How to Play Scrabble

A standard Scrabble set has 100 tiles: 98 lettered tiles plus 2 blank tiles that can represent any letter. Each player draws seven tiles at random from a bag or pool and keeps them on a personal rack, hidden from opponents.

The letter distribution is fixed. Common letters like E (12 tiles), A and I (9 each) are plentiful, while J, Q, X and Z each appear only once. Knowing this distribution helps you judge how likely you are to draw a useful letter later in the game.

Players take turns in a fixed order. On your turn you can do one of three things: play a word using tiles from your rack, exchange any number of tiles for new ones from the bag (ending your turn without scoring), or pass.

The very first word of the game must cover the centre square, usually marked with a star. Every word after that must connect to at least one tile already on the board, either by extending an existing word or by crossing it to form new words in both directions.

The board has coloured squares that multiply the value of a letter or an entire word: light blue doubles a letter's value, dark blue triples it, pink doubles the whole word's score, and red triples the whole word's score. These bonuses only apply the first time a tile is placed on that square.

To score a turn, add up the point value of every letter in the main word (using WordCue's Scrabble score calculator is a quick way to check this), apply any letter multipliers first, then apply any word multipliers. If your play also forms new words perpendicular to the main word, score each of those separately and add them to your turn total.

Playing all seven tiles from your rack in a single turn earns a 50-point bonus, commonly called a 'bingo'.

A blank tile can represent any letter you choose when you play it, but it scores zero points regardless of which letter it stands in for. Once placed, a blank keeps the letter you assigned to it for the rest of the game — it cannot be reassigned later.

See our dedicated guide on how to use blank tiles for advice on when spending one is worth it.

If your rack is full of awkward letters, you can use your turn to exchange some or all of your tiles for new ones drawn from the bag, provided at least that many tiles remain in the bag. This costs you a turn but can reset a poor hand.

Most rule sets allow any player to challenge a word they believe is invalid. If the challenge succeeds, the word is removed and the play forfeits that turn; in many home rule variants, a failed challenge costs the challenger their next turn instead.

The game ends when one player uses their final tile and no tiles remain in the bag, or when all players agree no further plays are possible after several consecutive scoreless turns.

At the end, each player subtracts the value of any tiles left on their rack from their score. If a player finished with an empty rack, they add the total value of every other player's remaining tiles to their own score.