How Good Are You At Word Games?

Mary Youlden
Authored by Mary Youlden
Posted Saturday, September 26, 2020 - 11:31pm

Everyone enjoys a good game of scrabble or hanging man. There are some basics that even the most enthusiastic players should go through though. In order to win a game, we have our own unique strategy that works for us. However, whether it is actually good or not depends on the outcome. Here are some tips that can help you evaluate whether you are good at word games and in case you are not, they will assist you at maximizing your vocabulary skills. 

Going In With A Good Plan

If you are not planning your game from the beginning to move toward the "hot spot", it would be wise to rethink that. By accomplishing to execute a well planned triple word square in scrabble, it can boost your score to triple digits. Similar advice would apply for word endings and beginnings. By putting words like “ed”, “ing”, “er” and so on, on the side, you will have a clear picture of what to do with those pairs. That also goes for words like “re“, “or”, “in” and “un”. They can be used for the beginning and place them on the opposite end of your rack so you would have a clearer picture. 

Who Should Start First?

If you are not passing your turns so easily, sorry to say, but that would not necessarily always be a good tactic. The approach where you give "advantage" to your rival by not playing your round can have a huge payoff. Waiting time, although at the beginning might seem impractical, may lose you some small points, however, it will also provide you with the opportunity to use your high-value tiles more strategically. 

The “Shortcut”

Someone who is a good and experienced word game player will know how to use all possible resources to win. If that means learning new words by heart, so be it, however, they do not need to be researched through the dictionary. There are other ways one can learn. By downloading various apps, or by putting letters in some unscramble tool, players can gain a certain edge in hanging man or any other word game. As professionals from UnscrambleWords.net would say, they do not only give you the immediate capability to find words on demand but are excellent for people that enjoy hangman or crossword puzzle games. These apps and tools are useful. They are a more comfortable way of learning new words that do not involve going through various unnecessary lists, especially if a Scramble session is about to begin and you need new words before the game. 

Are You Aiming High Or Low?

Let us take Scrabble as an example. There are only four S tiles there that are able to make a plural word that is highly desired. The maker of the game has recommended that a player should hold on to their S until the overall score goes over at least 8 points. 

The most ideal scenario would be to keep your S tiles on the side until you have an earning of 50 points for using all seven racks at once. So, in case you are following this tactic, you are on a good track. 

Play By the Rules

In case you are using suffixes, prefixes, acronyms, proper nouns, or aberrations, you are not doing a good job, unfortunately. These words require apostrophes or hyphens that are not usable in-game. Foreign words are also out of the question, except in case they can be found in the Scrabble dictionary and can be commonly used in English as well. In case you are not paying attention to your rival, you would also be on a "bad side of the track". Not to worry though, just pay attention, and challenge their words. In case you are right, the challenged party will remove their tile and lose their turn which is, to say the least, quite beneficial for you. 

Take It Slow

If you fall into a group of people that do not focus mainly on big words and how to get rid of your tiles as fast as possible, good for you. Sure, we all love to achieve Bingo, but there is more to the game than just throwing your letters without sense. There is no need to memorize everything, just some small words that can give you quick points. So, if you have an attitude of a chess player, and you are armed with patience, planned tactics, and defense, you are heading in the right direction no doubt. In case not, it would be recommended to start doing so to improve your skills. 

If you are the type of player that pays close attention to the game and uses your words wisely, congratulations. In case you are not, there is no need to worry. All you need is to follow these guidelines and be patient, and even before you know it, your opponents will not what hit them. 




 

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