Mom's Six Tips To Winning Scrabble

Today is the 9th anniversary of my mother's death so I am thinking about her a lot lately. One of the memories I have is of playing games often with her. We both enjoyed games a lot! She was the "Scrabble Queen." Even when she'd win, she wasn't satisfied unless she had over 300 points. I still have some of the scores in my Scrabble set. She shared her strategies with me and I was able to become more competitive. She'd always win so as a kid, the most fun for me was at the end of the game when we overturned all the letters on the board and then dumped them back in the box trying not to flip any over.

The other night when I played on www.pogo.com, I won with 315! (PlSwts is my screen name, feel free to add me as a "friend" if you play on there.) It was like I had her back for awhile.

So, anyhow, I thought I'd share mom's tips with you so here they are:

1) Make longer words early in the game if possible. This helps use the whole board.

2) Use the higher letters on the special double or triple letter squares. Avoid trading these in unless it's very near the end of the game.

3) Always watch for possible words to capture by adding an "S" or an "ING" or "ED" or "ER."

4) Try to avoid making a word that sets up an available triple word square for your opponent unless you have a word you can play on your very next turn, but even then it's better to let your opponent set up the space for you.

5) Don't hold on to words on your rack waiting for a spot to play them more than 1 or 2 turns.

6) It's better to play than trade in letters early.

That's about it. Now get out that Scrabble game and enjoy playing with someone trying these tips and see if your score doesn't improve!