Scrabble Rules in Plain Words

What the game is

Scrabble is a word game. You hold letter tiles, and on your turn you place tiles on a board to build words, the way a crossword puzzle fits together. Every letter is worth points. The player with the most points when the game ends wins.

Players: 2 to 4. Ages: 8 and up.

What is in the box: a game board with a 15-by-15 grid of squares, 100 letter tiles, a letter bag, 4 tile racks (a rack is the small tray that holds your tiles so only you can see them), and a score pad. You also need a pencil and paper if you do not use the pad.

Setting up

1. Put the board in the middle of the table and put all 100 letter tiles in the bag.
2. Pick one player to keep score. That player needs paper and a pencil, and writes down every score as the game goes.
3. Give each player a tile rack.
4. Each player draws one tile from the bag. The player whose letter is closest to A goes first. A blank tile beats any letter. Put those tiles back in the bag.
5. Going in turn order, each player draws 7 tiles and sets them on their rack. Keep your tiles hidden from the other players.
6. Agree on one dictionary before you start. It is used only to settle challenges. The official choice is The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary. The word list printed on the dictionary you picked is what counts.

How a turn works

1. On your turn, place tiles from your rack onto the board to form a word. All the tiles you play in one turn go in a single line — across or down, never diagonal.
2. The very first word of the game must cover the star square in the center of the board, and must be at least 2 letters long. That center star counts as a double word score for the first word.
3. Every word after the first must connect to words already on the board. You can add letters to an existing word, cross a word at a right angle using one of its letters, or lay a word next to another word — but every set of touching letters must form a real word, including the short cross-words.
4. Add up the letter values of your word. Add in any bonus from premium squares your tiles covered this turn (see below). Tell the scorekeeper, who writes it down.
5. Draw new tiles from the bag until you have 7 on your rack again. Play passes to the left.
6. Once tiles are placed and scored, they cannot be moved.

Premium squares (the bonus squares)

• The board has Double Letter, Triple Letter, Double Word, and Triple Word squares.
• A premium square only pays its bonus the first time a tile is placed on it. After that turn, the square is worth nothing extra for the rest of the game.
• Letter bonuses count before word bonuses: double or triple the letter first, add up the word, then double or triple the whole word if you covered a word bonus square.
• If one play covers two word bonus squares, they stack — a word on two Double Word squares scores 4 times the letter total.

Letters, blanks, and words that are not allowed

• Each letter tile shows a point value in its corner. Common letters like E and A are worth 1 point. Rare letters are worth more: Q and Z are worth 10.
• The 2 blank tiles are worth 0 points. A blank can stand for any letter. When you play one, say out loud which letter it is. It stays that letter for the whole game.
• Not allowed: words that are always spelled with a capital letter (names of people and places), abbreviations, prefixes or suffixes standing alone, and words that need a hyphen or an apostrophe.

Passing, swapping, and challenges

1. Swap tiles: instead of playing a word, you may swap tiles. Set aside the tiles you do not want, draw the same number of new tiles, then mix the set-aside tiles back into the bag. Swapping uses up your whole turn.
2. Pass: you may also pass and do nothing. That also uses up your turn.
3. Challenge: if you think the word just played is not a real word, you must say so before the next player takes a turn. The dictionary decides. If the word is not allowed, the player takes the tiles back and loses that turn. If the word is fine, the player who challenged loses their next turn. If a play made more than one word, all of the words are challenged together — one bad word sinks the whole play.

How you win / how the game ends

1. The game ends when one player has played their last tile and the bag is empty, or when no one can make a play and every player passes twice in a row.
2. Each player then subtracts the value of the tiles left on their own rack from their score.
3. If one player used up all their tiles, that player also adds the value of all the tiles left on everyone else's racks to their own score.
4. The highest final score wins. If there is a tie, the player who had the higher score before the leftover-tile points were added or subtracted wins.

Common questions

Can I play a word that is already on the board?

Yes. There is no limit on how many times a word may be played in one game.

Do premium squares keep paying every time a word crosses them?

No. A premium square pays only on the turn a tile is first placed on it. Later words that pass over it score the plain letter value.

What happens if I cannot form any word?

You have two choices: swap some or all of your tiles (and lose the turn), or pass. If every player passes twice in a row, the game ends and leftover tiles are subtracted.

Can the first word be just 2 letters?

Yes, as long as it is a real word in the agreed dictionary and it covers the center star.

Are foreign words allowed?

Only if they appear as normal entries in the agreed dictionary. Words that exist only in another language, and are not listed in your dictionary, do not count.

Source: Hasbro, Scrabble game rules, current U.S. edition (© 2021 Hasbro). Read in full and rewritten in our own plain words.