Latest revision as of 08:44, 21 January 2025

SCRABBLE players not only play their game with their own dictionary, they have their own language for talking about it. If you don't see your favorite game jargon listed here, please email us at info@scrabbleplayers.org to ask us about it.

A shorter glossary is also available at the back of our official rules.

A

ALPHAGRAM (n)

The alphabetic arrangement of a group of letters. Example: BEGNU is the alphagram of the word BEGUN.

ANAGRAM (n)

A word that is spelled with the exact same letters as another word. Example: RIDES is an anagram of SIRED and vice versa.

B

BABY BINGO (n)

Another term for a BUDGET BINGO.

BACK EXTENSION (n)

A play made by adding two or more letters to the end of an existing word.

BACK HOOK (n)

A letter that can be added to the end of a word to form another word.

BAG (n)

The game equipment in which TILEs that are not yet in play are held.

BALANCE A RACK (v)

Making a play that improves EQUITY by keeping tiles likely to score well on future turns, such as ERS.

BIDIRECTIONAL EXTENSION (n)

A play made by adding at least one letter to each end of an existing word.

BINGO (n, v)

A play that earns a 50-point bonus for using all seven tiles at once. To make such a play.

BINGO-BANGO (n, v)

Two consecutive bingoes by the same player. To make such plays.

BINGO OUT (V)

To play a bingo in the endgame.

BINGO-PRONE TILES (np)

A group of tiles that are likely to produce a bingo. Often used to describe a player's set of three to six tiles just before drawing his or her replacement tiles. Example: ERS?, AL? or AERST.

BLANK (n)

One of the two zero-value TILEs that whose letter value may be DESIGNATEd by the player playing it.

BLANK BINGO (n)

A bingo that includes a blank tile.

BLOCK (v)

To make a play that prevents the opponent from making an important or high-scoring play.

BLUFF (v)

To deliberately play a word that you are not sure is acceptable. This is common and accepted in competitive play.

BOARD (n)

The piece of game equipment on which played TILEs are placed.

BONUS SQUARE (n)

A designated square on the BOARD which affects the score of words played covering it on the first turn in which it is covered.

BRAILLE (v)

To cheat by identifying unseen TILEs by touch.

BUDGET BINGO (n)

A bingo scoring fewer than 60 points.

BURN (v)

To play a power tile for a low score.

C

CASE TILE (n)

The last remaining unplayed tile of a kind.

CHALLENGE (n, v)

A formal objection to the validity of a play. To make such an objection.

CHALLENGE SLIP (n)

The form on which a challenge is recorded prior to its adjudication.

CLOSED (adj)

A BOARD position where there are few places where new words may be added.

COFFEEHOUSE (v)

To speak during play so as to distract or mislead one's opponent.

CONTESTANT SCORECARD (n)

A form on which a player can keep track of their record in a tournament.

COURTESY RULE (n)

The rule under which a player may draw and look at provisional tiles when the opponent takes longer than a designated period to decide whether or not to CHALLENGE a play.

CREDIT (n)

A formerly used alternative measure for ranking players at an event. One once commonly used version awarded 35 credits for playing a game, 5 points for winning a game, -5 points for losing a game and 1 point for every 10 points of spread (signed as necessary), all limited to the range 10~60.

D

DESIGNATE (v)

To record the value of a BLANK when it is played.

DLS (abbr)

DOUBLE LETTER SQUARE.

DOUBLE-BLANK (v)

To draw both of the BLANKs in a game.

DOUBLE-DOUBLE (n, v)

A play that covers two DOUBLE WORD SCOREs. To make such a play.

DOUBLE LETTER SCORE (n)

A BONUS SQUARE which doubles the score of the tile played covering it.

DOUBLE WORD SCORE (n)

A BONUS SQUARE which doubles the score of a word played covering it.

DRAW (v)

To select a tile or tiles from the bag before a turn.

DUMP (v)

To get rid of unwanted tiles, either by playing them onto the BOARD or returning them to the bag, to BALANCE A RACK.

DUPLICATION (n)

The usually undesirable state of having more than one of a TILE on a RACK.

DWS (abbr)

DOUBLE WORD SQUARE.

E

ENDGAME (n)

The part of a game when the BAG is empty.

EXCHANGE (n, v)

The act of using a turn to replace unwanted TILEs with new ones from the BAG. To perform this act.

EQUITY (n)

The statistically expected amount by which one's score will change over the remainder of the game.

EXTENSION (n)

A BACK EXTENSION, BIDIRECTIONAL EXTENSION or FRONT EXTENSION.

F

FISH (n, v)

A play intended to result in the drawing of the tiles needed to play a high-scoring word on the next turn. To make such a play.

FLIGHT (n)

A group of players, often with the same win-loss record, paired together in a round.

FORK THE BOARD (v)

To make a play that opens up more than one part of a board.

FREQUENCY LIST (n)

A printed list of the distribution of tiles in a standard set.

FRONT EXTENSION (n)

A play made by adding two or more letters to the beginning of an existing word.

FRONT HOOK (n)

A letter that can be added to the beginning of a word to form another word.

G

GIBSON (n)

One who has clinched a prize place before the last round, and will be GIBSONIZED.

GIBSONIZATION (n)

The act of GIBSONIZING.

GIBSONIZE (v)

To be paired with opponents out of contention, once one has clinched a prize position.

GO OUT (v)

To play all tiles on one's rack in an endgame.

H

HOLD (v)

To instruct one's opponent not to draw replacement tiles while a player is considering a CHALLENGE.

HOOK (n, v)

A BACK HOOK or FRONT HOOK. To make a play including such a letter.

HOTSPOT (n)

A square on the BOARD that is statistically expected to account for a large number of points scored.

I

J

K

KING-OF-THE-HILL (KOTH) (adj, adv)

Pairing players ranked 1 vs. 2, 3 vs. 4, etc.

L

LANE (n)

A playable open column or ow of spaces or squares on the board.

LATE GAME (n)

The part of a game when there are 1–7 TILEs remaining in the BAG.

LEAVE (n)

The TILEs remaining on a RACK after a play is made and before any replacement tiles are drawn.

LETTER TILE (n)

A TILE that has a letter on it, as opposed to a BLANK.

LEXICON (n)

The list of words considered to be valid in a game.

LINE (n)

Another term for LANE.

M

N

NATURAL (adj)

Of a word played, made without using a BLANK.

NEUTRALIZE (v)

To stop (a clock), as during a challenge or rule dispute.

NONBINGO (n)

A word that is not a BINGO.

NONGO (n)

An unplayable BINGO.

O

OPEN (adj)

A board where there are many places for new words may be added.

OPENING PLAY (n)

The first word placed on the board.

OVERDRAW (v)

To draw more tiles from the bag than is appropriate.

P

PARALLEL PLAY (n)

A word played parallel to another word. Example: With MAR on the board, LATE is a parallel play:

  
    M  A  R
    L  A  T  E

PASSING (n)

A move where a player does not exchange tiles or make a play on the board. The player scores zero and says "Pass!" and starts opponent's timer. It is now opponent's turn.

PHONEY (n)

A word that, although not in the lexicon, is played.If a phoney is not challenged when it's played, however, it will stay on the board for the remainder of the game.

POINT SPREAD (n)

Another term for SPREAD.

POWER TILE (n)

Any of the following 10 tiles: the two blanks, the four Ss and the J, Q, X and Z.

PREPRINTED TRACKING SHEET (n)

A sheet of paper that has printed on it either the alphabet or a partial or complete list of the 100 lettered tiles used in a Scrabble game. Also called FREQUENCY LIST. See TRACKING.

Q

R

RACK (n)

The piece of game equipment used to hold TILEs in the possession of a player.

RACK BALANCE (n)

See BALANCE A RACK.

RACK MANAGEMENT (n)

The policy of managing your leave each turn to be as flexible as possible. In this case flexible means your leave will combine with as many draws as possible to form seven-letter racks that score well.

RATING (n)

A representation of how well a player is playing in relation to other players. For every sanctioned NASPA tournament, a new rating is computed for each of the contestants. The higher the rating, the more skillful the player. Ratings currently range from 400-2100.

ROUND (n)

A set of games scheduled concurrently in club or tournament play. There are seven or eight rounds (games) per day at most tournaments.

S

SAND TIMER (n)

A three-minute hourglass formerly used in clubs and tournaments to time each player&rsquol;s turn.

SECOND OPINION (n)

A request for a second person to review a word challenge or rule adjudication if a player believes the Word Judge has made a mistake. If the second opinion contradicts the original one, a third opinion may be called for.

SEPARATED (adj)

Pertaining to a word played, made using existing tiles on the board, at least two of which are not contiguous.

SIMULATION (n)

Use of a computer program that can play out positions thousands of times very quickly to determine which play is worth more in the long run. For instance, PLAY #1 may immediately give you 30pt while Play #2 gives you 20pt. But in the long run, Play #2 may allow you to follow it up with plays that earn 5 more points than Play #1 (combining both this turn's play with next turn's play and considering your rack leave after that). In simpler terms, this may mean that if you play out this position 2000 times, you'll wind up earning 5 more points with Play #2 than with Play #1. This also takes into account how many points your opponent will earn. Simulation is an excellent tool for Scrabble game analysis, although it isn't foolproof. But sometimes an expert player will strongly disagree with these results due to extraneous factors: naive simulation randomizes opponent's rack (sometimes we have information about opponent's rack) and also only gives a point score evaluation of various plays - not winning chances.

SPREAD (n)

The difference between the winning and losing score of a game. Example: If the score of a game is 350-280, then the spread is +70pt for the winner and -70pt for the loser.

STEM (n)

A five- and six-letter combination of letters that are so useful for forming bingos that lists of bingos have been printed that use these five- and six-letter stems. Some of the more useful stems are: STARE, STANE, RETINA, SATINE, SATIRE. By learning these lists and saving these letters, players will be able to play bingos more often.

STICK (v)

To leave a high-point tile in the bag that one's opponent cannot play on the board in an endgame.

SUBANAGRAM (n)

A word that can be made from some of the letters of a longer word, suitably rearranged.

T

TEAM GAME (n)

A Scrabble game played with at least three people and as many as six or eight. Only two sides compete with one rack each. Each team discusses their potential plays before making the final play on the board. A team game is a good vehicle for teaching or for simply having a lighter, more sociable atmosphere during a game. Talking is permitted, though each side tries to keep from revealing too much information about their tiles to the opposing team.

TILE (n)

Any of the 100 playing pieces which the game is played: a BLANK or LETTER TILE.

TIME PRESSURE (n)

The condition of not having enough time left on one’s clock to play as well as one would like.

TOTAL (CUMULATIVE) SPREAD (n)

Over the course of many games, the plus (+) or minus (-) spread for each game added together. At the end of a tournament, each player has a total spread for the event.

TOURNAMENT CLOCK (n)

Often called a chess clock. It is actually two clocks housed in one case. Sanctioned tournament games are timed using these clocks. Each player has 25 minutes to play the entire game. After making a play, the player starts his/her opponent's time by pressing one of the two buttons on the top of the clock. The game continues in this fashion until finished. Players are penalized 10 points per minute for every minute or fraction thereof used over the allotted 25.

TRACK (v)

To count the tiles played so as to determine which tiles are as yet unplayed.

TRACKING SHEET (n)

A form listing all of the tiles in a complete set, so that they can be crossed out while TRACKing.

TRADING TILES (v)

Another term for EXCHANGING TILES.

TRIPLE LANE (n)

A LANE that includes a Triple Word Score.

TRIPLE-TRIPLE (n)

A play that covers two Triple Word Squares. The bonus for covering two TWSs on one play: multiply by nine the sum of the value of the letters of the Triple-Triple word. The sum should include the extra values earned from any DLS covered that turn.

TURNOVER (n)

Playing as many tiles as possible in order to draw as many new tiles as possible. By playing for turnover (usually using 5 or 6 tiles in one play), a player maximizes his/her chances for drawing the better tiles - in order from first to fifth they are: blank, S, E, X, Z. If you have played 60 tiles in a game, you had a 60% chance of drawing the good tiles. That's a 50% better chance than your opponent had.

TWO(S)-TO-MAKE-THREES (n)

Two-letter words that will take a third letter placed either in front or back to form a three-letter word. Example: AN is a two-to-make-three because BAN, CAN, etc., as well as AND, ANT, and ANY, are words. The three-letter word, BAN, CAN, and ANT, and ANY, are also known as two-to-make-threes.

U

V

W

WORD JUDGE

Software used to adjudicate word challenges.

A staff member formerly designated to adjudicate players’ word challenges at clubs and tournaments.

X

Y

Z