Games can be entertaining and educative at the same time. This is why parents need to encourage their children to invest more time in the right playtime activities. Every game should spark up interest in a child which would be profitable in the long run.

Example:

A little girl spends her playtime carving paper characters and props for her little theatre. She lives in a world of imagination but it does not stop here. This little fun activity can blossom into an ability to create great stories, plays or movies.

No game time is wasted time when the right energy is invested into the right things. Scrabble game is one of those right things to learn and master.

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What is Scrabble game?

Scrabble is a board game of 2 to 4 players. It involves forming words and placing them on “hotspots” available on the board to score great points.

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Scrabble 101:

For beginners you will need:

• Scrabble dictionary, preferable Collins Scrabble Dictionary
• Timer
• Paper or standard Scrabble board
• Racks
• Tiles
• Pen
• Plain sheet of paper

Tile bag with tiles

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How to play Scrabble

Step I: Gather Your Materials

Every tile bag should contain the standard 100 tiles required. Note this letter distribution.

Step II:

The game begins with each player choosing a random tile from the bag. Players are selected chronologically, depending on the letters of the alphabet they pick.
For instance:
Dara and Mfon are about to start a game. Dara picks G while Mfon picks A. Mfon will have to go first.

Then both tiles are returned to the bag.

Step III:

Mfon goes ahead to draw 7 new tiles. And Dara follows suit.

Step IV:

The first player Mfon plays the letters on her rack. It must be connected to the square in the middle of the board. Tiles can be placed horizontally, vertically or parallel but never diagonally.

Let's say she has the letters E, T, D, H, E, A and E

Her best move is HEATED and she scores 28 points.

H is placed on the square that says "double letter" and the value of the letter becomes 4 x 2 which equals 8. Every other tile maintains its original value.

See this:
8 + 1 + 1 +1 + 1+ 2= 14
Because it is played on the orange square here which signifies a double word, the value of the tiles is multiplied by 2 which will give the total score of 28.

Step V:

The next player, Dara takes her turn. She has R, E, E, G, Z, J and a blank on her rack.

She plays the word GEEZER

While placing the G on "double letter" which doubles its value i.e 2 x 2 = 4.
The blank is E but takes no value.

Although Dara forms one word, parallelizing it also forms EH, EE, ZA, ET and RE.

How to calculate her score:

GEEZER = 17
EH =5
EE = 2
ZA = 11
ET = 1 (Because the blank doesn't carry any value)
RE = 2
Total = 38

Note that the double word RE is connected to does not count here as it had been already used.

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Benefits of playing Scrabble game

The game of Scrabble goes beyond knowing words. It requires effective skills and techniques.

• Builds the vocabulary: Scrabble words are different from conventional words or everyday words. To get better, it is advisable to get a good Scrabble dictionary which also provides the definitions for these words.

• Keeps the brain active
  Playing this game consistently contributes immensely to keeping the brain active. It's very beneficial for both the young and old. Scrabble, like music, makes kids brilliant as it involves calculations and memorization. It also improves their academic performance.

• It encourages socialization.
  When people of like mind meet, there is bound to be growth.

• It is very profitable
  Some people are professionals in the game.

• It entertains and educates.

In subsequent posts, I will share how to become a pro in Scrabble. Thanks for reading.

Do you play Scrabble or any board game?

This is the link to my introduction post

Special Mention

@ngoenyi
@emyekanem
@benson6