Final Exam - Scrabble

Question 1

Alphagram

Answer 1

The alphabetic arrangement of a group of letters.

Question 2

Anagram

Answer 2

The word formed using the same letters of another word.

Question 3

Bingo

Answer 3

A word that uses all the seven letters on the rack

Question 4

Bingo-Prone Tiles

Answer 4

A group of tiles that is likely to produce a bingo.

Question 5

Blocking

Answer 5

The act of playing a word on the board that stops the opponent from making a potentially large score. It also refers to the act of playing words that make it harder for either player to score many points.

Question 6

Bluffing

Answer 6

The act of deliberately playing a phoney word. This is considered ethical and a strategy used even by many experts.

Question 7

Brailling

Answer 7

Feeling the surface of a tile while hand is in the bag with the intention of drawing a blank tile or other specific letters. This is not allowed.

Question 8

Challenge

Answer 8

An opponent calls “challenge” when s/he thinks a play is not acceptable or the word or words are not in the Official Scrabble Wordlist (OSW) or Collins Dictionary. A Word Judge is called to verify which words are acceptable or not.

Question 9

Closed Board

Answer 9

The opposite of an open board: when there are limited openings or positions to play bingos or other high-scoring moves.

Question 10

Coffee-housing

Answer 10

The act of conversing, making small talk or doing anything to distract or mislead your opponent. This is unethical and strictly forbidden during games. It is considered impolite to talk during a game unless it has to do with the score or the play.

Question 11

Endgame

Answer 11

The part of the game where there are less than seven tiles left to draw from the bag.

Question 12

Extension

Answer 12

A word or set of letters added at the end of the word to form a new word. E.g QUEEN + DOM, where DOM is the extension, forming QUEENDOM.

Question 13

Fishing

Answer 13

To play only one or two tiles, usually for few points, keeping the five or six good tiles, hoping to play a high-scoring word next turn.

Question 14

Hold

Answer 14

A player calls “Hold” when his opponent plays a word and he is unsure of challenging the move or not. “Hold” signals the player not to draw new tiles either until the “hold” is cancelled or the challenge is officially resolved.

Question 15

Hook

Answer 15

A letter that will form a new word when it is played in the front or at the end of a word already on the board. Example: With RACE on the board, the letters D, R, and S are (end) hooks since RACED, RACER, and RACES are acceptable. Similarly, the letters G and T can be (front) hooks since GRACE and TRACE are acceptable.

Question 16

Leave

Answer 16

The group of tiles left on a player’s rack after making a move.

Question 17

Open Board

Answer 17

When the arrangement of words on the board provides a number of places to position high-scoring moves or bingos.

Question 18

Overdrawing

Answer 18

When a player draws more tiles from the bag than is appropriate.

Question 19

Parallel Play

Answer 19

A word played parallel to another word. Example: With TEA on the board, ADD can be played parallel to

Question 20

Passing

Answer 20

Foregoing a player’s turn by not exchanging tiles and not making a play on the board. The player’s score would be zero. S/he says ‘Pass!’; and starts opponent’s timer.

Question 21

Phoney

Answer 21

Any unacceptable word that is not found in the official scrabble wordlist.

Question 22

Rack Balancing

Answer 22

Playing a word that allows you to retain letters on your rack that will most likely help you score well in your next turn. This means retaining a balanced number of vowels and consonants on your rack.

Question 23

Rack Management

Answer 23

Managing your leave each turn to be as flexible as possible to allow the player to combine these tiles with other tiles that are drawn to form seven-letter racks.

Question 24

Spread

Answer 24

It is the difference between the winning and losing scores of a game. Example: If the final scores are 330 and 315, the spread is +15 for the winner and -15 for the loser.

Question 25

Stems

Answer 25

Stems are five- and six-letter combinations of letters that are useful for forming bingos. Examples of these stems are ANTES, STARE, TISANE, and SATIRE.

Question 26

Tracking

Answer 26

The process of keeping track of the letters played on the board. A player who diligently tile tracks will have an advantage as the game progresses especially during the endgame.

Question 27

Give examples of consonant-only two-letter words.

Answer 27

SH, ST, KY, NY, CH, MM, HM, BY, MY

Question 28

Give examples of vowel-only two-letter words.

Answer 28

EA, EE, OE, AA, IO, OI, OO, OU