# Scrabble on facebook. What do you think? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [November 14, 2012, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scrabble-on-facebook-what-do-you-think/640962 "2012-11-14T06:37:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Stan\_Shmenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@Stan\_Shmenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stan_Shmenge)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scrabble-on-facebook-what-do-you-think/640962/1 "2012-11-14T06:37:51Z")
Doesn’t seem to enforce any kind of dictionary on the words you can use, and I don’t see any method to challenge a word. ---
**Author:** ![GreasyJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@GreasyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreasyJack)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scrabble-on-facebook-what-do-you-think/640962/2 "2012-11-14T06:49:43Z")
Huh? I’m more familiar with the other Facebook crossword-game, but I thought they worked more or less the same where it just won’t let you play a word if it isn’t in the dictionary it uses. Is that not the case? I would actually love it if there were a version that would let you play anything and then challenge it after the fact-- I can usually beat my SO at real-life scrabble because her spelling is atrocious, but online she always clobbers me. Plus then you could agree to just allow the dirty words that aren’t in the dictionary. ---
**Author:** ![Stan\_Shmenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@Stan\_Shmenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stan_Shmenge)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scrabble-on-facebook-what-do-you-think/640962/3 "2012-11-14T06:52:30Z")
It allowed my opponent to play the word “fayed”. ---
**Author:** ![ColdPhoenix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6bbea6/32.png) [@ColdPhoenix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ColdPhoenix)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scrabble-on-facebook-what-do-you-think/640962/4 "2012-11-14T06:56:31Z")
> **[fayed](https://www.thefreedictionary.com/fayed)** > > Definition, Synonyms, Translations of fayed by The Free Dictionary ---
**Author:** ![Absolute](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Absolute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absolute)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scrabble-on-facebook-what-do-you-think/640962/5 "2012-11-14T07:37:12Z")
It does have a built-in dictionary, and fayed is a word. It won’t let you play a word not in the dictionary. You lose the challenge. To be fair, skip your next turn. ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scrabble-on-facebook-what-do-you-think/640962/6 "2012-11-14T14:14:11Z")
The Scrabble dictionary is actually far more strict than the Words with Friends dictionary. There are several words that WWF accepts that Facebook Scrabble won’t let me play. ---
**Author:** ![Brynda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Brynda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brynda)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2012, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scrabble-on-facebook-what-do-you-think/640962/7 "2012-11-18T05:24:20Z")
A friend just played JANE. Does anyone know why that’s legal? ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2012, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scrabble-on-facebook-what-do-you-think/640962/8 "2012-11-18T05:28:03Z")
> [@Brynda](#): > > A friend just played JANE. Does anyone know why that’s legal? Because it’s a word in the dictionary. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2012, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scrabble-on-facebook-what-do-you-think/640962/9 "2012-11-18T05:29:05Z")
> [@Brynda](#): > > A friend just played JANE. Does anyone know why that’s legal? Likely due to this [definition](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/jane): > [@](#): > > a small Genoese coin circulating in England during the 14th and 15th centuries ---
**Author:** ![denquixote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9bd4f/32.png) [@denquixote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/denquixote)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2012, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scrabble-on-facebook-what-do-you-think/640962/10 "2012-11-18T21:37:46Z")
jane - uncapitalized is described in the Scrabble dictionary as “a girl or a woman.” Words with friends does not allow the word “fop” though. I thought that was strange. ---
**Author:** ![Brynda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Brynda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brynda)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2012, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scrabble-on-facebook-what-do-you-think/640962/11 "2012-11-18T21:57:26Z")
Thanks, MsWhatsIt and denquiote! Appreciate the helpful answers. I didn’t find it in the online dictionary I consulted. Don’t know if I am going to keep playing, though. I am old school, and to me, just randomly combining letters to see if the game will accept them is lame. A friend just played “wud” and stentor." I know her well enough to know there is no way she knows those words. ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2012, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scrabble-on-facebook-what-do-you-think/640962/12 "2012-11-18T22:55:23Z")
> [@Stan\_Shmenge](#): > > It allowed my opponent to play the word “fayed”. You don’t play much Scrabble, do you? ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2012, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scrabble-on-facebook-what-do-you-think/640962/13 "2012-11-18T23:54:14Z")
> [@Brynda](#): > > Thanks, MsWhatsIt and denquiote! Appreciate the helpful answers. I didn’t find it in the online dictionary I consulted. > > Don’t know if I am going to keep playing, though. I am old school, and to me, just randomly combining letters to see if the game will accept them is lame. A friend just played “wud” and stentor." I know her well enough to know there is no way she knows those words. Your friend may also be using Scrabble Cheat or some other similar site. Some of my friends use some interesting words and try to fake that they knew the definition all along. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2012, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scrabble-on-facebook-what-do-you-think/640962/14 "2012-11-19T00:05:05Z")
> [@Brynda](#): > > Don’t know if I am going to keep playing, though. I am old school, and to me, just randomly combining letters to see if the game will accept them is lame. A friend just played “wud” and stentor." I know her well enough to know there is no way she knows those words. The nature of the Internet is such that the play has to be slightly different. Just treat it like you would any “house rules” board game variant. I think there must be some version out there though that has standard challenge rules, perhaps the iPhone/android app has that option? At least I’d think enough people are concerned about it that there’d be a clone out there for fundies. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2012, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scrabble-on-facebook-what-do-you-think/640962/15 "2012-11-19T00:21:36Z")
I don’t mind when people are clearly just trying out different combinations to see what works, but when someone is pretty obviously using an anagram/cheat program so that practically every word they play is some obscure thing that nobody with a normal vocabulary would know, I stop re-matching them. That takes the fun out of the game for me. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2012, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scrabble-on-facebook-what-do-you-think/640962/16 "2012-11-19T00:52:28Z")
> [@Ruby](#): > > Your friend may also be using Scrabble Cheat or some other similar site. Some of my friends use some interesting words and try to fake that they knew the definition all along. :rolleyes: You don’t have to know the definition in regular Scrabble either. You just have to know that it’s a word. I used to play a lot of Scrabble and had all of the two letter words and Q-words without a U memorized. I didn’t know or care what some of them meant. On the other hand, I have played iPhone Words with Friends with random people and some of them are pretty clearly using some kind of program to come up with some pretty obscure stuff. Maybe they really are that good though. ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2012, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scrabble-on-facebook-what-do-you-think/640962/17 "2012-11-19T16:44:43Z")
No, you don’t have to know the definition but the use of an obscure scientific word from someone who doesn’t know how to spell science is just wrong. I also stop re-matching them.