Letters, Words, and the Imagination!

Number 3 on my 'Adore' list is Scrabble.

What a wonderful game! :) I have found quite a few interesting things about this board game...

• No matter what time of the day it is, Scrabble is always a great avenue for laughter. Especially when your friends attempt to sound out words that don't exist...like 'euu' at 1 in the morning!
• Apparently the person who puts the first word on the board receives 'double word score' because the star square is the same color as the pink 'double word score' squares.
• Playing Scrabble by looking at the board upside-down became increasingly harder as the hours ticked by and the wee hours of the morning grew closer. The brain begins to shut off until it reads the board right-side up and miraculously sees so many options on a game board that had once looked so dim!
• Delete Xray from your Scrabble vocabulary. It is not a word, and cannot be used...so much for the 'X' tile...Brandon, I still won that game fair and square. You didn't protest soon enough! ;) Considering 'xray' not a word, after the game was complete, does not negate my points!!
• "Id" is a word and can be used THREE times in one game...that was just ridiculous...and no I will not type out the l-o-n-g definition of such a short word...Freud was crazy.
• It is possible to get a total of 63 points with one word..."whack"
• You know you've been playing Scrabble too long when you wonder how many points your own name would give you! (8 points for mine!)
• It is not possible to get away with putting 'ab,' the singular word for 'abs' on the board. Who ever says they are working out their 'ab,' so it's always 'ab muscle' or 'abs' plural. Nice try Brandon.
• If you do not like how a player has grabbed muchos amounts of points by placing just two tiles on the board, it is ok to flick the said tiles off the board...even though afterwards screaming or complaining may occur.
• No matter how hard you try or how far over you place the starting word, inevitably only one side of the board will be used...the right side...especially if you're playing with Jimmy and Brandon.
• Who knew the words 'coccyx' and 'agog' would be played on a Scrabble board!
• Brandon has a keen knack for reading my mind and placing his words in the EXACT spot that I planned on using for my stupendous words...then when the 'turn' order was reversed, Jimmy inherited the same talent...Oh well! It's the way the game tiles fell!
• A player can manage to receive ALL vowels or ALL consonants in their tray. It's a sad day when that happens! Not a fun experience let me tell ya! You try finding words on the board when all you have is two 'D's,' two 'R's,' a 'K,' a 'Q,' and a 'G!'

*The picture I have placed in this entry is the game my sister and I played tonight. I thought it was a beautiful game, not only because I beat her (which is very difficult to do), but because the words are nicely spaced, unlike my experiences with the boys! However, there is probably one reader, I shall name him Mr. Scrabble Rulebook Enforcer, who looks with distain on this picture and finds fault with it. So, here would be a list of things he would disapprove of:

1. My sister and I decided to use all or those 'double word score' and 'triple letter score' spaces more than once. So if you added to an already existing word, like "miss" turning into "mission" turning into "missions" you could keep receiving the 'double word score' space, producing high number value! -->although I have to admit half way through the game we forgot to check underneath all the tiles and missed a few extra points!! ;)
2. 'Ap,' is a suffix and would not have been allowed in a game with Mr. SRE
3. The words, 'oh' and 'rah' would have been looked up and checked for proper definitions and to see if they are truly words and not just slang.
4. My sister and I wanted the word 'puddle' on the board so badly that we decided to conveniently look past the creation of the suffix 'ap.' We both decided since 'ap' was not a word, it therefore would not give the bearer points. The only points awarded were for the word 'puddle.'
5. Showing our tiles to each other was perfectly fine, even taking a turn for one another was perfectly fine. Tiles were not meant to be hidden, only re-arranged to spell cool phrases like "DEATH TR" or "QUIBBLE" --> I have to say though, Mr. SRE probably would make made-up words with his tiles too!! :)

Scrabble! What a game! Challenges the mind, stretches the imagination, and tests your ab muscles as they are pelted with showers of laughter!