Conference thebay::joyoflex

    When I was at college, we played "dirty-word scrabble"  and the
    rules are as follows:
    
    You don't keep score.
    
    You can borrow/lend tiles from other people if they let you.
    
    You can change words that are on the board.
    
    You can borrow tiles from words on the board, as long as you leave
    a word behind, or rearrange the tiles to form one.
    
    You can build words onto other words, or phrases can round corners.
    
    You can build off the edge of the board.
    
    Spelling doesn't count, nor should the lack of punctuation hinder
    your creativity.
    
    Have lots of fun.
    
    
    probably not what you expected, but hey...
    
    -Jody
    

    Re: the highest possible Scrabble (tm) word:
    
    It's listed in the Guiness Book of World Records.  I won't spoil the
    suspense by revealing it, but it's eight letters long, stretches from
    one triple word score to another, contains the letters q and x, and has
    been discussed in this conference! 

    Where has it been discussed?

    
    quixotic

Note posted on games notes file (PICA::GAMES):
                   
================================================================================
Note 772.0                Location for VMS Scrabble V6                No replies
LATEX::GREG "Greg Turnbull, SE Tech. Author"         18 lines  11-FEB-1988 04:48
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                   
                                  VMS SCRABBLE V6

Anyone wanting a copy of VMS Scrabble V6 for VT100 (or equivalent) terminals can
copy the compiled files from the following location: 

Directory listing of: LATEX::LATEX$DUA0:[GREG.HANDEYE]

o DICTION.ARY  ! Contains the 90,000 word "Official Scrabble Player's Dictionary"
o SCRABBLE.COM ! Define a symbol for this, e.g. SCRAB :== @device:[dir]scrabble
o SCRABBLE.DOC ! Read this before playing
o SCRABBLE.EXE ! The executable program
o SCRABBLE.HLB ! The help file; put this file in SYS$HELP

This is much easier than copying the source files and compiling them on your system.
Beware, the computer is a powerful opponent! 
                   
Regards, Greg.
    

    Re: .2
    
    This leads to an interesting situation...
    
    If a single word covers two triple-word squares, how is the scoring
    computed?  Do you take the initial word value and triple it for
    the first triple-word square, then take that value and triple it
    again (i.e. 9 times the original word value) or do you merely triple
    the value twice to make it 6 times the original word value?
    

    I believe it works like this:
    
    	(3(3(n)))+50  or 9n+50
    
    What's the point total?  It would be easy enough to determine
    whether it's 6n or 9n from the total...
                        
    					andrew

    re .1:
    
    Gee, I used to play "dirty-word" Scrabble, but it had different rules: 
    
    Lewd words get an automatic double word score, above any other bonuses.
    
    Dirty words (e.g. the canonical Anglo-Saxon F-word) get a triple word
    bonus. 
    
    When you play either a lewd or dirty word, your opponents have to
    remove a piece of clothing. 
    

    
    The correct name for this is "Strip Scrabble," and it is best played
    with one opponent and a bottle of wine. 
    
    	Jon

    Another variant I invented (in addition to .8), is "Elmer Fudd
    Scrabble." To play this properly, you need four Scrabble sets, but
    fewer will do.

    Remove all the Rs. Throw in the Ws.

    Ws can be played any place that would be legal to play an R. However,
    they score 4 points just as they would normally.

    The words "wascally" and "wabbit" get automatic triple word bonuses.
    Other appropriate words can be given bonuses, too. 
    
    	Jon

     I ran the scrabble game mentioned in a previous note,
     computer vs. computer (two players only) and the final
     board was:

    A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O

  1 $ ? - + - - - E - - - + - - P  1        Player  Score   Time  Prev
  2 - S - B E Z A N T # O U P H E  2        CMPUTR-1  500    1.1    12
  3 - T R E F - W O O E D - * - -  3        CMPUTR-2  245    0.8    19
  4 + I - * - - - L - - E Y E D +  4
  5 - A - C O T T I E R S - - - -  5
  6 A R - - - H - C - # - - U # -  6
  7 A Y + - - I F - + - - - N - -  7  CMPUTR-1 has a GREAT score
  8 ? - - + - R E X - - - B I M A  8  CMPUTR-2 has a  fair score
  9 I - + - - - A I + K - - Q - -  9
 10 I # - - L # S - - I - - U # - 10
 11 - - J - L - T - - N * - E - - 11
 12 + G A V A G E + V E N D S - + 12   Last move:O1-2: PE
 13 - - R - N - R - + T - - * - - 13
 14 - G L O O M - - - I - - - * - 14  Winner: CMPUTR-1  Another game? #
 15 $ - - + - A D O W N - + - - $ 15

    A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O

CMPUTR-2 is penalized   2 points for OU
CMPUTR-1 gets bonus of  2 points


     The words using blanks (?'s) were OSTIARY and AALII.
     It amazed me what passes for words in its dictionairy!
     
     Dan

Yes the Scrabble program has some pretty strange words in its dictionary, but
it is based on the "Official Scrabble Player's Dictionary".  You can, however,
force it to play at a lower level, try some of the following commands:

SET VOCABULARY-   (use pocket dictionary)
SET DEFENSE[n]    (set computer's defense level, range is 0-6, av. =3)
SET LEVEL[n]      (set computer's play level, range is 0-10, av. = 5)
SET STRATEGY[+/-] (Computer strategy on/off)
SET TOURNAMENT(+/-) (Set tournament mode on/off)

Happy playing, Greg.

	Another variant is creative scrabble.  Basically, this has
	no rules.  The central idea is that you can't come up with
	real words, but have to make them up.  They do have to 
	sound believable, and you have to give a convincing definition.
	You can also play off the side of the board, etc.  Helps a
	lot if you're in an altered state of consciousness.

		-- Cliff

There's a comic strip in the Boston Globe called "Mr. Boffo."  One day
it had a single frame of some people gathered around a table with a
board game on it.

One of the people was saying, "But 'pizza' has two Zs!'

Another said, "Not any more."

A box in the corner read: "A big part of the reason why they don't play
Scrabble with Noah Webster."

	- Win

    Regarding "quixotic", my understanding is that this word was played
    in an actual game (across two triple-word scores), giving the
    inventor's wife around 270 points.  She usually beat him anyway.
    
    Another variation on strip scrabble doesn't involve (re)pealing
    any of the game's rules.  Just say that anyone who scores 25 to
    49 points in one turn has to remove an article of clothing.
    50 to 74 points, two articles, etc.  Makes losing more enjoyable.

    Several years ago I played a word starting with 'Z' starting from the
    left edge of the board.  It was 11A-D ZONE, or something, but the 'Z'
    was a blank.  "So what if COMPUTER triples it, it has no points!", I
    thought.
    
    Wrong!  A8-15 FRIZZIER for 311 points.  The real 'Z' got doubled and
    then multiplied by nine.
    
    I have heard of contrived games where fifteen letter words cover three
    triple-word squares on one play.  The scores are over one thousand points
    for single words.
    
    Until the nth kex flumps,
    Chuck

	I'm surprised no one has mentioned CLABBERS.  I've never played 
this but have watched many games played by Steve Root.  In this game you
can play the letters in any order, which pushes the scores way up.  It
looks like fun.

Hi,

I'm new to this conference.  I play Computer Scrabble on an IBMPC clone
running MSDOS quite a bit.  It cheats occasionally (I think) by:

(1) Putting in words that are not in the Official Scrabble dictionary
    such as EE, especially when it's making two to three words in one move.

(2) When it gives me a "Q" early at the start of the game (with just me and
    the computer playing), it keeps the "U"s to itself as much as possible.

Nonetheless, it's not a bad Scrabble game.

Duncan.

    I've lost my set of the rules, so can anyone tell me (and solve a
    long-standing dispute with my wife, which I was happy to concede as
    long as it was just the two of us playing, but now my son's playing too
    I want The Truth) whether if you cover a bonus-winning square with a
    tile that takes part in two words you get the bonus twice? And if once,
    and the bonus is a double or triple word score, how do you decide
    which word to nominate for doubling (and if the answer to that is
    `the word you played', what if your go involves only one tile
    completing two 2-letter words?)
    
    And what's the bonus for playing all your tiles at once.
    
    (If they're PD, a pointer to a copy of the rules would be a great help.
    If they're still under copyright, is there a way I could buy some
    without buying the game as well?)
    
    Thanks
    
    b

    Not sure about the first bit, but...
    
    .18�    And what's the bonus for playing all your tiles at once.
    
    This one is 50 points.
    
    Ian.

    Now that I think of it aren't the rules printed on the inside of the
    lid of the box?  If not...
    
    
    Ian.

    
    	Re: .18
    
    		If you cover a bonus square and complete words both
    		vertically and horizontally you are awarded both 
    		point values of words which are completed.  Bonus
    		squares which have been covered in previous plays
    		are not to be included in calculation of play total.
    
    		I believe the bonus for playing all tiles at once is
    		an additional 50 points although I may be wrong since
    		very few people have wanted to play with me over the
    		past several years.
    
    		Selchow and Righter used to have a Scrabble Brand
    		Word Game rule and strategy rule book out many years
    		ago, but I have a feeling it is no longer in print.
    

    
    	>>	I believe the bonus for playing all tiles at once is
    	>>	an additional 50 points although I may be wrong since
    	>>	very few people have wanted to play with me over the
    	>>	past several years.
    

	Is that because you're really good, or is it true
	that there's a dearth of Scrabble players lately?
	Seems that way to me.

	Sigh.
	Diane

    It seems to me too that there aren't many Scrabble players around.
    Of course there aren't many in Japan (though the English version of
    the game is sold here with the rules translated into Japanese!), but
    it seems to be that way in North America too.  The best opponents I've
    had were not native English speakers.  In fact, a few who regularly
    beat me at Scrabble still had some problems with the grammar!
    
    Anyway, to repeat and possibly clarify a previous correct answer,
    at the time that you cover a bonus square, the bonus applies to
    everything that runs through the bonus.  (After its already covered,
    the bonus does not apply at all.)  And if a doubled letter is
    contained in a triple word, then the doubled letter is actually
    sextupled (or octupled if it creates a word running the other
    direction as well).  And if you put down "QUIXOTIC" with the Q
    and C on triple words and the X on a double letter, (and one of
    the other letters already there), the X is worth 144 points.
    I understand that the inventor's wife did it to him one time.
    
    Regarding copyright, you're allowed to make as many copies of the
    rules as you want for your own use.  If you give away a copy of
    the rules (or sell them), you have to transfer all of your copies
    at that time, or destroy your remaining copies.  I don't know what
    happens if you lose one of your copies.  Anyway, if you own the
    rest of the set and can show solid evidence proving that you
    obtained your set legally, I don't think the manufacturer will
    worry too much about your receiving a copy of the rules.

    Re decline of Scrabble
    
    I think Scrabble suffers from the more general decline in popularity of 
    any leisure activity that involves thought.
    
    Re QUIXOTIC
    
    .23 is right in pointing out that one letter has to have been played
    (and in the right place) already; this means that it makes sense to
    talk of `the highest-scoring word ever played' but not `the highest
    possible score from a single word' - as some people, not Norman, have
    done - since one must always postulate a pre-existing layout, which in 
    theory can be as improbable as you like  (for example, if the 
    letters/words L NIP EN I R were already there on a side line you could 
    play P,E,O,T,T,A and Y to make PLENIPOTENTIARY - getting a score
    which I haven't bothered to add up but which attracts a bonus of a 
    factor of 27).
    
    I'm sure PLENIPOTENTIARY isn't anywhere near the only fifteen-letter
    word one could dream up (based on a conceivable `gift' of eight letters
    already played in the right places), but it seems to me that dreaming up 
    high-scoring words on the basis of theoretical layouts is pointless.
    
    b

    >I think Scrabble suffers from the more general decline in popularity of 
    >any leisure activity that involves thought.
    
    You WHAT?
    
    >I think
    
    Shame on you!
    
    ------------------------
    Ummmm...  "Scrabble".....   As any diligent reader of The Official
    SCRABBLE Players' Dictionary would have observed, the word "SCRABBLE"
    is a trademark, must be capitalized, and must be used as an adjective.
    As any diligent reader of The Official SCRABBLE Players' Dictionary
    would have observed, The Official SCRABBLE Players' Dictionary neglects
    to fully capitalize some occurrences of the word "SCRABBLE."  Does this
    mean they abandoned the very trademark they were trying to preserve?

    
    	 According to Selchow and Righter the proper usage is
    	 "Scrabble Brand Word Game."  Capitalization is not 
    	 brought into issue.  "Brand" is.

How can they patent the idea of making words out of letters?

Richard.

P.S. I have a patent on making big numbers out of -- wait for it -- a string
of small ones!

    Re: .-1

    Great!  Now if you can arrange for each of those numbers to have a
    letter score, you could put them on a board and have double and triple
    number scores which pay off in letters that you use to construct the
    alphabet.

    I'll share the profits with you.  We can probably get DEC to decide
    it isn't interested.

	o  There's nothing like going out with an X on a triple/triple.
	   You can spell AX, EX, OX, XI, and XU.  Here's what I mean:

		B O Z O
		O X
		N  
		Z
		O		

	   An easy 50 points each time!

	o  Putting down your rack (i.e., all 7 letters) is called a bingo

	o  Selchow and Righter call it Scrabble Brand Word Game so it
	   doesn't get confused with the Scrabble Brand Computer, or
	   the Scrabble Brand Operating System, or the VAX Brand Word 
	   Game, or ...

But I don't think Selchow and Righter even own the rights to SCRABBLE
anymore.  When I upgraded my computer SCRABBLE in 1989, the copywrite
notice refers to J.W. Spears and Brothers or some such.  The previous
version did have Selchow and Righters.

Duncan.

    Aren't J.W. Spears the creators of Scrabble (or SCRABBLE, or the
    SCRABBLE Brand Word Game)?  In the UK, all sets that I've seen are made
    by Spears.
    
    Mat.
    *:o)
    

    	Quite recently the U.S. finally signed an international copyright
    agreement that most other countries have been a party to for a long time.
    Obviously in some cases this will affect who can claim copyright in the
    U.S. (otherwise there would have been no reason for the change?). Maybe
    this is one of those cases.

    This is about the 4th time today I've come across someone picking nits
    regarding the use of trademarks.  It is the responsibility of the OWNER
    of the mark to use it correctly and to police its use in public
    discourse.  As a private individual engaged in private correspondence, I
    am under no legal obligation in this regard.
    
    Thus, we DO need to be certain that we spell and use Digital's
    trademarks correctly, but have no such reponsibility, in private
    discourse, with respect to UNIX or SCRABBLE.
    UNIX or SCRABBLE
    
    -dave

    I play a fair amount of Scrabble and I recently bought a new set, one
    of those fancy ones with the turntable and the ridges on the board so
    the tiles stay in place.  There are two significant differences in this
    set: it is made by Milton Bradley (large American toy manufacturer)
    and, although the turntable and board are quite nice, the tiles
    themselves are of a poorer quality than those in older sets.  
    
    The imprints on most of the tiles were covered by a clear plastic membrane,
    which dulled the black color and, as the plastic comes loose or wears
    off, it takes some of the paint with it.  The result is that most of
    tiles have letters and numbers that are not clear and sharp, but are
    somewhat mottled and fuzzy looking.  Even the wood used seems inferior
    to the older sets.  I switched the tiles with my old set (which has
    about 50,000 miles on it); these tiles still look new.
    
    The bad news is that Milton Bradley is making Scrabble now and is not
    doing it well.
    
    Bernie

Re: .33

We are all, as you say, free to abuse trademarks, Digital's and others',
in any way we choose in private discourse.  But any communication within
Digital, either by interoffice memo, email, or Notes, is *not* private
discourse.  We are using Digital's facilities, Digital has the right to
deny us the use of those facilities, and we are legally bound to
consider that anything we say in any of those media is Digital official.
We are therefore constrained to use other companies' trademarks every
bit as carefully as we use Digital's.  There is a potential for direct
legal liability against Digital if we abuse trademarks, just as there is
if we libel someone.

-d

re .30

> copywrite

Arggh.  That's copyright, the right to copy, not write copy, which is
what copywriters do.

Dave C.

    And a copywright is one who violates copywriters' copyrights.

		What lawyers get paid all that money to do

	Does anyone else have a copy in Russian?

					kbear

    Sorry, no joy today.

<><><><><><><><>  T h e   V O G O N   N e w s   S e r v i c e  <><><><><><><><>
 Edition : 2802             Thursday  8-Apr-1993            Circulation : 7030

VNS MAIN NEWS:                                    [Andy Payne, VNS UK News Desk]
==============                                    [Fareham, England            ]

    International News
    ------------------

    Alfred Mosher Butts, the inventor of Scrabble, has died in New York,
    aged 93.