How to Play Scrabble
Build words on a grid of bonus squares, hoard the good tiles, and land one seven-letter bingo for the play everyone remembers.
Rules as printed in the current standard edition · Last verified 2026-10-16
⚡ Quick Start — playing in 2 minutes
- Put all 100 tiles in the bag. Everyone draws one tile — closest to A (blank beats everything) plays first, then play runs clockwise.
- Each player draws 7 tiles onto their rack. Your turn: place one word of 2 or more letters on the board, score it, then draw back up to 7 tiles.
- The first word must cover the centre star and be at least 2 letters long. Every later word must connect to words already on the board, crossword style.
- Premium squares (double/triple letter, double/triple word) boost a tile only on the turn it is first covered. After that the square is just board.
- Use all 7 tiles in one turn for a bingo: your word's score plus 50 bonus points. The game ends when the tiles run out and one player plays their last tile.
The Short Version
Scrabble is a crossword you build together and compete over. On your turn you place one word on the 15×15 board so it connects with what’s already there, score every word your play creates, and refill your rack to seven tiles. Letter tiles carry point values, rare letters are worth the most, and the board’s premium squares multiply scores — but only the first time each square is covered. The biggest single play in the game is the bingo: using all seven rack tiles in one turn earns a 50-point bonus on top of the word. When the bag is empty and one player plays out their last tile, the game ends and leftover tiles change hands on the score sheet.
What You Need
A standard English-edition Scrabble set: the board, 100 tiles (98 letters plus 2 blanks), four racks, and a bag or other opaque container for drawing tiles. You also want a score pad and pencil, and — settle this before the first tile is drawn — an agreed word source. Official North American play uses the NASPA Word List; many households use a standard dictionary or a free word-checker app. Whichever you choose, agree that its ruling is final.
Set Up
Shake the tiles in the bag. Each player draws one tile; the player with the letter closest to A goes first (a blank beats any letter), and those tiles go back in the bag. Everyone then draws seven tiles and stands them on their rack so opponents can’t see them. Keep the score sheet where everyone can watch it — Scrabble scores are public information, always.
How to Play
Play passes clockwise. On your turn you have three options:
Play a word. Place 2 or more tiles in a single straight line, horizontally or vertically, forming one complete main word. The game’s first word must be at least 2 letters and must cover the centre star (which counts as a double-word square for that opening play). Every later play must connect: either it joins existing tiles, or at least one tile lands beside an existing tile. Any tiles your play touches at right angles form cross-words, and every cross-word of 2 or more letters must be a valid word too — your play scores all of them.
Exchange tiles. Hand back 1 to 7 tiles, draw replacements, and shuffle the discards into the bag. This costs your entire turn, and you may only exchange if at least 7 tiles remain in the bag.
Pass. Score nothing and end your turn. Sometimes it’s right; it always hurts.
After playing a word, announce your score, record it, then draw back up to 7 tiles. Your turn isn’t fully over until you’ve drawn — challenges must come before the next player’s turn begins.
Scoring
Score a play in this order: add up the letter values of the main word and every cross-word, applying letter premiums (double/triple letter) to newly placed tiles first, then multiply each affected word by any word premiums (double/triple word) your new tiles cover. If one play covers two word premiums, both apply. Premiums count only for tiles placed this turn.
English edition letter values and tile counts (100 tiles total):
| Letter | Points | Tiles | Letter | Points | Tiles |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | 1 | 9 | N | 1 | 6 |
| B | 3 | 2 | O | 1 | 8 |
| C | 3 | 2 | P | 3 | 2 |
| D | 2 | 4 | Q | 10 | 1 |
| E | 1 | 12 | R | 1 | 6 |
| F | 4 | 2 | S | 1 | 4 |
| G | 2 | 3 | T | 1 | 6 |
| H | 4 | 2 | U | 1 | 4 |
| I | 1 | 9 | V | 4 | 2 |
| J | 8 | 1 | W | 4 | 2 |
| K | 5 | 1 | X | 8 | 1 |
| L | 1 | 4 | Y | 4 | 2 |
| M | 3 | 2 | Z | 10 | 1 |
| Blank | 0 | 2 |
The bingo: play all 7 of your tiles in a single turn and add 50 points after scoring the word normally. It is the single most valuable rule in the game to build your play around.
Winning
The game ends when the bag is empty and one player plays their final tile — or when every player passes twice in a row (or racks up six consecutive scoreless turns in tournament play). Then the leftover tiles settle up: each player subtracts the value of the tiles still on their rack from their own score. If a player went out (played their last tile), that player also adds the total of everyone else’s leftovers to their score. If the game ended by passes instead, nobody receives the leftovers — everyone just subtracts their own. Highest final score wins; ties are genuinely possible and stand as ties in friendly play.
Variations Worth Knowing
Speed play: a chess clock or kitchen timer per move (one or two minutes) keeps slow games moving; it’s standard in clubs and optional at home. Team Scrabble: pairs share a rack and may confer — a house format, not an official one, and great for teaching new players. Different word lists: the international English list (CSW) accepts thousands of words the North American list doesn’t, and other languages have their own tile sets and values entirely — never mix lists mid-game, and check which list an app or club uses before you sit down.
Settle the Argument
Can another player challenge my word, and what happens if they're wrong?
YES — a challenge happens before the next turn, and in North American rules a wrong challenge costs the challenger their turn.Any player may challenge before the next player draws tiles. The word (and every cross-word formed with it) is checked in the agreed dictionary. If any word is invalid, the play comes off the board and the player loses that turn. If all the words are good, the challenger loses their next turn instead. Some casual and international play uses a small points penalty instead of a lost turn — agree on your penalty before the game starts, because mixing the two mid-game is its own argument.
Do premium squares count every time a word passes over them?
NO. — a premium square pays out only on the turn a tile first covers it.Once a tile sits on a double-letter or triple-word square, that bonus is spent forever. Later words that cross over the same square score the tile at face value only. This is why the opening turns race for the triple-word squares — once covered, they're gone for everyone.
Can I play proper nouns, abbreviations, or foreign words?
NO. — none of them are legal plays.Words that are always capitalised (names, places), abbreviations, prefixes and suffixes standing alone, and words requiring an apostrophe or hyphen are all barred. Foreign words count only if they've been absorbed into ordinary English and appear in the agreed dictionary — the dictionary, not the table's opinion, is the final judge.
Once a blank tile is played as a letter, can it become a different letter later?
NO. — a blank stays the letter it was declared as for the whole game.When you play a blank you announce which letter it represents, and it is that letter until the game ends. You can't reuse it as something else in a later cross-word, and it still scores zero no matter what letter it stands for.
House RulesNOT OFFICIAL
Beloved, common, and not in the official rules. Play them if your table loves them — just know they're yours:
- No-dictionary house games: many families play ' kitchen-table rules' where nobody challenges and any word everyone recognises goes. Friendly, but it is a house rule — tournament and app play always allow challenges.
- Redo draws: some tables let a player with no vowels or no consonants show their rack and redraw once. Not an official rule anywhere.
- The 7-tile swap mulligan: letting a stuck player exchange tiles without losing a turn. Officially, exchanging always costs your turn.