Scrabble

Do you want to have something in common with Mel Gibson, Sting, Keanu Reeves and Queen Elizabeth II? Scrabble is the easiest way to go. Invented by Alfred Butts, an architect in 1931, Scrabble has been one of the world's most popular games for well over half a century.

The Rules

Teams of 2
SOWPODS (OSPD + OSW) will be the official dictionary for the event.
The prelims will be a written round, consisting of gameplay scenarios, anagramming and so on.

For later rounds, when games will be played

The time limit for each team is 20 minutes.
Invalid challenges will incur a 5 point penalty.
Valid challenges will cause the incorrect (challenged) play to be removed and earn a bonus of 5 points.
All other standard Scrabble rules apply.

Some tips

Don't always go for the highest score. Try to also think ahead, for example possible plays of your opponent or to keep a balanced rack.
Always look at the board to see whether there are any opportunities to "hook" onto existing plays. (A "hook" is a letter that can be placed on the front or rear of a word to make a new word.)
One of the real skills in Scrabble is spotting the 7 letter word from an unlikely looking rack of letters. Try to spot these as much as possible, but don't hold back tiles in the hope of getting one, especially when only 1 letter is required.
Pay special attention to letters like J, K, Q, X and Z. These are the highest scoring letters in the bag but they are not the only way of scoring. Don't waste them but try to play them as soon as you can. These may also become difficult to use towards the end of a game, so be careful while holding onto them.

Scrabble Prelims	HSB 333, HSB 334	Day3 (27^th)	09:00	12:30
Scrabble Finals	SAC	Day3 (27^th)	23:00	00:00