Is it possible to study word lists and then remember them during a game just like that? Some players do have the unusual ability of a super memory. Once words go into the system, it remains there and comes out at the perfect time for maximum scores. But how many of us have this inhuman skill or blessing? Very few, I must admit, and certainly not me. So how does one overcome this resource deficit in the heat of battle against a computer-brained scrabble scoring anagramming genius without using google glass with Quackle in the background? Pray for luck or find ways to improve recollection.
It’s like in school and you had to remember a gargantuan amount of facts for your Biology or History exams, that’s virtually impossible to memorize. Do you cry? Yes, but do you give up? Maybe, but do you give in? Never. We find ways to be successful and we create mnemonics and hope.
I have come up with my own ways of remembering and it is not cramming useless lists into my system hoping to spring them on an unsuspecting expert. I have tried to create study lists based on situations that I find difficult during the course of a game. For example, how about a rack with V- I – I – I and three others. Aaargh! You never forget these racks do you? Normally right after you play a bingo or at the start of the game, they jump right at you and you scream- How unfair?. No reasonable good player would allow this to happen through normal play.
Interestingly, I decided to turn these wretched scenarios into an advantage, by creating lists of possible sevens. So I fired up Zyzzyva and quizzed VIII???. The possible words? Only six! Easy list to remember right and could score a bingo too. Super!
How many new words here for you? 10 minutes of practice and you have this in your head for a ‘situation’. The potential for improvement from this is even more compelling when you check the list for VIII????. Here you will find 51 possibilities.
The idea here is not to just practice boring lists of meaningless words but to focus on situations you have encountered in your game and study lists that matches that. The reason this is a good way of studying is that rack tends to match your playing style and learning how to deal with the consequences of your strategies will go a long way towards improvement.
What about CIII? For 7 and 8 letters? Good luck and keep scrabbling.
A teacher of mathematics who enjoys playing scrabble, and who has naively saddled himself with the goal of improving his game to an expert level.
