4 ms·

At the highest levels, Scrabble is not a word game at all. It's a territory control game with 200,000 different valid ways to play resources.

mkl 6y ago
Territory control? Either player can build off any word, so I don't think you can control any territory. You capture valuable squares before your opponent can when you have the opportunity, because unused squares are no man's land, and up for grabs.
- TheNorthman 6y ago
  Because Scrabble is turn based, any opportunities you create for yourself, you create for your opponent first. Making sure you don't make `valuable squares' available to your opponent is, arguably, more essential to winning than claiming them for yourself.
  - Someone 6y ago
    ‘scorched earth’, wasting a valuable square on a low-scoring move, say (as an extreme example) by playing a blank tile on a triple-character square, just to deny the next player from using it, can also be a valuable tactic at times. Many people don’t realize that, in competitive games, the goal isn’t to make a high score, it is to make a score that’s higher than that of your opponents. Another game where many players dont realize that is Twister (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twister_(game) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twister_(game) ). You shouldn’t play to make it easy for yourself to stay in play, you should play to make it easier for you than for your opponents to stay in play. In general, that means occupying circles close to your opponent, rather than those easily reachable by you. You should try to ‘lock’ your opponents in a corner of the playing area.
- chrisseaton 6y ago
  You control the 'territory' (squares) by using them, denying them to your opponent.
- scsilver 6y ago
  Areas right next to a played word are hard to capture, 2 parallel words would have to combine to form multiple 2 letter words, this create a natural buffer and you can corner off areas, block bonus tiles, offer easy point opportunities on away from the area you want to control to distract your opponent. A lot can be done with short words positioned well and can likely beat a more spelling knowledgeable person with positioning strategies.
JohnBooty 6y ago
I think of it as a territory control game even at low levels of play! If one cares about score whatsoever, I'm not sure how one could play without paying a great deal of attention to gaining/denying access to the multiplier tiles.
throwaway_pdp09 6y ago
How do you control (= lock the other player out of) territory?
- nippoo 6y ago
  Think more about not building long offshoots that will give your opponent lots of places to "hook onto" (or forcing them to do the same). Cleverly building and stacking words close and parallel to others rather than perpendicular, etc
captn3m0 6y ago
https://www.meeplelikeus.co.uk/scrabble-1948/ https://www.meeplelikeus.co.uk/scrabble-1948/ Most hilarious read on why Scrabble should be played like a territory control war game
- Raphael_Amiard 6y ago
  That's absolutely delightful, thanks for the read ! I love the Terry Pratchett reference too!

mkl 6y ago

Territory control? Either player can build off any word, so I don't think you can control any territory. You capture valuable squares before your opponent can when you have the opportunity, because unused squares are no man's land, and up for grabs.

TheNorthman 6y ago
Because Scrabble is turn based, any opportunities you create for yourself, you create for your opponent first. Making sure you don't make `valuable squares' available to your opponent is, arguably, more essential to winning than claiming them for yourself.
- Someone 6y ago
  ‘scorched earth’, wasting a valuable square on a low-scoring move, say (as an extreme example) by playing a blank tile on a triple-character square, just to deny the next player from using it, can also be a valuable tactic at times. Many people don’t realize that, in competitive games, the goal isn’t to make a high score, it is to make a score that’s higher than that of your opponents. Another game where many players dont realize that is Twister (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twister_(game) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twister_(game) ). You shouldn’t play to make it easy for yourself to stay in play, you should play to make it easier for you than for your opponents to stay in play. In general, that means occupying circles close to your opponent, rather than those easily reachable by you. You should try to ‘lock’ your opponents in a corner of the playing area.
chrisseaton 6y ago
You control the 'territory' (squares) by using them, denying them to your opponent.
scsilver 6y ago
Areas right next to a played word are hard to capture, 2 parallel words would have to combine to form multiple 2 letter words, this create a natural buffer and you can corner off areas, block bonus tiles, offer easy point opportunities on away from the area you want to control to distract your opponent. A lot can be done with short words positioned well and can likely beat a more spelling knowledgeable person with positioning strategies.

JohnBooty 6y ago

I think of it as a territory control game even at low levels of play! If one cares about score whatsoever, I'm not sure how one could play without paying a great deal of attention to gaining/denying access to the multiplier tiles.

throwaway_pdp09 6y ago

How do you control (= lock the other player out of) territory?

nippoo 6y ago
Think more about not building long offshoots that will give your opponent lots of places to "hook onto" (or forcing them to do the same). Cleverly building and stacking words close and parallel to others rather than perpendicular, etc

captn3m0 6y ago

https://www.meeplelikeus.co.uk/scrabble-1948/ https://www.meeplelikeus.co.uk/scrabble-1948/ Most hilarious read on why Scrabble should be played like a territory control war game

Raphael_Amiard 6y ago
That's absolutely delightful, thanks for the read ! I love the Terry Pratchett reference too!