How to Score a Bingo in Scrabble

Contrary to the belief that a Scrabble bingo is pure luck, it is not. Although there is a little play of luck, as most games do, bingo is achievable by applying a strategy. Bingo doesn't require a very vast vocabulary also. All you need is exposure to basic English, and of course, you also need to know how to play the game.

Bingo (Scrabble), as defined in Wikipedia, is a slang term used in Scrabble when a player uses all seven letters in one play. This also applies to use 8 or 9 tiles in a turn of 9-tile Scrabble. Any player who does this receives an extra 50 points on top of what the word would normally score.

Sooo. now that you know how awesome a bingo is on Scrabble, let's do this!

PS: Please be advised that this strategy is self-taught, and this can go against you if you don't apply this well. Also, this tactic is weird, and other players can accuse you of cheating, because on the average, this can score you two to three bingos a play. A "non-weird" way of Scrabble strategy is found in my other article.

PPS: I am using SOWPODS dictionary. The dictionary used by most tourneys, and by Gamehouse. You gotta love that site.

Photo Credit: oh_um of Flickr

When I said hoard, I meant use wisely.

From this study:

"The average English speaker possesses a vocabulary of 10,000 to 20,000 words, Lederer observes, but actually uses only a fraction of that, the rest being recognition or recall vocabulary."

So what does this have to do with scoring a Bingo?

When you are aiming to slam your opponent(s) using a bingo, always keep the most common letters. For these letters form the most common words, and therefore have a high chance of occurring, and more importantly, you recognizing it. These are the letters, E, A, S, T and R, plus the blanks. To remember that, ask yourself, "Which day comes after Black Saturday?" EASTER.

Be sure to put more premium especially on the S and blanks. They are your best friends. These are the easiest to connect to other words.

Photo Credit: shaun_and_jacki of Flickr

High scoring letters, while gems in under normal playing strategy, should be disposed of quickly. Spray some Lysol on them while you're at it.

The reason being, is that the converse of the reason in the first one. Chances are, a bingo, that includes a Q, Z, J or X, will not register to you, even if you already have it.

But I did not say you should dispose these rather unwisely. You should maximize the score of these. Take the picture for example: the person made two "Xi's" in one turn, therefore, doubling the score of one tile.

Photo Credit: Photobucket

When you get the suffixes like -ing, -ed, -er, or prefixes like, un- in- or re-, try to save them. Most of the bingos, from my experience, are words with have suffixes or prefixes, if not those that are in plural form. I had an experience where I entered the word, "UNEATEN".

Photo Credit: dawnsummers of Flickr

When you finally get your seven-letter word, it is crucial to know how to insert it. Plural words are easy, but how about those that are not? Well, you should know how to play with hooking.

A hook happens if you add a letter of your word a word that is already on the board. Take a look at the picture. I hooked "BETTIES" to "IS", forming a new word, "SIS".

Okay, I made a few screen shots of one of my scrabble games in Facebook (it's free!). Please take note, that the person I played with is a real person, I don't personally know her, and we did not connive in any way.

TURN ONE:


She entered "MEE", I entered, "GAT" (I saved the -ing I had. I forgot to take a screenie for that). The remaining, plus the tiles I got was able to make the word, "DURNING".

TURN TWO:


She entered "HOLIER", therefore, blocking my chances at the word. But wait, I noticed that I can make use of the "O" she put up. I scored my first bingo for the game.

TURNS THREE, FOUR and FIVE:






While she tried to make use of the triple word, and other premium squares, or exchanged tiles, I tried to get rid of all the unwelcomed letters. But I made sure I made use of all wisely, by re-using, or putting them up on premium squares myself.

TURN SIX


I was able to get my second bingo. I hooked it onto one word. After that, she forfeited.

Nobody gets better at something overnight. Rome wasn't built in a day (or any city, for that matter). Keep practicing.