Josh Greenway


<p class="has-text-align-right wp-block-paragraph">This article was first published on <a href="https://www.scrabbleverse.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Scrabbleverse</a> on May 31, 2021.</p>



<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-1051 size-medium" src="https://scrabbleblog.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_7804-300x231.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="231" srcset="https://scrabbleblog.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_7804-300x231.jpg 300w, https://scrabbleblog.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_7804-1024x788.jpg 1024w, https://scrabbleblog.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_7804-768x591.jpg 768w, https://scrabbleblog.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_7804.jpg 1425w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
<figcaption><em>Eli Shupak&#8217;s rack at the 2016 Canadian National SCRABBLE Championship</em></figcaption>
</figure>
</div>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The Curious Case of two Zs on a Championship Board. You&#8217;re playing in the prestigious 2016 Canadian National Scrabble Championship, you look down at your rack and see two Zs&#8230; what would you do?</p>
<p><img decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1052" src="https://scrabbleblog.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/letter.jpeg" alt="" width="128" height="256" /></p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><em>We all know that there&#8217;s only one Z in the Scrabble tile bag, so what happened?</em></p>



<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img decoding="async" class="wp-image-804" src="https://comunic-art.cat/scrabble/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/ZZ_tile_distribution_2.jpeg" alt="" /></figure>
</div>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Here&#8217;s a clue&#8230;</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The Canadian National Scrabble Championship is not just another Scrabble tournament. You don&#8217;t just play the CNSC, you have to qualify to compete against the best players the country has to offer.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">And thanks to the event&#8217;s sponsor, Hasbro Canada, that means an enhanced prize pool, catered lunches, and everyone leaves with a brand new set of tiles, complete with blank tiles marked with a maple leaf icon.</p>
<p><img decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-1053" src="https://scrabbleblog.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_7806-300x59.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="59" srcset="https://scrabbleblog.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_7806-300x59.jpg 300w, https://scrabbleblog.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_7806-1024x202.jpg 1024w, https://scrabbleblog.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_7806-768x151.jpg 768w, https://scrabbleblog.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_7806.jpg 1400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></p>





<p class="wp-block-paragraph">You may be thinking that there was a production error when these tiles were created &#8211; but the answer is not that simple.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Let&#8217;s learn more about who was playing in this game.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Eli Shupak drew two Zs</h4>



<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized">
<figcaption><em><img decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-1054" src="https://scrabbleblog.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_7807-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" srcset="https://scrabbleblog.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_7807-300x225.jpg 300w, https://scrabbleblog.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_7807-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https://scrabbleblog.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_7807-768x576.jpg 768w, https://scrabbleblog.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_7807.jpg 1080w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><br />Jaime Guzman (L) is a Personal Support Worker who helps by drawing tiles. and placing them on the board for <a href="https://www.cross-tables.com/results.php?playerid=18315" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Eli Shupak</a> (R), a tournament player since 2007.</em></figcaption>
</figure>
</div>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Dave Krook didn&#8217;t even draw one Z</h4>
<p><img decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-1055" src="https://scrabbleblog.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_7808-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" srcset="https://scrabbleblog.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_7808-300x225.jpg 300w, https://scrabbleblog.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_7808-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https://scrabbleblog.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_7808-768x576.jpg 768w, https://scrabbleblog.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_7808.jpg 1080w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></p>





<h4 class="wp-block-heading">What do you do when something goes wrong??</h4>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The Curious Case of two Zs on a Championship Board. As soon as Eli drew the two Zs, he knew something was awry. When playing tournament Scrabble, when faced with an unusual situation (drawing two Z&#8217;s qualifies) you CALL THE DIRECTOR! And that&#8217;s exactly what Eli did.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Enter the Director</h4>
<p><img decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-1056" src="https://scrabbleblog.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_7809-300x139.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="139" srcset="https://scrabbleblog.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_7809-300x139.jpg 300w, https://scrabbleblog.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_7809-1024x475.jpg 1024w, https://scrabbleblog.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_7809-768x357.jpg 768w, https://scrabbleblog.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_7809.jpg 1400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></p>





<p class="wp-block-paragraph">After investigating what happened by speaking with both players, the truth came out.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong><em>Th</em></strong><em>ere was a second bag of identical tiles on the table, and that&#8217;s where the second Z came from!</em></p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Here are selected sections from the relevant rule:</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><em>IV.C.3. Tiles from an Adjacent Game </em></p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><em>a. If the discovery is made before the next player completes a play, the clock is stopped, the first player withdraws his/her play, the foreign tiles are returned to the proper bag, and replacement tiles are drawn as necessary. </em></p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><em>b. If the discovery is made at any time after the next player completes a play, and it is possible to determine, by distinguishing characteristics, which tiles came from which bag, those excess tiles should be removed and returned to the proper bag. </em></p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><em>c. If the discovery is made at any time after the next player completes a play, and it is not possible to determine, by distinguishing characteristics, which tiles came from which bag, the Director will check the tile distributions of each affected set, determine what tiles are missing, and attempt to make all bags right. During this process, the Director should use discretion to ensure that the contents of any of the player’s racks are not revealed to his/her opponent.</em></p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>In this case, point C applies </strong>&#8211; plays had been made, and it was impossible to determine which tiles came from which bag. Which led to&#8230;</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Counting the Tiles</h4>
<p><img decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-1057" src="https://scrabbleblog.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_7810-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" srcset="https://scrabbleblog.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_7810-300x225.jpg 300w, https://scrabbleblog.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_7810-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https://scrabbleblog.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_7810-768x576.jpg 768w, https://scrabbleblog.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_7810.jpg 1400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></p>





<p class="wp-block-paragraph">In a situation like this, the directing team springs into action, noting which tiles have been played, then sorting out what tiles are supposed to remain in the bag. John Chew, Mad Palazzo, and Gary Sagara got it all straight, and the director&#8217;s decision was that the game would continue, with 101 tiles and two Zs.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">What did the board look like after the game?</h4>
<p><img decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-1058" src="https://scrabbleblog.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_7811-300x300.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="300" srcset="https://scrabbleblog.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_7811-300x300.jpg 300w, https://scrabbleblog.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_7811-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https://scrabbleblog.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_7811-150x150.jpg 150w, https://scrabbleblog.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_7811-768x768.jpg 768w, https://scrabbleblog.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_7811.jpg 1080w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></p>





<h4 class="wp-block-heading">What would you have done with two Z&#8217;s?</h4>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The Curious Case of two Zs on a Championship Board.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Eli split the Zs to make more points, but having two Zs makes for some interesting possibilities:</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Would you have played PIZZA naturally?</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Hoped for a blank to play ZZz?</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Or really have gone for it by waiting for two blanks to play the basically impossible <a href="https://playscrabble.com/wordfinder">Scrabble word</a> PIZZAzz!?!?!</p>
<p><img decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-1059" src="https://scrabbleblog.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_7812-225x300.jpg" alt="" width="225" height="300" srcset="https://scrabbleblog.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_7812-225x300.jpg 225w, https://scrabbleblog.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_7812-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://scrabbleblog.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_7812-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https://scrabbleblog.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_7812.jpg 1536w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px" /></p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Who won the game?</h4>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><em>Eli Shupak drew the two Z&#8217;s out of the bag in round five of the CNSC. Turns out, having two Z&#8217;s can help, as it got Eli his first win of the tournament, 442-383</em></p>





<p class="wp-block-paragraph">If you have your own unusual game story, we&#8217;d love to hear it!</p>



<h6 class="wp-block-heading"><strong><sup>Would you like to contribute to the Scrabble Blog? </sup></strong><a href="https://playscrabble.com/community-forums#discussion/19/%EF%B8%8F-contribute-to-the-scrabble-blog/p1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><sup><strong>Click this link to send us your article</strong>.</sup></a></h6>
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	<p>The post <a href="https://scrabbleblog.wpengine.com/the-curious-case-of-two-zs-on-a-championship-board/">The Curious Case of two Zs on a Scrabble Championship Board</a> appeared first on <a href="https://scrabbleblog.wpengine.com">Scrabble</a>.</p>


This article was first published on Scrabbleverse on May 31, 2021.





Eli Shupak&#8217;s rack at the 2016 Canadian National SCRABBLE Championship





The Curious Case of two Zs on a Championship Board. You&#8217;re playing in the prestigious 2016 Canadian National Scrabble Championship, you look down at your rack and see two Zs&#8230; what would you do?




We all know that there&#8217;s only one Z in the Scrabble tile bag, so what happened?









Here&#8217;s a clue&#8230;



The Canadian National Scrabble Championship is not just another Scrabble tournament. You don&#8217;t just play the CNSC, you have to qualify to compete against the best players the country has to offer.



And thanks to the event&#8217;s sponsor, Hasbro Canada, that means an enhanced prize pool, catered lunches, and everyone leaves with a brand new set of tiles, complete with blank tiles marked with a maple leaf icon.






You may be thinking that there was a production error when these tiles were created &#8211; but the answer is not that simple.



Let&#8217;s learn more about who was playing in this game.



Eli Shupak drew two Zs





Jaime Guzman (L) is a Personal Support Worker who helps by drawing tiles. and placing them on the board for Eli Shupak (R), a tournament player since 2007.





Dave Krook didn&#8217;t even draw one Z






What do you do when something goes wrong??



The Curious Case of two Zs on a Championship Board. As soon as Eli drew the two Zs, he knew something was awry. When playing tournament Scrabble, when faced with an unusual situation (drawing two Z&#8217;s qualifies) you CALL THE DIRECTOR! And that&#8217;s exactly what Eli did.



Enter the Director






After investigating what happened by speaking with both players, the truth came out.



There was a second bag of identical tiles on the table, and that&#8217;s where the second Z came from!



Here are selected sections from the relevant rule:



IV.C.3. Tiles from an Adjacent Game 



a. If the discovery is made before the next player completes a play, the clock is stopped, the first player withdraws his/her play, the foreign tiles are returned to the proper bag, and replacement tiles are drawn as necessary. 



b. If the discovery is made at any time after the next player completes a play, and it is possible to determine, by distinguishing characteristics, which tiles came from which bag, those excess tiles should be removed and returned to the proper bag. 



c. If the discovery is made at any time after the next player completes a play, and it is not possible to determine, by distinguishing characteristics, which tiles came from which bag, the Director will check the tile distributions of each affected set, determine what tiles are missing, and attempt to make all bags right. During this process, the Director should use discretion to ensure that the contents of any of the player’s racks are not revealed to his/her opponent.



In this case, point C applies &#8211; plays had been made, and it was impossible to determine which tiles came from which bag. Which led to&#8230;



Counting the Tiles






In a situation like this, the directing team springs into action, noting which tiles have been played, then sorting out what tiles are supposed to remain in the bag. John Chew, Mad Palazzo, and Gary Sagara got it all straight, and the director&#8217;s decision was that the game would continue, with 101 tiles and two Zs.



What did the board look like after the game?






What would you have done with two Z&#8217;s?



The Curious Case of two Zs on a Championship Board.



Eli split the Zs to make more points, but having two Zs makes for some interesting possibilities:



Would you have played PIZZA naturally?



Hoped for a blank to play ZZz?



Or really have gone for it by waiting for two blanks to play the basically impossible Scrabble word PIZZAzz!?!?!




Who won the game?



Eli Shupak drew the two Z&#8217;s out of the bag in round five of the CNSC. Turns out, having two Z&#8217;s can help, as it got Eli his first win of the tournament, 442-383





If you have your own unusual game story, we&#8217;d love to hear it!



Would you like to contribute to the Scrabble Blog? Click this link to send us your article.



Do you want to discuss this article with the community? Visit the forum with this link to start a conversation.
					
	The post The Curious Case of two Zs on a Scrabble Championship Board appeared first on Scrabble.

The Curious Case of two Zs on a Scrabble Championship Board

This article was first published on Scrabbleverse on July 3, 2021.









Scrabble was invented in 1938, during the Great Depression by an unemployed New York architect named Alfred Mosher Butts, who figured Americans could use a bit of distraction during the bleak economic times.



Butts chose the frequency and distribution of the tiles by counting letters on the pages of the New York Times, the New York Herald Tribune, and The Saturday Evening Post, and devised the game’s 15 x 15 board.



At first, Butts simply called his creation &#8220;it&#8221; before switching to &#8220;Lexiko&#8221;, then &#8220;Criss-Cross Words”. 



Established game manufacturers unanimously slammed the door on Butts&#8217; invention.









James Brunot from Newtown, Connecticut – and one of the few owners of the original game – bought the manufacturing rights in exchange for granting Butts a royalty on every unit sold. 



Brunot&#8217;s contributions included the iconic color scheme (pastel pink, baby-blue, indigo, and bright red), the 50-point bonus for using all seven tiles, and the name &#8220;Scrabble” (a real word which means ‘to scratch frantically’). The SCRABBLE Brand Crossword Game was trademarked in 1948



The first Scrabble factory was an abandoned schoolhouse in rural Connecticut, where Brunot, along with friends and family, produced 12 sets per hour.









According to legend, Scrabble&#8217;s big break came in 1952 when Jack Straus, president of Macy&#8217;s, played the game on vacation. He loved it.



Returning from vacation, he was surprised to find that his store did not carry the game. He placed a large order and within a year, &#8220;everyone had to have one”.



Scrabble had achieved its ‘breakthrough moment’.









Unable to meet demand himself, James Brunot licensed Scrabble’s marketing and distribution rights to Long Island-based Selchow and Righter, one of the manufacturers who, like Parker Brothers and Milton Bradley Company, had previously rejected the game. 



Selchow and Righter stepped up production to meet the overwhelming demand for Scrabble. In 1954 nearly four million sets were sold.









The competitive game got its start, and early strategies got refined, when the game moved out of the living room in the 1960s. Scrabble was played obsessively, alongside chess, backgammon, and bridge in smoke-filled games parlors in New York City, like the legendary Flea House on 42nd Street. 



Scrabble hustles evolved quickly. 



Unscrupulous players could feel around the tile bag for the blanks because they had no grooves, a tactic known as “brailling”.









In 1972, Selchow &amp; Righter purchased the trademark from Brunot ($1.5M) and Butts ($265K), thereby giving the company the exclusive rights to all SCRABBLE Brand products and entertainment services in the United States and Canada. 



Previously, Selchow &amp; Righter just had the marketing and distribution rights









In 1978, Selchow &amp; Righter created the National SCRABBLE Association. From that point until 2009, the organization oversaw official Scrabble tournaments and clubs, organized National Scrabble Championships, managed school Scrabble, and published the Scrabble Players Newsletter.



The competitive version of the game we play today began to take shape. Official tournament rules were implemented, the first Official Scrabble Players Dictionary (OSPD) was published, and the players’ rating system was introduced. 









Scrabble was turned into a daytime game show on NBC. Scrabble ran from July 1984 to March 1990, with a second run from January to June 1993. 1,335 episodes were produced, as well as a board game version called TV Scrabble. 



The show was hosted by the legendary Chuck Woolery, the original host of Wheel of Fortune and Love Connection. 



Over the years, Scrabble had several special weeks, including Soap Week (featuring soap opera stars), Teen Week, College Week, two Tournaments of Champions, Tournament of Teen Champions, and a $100,000 All American Tournament. The show&#8217;s promotional tagline was &#8220;Every man dies; not every man truly Scrabbles”.









In 1986 Selchow &amp; Righter was sold to COLECO Industries, which had become famous as the manufacturers of the Cabbage Patch Dolls and Colecovision, a video game console. 



Just three years later, COLECO declared bankruptcy, and its primary assets &#8211; most notably SCRABBLE and PARCHEESI &#8211; were purchased by Hasbro, owner of the Milton Bradley Company, America&#8217;s leading game manufacturer.









In 1994, Mattel (maker of Barbie and Hot Wheels) outbids Hasbro during a time of huge consolidation of the toy industry, paying $90 million for the international rights to SCRABBLE. 









Joe Edley becomes the first player to win three National SCRABBLE Championships.



Records by Year:



1980 (Santa Monica): 14-3, +545, finishing 1st of 32



1992 (Atlanta): 22-5, +1839, finishing 1st of 176



2000 (Providence): 22-9, +1454, finishing 1st of 98









The 2004 National SCRABBLE Championship in New Orleans drew the largest attendance at 837 players. 



The event was won by Trey Wright (along with a $25,000 USD prize) and was broadcast on ESPN and ESPN 2.   



Here&#8217;s a link to Trey&#8217;s appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live.









The National Toy Hall of Fame is an American hall of fame that recognizes the contributions of toys and games that have sustained their popularity for many years. Criteria for induction include icon status, longevity, discovery, and innovation.



Scrabble was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame in 2004, along with G.I. Joe and the Rocking Horse.









In December of 2008, Hasbro announced that it would no longer finance the National SCRABBLE Association. They agreed to sanction a player-financed association that would continue the association’s activities.



Re-organization began right away, and the new not-for-profit North American SCRABBLE Players formed and began overseeing tournaments in July of 2009.  The new association is funded by Player membership, and tournament participation fees, and is assisted by the volunteerism of many committee members.









Nigel Richards becomes the first player to win the National SCRABBLE Championship and the North American SCRABBLE Championship five times.



Records by Year:



2008 (Orlando): 22-6, +1340, finishing 1st of 103



2010 (Dallas): 25-6, +2213, finishing 1st of 116



2011 (Dallas): 22-9, +1532, finishing 1st of 108



2012 (Orlando): 22-9, +1579, finishing 1st of 76



2013 (Las Vegas): 24-7, +1934, finishing 1st of 125



Would you like to contribute to the Scrabble Blog? Click this link to send us your article.



Do you want to discuss this article with the community? Visit the forum with this link to start a conversation.
					
	The post History of Scrabble: From 1938 to Present Day appeared first on Scrabble.

History of Scrabble: From 1938 to Present Day

<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Did you know pro Scrabble players scout their competition and use that information to win more games? Get to know the different types of Scrabble players and see if you recognize yourself or your opponents! </span></p>
<h4><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Defensive Mastermind Scrabble Player</span></h4>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">You&#8217;re a Scrabble player who loves controlling the board and making your opponent play your game. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Placing Cs and Vs in just the proper position to shut down scoring lanes. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">You know which words take an S on the end and which ones don&#8217;t. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">When you&#8217;re ahead late in the game, your opponent feels the squeeze as all the best spots are gone.  </span></p>
<h4><b><i>Your strategy works best when:</i></b></h4>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">You are nursing a lead and staying one step ahead of your opponent. </span></p>
<h4><b><i>Your strategy struggles when:</i></b></h4>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Your opponent gets off to a quick start, and you need to catch up. You&#8217;ll need to &#8216;open the board,&#8217; creating new places to score, and hope for the best!</span></p>
<h4><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Bingo Barbarian Scrabble Player</span></h4>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">You are the type of Scrabble player who believes scoring hasn&#8217;t started until someone lays down a bingo. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Your life goal is clearing your rack and setting the table for bingo number two. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">You know which tiles combine the best to make long words (and are always on the lookout for prefixes and suffixes like RE-, DIS-, MIS-, and -ING, -ED, -ERS). </span></p>
<h4><b><i>Your strategy works best when:</i></b></h4>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The board is open with lanes for your seven letter beauties or letters to play through for your eight-letter.  </span></p>
<h4><b><i>Your strategy struggles when:</i></b></h4>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">When you don&#8217;t get tile synergy (one turn, it&#8217;s all vowels, the next turn it&#8217;s all consonants), and the bingos just aren&#8217;t there. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Make sure not to settle for too many low-scoring plays while you wait for that next bingo to arrive!  </span></p>
<p><strong>The Speed Runner Scrabble Player</strong></p>
<h4><span style="font-weight: 400;">You see words quickly and play them just as fast, which helps you control the game&#8217;s pace. </span></h4>
<h4><span style="font-weight: 400;">Playing by your killer instinct and &#8216;feel&#8217; it when a play is just right. </span></h4>
<h4><span style="font-weight: 400;">You hit the board hard, scoring points fast, which can intimidate your opponent. </span></h4>
<h4><span style="font-weight: 400;">You can&#8217;t get enough games, and always find time for one more. </span></h4>
<h4><b><i>Your strategy works best when:</i></b></h4>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">You&#8217;re getting a good mix of vowels and high-scoring consonants, and your opponent doesn&#8217;t take forever to make their move. </span></p>
<h4><b><i>Your strategy struggles when:</i></b></h4>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Playing fast makes you miss plays, especially bingos. If you&#8217;re trailing in points, don&#8217;t take the first play you see – give the board a second look and see if there&#8217;s a better play!</span></p>
<h4><strong>The Hotspot Hotshot Scrabble Player</strong></h4>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">You&#8217;re a <a href="https://playscrabble.com/">Scrabble player</a> who loves setting up and cashing in big scores with the J, Q, X, and Z. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">What others do with a bingo; you can do with a Z and a triple letter score. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">You jealously guard your multipoint tiles and slowly, methodically, lay them on the board turn after turn for devastating scores. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Your favorite wins are in games where opponents play more bingos than you do.  </span></p>
<h4><b><i>Your strategy works best when:</i></b></h4>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">You get the big tiles. You don&#8217;t need all of them, as long as you get the K and a few H&#8217;s, F&#8217;s, and Y&#8217;s. </span></p>
<h4><b><i>Your strategy struggles when:</i></b></h4>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Opponents play the same strategy, taking premium squares before you do, causing you to play off low point tiles in the hope of pulling an X or a Z out of the bag. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Do this too often, and you&#8217;ll fall behind – try to maximize points even when you don&#8217;t have the tiles you want.   </span></p>
<h4><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Word Nerd Scrabble Player</span></h4>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">You love words, and your word-a-day desk calendar proves it. The more obscure the word, the more you love it. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">You&#8217;ll sacrifice some points to hear your opponent gasp when you play a word they&#8217;ve never seen before. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Your favorite part of the match is the post-game analysis, where you and your opponent complement each other on playing some awesome words!</span></p>
<h4><b><i>Your strategy works best when:</i></b></h4>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">You are playing games with a challenge penalty. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">You&#8217;ll toss the opposition&#8217;s words off the board and hope to get a free turn by stumping challengers and drawing a challenge on a word you know is perfectly good. </span></p>
<h4><b><i>Your strategy struggles when:</i></b></h4>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Playing on a closed board, limiting your options to show off an impressive vocabulary, or in games where you draw tons of duplicate letters or all the I&#8217;s. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Consider exchanging tiles rather than trying to slog through difficult rack after difficult rack. </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h4><b>Did you recognize yourself or your opponents?</b></h4>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h6><strong><sup>Would you like to contribute to the Scrabble Blog? </sup></strong><a href="https://playscrabble.com/community-forums#discussion/19/%EF%B8%8F-contribute-to-the-scrabble-blog/p1"><sup><strong>Click this link to send us your article</strong>.</sup></a></h6>
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	<p>The post <a href="https://scrabbleblog.wpengine.com/scrabble-players-what-kind-are-you/">Scrabble Players &#8211; What Kind of Scrabble Player Are You?</a> appeared first on <a href="https://scrabbleblog.wpengine.com">Scrabble</a>.</p>

Did you know pro Scrabble players scout their competition and use that information to win more games? Get to know the different types of Scrabble players and see if you recognize yourself or your opponents! 
The Defensive Mastermind Scrabble Player
You&#8217;re a Scrabble player who loves controlling the board and making your opponent play your game. 
Placing Cs and Vs in just the proper position to shut down scoring lanes. 
You know which words take an S on the end and which ones don&#8217;t. 
When you&#8217;re ahead late in the game, your opponent feels the squeeze as all the best spots are gone.  
Your strategy works best when:
You are nursing a lead and staying one step ahead of your opponent. 
Your strategy struggles when:
Your opponent gets off to a quick start, and you need to catch up. You&#8217;ll need to &#8216;open the board,&#8217; creating new places to score, and hope for the best!
The Bingo Barbarian Scrabble Player
You are the type of Scrabble player who believes scoring hasn&#8217;t started until someone lays down a bingo. 
Your life goal is clearing your rack and setting the table for bingo number two. 
You know which tiles combine the best to make long words (and are always on the lookout for prefixes and suffixes like RE-, DIS-, MIS-, and -ING, -ED, -ERS). 
Your strategy works best when:
The board is open with lanes for your seven letter beauties or letters to play through for your eight-letter.  
Your strategy struggles when:
When you don&#8217;t get tile synergy (one turn, it&#8217;s all vowels, the next turn it&#8217;s all consonants), and the bingos just aren&#8217;t there. 
Make sure not to settle for too many low-scoring plays while you wait for that next bingo to arrive!  
The Speed Runner Scrabble Player
You see words quickly and play them just as fast, which helps you control the game&#8217;s pace. 
Playing by your killer instinct and &#8216;feel&#8217; it when a play is just right. 
You hit the board hard, scoring points fast, which can intimidate your opponent. 
You can&#8217;t get enough games, and always find time for one more. 
Your strategy works best when:
You&#8217;re getting a good mix of vowels and high-scoring consonants, and your opponent doesn&#8217;t take forever to make their move. 
Your strategy struggles when:
Playing fast makes you miss plays, especially bingos. If you&#8217;re trailing in points, don&#8217;t take the first play you see – give the board a second look and see if there&#8217;s a better play!
The Hotspot Hotshot Scrabble Player
You&#8217;re a Scrabble player who loves setting up and cashing in big scores with the J, Q, X, and Z. 
What others do with a bingo; you can do with a Z and a triple letter score. 
You jealously guard your multipoint tiles and slowly, methodically, lay them on the board turn after turn for devastating scores. 
Your favorite wins are in games where opponents play more bingos than you do.  
Your strategy works best when:
You get the big tiles. You don&#8217;t need all of them, as long as you get the K and a few H&#8217;s, F&#8217;s, and Y&#8217;s. 
Your strategy struggles when:
Opponents play the same strategy, taking premium squares before you do, causing you to play off low point tiles in the hope of pulling an X or a Z out of the bag. 
Do this too often, and you&#8217;ll fall behind – try to maximize points even when you don&#8217;t have the tiles you want.   
The Word Nerd Scrabble Player
You love words, and your word-a-day desk calendar proves it. The more obscure the word, the more you love it. 
You&#8217;ll sacrifice some points to hear your opponent gasp when you play a word they&#8217;ve never seen before. 
Your favorite part of the match is the post-game analysis, where you and your opponent complement each other on playing some awesome words!
Your strategy works best when:
You are playing games with a challenge penalty. 
You&#8217;ll toss the opposition&#8217;s words off the board and hope to get a free turn by stumping challengers and drawing a challenge on a word you know is perfectly good. 
Your strategy struggles when:
Playing on a closed board, limiting your options to show off an impressive vocabulary, or in games where you draw tons of duplicate letters or all the I&#8217;s. 
Consider exchanging tiles rather than trying to slog through difficult rack after difficult rack. 
&nbsp;
Did you recognize yourself or your opponents?
&nbsp;
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	The post Scrabble Players &#8211; What Kind of Scrabble Player Are You? appeared first on Scrabble.