Funny son! Good luck, have fun. The last time I played Scrabble was on the cruise with my Mom and sisters. It got a little heated because they didn't think some of the words I used (from words with friends) were words.

Next time you'll have to travel with a Scrabble dictionary, Sleeperblues. I play WWF a lot too, and I'm often surprised at what words it will allow, and what words it rejects.

Can't even remember the last time I played Scrabble. Sounds like fun. Enjoy.

Enjoy and good luck
I love scrabble

I'm addicted to Scrabble..I play on FB-also play Words With Friends. I don't like that you can keep putting in letters until one works! If I know a word-I play it. So...how does one get in on this game here?

I thinks its important to agree ahead of time which dictionary you will be using as the definitive arbiter of words, its the only way to stop endless arguments about whether something is a word or not.
Personally I really dislike the "official scrabble dictionary" which seems in many cases seems to include words from other languages far too readily. I agree that it is the nature of English that it accretes through adopting words from other languages over time, such that after sufficient common usage the "foreign" word becomes a de facto part of the English language. However the level of "sufficient common usage" that the "official scrabble dictionary" officials use seems to be that someone they know once used or heard the word used in the middle of a English sentence. Especially when they are words drawn from languages with entirely different alphabets, and someone has made a more-or-less arbitrary decision how that word should be represented using the standard alphabet. One particular example that irks me is qat, which is always noted as an alternate spelling of khat, a shrub whose leaves are chewed as a "stimulant", but it seems to me to be a alternate spelling that only came about to make scrabble players who are unable to find a "u" happy.

I don't disagree with you, Bob--and recently played with a couple who had a few things to say about the Scrabble-allowed word aa, which has something to do with lava and originated in Hawaii, I believe. But I hope they'll use the official Scrabble dictionary today because that's what I'm used to, and where most of my memorized 2-letter words come from.

Speaking of which, one I roll my eyes at is za, said to be short for pizza. Imagine going into a restaurant and saying, "I'll have a mushroom za, please."

The word Aa passes the test for me, since although it originated in Hawai'i it has been adopted by the science of volcanology as the official english scientific name of one of the two types of rock resulting from a lava flow (the other being pahoehoe)

On the other hand za is no more a word in the English language than any other randomly chosen syllable grunted by a drunk, stoned hipster doofus, too lazy to pronounce a two-syllable word. To me it is a clear sign that the "official" dictionary has all sorts of "words" added to make playing the game easier and higher scoring, and if they are going to essentially change the language upon which the game is based, through the addition of all these supposed "words" then they also need to adjust the points values for the letters based on the frequency of letters based of the words within their newly created language.

As an interesting aside, we visited my wife's anut and uncle in France a few years ago, and they were playing a French edition of Scrabble, which had 'Q' as only 8 points and 'W' and 'Y' as 10 point tiles.

I agree with Bob on the 2 letter words coming from "lazy" people....These days there are too many of those "new" words....I was surprised at being able to use "qi" in Scrabble, which I've forgotten the meaning.....
I love, love playing Scrabble and spend way too many hours on the old computer...I've been playing on Pogo......

And now I'm going to have a slice of mushroom "za".........

Scrabble is the game most often played by my extended family. I also play WWF, but playing it is starting to mess up my Scrabble playing because of the words that WWF accepts that are not accepted by Scrabble. I agree with others that "za" is a stupid addition, but I'm often thankful it is accepted. "Qat" and "qi" are also game savers for me.

Alisande, I hope you will report back on your new group. I think it would be great fun, but not if the skill levels of the players vary widely.

I just learned the words "a'a" and "pahoehoe" in the last couple of weeks while watching golf. :)

Just checking in - did you play this afternoon and did you make us proud?

Scrabble was fun today. There were eight of us, including four who were new to me. As Fun2BHere pointed out, it's best if the players' skill levels are fairly close. In this case I have to say they weren't, but I enjoyed myself. We played two games, and in the second I got to play against two friends of mine, including a woman I play online with all the time. That was a very even match, even though one of them has a nasty habit of coming up with 7-letter "bingos." ;-)

With eight people split into two groups of four, two games for each group in 90 minutes was pretty quick, I'd say. I noticed no one took a lot of time with their turns.

But the rules were a lot more casual than I'm used to. "Cheat sheets" were available, showing all the 2-letter words and a bunch of other stuff like high-scoring words. And everyone was free to consult a dictionary before making a word. So it could have been more challenging, but it was a nice, social time, and I look forward to going back again next week.

To answer Maire's question, I won the first game by a wide margin--and lost the second one. :-)

Alisande, I'm glad you had fun, but how weird to be able to check the dictionary before playing a word. That certainly takes some of the strategy related to challenges out of the game. I hope the group flourishes.

I think the plan is to meet once a week for four weeks and then evaluate where it should go from there.

I was just talking to the friend who taught me to play the game well many years ago. When I told him about the dictionary and no challenges, he said, "I couldn't stand that." LOL I guess in this case it's good that I'm not terribly competitive.

So...how does one get in on this game here?

Sharon, I just saw your post. If you mean my local Scrabble club, it helps if you live in the area. :-)

I play both WWF and Scrabble via Facebook. The FB Scrabble version, as you probably know, has a lookup feature so you can check your words beforehand. No challenging your opponent there either. So I guess my experience yesterday wasn't much different.

We visit my wife's father in Maine most summers, her aunt lives in the next town, and the "house rule" they play by there are similar to what you described: allowed to look things up in the dictionary before playing, and if you are challenged you merely take your tiles back and play a different word. I was annoyed and grumbled that they weren't following the rules, and had a hard time coping but eventually finished the game but wasn't really interested in playing again.

Bob, you sound like the friend who taught me to play. You guys are SSPs (Serious Scrabble Players). :-)

I enjoy the game and have fun trying to do my best, but in the end that's all it is: a game. At least it is to me. I would rather have played without the aids, but oh, well.

Next week I'm going to bring Gardening Scrabble, which I received as a gift several years ago but never used.

I play Scrabble online a lot & WWF. Also started Lexulous which is another entire career.

IMO, the dictionaries in both games are very messed up. There are acronyms like "qwerty" allowed but more commonly used words are not. This is especially true in the bingo words which seem to me to be more bizarre than other.

On one tablet the Scrabble game, for some unknown reason, only allows me to play the UK version which allows different 2-letter words than the US version. So there is zo, yu, ky, ch, fy, gi, ja, ny, oo, ou,ug additionally. Interesting that we are all using English but the Brits get "words" we don't.

WWF is just as bizarre. I regularly email with suggestions but that's a waste of time. Nowhere is there any indication of who is compiling these dictionaries or on what basis. One of the great urban mysteries.

Scrabble is our favourite game. We've also started playing Gin Rummy when the hydro was out for the day over Christmas.

I can see a few arguments happening, with a bunch of Scrabble players in the same room. :)

Looks like I'm trending! Who'd have thought it? LOL

Scrabble in the news

I love playing Scrabble. Scrabble was the only game my late sister Lizzie would play with me. I prefer playing the actual Scrabble game than Word with Friends or online Scrabble, I guess it is the tactile feel of the tiles that gets my brain working. I do play both games online.

When I moved to another Province Lizzie would call me and tell me she just finished playing Scrabble with me and she won. She played by herself and pretended I was there with her. I would do that also from time to time. It is hard playing against yourself and the score is almost tied. I love the game. I even have a pair of Scrabble themed slippers.

Cherryfizz, did Lizzie give you the slippers? That is so sweet that you would both play solitary games "together."