers and word games such as anagrams and crosswords. 

He decided to combine anagrams and a crossword puzzle.  His aim was half luck, half skill, not all luck or all skill.  To decide on letter distribution, Butts studied the front page of the New York Times counting letters.

Butts lived in Jacksonville Heights and church socializing in his neighborhood was how Scrabble was originally played.

Trivia about Butts included that he saw Scrabble playing as social like Bridge and didn't see the point in memorizing word lists.

1930's and Lexico

The first version of Scrabble was called Lexico.  It used 100 tiles and no game board.  You make words for as long as possilbe while drawing and discarding from your hand like Rummy but make words instead of melds.

You want to be the first to complete a 9 letter word and lay it face up on the table and go out with the other players laying out words of 4 - 9 letters for points.

Lexico used a distribution of letters like the English language.  There were points for minor honors (B, F, H, M, P, V, W and Y) and major honors (J, K, Q, X, Z).

Too many S's made the game too easy so S's were reduced to 4 only.

The patent for Lexico was turned down.  Parker Brothers and Milton Bradley refused to manufacture Lexico.

Lexico sold 200 copies.

In 1939 Butts stopped making Lexico.

1930's and Criss Cross Words

The next version of the game was called Criss Cross Words.  It was briefly called It.  Criss Cross Words boards were handdrawn with architectural drafting equipment and pasted on folding checker boards.  Tiles were hand lettered and glued to balso and cut to match squares on the board.  At this time the board was added, the blank tiles, premium squares and specific point values for tiles.  Criss Cross Words first sold for $2.  At this time the number of tiles drawn was reduced from 9 to 7 so you had better odds of using all your tiles.  Criss Cross Words had a 15x15 board and 7 tile racks like today.

The patent was turned down again as Beckwith had a similar patent for a crossword anagram game which was never manufactured.

Butts sold Criss Cross Words from 1938 - 1942.  In 1942 he met a bookseller named Charles Ives who made Criss Cross Words from 1942 - 1943.

The total outcome of the 1930's was that established game manufacturers unanimously rejected Butt's invention for commercial development.

1940's and James Brunot

Butts met James Brunot, who had played an original version of the game.  Brunot refined the premium squares, simplified rules, added the bingo rule and changed the start to the middle of the board.  Brunot changed the name to Scrabble and trademarked the name and board in 1948.

Scrabble is a real word which means to grope frantically and was chosen as a name as it sounds like scramble as in anagram scrambles.

Original manufacturing was done in an abandoned schoolhouse in Dodgington, Connecticut at 12 games an hour.

Brunot paid Butts a royalty for each game sold.  Altogether Butts made $265,000 for Scrabble while Brunot made more than a million.

Brunot only sold 2,000 sets in the first year and sales stayed sluggish until 1952.

In 1949 Brunot made 2,400 sets and lost $450.

1950's and Macy's

The president of Macy's discovered the game of Scrabble on vacation and ordered some for his store.  Within a year everyone had to have one and Scrabble sets were rationed to stores.

In 1952 the game was licensed to Selchow and Righter Company to market and distribute games in US and Canada.

All of a sudden they were making 6,000 sets a week.  In 1952 37,000 sets were sold.  In 1953 800,000 sets were sold.  In 1954 4,000,000 sets were sold.

A deluxe version was sold for $10 with white plastic tiles as you could cheat feeling the wooden tiles.

1970's

In 1972 Selchow and Righter purchased the Scrabble trademark from Brunot.

In 1978 the first National Scrabble Championship was held.

1980's

In 1984 Scrabble turned into a daytime game show on NBC.  Scrabble ran from July 1984 to March 1990 and January to June 1993 and was hosted by Chuck Woolery.

James Brunot died in October 1984.

In 1986 Selchow and Righter sold to Coleco Industries.  In 1989 Coleco went bankrupt and Scrabble and Parchesi were bought by Hasbro, owner of Milton Bradley Company.

1990's

Competitive Scrabble play was started.  A National Scrabble Championship is held every year in a major US city and in alternate years the World Scrabble Championship is held.  The National Scrabble Association holds 180 tournaments and 200 clubs in the US and Canada.

Scrabble has a school Scrabble program to encourage Scrabble playing in schools for educational value.

In April 1993 Alfred Mosher Butts passed away.

In 1991 the first World Scrabble Championship was held in London.  The 5th was held in Melbourne in 1999.

Day 2 82 words May 23, 2008

OP OP
OR OR
OS OS
OS SO
OT TO
OW OW
OW WO
OX OX
OY OY
OY YO
PU UP
SU US
TU UT
UX XU
AAB ABA
AAB BAA
AAG AGA
AAH AAH
AAH AHA
AAL AAL
AAL ALA
AAM AMA
AAN ANA
AAS AAS
AAV AVA
AAW AWA
ABC CAB
ABD BAD
ABD DAB
ABG BAG
ABG GAB
ABH BAH
ABJ JAB
ABK KAB
ABL ALB
ABL BAL
ABL LAB
ABM BAM
ABN BAN
ABN NAB
ABO ABO
ABO BOA
ABP BAP
ABR ARB
ABR BAR
ABR BRA
ABS ABS
ABS BAS
ABS SAB
ABT BAT
ABT TAB
ABW WAB
ABY ABY
ABY BAY
ACD CAD
ACE ACE
ACL LAC
ACM CAM
ACM MAC
ACN CAN
ACO OCA
ACP CAP
ACP PAC
ACR ARC
ACR CAR
ACS SAC
ACT ACT
ACT CAT
ACV VAC
ACW CAW
ACY CAY
ADD ADD
ADD DAD
ADF FAD
ADG DAG
ADG GAD
ADH DAH
ADH HAD
ADI AID
ADK DAK
ADL DAL
ADL LAD

Thursday, May 22, 2008

The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary Third Edition

This dictionary is copyrighted 1995 by Milton Bradley Company and the hardcover edition is
ISBN 0877792208.

Proper names, words requiring hyphens or apostrophes, foreign words, abbreviations and offensive slang words have been omitted from the dictionary. This means x-ray, icecream, fuck and shit are not listed as x-ray uses a hyphen, ice cream is two words and the other two are offensive.

The dictionary includes Canadian spellings such as honor, centre and cheque.

A 41 pages
B 42 pages
C 57 pages
D 37 pages
E 24 pages
F 32 pages
G 26 pages
H 24 pages
I 16 pages
J 8 pages
K 10 pages
L 26 pages
M 38 pages
N 15 pages
O 23 pages
P 53 pages
Q 4 pages
R 36 pages
S 82 pages
T 40 pages
U 17 pages
V 13 pages
W 20 pages
X 1 page
Y 4 pages
Z 4 pages
--------------
693 pages in total

There are 69 entries per page.

After all nouns, plurals are listed.
After all verbs inflections -ed -ing and -s are listed.
After all adjectives -ier and -iest are listed.
All adverbs ending in -ly have a separate listing.

Brief definitions of each word are listed.

If the word is 9 letters or more, use Merriam-Websters Collegiate Dictionary 10th edition to look it up.

Use the dictionary to look up a word if a challenge to a word is given by your opponent.

Use the dictionary to generate word lists and as input into a computer program to generate Scrabble word lists.

The Scrabble Dictionary includes words listed in at least 2 of 5 dictionaries of a collection of 5 dictionaries.

The Scrabble Dictionary includes about 82,000 2 to 8 letter words.

The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary Third Edition is used by the computer program Scrabble Complete.