Scrabble rules

Challenging a word

A word may be challenged until the next player takes their turn. Look it up in whichever dictionary you agreed on before the game.

• If the word is not valid, the tiles come off the board and the player who played it loses their turn.
• If the word is valid, the challenger loses their turn instead.

That last part is the home rule and it makes challenging expensive. Tournament play mostly uses free challenges, where a wrong challenge costs nothing, so players challenge far more often.

Blank tiles

A blank can stand for any letter and scores zero, even on a premium letter square. Say which letter it represents as you play it, and it stays that letter for the rest of the game.

A blank on a double or triple word square still doubles or triples the whole word. It is only the letter score that is zero.

The seven tile bonus

Use all seven tiles from your rack in a single turn and you score an extra 50 points, on top of everything else. It is called a bingo, and it is where games are won.

Premium squares

A premium square counts only when a tile is first placed on it. Later words that cross that square score normally.

Letter premiums apply before word premiums. A word covering two double word squares is doubled twice, which is four times. The centre star counts as a double word square for the opening play.

Ending the game

The game ends when the bag is empty and one player uses their last tile. That player adds the total of every other player’s remaining tiles to their score, and each other player subtracts their own remaining tiles.

If nobody can go out, the game ends after six consecutive scoreless turns, and everyone simply subtracts their rack.

Exchanging tiles

Instead of playing, you may exchange any number of tiles, as long as at least seven tiles remain in the bag. Put yours face down, draw replacements, then return yours to the bag. Your turn is over.

Questions