Scrabble Game Room
Created | Updated Aug 30, 2007
There is this great place on the internet to play scrabble. There are no ads. It is monitored like it is here... a family site for the most part. It is a clean and elegant environment. You can chat realtime with your opponent. You can observe games and talk with the other observers as a group. You can play in Sowpods (English dictionary) or TWL (American dictionary) or Dutch, Romanian, French, Italian or Multilingual dictionaries. You can set the time for your game up to 60 minutes with up to 10 minutes added for each move, amounting to about 4 hours or more, and IT IS FREE !
The beauty of this place for us very busy, multitasking folks is this... we can get a game started with a friend, setting it for maximum time, and make moves whilst doing other things. There is a sound when your opponent makes a move or says something to you which alerts you to activity. Only two people can play in a game, but friends can observe by typing 'obs oneofplayersnames' in command mode, and chat realtime amongst themselves. They can even talk to you if you so wish. The command is 'ki blah blah blah'.
So i am setting this up here to act as a portal to get there.... once you have downloaded the software... about 500kb... and registered... then you can meet in the threads below this place to set up games. You can still stay here and chat with your friends or work on your entries... and play your moves when the little move sound alerts you that it's your turn.
Okay... so this is the site for the Internet Scrabble Club. Once you have registered you will have a little icon on your desktop that you click to log on. Your name can not be more than ten letters and numbers (only) and you are only allowed two names per computer, so pick your name carefully. They require an email address but you can change it when you log on if you need to. i made one in hotmail that i gave them.
And here are some help tips for getting going there:
1. When you log on you will see a scrabble board on the left and a large area on the right, called the console, where all messages and game plays are displayed. At the bottom of the console is a typing space and to the left of it is a dropdown box which displays 'command' or 'tell nameofplayer'. First thing you do is get into command mode and type in 'buddies +nameofyourfriend'. (without the apostrophes) Hopefully you will know the name of your friend who you are meeting. Then go to the top of the console and click 'buddies'. If your friend is onsite his or her name will be listed there. If he or she is not, when they do arrive you will be notified with a written message in the console and a sound. Left click their name and a drop-down list will appear. You can click anything on that list and nothing bad will happen. To start a game with them, hit 'match nameoffriend' in the dropdown menu.
2. Above the board there are dropdown menus... one of which is headed Options. Within the dropdown menu there you can set your board and tiles, shuffle type, dictionary, challenge mode and set the time and increment for your game. A quick and simple way to set the time, challenge mode and dictionary is to hit the 'seek a game' button on the lower left bottom of the board.
3. You can talk to your friend outside of a game by typing 'tell nameoffriend blah blah blah' in the command mode. You can talk to your partner in a game by typing the message in 'tell nameoffreind' mode. You can talk to fellow observers of a game you are observing by typing 'whisper blah blah blah' in command mode. You can send messages to offline friends by typing 'message nameoffriend blah blah blah' and they will see it at the top of their console when they log on.
4. You can check the validity of words only when you are not playing, with one exception. There are four types of challenge modes you can select from: Double, Single, 5-points, and Void. Double Challenge is classic Scrabble game play: when you challenge a word, if it is valid you lose your turn. Single Challenge, you don't lose your turn. 5-point challenge you lose 5 pts if the word is valid. Void does not allow you to put a nonvalid word on the board and you can check words while playing. The command is 'check whatever word or words you want'
5. Playing the game: you can type your words on the board... just click on the square where you want it to start, until the arrow points in the direction you want to go, and then type... then hit enter. If you are running a mac, you must hit the tab button on your keyboard twice before typing. While you are playing it is a good idea once in a while to clear the local memory so you don't get knocked off the site... in command you type 'clear' and the console will clear as will the local memory. If you type 'list' in command during the game the console will display a double columned list of the plays you two have made.
6. There are some pretty high powered expert players on isc both in Sowpods and Twl. You can observe them playing or examine the games in their histories or libraries. To observe a high rated game, type 'obs' in command. To choose a game to watch type 'game 1700' and you will see a list of all high rated games being played in all dictionaries. The color codes for the dictionaries they are using will be at the bottom of the list. I will try to get a list of real life experts who play in tournaments in here as soon as possible... but if you see pakorn, trey, gijoel, deldar182, pooh or bricap you are doing well. They are all champions.
7. Here are a few random tips... Type 'help tips' in command for some hints on how to win. Type 'help help' for a list of help topics. Click on your clock if you want to get all tiles back in your rack off of the board. To change your email type 'set email [email protected]' To just erase it type 'set email'
8. You are allowed 2 names per computer on this site. The first name is allowed to play the 20 or more computers for the first 7 days after you first log on. Set your time to 45 minutes, if you can, because the bots play very fast. Use the command who C to find out what bots are available, then left click one and click on match in the drop down menu. I might add that during the first 10 games you can receive phenomenal rating points even if you lose. Find out the points you gain, win draw or lose, by left clicking on a name and clicking in the dropdown menu assess
Good luck! And have fun!
H2G2 entries on scrabble:
Scrabble - The Word Game
Tips for the Game of Scrabble
The Annoyances of Scrabble
How to win at the game of Scrabble
Great Board Games
