Target audience:

• Semi-competitive player with 10 or fewer simultaneous games
• Enjoys winning slightly more than making clever words
• Wants to limit playing time but still win 60% or more of the games
• Has mastered all the skills listed in Part I – Basic Tactics
• Has mastered all the skills listed in Part II – Intermediate Play

Tactics

Learn word creation via tile mapping.

1. 1. 1. Find the most valuable tiles on the board.
         • Access to a DW or TW.
         • DL, TL, DW, TW with a vowel next to it where two words can be made with same tile.
         • Extending an existing word with J, Q, X, or Z.

         

      2. Match most valuable letters to those locations.  Add any other letters from your rack which appear to form common syllables or letter combinations.

         

      3. Use this as the starting point for creating words.

         

Know and use the vowel and consonant only words.

• These are very valuable when your rack is full of either vowels or consonants.
• If nothing can be created, see tile swapping section below.

Vowel Only

AA

AE

AI

EAU

OE

OI

Consonant Only (no Y)	BRR	BRRR	CRWTH	CRWTHS	CWM	CWMS
HM	HMM	MM	NTH	PFFT	PHPHT	PHT
PSST	PST	SH	SHH	TSK	TSKS	TSKTSK
TSKTSKS	ZZZ

Master the tile swap.

• Use this tactic sparingly, but consider using in these situations:
  • Rack contains 3-5 of the same letters.
  • Rack contains all vowels or all consonants.  (See all vowel and consonant only section above.)
  • Opponent is really far ahead, and you need a Hail Mary to even have a chance.
• Keep these letters when swapping:  A, D, E, R, S, T
• Swapping 4 or fewer letters is preferred to avoid consecutive bad racks.

Other Posts

Introduction

Part I – Basic Tactics

Part II – Intermediate Play 

Part III – Intermediate Play (cont)

Part IV – Advanced Strategy

Part V – Hard Core Tactics