Back to index of Scrabble pages by Donald Sauter.
Scrabble For Word Lovers suite - main page.
Scrabble II introduction.
Scrabble II rules.

The glorious Scrabble boards presented here come from the seventh season in which the Dover Scrabble Club played the perfected form of Scrabble called Scrabble II. The 3-month season dated from October 2009 through December 2009.

This time around I've selected 14 pretty good games spanning the 14 weeks instead of overloading you with every game played, as interesting as that is! And, for people on the run, this time you get pictures of the boards! I'm not so sure anyone ever made the effort to examine my text-only boards closely enough to grasp what a different plane they occupy from conventional Scrabble boards.

Scrabble II is . . .

• Good words only
• American Heritage Dictionary
• 8-tile rack
• Extended 21x21 board
  • Outer 3 rows for word overrun only, meaning . . .
  • At least 1 tile played on the classic 15x15 inner board for every play
• Incentives for long words:
  • 6-tiler - 20 pts
  • 7-tiler - 50 pts
  • 8-tiler - 80 pts
• No plays of just 2-letter words!
• About 100 tiles scooped from a mix of 3 sets

That's it in a clear and concise nutshell, but it's well worth visiting my main Scrabble page for an engaging discussion of these fixes to the classic game.

Of course, I don't expect you to read through this page like you would an article or novel. Just scroll up and down focusing on a single aspect at a time.

Notice the nice, long, fresh words. And how familiar they are, coming from our own vocabularies, as opposed to what you would see on tournament Scrabble boards, which are sick with "valid letter sequences" drawn from memorized lists.

Zero in on the Words on the final board which are organized by length. Tournament Scrabble boards are heavy on the 2-letter and 3-letter words (whoopee!) since all the pros do is dump problem letters until they can finally make a 7-tile play.

Speaking of baby stuff, note how free our games are of the shopworn Scrabble trash. You will see nary a QI, ZA, XU, JO, QAT, QAID, SUQ, QOPH, VAV, WAW, AZO, JIN, and on and on. We operate in the old-fashioned belief that Scrabble is a word game!

Scroll around noting how fresh and different each game is by virtue of scooping the tiles from a mixed set. Look at the variation in Power tiles from game to game; and the Tile oddities; and the Percent expected vowels which says at a glance how vowel- or consonant-heavy the game was compared to the standard game. The statistic varies between about 80% (rather consonant heavy) and 120% (rather vowel heavy).

Scroll around taking note of the offbeat words we come up with, like CRABGRASS, BIGAMIES, RUTABAGA, PUGILIST, COLLARDS, CARAVAN, HOGWASH, and on and on.

Take a look at our Unplayed tiles. You might be dazed by some of the long strings of letters you see there because you're used to stodgy, antisocial, tournament-style, one-on-one games. We give priority to multi-person games, which are livelier and more wide-open. Check your box top; Scrabble was designed for up to four players! If things go your way, you might go out with an 8-tiler and catch your opponents with full racks - up to 24 tiles!

 
EXPLANATIONS:

"Unplayed tiles" shows the tiles left on the players' racks at the end of a game.

"Power tiles" shows all the power tiles (J Q X Z _ S) in the game, played and unplayed.

"Tile oddities" shows the cases where a given letter showed up significantly more or less times than you would expect with the classic Scrabble set.

"Percent expected vowels" shows the deviation from the expected percentage of vowels (A E I O U) based on 42 vowels per 100 tiles (42%) in the standard set. (Example: Game has 49 vowels out of 109 total tiles. 49:109 = 0.45; 0.45:0.42 = 1.07; Percent expected vowels = 107%)

Game 003 - October 14, 2009

Total tiles played: 107 
Unplayed tiles: F U G A I 
Power tiles: 11  J Q Z Z _ _ S S S S S 
Tile oddities:  4H  no K  4P  no X  4Y
Percent expected vowels:  96%
Words on final board: 
  9: MODERATES 
  8: DRAGNETS TROLLIED 
  7: ENVIOUS 
  6: BICEPS BUZZES DIALER FLINTY MEDIAN QUERNS ZAPPER 
  5: CHURN CILIA COMBS TUMOR VROOM WEEDY 
  4: AHOY HOBO PAGE YEAR 
  3: HOW JAY LAY VOW 
  2: EH IS YE 



Game 004 - October 14, 2009

Total tiles played: 105 
Unplayed tiles: A L A U G I 
Power tiles: 8  X Z _ _ _ S S S 
Tile oddities:  14A  5G  no J  7L  10N  no Q  4W
Percent expected vowels:  94%
Words on final board: 
  8: DETHRONE 
  7: ANATOMY BLENDER CARAVAN GALLEON HOGWASH SOAPING UNKNOTS VOLTAGE WEIRDER 
  6: HAZING MATRIX WANDER WIRILY 
  5: RICER 
  4: ALOE FOOL MOON TILE 
  3: LED NOW ORE 
  2: AD AG EM EM NO OF 



Game 006 - October 14, 2009

Total tiles played: 111 
Unplayed tiles: B O O 
Power tiles: 16  J J X X Z Z _ S S S S S S S S S 
Tile oddities:  no H  7L  no Q  9S
Percent expected vowels:  90%
Words on final board: 
  8: ELONGATE FELONIES REPLACED 
  7: ATTAINS FOXIEST IMPLIES PORTING SNOOKER SWIVELS TOWARDS 
  6: AWAITS COZIED ORNERY 
  5: ABOUT PANIC STOOL 
  4: JAVA JUNK SEAR VAIN 
  3: JET LEX ZIT 
  2: AS AY TO US 



Game 007 - October 21, 2009

Total tiles played: 101 
Unplayed tiles: A I I S T T R V 
Power tiles: 11  J Z Z Z _ S S S S S S 
Tile oddities:  4M  no P  no Q  10T  no X  3Z
Percent expected vowels:  92%
Words on final board: 
  8: BLEEDERS COLLARDS RUDIMENT 
  7: GAMETES GAUNTER WASTING 
  6: BUTANE LETTER REMOVE 
  5: FOVEA MANIA OFFAL TENTH YACHT 
  4: AWRY JAMB SLUG VEER YARN ZEKS ZOON 
  3: ZOO ZOO 
  2: AS EL RE TO 



Game 010 - October 28, 2009

Total tiles played: 105 
Unplayed tiles: E I O U O H 
Power tiles: 14  J J J Q _ _ _ S S S S S S S 
Tile oddities:  3J  5P  7S  4W  no X  no Z
Percent expected vowels:  90%
Words on final board: 
  9: PINNACLED 
  8: GOVERNOR PUGILIST 
  7: DRESSES JUICIER PASTING 
  6: BRANDY FELINE NOTARY PANTRY WASABI WIDOWS 
  5: HAULS JAPES QUILT SHOVE 
  4: FLAW GANG JIVE KEPT 
  3: OAK RIM 
  2: BY EL OF WE 



Game 020 - November 11, 2009

Total tiles played: 114 
Unplayed tiles: I 
Power tiles: 14  J J Q X Z Z _ _ _ S S S S S 
Tile oddities:  5G  no K  4Y
Percent expected vowels:  96%
Words on final board: 
  9: COURTIERS 
  8: DOMINATE SHIFTING 
  7: EQUATOR GARGLED LIONIZE POSTAGE WAVIEST WHEATEN ZEALOUS 
  6: JAILED LATELY SPONGY 
  5: BIGHT VALOR 
  4: EXAM JAMB PAYS PITA WAVE 
  3: AWE AYA BIO FIE 
  2: AY BE DO EL MA OR 


Game 023 - November 18, 2009

Total tiles played: 111 
Unplayed tiles: L 
Power tiles: 11  J J Q Q Q X _ S S S S 
Tile oddities:  7G  7L  4M  4P  3Q  no Z
Percent expected vowels:  98%
Words on final board: 
  8: QUARTERS RELINKED RUTABAGA 
  7: BOILING CAPPING COLLEGE JANGLES MAIDENS MINCING OUTDATE PLUMPED 
  6: DOORED FAMOUS LIQUOR QUEENS WAVILY 
  5: 
  4: SAGA VIBE 
  3: HOP JOT TOO TUX 
  2: AS EH MU TO 



Game 031 - December 2, 2009

Total tiles played: 105 
Unplayed tiles: Z E T R U E U I O F I I 
Power tiles: 9  J J Q Q Z S S S S 
Tile oddities:  15O  no X  no _
Percent expected vowels: 110%

  7: JOURNAL MEADOWS QUARTER SWATTED UNTRIED VARIANT 
  6: BLAMES CLONER GARGLE JOCKEY QUOTED 
  5: AGAVE MANIA SHOVE SPOOR 
  4: FILE HEAP LOCO NOON TABS WORE 
  3: BUY HAY OHO PUP 
  2: AY EN SO TO YO 



Game 032 - December 2, 2009

Total tiles played: 109 
Unplayed tiles: U O O 
Power tiles: 9  J J Q Z _ _ S S S 
Tile oddities:  9D  5F  no X
Percent expected vowels:  91%
Words on final board: 
  8: TUNNELED TWITCHED 
  7: CORDING COURTED HECKLES OFFERED PROBING 
  6: ABORTS FLORET LOUVER MARBLE PITIED ROUGHS 
  5: QUAIL 
  4: DENY DITZ DUPE DYER JAWS WEAK 
  3: ADO JIG OFF REC THE ZED 
  2: ED OR OS OS PA TI UM 



Game 039 - December 16, 2009

Total tiles played: 108 
Unplayed tiles: T O 
Power tiles: 16  J Q Q X X Z _ _ _ S S S S S S S 
Tile oddities:  4C  7S
Percent expected vowels:  93%
Words on final board: 
  8: CAROUSEL PROFANES STUPIDLY 
  7: ARDUOUS BATHERS DROVERS EDIFICE GRABBED SOILING 
  6: CRAVES MENIAL 
  5: GAZED NONCE 
  4: JINX MEEK QUAG QUAY SEXY SKIP WHIM 
  3: ENS MAY OAF TAG WET 
  2: AY EF OX 



Game 040 - December 16, 2009

Total tiles played: 114 
Unplayed tiles: I 
Power tiles: 11  J J Q Z _ _ _ S S S S 
Tile oddities:  22E  1L  4M  4W  no X
Percent expected vowels: 120%
Words on final board: 
  9: CRABGRASS 
  8: BIGAMIES CAREENED 
  7: DITZIER OUTPRAY SWEETEN 
  6: REWIRE 
  5: AUDIO AWARE GUARD IGLOO JIVER KNOTS QUAYS 
  4: FRAY FREE JEER MEMO MOAN PEAT QUAY 
  3: AGO DIE EYE HOW IVY NEE REF TIE 
  2: EF ER ER IT ME ME OH ON SH 



Game 041 - December 23, 2009

Total tiles played: 109 
Unplayed tiles: I 
Power tiles: 12  J J Q X Z _ _ _ S S S S 
Tile oddities:  no C  1D  18E  no K  12O
Percent expected vowels: 126%
Words on final board: 
  8: OUTEATEN UPRAISES 
  7: ACTIONS AERATOR AVENUES CHAIRED OUTROOT SNOOZED 
  6: BUGLER ENGINE EQUINE FRAMER GAIETY 
  5: GAUZE 
  4: FLEA GATE JAWS JOIN PAIR TAXI 
  3: GEE JAY NOR OWE SOY WEN 
  2: EF HE NO YO 



Game 042 - December 23, 2009

Total tiles played: 113 
Unplayed tiles: V 
Power tiles: 9  J Q Q _ _ _ S S S 
Tile oddities:  5F  5G  4M  4V  no X  no Z
Percent expected vowels:  86%
Words on final board: 
  9: ANNEALING 
  8: CURTAINS PORTENDS 
  7: HEALTHY SQUINTY 
  6: AWOKEN BEREFT EATERY MONIED QUILLS WEDGES 
  5: IVORY QUACK VIGOR 
  4: BRAT COIF DOVE FEET FIGS MELT MUCK 
  3: GOT HAM JAM KEY LOG OAF SEW 
  2: AB AH AS BE EM NO OF PA UT 



Game 043 - December 30, 2009

Total tiles played: 96 
Unplayed tiles: V L O N B A N N I E S Y N O O 
Power tiles: 8  Q _ _ S S S S S 
Tile oddities:  5F  5G  no J  11N  no X  no Z
Percent expected vowels:  86%
Words on final board: 
 11: REINVESTING 
 10:
  9: 
  8: FURTHERS RELAPSER 
  7: AWAITED FOOTMAN 
  6: BENDED GOOFED MATRON TRUNKS 
  5: BREWS CHURN DINGO FIFTY GUAVA QUOTA 
  4: FRET SHAM SNAG WARM 
  3: 
  2: AD AG FA ME NO 

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