Scrabulous! (Scrabble Original)

Member Name: B_O_M_B_A_

Product:	Scrabble Original
Date:	12/08/08 (57 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Keeps the brain ticking over and fun at the same time.

Disadvantages: Quite old now, although not a bad thing...

Introduction -

Scrabble has been a popular choice among my family on those rainy days for many years; I think the main reason is because we love the intense mental battle and the chance of being named the most intelligent member of the family, until we played the next game at which point a new champion was likely to be crowned. The game is suitable for anywhere between 2 and 12 players if you have 4 teams of three and is very easy to pick up and play, it only takes a minute to get started.

The Game -

The game is predominantly a board game, the rules are very simple and easy to follow meaning anyone above the age of 8 in my opinion has got a good chance of performing well. The main idea of the game is to create words with the selection of seven lettered tiles you have at any one time. The game is played on a board with a 15 x 15 square grid and a total of 100 tiles. Each tile is the same size as the squares and these are the squares you place your tiles in to form words. Words are played both horizontally and vertically in a crossword style and must appear in a standard dictionary, no names, places or abbreviations are allowed.

Each letter of the alphabet is present although some letters appear more times than others, obviously if there were 20 Z's and only 2 A's in the whole set of tiles you are not likely to make very many words, let alone six, seven or even eight letter ones. Each letter is also given a point value, I have listed the points per letter below, but basically the more popular tiles such as A, E, I, O and U are only worth one point, whereas letters like Z are worth ten points. There are also two blank tiles that have a score of zero but can be used as any letter in the alphabet making it easier for the player to make a long word.

Tile Score - Frequency -

0 points - Blank × 2
1 point - E ×12, A ×9, I ×9, O ×8, N ×6, R ×6, T ×6, L ×4, S ×4, U ×4
2 points - D ×4, G ×3
3 points - B ×2, C ×2, M ×2, P ×2
4 points - F ×2, H ×2, V ×2, W ×2, Y ×2
5 points - K ×1
8 points - J ×1, X ×1
10 points - Q ×1, Z ×1

The board however offers bonuses for players, so it isn't simply about who gets the high pointed tiles and who can make the longest words, it's about who uses the tiles they have in the best way. On the board are 4 types of bonus tile which are described below, each bonus tile however can only be used once, so if a player creates a new word with the letter of a previously created word and that word is on a bonus tile it will not count, only the tiles standard score will count. I personally think this is fair, if a player has used their letters to take advantage of a bonus square by creating a long word they should benefit from the bonus alone and not the next player who will simply add another word onto theirs to get the bonus.

Double Letter Score - Doubles the score of the tile placed on that square (24 Tiles)
Double Word Score - Doubles the score of the entire word which the letter placed on the square is contained in. (17 including middle square)
Triple Letter Score - Triples the score of the tile placed on that square (12 Tiles)
Triple Word Score - Triples the score of the entire word which the letter placed on the square is contained in. (8 Tiles)

At the star of a game each player will pick a tile from a bag containing all 100 tiles, whoever picks the letter closest to A will play first, the players will then decide which way round the table they will play, usually clockwise. Each player will then pick seven tiles from the bag and place it on their rack (a plastic stand that holds your lettered pieces), the first player must then make a word out of their seven letters, the advantage to going first is that you automatically get a double word score thanks to the middle square, although this is only really much good if you have a few high scoring letters. After the first player has laid their tiles they pick the same number of tiles from the bag as they placed so the number of tiles they hold remains at seven.

The next player must then make a word using one of the letters placed on the board already, so it is now possible to make an eight letter word by using seven of your own and one of theirs. The game continues like this with each player picking the number of tiles from the bag they have played until the bag is empty. When this happens players take it in turns to keep placing their tiles until someone runs out. When this happens if any other players have any tiles left the total score of those remaining tiles is added and deducted from their overall scores. The total of all the other players left over tiles is then added to the winners score giving them an opportunity to make a last ditch effort to win, therefore it is best to try and use your high scoring letters as soon as possible, although hopefully on a triple letter or triple word score. If a player manages to use all seven of their tiles in a word they receive an additional 50 points on top of their word score, I haven't personally ever done this but I'm sure it is possible.

The total scores are then added and the winner is the person who has scored the highest number of points. After the game is complete it isn't like Monopoly where you have to sort out the money, arrange the property cards and put the houses and hotels back in the box, you simply pick up the board with the tiles on it, and pour the tiles back into the bag, within 1 minute you are ready for another game, simple. You can pick scrabble up for around £15 in most toy shops and even in most supermarkets. Each game will probably last around 30-45 minutes depending on how quickly each player can make a word.

Verdict -

Overall a great family game, there is a small sense of joy and power over whoever you beat because it isn't to do with luck like most board games, it is brain power, although there is a small amount of luck in choosing the tiles but usually the game works out pretty fair. The idea is to try and take advantage of the triple word scores and maybe save up your ten pointers for those all important bonuses, although don't keep them too long else you may have then left at the end, and that could mean the difference between winning and losing. The game also has a very small learning curve so anyone can learn to play in a matter of minutes, some games can be over complicated and unless you have a quick mind you could soon fall behind. The game does come with very clear instructions that explain every aspect of the game so if you do get a bit confused or if you think someone has broken a rule intentionally or by accident you can easily refer to them.

Scores -

Playability - 8/10
Fun - 8/10
Repeatability - 8/10
Price - 9/10

Summary: Good to keep in the cupboard for a rainy day!