Words With ScrabbleScrabble, Words With Friends, Lexulous

Review by for Scrabble Crossword Game
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Scrabble is one of the best, most challenging games invented. Up to four players choose seven letter tiles each, and they must use them to produce words that connect with other tiles already on the board to form horizontal and vertically arranged words — like a crossword puzzle. Sound easy to play? It is. But it’s not easy to master.I grew up playing this game, and now that my children are learning to read they are being introduced to the game. The only complaint I’ve heard about the game is that it can take a while to finish. That aside, this is an excellent game — it makes players think not only about what words they can make with their letters, but about game strategy as well. That is, how to best use their letters to maximize their own score while providing as few opportunities for opponents to build.A great game for building critical thinking and spelling and vocabulary skills.5 stars all the way!

Review by Peter Durward Harris for Scrabble Crossword Game
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Scrabble is a word game that anybody can play as long as they can spell in the language in which the game is being played. It can be a lot of fun but it’s wise to have a dictionary at hand to settle disputes that arise when somebody creates a dubious word or spelling. The dictionary should only be used to settle disputes – leafing through its pages trying to find a word that fits your letters is definitely cheating. The game is intended to be played by between two and four players but it is possible to practise alone and I’ll explain how later, though it isn’t as much fun as playing against another person. If more than four people are available, they can either team up or just find something else to use instead of racks to hold the tiles.

Scrabble comes in various editions but all of them have certain things in common. There are 100 tiles each with a letter on them, four racks (one to hold each payer’s tiles) and a bag into which all tiles are placed at the start of the game and from which all players draw letters as the game progresses. The main playing area is a board of 15 x 15 squares, most of which are of a standard gray color. Some squares are red, pink, dark blue or pale blue – these are premium-scoring squares (triple word, double word, triple letter, double letter respectively). NOTE – as somebody pointed out in a comment on this review, it is now possible to buy a larger version with more tiles and a board with more squares, but I was unaware of this when I wrote my review.

To begin with, each player draws seven tiles from the bag. The first player makes a word from any or all of their letters and places it on the board, beginning, ending or crossing the central square, which automatically gives them a double word score. (it is pink) and replaces the used tiles with a corresponding number of tiles from the bag. Subsequently, players take turns to create a new word (thereby building a crossword on the board), attempting to score as many points as possible. Any tiles added must all form part of one word and link to tiles already on the board but strategy as well as vocabulary is useful.

Most of the time, you just place letters focusing on an existing tile on the board, using that tile as part of the word you create, However, if you have a letter S in your rack, you may be able to add it to the end of an existing word while also using it as part of a word of your own, if there is clear room on the board for you to do so. Thus, you score for your own word but you also score for the word that you made into a plural. This is just one example of how you can (sometimes) score for more than one word while sticking to the rules, but it teaches you not to waste S letters – keep them for when they can be most effectively used.

When there are no more tiles in the bag, play continues until one player uses up all their tiles or nobody is able to. At that point, points on unused tiles still in players’ racks are deducted from their score.

To play alone is quite simple, if less satisfying. The object is to score as many points as possible. Obviously, scoring is much easier since you can build the crossword in a very open design – you aren’t trying to block your opponents – but if you find that those opponents usually beat you, a bit of practice on your own might improve your chances of beating them in future.

So, if you decide to buy Scrabble, it comes down to deciding whether to buy the Deluxe edition (if you can afford it), the Travel edition (for taking away from home with you) or the standard edition. Just make sure you have that dictionary at hand to settle disputes, otherwise it won’t be much fun.

Review by for Scrabble Crossword Game
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the board will not lay flat and this presents a real inconvenience. otherwise the game is wonderful and stimulating to the mind. As I said however, am disenchanted with the board construction.

Review by for Scrabble Crossword Game
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Scrabble is the ultimate board game. In the game (for 1-4 players), you try to get the highest score by forming crosswords of the highest possible values. When it is your turn, you have to put down a word on the board, which connects with a word that is already on the board. You get points by taking advantage of the letter values, as well as premium squares which can double or triple the letter values, or double or triple the word value! This game has given me hours of fun, and I have learned many new words in the meantime.

What I don’t like about the Standard version of Scrabble is that my tiles always seem to slide out of place and create a mess. If your willing to pay a little more, you should check out the Deluxe version of Scrabble which includes a raised grid, in which your tiles easily fit into, and a special bag which, makes the storage of tiles easy, and makes drawing tiles easier too. I personally love the Deluxe version, but the Standard version of Scrabble is still good.

Review by D. Erbe for Scrabble Diamond Anniversary Edition
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I’m a longtime Scrabble fan, and a member of the National Scrabble Association, and I’ve played at clubs and in a couple of tournaments. I’m a bit of a Scrabble collector, and I am kind of obsessed with finding the perfect Scrabble board! This is a really good board for everyday play or for taking with you to play at a friend’s house. It’s a very elegant design, with many improvements over previous versions, and I like it a lot. But still, it is not quite perfect.

Let’s start with the good points:

It folds in half, so it takes much less storage space than previous versions, and there’s no cardboard box to get ruined. And the fold is on one of the grid lines, not right through the center of the center column, so it doesn’t hurt the aesthetic. The closure is a hidden magnet, which is pretty sleek. And there’s even a handle for easy carrying. All the tiles and racks fit into the two slide out trays, so you don’t have to worry about pieces falling out when you open the board. There’s no clear plastic grid covering the board like the 50th anniversary set and other previous editions, which is great, because I always had a problem with glare on those versions. But there’s still a raised grid to keep the letters in place. The entire board rotates on wheels on the bottom of the board, and the wheels are wisely aligned to force it to rotate about a fixed point, instead of rolling all over the table.

I only have a few complaints that prevent me from giving it 5 stars:

1.) They changed the color scheme of the board! They switched the double word and triple word colors, and the triple letter is now lime green instead of dark blue. I guess it doesn’t matter that much, but I don’t like them messing with tradition in this case, especially on an Anniversary edition board. It just doesn’t feel like an official Scrabble board if the colors aren’t right. In fact, I probably wouldn’t use this board at a club or tournament, just because the color scheme makes it look more like a kid’s toy than a serious adult game. I sure hope they go back to the traditional colors on future editions.

2.) The racks are curved – I’m not sure if this is good or bad yet, but I don’t really see the advantage to it, and I think it will take some getting used to. The tiles still seem to slide ok on the rack.

3.) The instruction book is just barely too wide to fit in the drawers without bending. Of course I’ll never need to use the instruction book, but it seems likely to get ruined this way, and it would be nice to keep everything in good shape. I don’t see why they couldn’t have made it 1/4″ narrower so it fits neatly in the drawer.

4.) Even with the curved edges, the board will still hit your rack when it rotates if you’re not careful (but it doesn’t knock your letters off your rack, which is good). A completely circular board would be ideal.

5.) The list of 2-letter words in the instruction book is not up to date with the 4th edition word list (QI and ZA are missing), even though it was printed in 2008! Again, experienced players will never look at the instruction book, but that’s not good for new players, and it’s kind of a suprising oversight.

Most of these complaints are pretty minor. Overall, I’m very pleased with this board, and it seems to me they are one step closer to designing the perfect board!

Review by Cynthia J. Salim for Scrabble Diamond Anniversary Edition
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I love SCRABBLE but I am disappointed with the DIAMOND ANNIVERSARY (60 year) Edition of the game. Perhaps I expected too much based on the wonderful 50 Year Edition of SCRABBLE. I love the 50 year edition and play it often so I jumped at the chance to add yet another SCRABBLE game to my collection. The manufacturer did have an innovative board design which makes the game more portable. The board folds in half to become a hard plastic case with built in handles. Unfortunately, the tile racks are cheap, there is no timer and the colors on the board aren’t attractive. I doubt that I’ll play with this version of the game unless I am traveling.

Review by M. Greene for Scrabble Diamond Anniversary Edition
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This is a great edition of the classic Scrabble game. I really liked the design of the molded plastic case which opened up to reveal a raised-grid to keep your tiles in place. The unit is rugged and sturdy and would travel quite well thanks to the built-in handle and all-in-one construction. The bottom of the case has wheels to allow for easy pivoting from player-to-player and has two slide-out drawers that hold all of the game pieces. Speaking of game pieces, this inludes snazzy black wooden tiles with silver lettering, a soft velvety bag to hold them in and futuristic rounded tile-stands in clear red plastic (as opposed to the wooden ones of days of yore). The design of the actual playfield is less striking than previous versions as this one seems “candy-coated”, but is still nice enough.

Review by Frenchie for Scrabble Diamond Anniversary Edition
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A turntable Scrabble, with a raised grid (no letters sliding all over the board!), and fold up. Very easy to carry and fits nicely on shelves at home. All that for under $[…]. Very nice. I like the black tiles.

However:

-the drawers are not well made, and are a little annoying to handle. It feels they will open anywhere…

-the bag has only one drawstring, not two. This seems like a detail, but the result is that it does not stay close, and re-opens itself.

The combined result of the bag and the drawer = high risk of losing tiles. (in fact, a friend of mine lost two letters the very first time she took the game somewhere…)

-no score pad.

-no sand timer.

(the last two items would be expected in a “diamond anniversary edition”, although the price is low, so …fair enough)

-the curved racks take more space. If you play on a cafe type table at a Scrabble club, it does not fit. Ugh.

-I would have liked a better guide. For example, my game did not have the two word list. In an anniversary edition, I would have liked to see more. Maybe a past newsletter of NSA, or a short history of the game etc.

-I’m with a lot of the other reviewers on the colors: To me, the original colors are part of the Scrabble history, it’s a little disappointing. Besides, they should have kept the same meaning, “triple letter”, for the red, the one color they kept.

The overall result of all these “vibrant” colors is a bit overstimulating — which was clearly the point (I hope the next anniversary edition won’t feature flashing light up tiles and cell phone type ringers on the high value tiles!) but it’s not too bad.

Overall, good value and nice features. It’s a good game for home and to take along…(but keep it in a bag so the drawers don’t open on the way!)

Review by Claudia E. Drosen for Scrabble Diamond Anniversary Edition
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I have every edition of Scrabble from the 1950s through the present, so I’m kind of a die-hard. That being said, this Diamond Edition is a newly revamped Scrabble game…what could better raise the heartrate of a word nerd?

The new set is very cheerful looking and the board finally moves so all can push it around and really see what’s what. The curved racks are great. Just a few down sides. One is, they use the same color in this edition for the double letter score that they used for the triple letter score in the original, and the color that was the triple word score in the original is now the color for the double word score! I love that this set looks more like eye candy, but couldn’t they have thought up a few slightly different hues for those spots, instead of changing what we’re all used to? I’m not a reactionary – I love change, but this just seems sort of unnecessary. It is annoying for quite a while, but one can adapt. The other minor thing is that there’s no score pad. That is greatly outweighed, however, by the fact that this great set can be easily toted around because it folds up into a neat little lunch-boxy thing. You can leave your Onyx edition with the box the size of New Jersey at home.

Thanks, Scrabble. We’ll see you at the Platinum Edition??