Portage County Literacy Council

UN-SCRABBLE® Event

Rules

For a printable version of the rules, click here.

Each team consists of four players. The four players of each team play timed games of SCRABBLE®. The total number of points accumulated on the board is the team score for each round. The sum of the scores for all rounds is the team score for the evening. The team with the highest total score wins.

At the beginning of each round each player takes 7 letter tiles. Blank tiles will not be used. If a player draws a blank tile, it is put aside and the player draws another tile.

At the beginning of play, the judges will give each team a pre-chosen seven-letter word spelled out on a piece of cardboard that can be laid across seven squares of the SCRABBLE® board. Each team gets the same word, e.g. READING. The word is placed across the middle squares of the board with the fourth letter covering the Star.

Teams begin spelling words in regular SCRABBLE® crossword fashion building off the predetermined word. Play differs from a regular SCRABBLE® game as follows:

Teams may take turns going around the table, each player spelling a word in turn, or they can all make words together. In any case they may all look at each other’s letters and share letters in spelling words.

When the team has spelled a word, they can take replacement letters so each player has 7 letters again.

Each team will keep its own score. The teams will score points according to the usual rules of SCRABBLE® counting the point values on the tiles and any double or triple letter or word squares. If more than one double or triple letter square is covered by the same word, all squares are multiplied. Please remember, each point bonus square only counts once. (There are no points counted for the initial pre-chosen word that starts every round and there are no bonus points given for words of seven or more letters.)

The judge will disallow any words that are not found in the English dictionary or that are proper nouns. The penalty for putting down a misspelled or illegal word is removal of the word and a deduction of points equal to the point value of the word (including any double or triple letter or word squares). The official dictionary used for this event will be Webster’s Third New International Dictionary of the English Language.)

Each player will start with 7 letters (28 letters for the team of four) and will replenish letters after each word is spelled. But teams may also buy additional letters at the following rate:

1 letter for $2
3 letters for $5
7 letters for $10

Extra letters will be chosen randomly from a grab bag. They will be printed on card stock that can be differentiated from regular SCRABBLE letters so they can be easily removed from the set at the end of the game. Unused extra letters are kept until used or until the end of the round and add to the team’s total of usable letters.

Each round ends when the official timing device sounds.

At the end of the evening the judges will total up the scores for all rounds and announce the winning team.

CHANGES FROM LAST YEAR:

Bonuses are awarded for spelling sponsor's names in the following amounts: Event sponsor = forty points; triple word sponsor = thirty points; double word sponsor = twenty points; triple letter sponsor = ten points.

Tiles can be replenished after each word rather than after four words.

We are providing score sheets to turn in after each round so we can check words.

Strategies for Success

Under the special rules of this SCRABBLE® event the following suggestions may be helpful:

Cooperate. Players may work together to spell words using letters from any player’s rack.

If it helps, put all the team’s letters together so you can see them all at once.

Buy some extra letters.

Avoid the penalty for misspelled words by buying a dictionary peek.

If you can’t think of a long word, spell a short one and move on. Remember the total number of all words on the board at the end of a round is what counts.

Try to spell words in places that will allow you to use the double and triple letter and word squares.

Have fun. Remember it’s all in a good cause.