• How to start a new game
  • How to load a saved game
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Known bugs
  • During the game
    When the game gets started, you will see the empty board, with the names of the players and their scores to the right. Above the board is a Menu button and a button that shows the first player's name.
    Click on the button to show the first player's tiles. If you don't want the other players to see your tiles, then they must not look at the screen. This is what the button is for.
    You can detach the individual parts of the window (the button-bar, the score list, and the tile rack) to have them as individual windows, or you can dock them onto other edges of the board if you prefer.
  • Making a word:
  • Click on the tiles (don't drag them). Form a word by clicking on the tiles in the appropriate order, and they will form a row of letters above your rack. If you made a mistake, you can click on letters on this top row, and they will jump back onto your rack.
  • Laying a word:
  • To put your word, move your mouse over the board (don't drag the tiles). When the word is where you want it to be, click the left mouse button. The word will be placed and the points will automatically be calculated and added to your score.
    If the word is not in the dictionary, you will be asked if you are absolutely sure the word exists. If you click yes, the word will be added to the dictionary. Note, however, that the English dictionary is the official Scrabble dictionary, and hence words that are not in it should not be accepted.
    If you want to lay a word across a letter that is already on the board (for example, you have R, O, Y and L, and there is an A on the board, so you want to lay ROYAL), then select only the letters that you would lay (i.e. ROYL). When you move your mouse over the board, you will see that the letters "flow around" the tiles that are already on the board (i.e. ROY appears in front of the A and the L behind it, if you move the mouse 3 spaces away from the A).
  • The premium squares:
  • Cyan = Double Letter Score
    Navy = Triple Letter Score
    Pink = Double Word Score
    Red = Triple Word Score
    The double letter/word score have two little spikes on each side of the square. Similarly, the triple scores have three.
  • Across / down:
  • Click the right mouse button on the board to switch between horizontal and vertical placement.
  • Exchanging letters:
  • See Game Menu / Pass below.
  • Exchanging blanks:
  • If there is a blank on the board, and you have the letter for which it was used, then you can put your own letter on the board and take the blank onto your rack. To do this, make sure your top row is empty, then double-click the blank on the board.
  • Computer players:
  • The computer player will not show its tiles until you click Finish Game (see below).
  • Game Menu:
  • By clicking the menu button you can pop up a menu of options and commands:
    Information: Here you can find out about the frequency and value of each letter and you can show a list of all words beginning with a particular letter.
    Database Commands: (only visible when a wordlist is shown). Here you can add and delete words to/from the database.
    Save Game: Saves the game. You can then quit the game. You will be able to resume it by clicking the Load Game button on the main screen. You can save several games. They will be listed when you click Load Game.
    Hint: You can ask the computer to give you a hint. A submenu will pop up where you can select the strength at which the computer will try to find a possibility. In official Scrabble, obviously, this is cheating.
    Pass: Choosing this will make you skip a go. You can use this to exchange some of your tiles (i.e. put them back into the reserve and draw new tiles). Simply click all the tiles you want to exchange into the top row (i.e. as if you would want to make a word out of them) and then choose Pass. Next turn you will see that these letters are gone and new ones were drawn.
    Finish Game: Choosing this will: a) Show each player's tiles. b) Reduce their scores by the values of these tiles. c) Declare a winner. You can then choose Abort Game to return to the main screen.
    Abort Game: Gets you back to the main screen directly.
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