Everything Scrabble (Updated and Revised)

This is the updated and revised edition from 2001, a make-over of the book from 1994. This is a much better book than Edley's The Official Scrabble Puzzle Book from 1997. There are puzzles here as well, but there is just so much more INFORMATION that I would put this book in another league. No aspiring tournament player can afford to be innocent of the knowledge in Everything Scrabble. Of course authors Edley (three-time national Scrabble champion) and Williams (National Scrabble Association executive director) do NOT tell all. I mean something has to be held in reserve, some tricks and traps and secret knowledge just in case they get the itch to play tournament Scrabble again. In a way I am reminded of poker books rather than chess books. Chess book authors can go ahead and tell all (except for their opening preparations!) because in chess it isn't so much what you know as to what depth and how fast you can calculate. The authors here are more like poker players in that they tell you some of the tricks but they hold back the really esoteric stuff because in Scrabble, knowledge really is power, including knowledge of your opponent. Scrabble is a game that can be seen as intermediate between poker and chess as far as luck and skill go. Unlike chess there is a clear element of chance involved in any given game--although not as much as in a comparable amount of poker playing. And unlike poker there is a considerable element of calculation needed on any given move. Tournament games run 25 minutes for each player, but there are situations that arise where you could spend half an hour on a play and still not exhaust the possibilities. Where Scrabble differs from the other two games is in the amount of pure, before-game knowledge needed to play a strong tournament game. This book helps in that department. For example you absolutely need to know all the 96 two-letter words by heart (pages 19 and 20 and again on page 324 for good measure). And don't even think about playing without knowing a whole slew of Q-words, with and without the "u." But what really separates the tournament players from the amateurs is knowledge of a large number of esoteric and unusual Bingo words like (Lord help us) "areolae" or the ever-popular (NOT!) "zooecia." (From the lists in Appendix 4). The first part of the book is "Getting Better Quickly." This is for beginners and near beginners: using the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary (essential, by the way, for settling disputes and normalizing play); shuffling the tiles in your rack to make words appear; using the twos; introduction to rack management, etc. Part 2 is called "Advanced Play" and gets deeper into rack management, what to leave for the next turn and what to play, when to exchange tiles; how to spot "phoneys"; and whether to open the game or keep it closed. Part 3 is devoted to puzzles. Part 4 introduces the reader to the world of Scrabble tournaments and clubs (a nice feature) and Part 5 con

As an avowed Scrabble enthusiast, I found this book to be both interesting and illuminating. I would estimate that most people who read this book can expect to improve their average score by at least 50 or 60 points. It also gives a glimpse into the strange world of true Scrabble masters and competitive Scrabble. Everyone from a total newbie to an experienced veteran will find something for himself in this text.

Along with the official third edition of the Scrabble dictionary, this is all you'll ever need to become a competent player. It's worth the price just to get the lists of 2-letter, then 3-letter add-on words. Lots of exercises if you're really into it. I play on the computer and have dramatically improved my score with this. As other reviewers have noted, just be sure the words listed are also in the official dictionary--they're not hard to spot and if you make a mistake and get challenged once you'll never forget to avoid them thereafter!

If you want to beat your friends every time when playing scrabble then this is the book for you. It will help you with the most important move in scrabble - the two letter words. That alone is enough reason to buy the book not to mention the hundreds of other helpful tecniques.

Everything Scrabble will teach you everything you need to know to become a competitive club or tournament level Scrabble player. It gives you a basic outline on improving your game. While the word lists themselves are slightly outdated, they are accurate for the most part. A word's acceptability depends upon which word source is used. The 2nd edition of The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary contained certain "offensive" terms such as "goy" (a non-Jewish person). These words were eliminated in the family friendly edition (3rd edition of The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary). The Official Word List (OWL)is the word list used in sanctioned tournaments of the National Scrabble Association. It contains words such as "goy". Everything Scrabble is the best "How-To" book on Scrabble that I've run across. I heartily recommend it to all beginning, mid-level, and starting tournament players.