STATION 1: Nature and Background of the Game Scrabble

Scrabble is a word game in which two to four players score points by placing
tiles bearing a single letter onto a board divided into a 15×15 grid of squares.
The tiles must form words that, in crossword fashion, read left to right in rows
or downward in columns, and be included in a standard dictionary or lexicon.

The name is a trademark of Hasbro, Inc. in the United States and Canada;
outside these two countries it is a trademark of Mattel. The game is sold in
121 countries and is available in 29 languages; approximately 150 million sets
have been sold worldwide and roughly one-third of American and half of
British homes have a Scrabble set. There are around 4,000 Scrabble clubs
around the world.

It Began With a Crash

There were many victims of America's Great Depression in 1929. But in 1933
an out of work architect named Alfred Mosher Butts invented a game that
would lift the spirits of millions.

Hailing from Poughkeepsie, New York, Butts had taken to analyzing popular
games, defining three different categories: number games, such as dice and
bingo; move games, such as chess and checkers; and word games, such as
anagrams. He also noted, "...there is one thing that keeps word games from
being as popular as card games: they have no score."

Attempting to combine the thrill of chance and skill, Butts entwined the
elements of anagrams and the classic crossword puzzle into a scoring word
game first called LEXIKO. This was then refined during the early 1930s and
1940s to become CRISS CROSS WORDS.

STATION 2: Rules of the Game

Scrabble is a word game for ages 8 and up. This is a game for 2-4 players. It
requires a specialized game board, 100 letter tiles, and tile racks.
According to Scrabble rules, all tiles should be placed in a letter pouch or
placed face down on the table beside the board. Ensure that letters are well
mixed, and that players do not know which letter is in what spot. To determine
who goes first, each player draws a letter – the player with the letter closest
to “A” goes first. The ‘blank’ tile automatically goes first. Ensure you
thoroughly remix the tiles before drawing letters. Each player draws 7 letters
and places them on his or her letter rack.
The Scrabble Board
A standard Scrabble board will consist of cells that are located in a large square
grid. The board offers 15 cells high and 15 cells wide. The tiles used on the
game will fit in each cell on the board.

Scrabble Tiles
There are 100 tiles that are used in the game and 98 of them will contain
letters and point values. There are 2 blank tiles that can be used as wild tiles
to take the place of any letter. When a blank is played, it will remain in the
game as the letter it substituted for.
Different letters in the game will have various point values and this will depend
on how rare the letter is and how difficult it may be to lay that letter. Blank
tiles will have no point values.

Tile Values
Below are the point values for each letter that is used in a Scrabble game.
0 Points - Blank tile.
1 Point - A, E, I, L, N, O, R, S, T and U.
2 Points - D and G.
3 Points - B, C, M and P.
4 Points - F, H, V, W and Y.
5 Points - K.
8 Points - J and X.
10 Points - Q and Z.
Extra Point Values
When looking at the board, players will see that some squares offer
multipliers. Should a tile be placed on these squares, the value of the tile will
be multiplied by 2x or 3x. Some squares will also multiply the total value of
the word and not just the single point value of one tile.
Double Letter Scores - The light blue cells in the board are isolated and
when these are used, they will double the value of the tile placed on that
square.
Triple Letter Score - The dark blue cell in the board will be worth triple the
amount, so any tile placed here will earn more points.
Double Word Score - When a cell is light red in colour, it is a double word
cell and these run diagonally on the board, towards the four corners. When a
word is placed on these squares, the entire value of the word will be doubled.
Triple Word Score - The dark red square is where the high points can be
earned as this will triple the word score. Placing any word on these squares
will boos points drastically. These are found on all four sides of the board and
are equidistant from the corners.
One Single Use - When using the extra point squares on the board, they can
only be used one time. If a player places a word here, it cannot be used as a
multiplier by placing another word on the same square.
Starting the Game
Without looking at any of the tiles in the bag, players will take one tile. The
player that has the letter that is closest to “A” will begin the game. A blank
tile will win the start of the game. The tiles are them replaced to the bag and
used in the remainder of the game.
Every player will start their turn by drawing seven tiles from the Scrabble bag.
There are three options during any turn. The player can place a word, they
can exchange tiles for new tiles or they can choose to pass. In most cases,
players will try to place a word as the other two options will result in no score.
When a player chooses to exchange tiles, they can choose to exchange one
or all of the tiles they currently hold. After tiles are exchanged, the turn is over
and players will have to wait until their next turn to place a word on the board.
Players can choose to pass at any time. They will forfeit that turn and hope to
be able to play the next time. If any player passes two times in a row, the
game will end and the one with the highest score will win.
The First Word Score
When the game begins, the first player will place their word on the star spin
in the centre of the board. The star is a double square and will offer a double
word score. All players following will build their words off of this word,
extending the game to other squares on the board.
Play continues in a clockwise direction around the Scrabble board.
Replacing Scrabble Tiles
Once tiles are played on the board, players will draw new tiles to replace
those. Players will always have seven tiles during the game. Drawing tiles is
always done without looking into the bag so that the letters are always
unknown.
The Fifty Point Bonus
Exciting rewards can come when players use all seven tiles to create a word
on the board. When this happens, players will receive a 50 point bonus, in
addition to the value of the word. If the game is near the end and players are
not holding seven tiles, they do not get the bonus for using all of their tiles.
This is only collected for seven letter words placed.
The End of a Scrabble Game
Once all tiles are gone from the bag and a single player has placed all of their
tiles, the game will end and the player with the highest score wins.

Tallying Scrabble Scores

When the game ends, each player will count all points that are remaining on
their tiles that have not been played. This amount will be deducted from the
final score.
An added bonus is awarded to the player that ended the game and has no
remaining tiles. The tile values of all remaining players will be added to the
score of the player who is out of tiles to produce the final score for the game.
The Scrabble player with the highest score after all final scores are tallied
wins.
Accepted Scrabble Words
Any word that is found in a standard English dictionary can be used in the
game of Scrabble. There are also Official Scrabble Dictionaries that can be
purchased for more word options.
There are some words that are not allowed to be played and these include
suffixes, prefixes and abbreviations. Any word that requires the use of a
hyphen or apostrophe cannot be played in the game. Any word that required
the use of a capital letter is not allowed.
When playing an English version of the game, foreign words are not allowed
to be placed on the board. However, if the foreign word does appear in a
standard English dictionary, it is allowed. The reason for this is due to the fact
that the word is spoken enough and is considered part of the English
language.

STATION 3: How to Play the Game

The object of Scrabble is to get the most points by creating words. You build
these words by placing lettered tiles on a grid. Each tile is assigned a point
value, and you amass points by trying to get the most points out of your word.
Players build off of at least one tile in each other's words until no one can
build any more words. The player with the highest score wins.

Anywhere from two to four people may play the game at one time, although
tournament play is always one-on-one. The game consists of four basic pieces:
 Board -- The board is a grid with a star in the middle, where game play
starts, and bonus squares scattered around it.
 Tiles -- The tiles are the pieces used in play. The game comes with 100
tiles, each with a different letter and point value assigned to it. Common
letters, like E, have more tiles, but fewer points. Uncommon letters, like
Q and Z, have only one tile each. Tiles range in point values from zero
to 10. The two tiles that aren't worth any points are both blank, and
they can be deemed as any letter in the alphabet when they're first laid
down on the board. Although they're not worth anything, the ability to
use them strategically can help you out when you're missing that one
letter you need to build a word.
 Letter Bag -- The letter bag holds all unused tiles. During game play,
players draw tiles from this bag.
 Rack -- Each player gets a rack for his or her tiles. The rack allows a
player to prepare for the next move without anyone else seeing what
tiles he or she has.
Scoring
The score for each turn is the sum of the letter values in each word(s) formed
or modified on that turn, plus the additional points obtained from placing
letters on Premium Squares.

Premium Letter Squares: A light blue square doubles the score of a letter
placed on it; a dark blue square triples the letter score.

Premium Word Squares: The score for an entire word is doubled when one of
its letters is placed on a pink square: it is tripled when one of its letters is
placed on a red square. Include premiums for double or triple letter values, if
any, before doubling or tripling the word score.

If a word is formed that covers two premium word squares, the score is
doubled and then re-doubled (4 times the letter count), or tripled and then
re-tripled (9 times the letter count).

Letter and word premiums count only on the turn in which they are played.
On later turns, letters already played on premium squares count at face value.
When a blank tile is played on a pink or red square, the value of the word is
doubled or tripled, even though the blank itself has no score value.

When two or more words are formed in the same play, each is scored. The
common letter is counted (with full premium value, if any) for each word.
If you play seven tiles on a turn, it's called a Bingo. You score an additional
50 points after otherwise totaling your score for the turn.

Unplayed Letters: When the game ends, each player's score is reduced by the
sum of his or her unplayed letters. In addition, if a player has used all of his
or her letters, the sum of the other players' unplayed letters is added to that
player's score.

The player with the highest final score wins the game. In case of a tie, the
player with the highest score before adding or deducting unplayed letters
wins.
If a match has one winner and one loser, the player that scored more points
(combined in both games) wins the match. If that number is the same for the
two players, the match is a tie.