This document summarizes the history and rules of the board game Scrabble. It explains that Alfred Butts created Scrabble in 1931 by analyzing letter frequencies in the New York Times to develop a crossword puzzle board game. Butts sold the rights to James Brunot who made minor adjustments and renamed it Scrabble. The summary then provides an overview of how to set up and play the game, including forming words, scoring turns, bonus squares, and ending the game.

2. In 1931 Alfred Butts translated his
lifelong love
board game.
of crossword puzzles into a
A key to the game was Butts'
analysis of the English language. Butts
studied the front page of The New York
Times to calculate how frequently each
letter of the alphabet was used. He then
used each letter's frequency to determine
how many of each letter he would include in
the game. He included only four "S" tiles so
that the ability to make words plural would
not make the game too easy.
HISTORY
OF SCRABBLE

3. HISTORY
OF SCRABBLE
Butts initially called the game
"Lexiko", but later changed the name to "Criss
Cross Words", after considering "It", and began
to look for a buyer. The game makers he
originally contacted rejected the idea, but
Butts was tenacious. Eventually, he sold the
rights to entrepreneur and game-lover James
Brunot, who made a few minor adjustments to
the design and renamed the game "Scrabble",
a word meaning "to grope frantically" (from
the Dutch "Schrabben", to scrape or scratch)

4. The Official
Scrabble
Board
Design
Key:
2×LS = Double letter score
3×LS= Triple letter score
2×WS / ★ = Double word score
3×WS = Triple word score

5. Scrabble Board is composed of 225
squares and 100 tiles. It can be played
by two or more person.

6. POINTS PER LETTER

7. BEFORE THE GAME
Player’s Turns. Put all letter tiles into the tile
bag or any suitable container.
Draw for the first play. The player
drawing the letter nearest the
beginning of the alphabet plays
first. A blank supersedes all other
tiles. Return the tiles into the bag
and reshuffle. Each player draws 7
tiles and places them on his/her
track. Turn of players follow
clockwise.

8. Word Judge. To decide word challenges, a
word judge is elected by the players
who may be one of them. He or she
may also act as the scorekeeper
who keeps a tally of each player’s
score, entering it after each turn.
BEFORE THE GAME

9. BEFORE THE GAME
Dictionary. Before the game begins,
the players must first agree
on the dictionary to be used
in settling challenges on
what words to allow or not
to allow.

10. PLAYING THE GAME
Start of Play. The first player forms a word
with two or more of his/her
letters and positions it on the
board to read across or down
with one letter on the center
(MB) square. Placing a word
diagonally on the board is not
allowed.

11. PLAYING THE GAME
Completing a Turn. A player
completes a turn by
counting and
announcing the score
for the turn. The player
then draws as many
letter tiles as played,
thus, always keeping 7
letters on his/her track.

12. PLAYING THE GAME
Subsequent Turns. Play proceeds to
the left. The second player,
and then each in turn, adds
one or more letters to
those already played to
form new words. All letters
played on a turn must be
placed in one row across or
down the board to form
one complete word.

13. PLAYING THE GAME
Forming New Words.
New words may be formed by:
-Adding one or more letters to a word or letters
already on the board.
-placing a word at right angles to word already
on the board. The new word must use one of
the letters already on the board or add a letter
to it.
-placing a complete word parallel to a word
already played so that adjacent letters also
form complete words.

14. PLAYING THE GAME
Blank Tiles. The two blank tiles
may be used as any
letters. When playing a
blank, the player must
state which letter it
represents. It remains that
latter for the rest of the
game.

15. PLAYING THE GAME
Replacing Tiles. Any player may use his or her
turn to replace any or all of the tiles
in his/her rack, discarding them face
down, drawing the same number of
new tiles from the bag, and mixing
the discarding tiles with those
remaining in the bag. Replacing tiles
is considered a turn and the score is
zero.

16. PLAYING THE GAME
Passing. A player may voluntarily miss a turn.
Instead of placing tiles on the board or
replacing tiles, a player may also
decide to pass whether or not he/she I
s able to make a word or words.
Passing a turn scores zero.

17. PLAYING THE GAME
Challenge. Any word may be a challenged before
the next player starts a turn. If the word
challenged is unacceptable, the
challenged player takes back his/her
letter tiles, loses that turn and scores
zero. If the word challenged is
acceptable, the score is entered and the
game continues with no penalty to the
challenger.

18. SCORING THE GAME
Turn Score. The score of each turn is the sum of
the letter values in each word formed or
modified on that turn plus the
additional points obtained from placing
letters on premium squares. The score
value of each letter is indicated by the
number at the bottom of the tile. The
score value of a blank is zero.

19. SCORING THE GAME
Premium Letter Squares. The premium letter
square “DOUBLE LETTER SCORE”
doubles the value of the letter
placed on it, and “TRIPLE LETTER
SCORE” triples the value of the
letter placed on it.

20. SCORING THE GAME
Premium Word Squares. The premium square “DOUBLE WORD SCORE”
doubles the score of the word when one of the letters is placed
on it, and “TRIPLE WORD SCORE” triples the score of the word
when one of its letters is placed on it. Count LETTER premiums if
any, before doubling or tripling the WORD score. If a word is
formed that covers TWO double word squares, the score is
doubled then redoubled (4 times word score). If a word is
formed that covers TWO triple word squares, the score is triple
then retripled (9 times word score).

22. SCORING THE GAME
Pearly Twins. The two blanks by
themselves have no score value
but when a blank is played on a
premium word square, the
value of the word is doubled or
tripled as indicated.

23. SCORING THE GAME
Multiple Score. When two or
more words are formed in
the same play, each is
scored. The common letter
is counted with full
premium value, if any, for
each word.

24. SCORING THE GAME
Bingo Score. Any player who plays 7
tiles on a turn, scores a
bonus of 50 points added to
the total of his/her score for
the turn.

25. ENDING THE GAME
-The game ends when all the tiles have been drawn and one
of the players has used all the tiles in his/her rack. The game also
ends when all possible plays have been made or all players have
passed twice in a consecutive turns.

26. ENDING THE GAME
-At game’s end, each player’s score is reduced by the sum of
his/her rack unplayed letters. In addition, if a player used all tiles on
his/her rack, the sum of the other players’ unplayed letters is added
to that player’s score.

27. -The player with the
highest final score WINS the
game. Players who tie for the
highest final score shall
equally be considered as
winners (DRAW).
ENDING THE GAME