# Novel variant of Scrabble? Probably not. **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [October 18, 2019, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novel-variant-of-scrabble-probably-not/841967 "2019-10-18T19:41:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2019, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novel-variant-of-scrabble-probably-not/841967/1 "2019-10-18T19:41:12Z")
Things panned out in an interesting way, at the start of a recent game of Scrabble between myself and my regular opponent. His-and-my way with the game is not highly competitive – a big part of the fun for us, is discovering new and often strange words in the English language. We allow, pre-putting-down of a word on the board, unlimited dictionary-consulting to find whether a dreamt-up word in fact exists (we are always finding ourselves amazed by how often it does !). It just so came about that in this game, with me to start: the best I could do was the word OBEY, with the E on the central “starting star”. This scored me 18. My opponent – also not gifted with a wonderful selection of letters – found his best tack to take, in putting directly under my OBEY: RARE, scoring 21. (Among the words thus made: BA [eternal spirit in Egyptian mythology], and ER [expression of hesitation].) To my surprise and pleasure, I found possible, yet another four-letter effort directly above OBEY – FAJE (colloquial, from Spanish, a hug / to hug) – scoring 45, and making the configuration of letters, as follows. FAJE OBEY RARE (ABA = a sleeveless Arab garment; JER is the English designation of a [quasi]-letter in the Cyrillic alphabet.) Although from there on, our game went in more ordinary directions; we couldn’t resist whimsically speculating on whether there might be a viable variant of Scrabble, in which one was required perpetually to put words of four letters, on the top or bottom of the “pile” of same – every word thus created having, of course, to be a real one. It seems pretty clear to us, that nothing placed above the twelve-letter grid shown above, would work – reckon it can be said that there’s no known word \*FOR. However – with an admittedly considerable amount of pushing the envelope – a case can be made for the possibility of adding _below_, a fourth and then a fifth tier. Things end up thus: FAJE OBEY RARE ESKY SEYR (two Y’s in the set – a blank needed, for this third Y) ESKY [total score 51] = Australian word for a cool-box for drinks etc. ABAS - sleeveless Arab garments in the plural; EYEY – a possibly coinable word meaning “noteworthily characterised by eyes”: spiders, with their several pairs of eyes, might be described as eyey. SEYR [total score 44]: uncommon word, thought possibly borrowed from the Manx language – can mean free of cost; or, a carpenter or other craftsman. FORES – multiple forward parts of something, or golf warnings. With “eyey” being already an eccentric word; perhaps its comparative form might be an irregular one, EYEYR?) Collapse comes, on any attempt at a sixth tier underneath. We concluded that in the English language – with the distribution of letters which it has – this envisaged variant of the game would seem to have a strictly limited range and future; might it possibly work better with Scrabble sets in some other language(s)? ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2019, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novel-variant-of-scrabble-probably-not/841967/2 "2019-10-18T20:45:10Z")
Rather than requiring each word to be directly above or below, why not allow them to be offset by, say, no more than two letters? ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2019, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novel-variant-of-scrabble-probably-not/841967/3 "2019-10-19T11:45:35Z")
I feel: too much like the ordinary regular game – our (impossible) way, or not at all ! ---
**Author:** ![alfonzos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4bbf92/32.png) [@alfonzos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alfonzos)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2019, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novel-variant-of-scrabble-probably-not/841967/4 "2019-10-20T19:27:36Z")
The documentary _Word Wars_ mentions a _Scrabble_ variant called _Clabbers_. Players play tiles which can be anagrams of words. It’s easier to play than it looks. An CD-ROM version of the game allows the variant. Scores can be higher because it’s easier to play the higher scoring tiles on the premium squares. The book _New Rules for Classic Games_ suggests having all tiles face up in a line. Players draw tiles from either, but not both, ends when each draws tiles. In two players games, I suggest giving each player a blank at the beginning of the game to eliminate the chance of one player getting both of them.