How to Manage a Rack in Scrabble

Step-by-Step Guide

1. 1

   Step 1: Rearrange your tiles on your rack.

   Much of rack management in Scrabble is based on the ability to create anagrams, that is, to rearrange the order of the letters on your rack into meaningful words.
   
   You may find it helpful to move the tiles around on your rack until you see a word that you recognize.
   
   As you play the game more often, you'll develop the ability to rearrange the letters in your head.
   
   When rearranging tiles, it helps to place the tiles where they often appear in words.
   
   For example, letters like F and J are more likely to appear at the beginnings of words, so place them on the left side of your rack.
   
   But letters like S and Y are more likely to appear at the end of words, so place them on the right side of your rack.
2. 2

   Step 2: Watch for common prefixes and suffixes.

   Many words are formed by adding either a prefix to the beginning of the root word or a suffix to the end of the root word to change its meaning, tense, or part of speech.
   
   By recognizing these prefixes and suffixes when their letters appear on your rack, you can begin to make meaningful words out of the string of letters in front of you.Common prefixes:
   Common prefixes include DIS-, RE-, UN-, IN-, OUT-, OVER-, and ANTI-.
   
   Common suffixes:
   Common suffixes include
   -S,
   -ES,
   -ED,
   -ING,
   -LY,
   -IER,
   -IEST, and other superlatives. , Identifying common letter combinations like CH, ST, SH, QU, LY, TH, etc. can also help you find words using the tiles on your rack.
   
   If you can't make a word that uses these combinations right away, you may want to hold onto the letters until the opportunity to play them arises. , As you start to recognize common letter combinations used in words, you'll eventually start to recognize entire words on your rack.
   
   The next step is to start putting small words together into compound words, either with two words found on your rack or with a word on your rack and a word already on the board.
   
   For example, if you can find both LOW and DOWN in the letters your rack (with a separate W for each word), you can make the compound word LOWDOWN.
   
   Or, if the word HEAD is on the board, you can turn it into GODHEAD or BULKHEAD if you have the appropriate tiles on your rack and there are enough free spaces ahead of the H.
   
   Related to this skill is the ability to recognize words within words.
   
   With some practice and the right letter tiles, you can expand PRAISE into APPRAISER or LIST into ENLISTEE, possibly even using both triple-word spaces at once. , Learn to balance the score of the letters you play against the quality of tiles remaining on your rack and prospective words that can be made using the letters you play.
   
   As you start becoming more familiar with the words you can make in Scrabble, you need to start evaluating how well you can continue to make good plays while preventing your opponents from making major plays on your words.
   
   Some Scrabble players prefer to emphasize improving the selection of tiles on their racks through strategic play, while other players rely more on the layout of letters on the board.
   
   Whichever style of play you prefer, it helps to keep track of how many of each letter have been played and how many are left.
   
   If 11 of the 12 E tiles have been played and you have the last one, you may want to hang onto it to give yourself better options.
   
   This is especially applicable when holding the S or the blank, which can allow you a big score or a bingo on future turns.
3. 3

   Step 3: Look for other common letter combinations.

4. 4

   Step 4: Familiarize yourself with common compound words.

5. 5

   Step 5: Strike a balance.

Detailed Guide

About the Author