How to play Scrabble (2023 rules)

Learn the rules to the board game Scrabble quickly and concisely - This video has no distractions, just the rules.

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RULES:
The object of the game is to score the most points when the game ends. The game ends once 1 player has emptied their rack of all letters when the bag is empty, or if all the players pass twice in successive turns.

Lay out the board and give each player a tile rack. Mix up all the tiles in the bag and each player takes 1 tile. The player whose tile is closest to the letter “A” goes first. If it is a tie, try again. A Blank tile beats any letter. Return the tiles to the bag, then beginning with the starting player and proceeding clockwise, each player secretly draws 7 random tiles and adds them to their rack. Tiles should remain hidden from your opponents.

Each letter tile has a value as indicated by its number. Blank tiles have no value but can be used as any single letter. When played, you must declare its letter and you cannot change its letter later. The total quantity of each letter is printed on the board.

After each player has their starting tiles, the game begins. On your turn, you must form 1 new word on the board, or discard and draw new letters, or skip your turn. The very first word of the game must be at least 2 letters long and cover the center start square. After that, you must form words on the board that are horizontally or vertically connected to a previously formed word. Words always read from left to right and top to bottom, never backwards, upwards, or diagonally.

All placed letter tiles must be adjacent to each other in a straight line and be a part of the same word, you cannot place letters in multiple locations across the board in a single turn. You are allowed to create multiple words, by placing tiles adjacent to multiple words already in play. If you do, then all touching letters must form complete words. If even one word is incomplete, but the rest are good, you may not play there.

You may have any number of duplicate words on the board. After you place your word, you then score points based on the combined value of all the letters in all the new words you formed that turn. At least 1 letter needs to be added to a word for it to be considered a new word. Letters that are a part of 2 different words will be scored twice, once in each word.

If you covered a premium square, then that word will score bonus points. The Premium letter bonus only applies to the letter on top of it, while the premium word bonus applies to the total value of the word. Apply bonuses to premium letters first, before applying premium word bonuses. Blanks on premium word squares still activate the bonus. You can only score premium bonuses the turn you place a tile on that bonus. If you make a new word from an existing word that already had bonuses from a previous play, then you do not score those bonuses.

The center start square is a double word bonus. If you create a word using all 7 letters on your rack in a single turn, then that is called a “bingo”, and you receive a bonus 50 points after the word has scored. After you place your tiles, record your score on a score pad, then draw back up to 7 tiles and the next player goes.

You are allowed to use any word in the official Scrabble dictionary, or any agreed upon dictionary of your choice. Players may only consult a dictionary during a challenge. Illegal words that are not allowed, are: any word that is misspelled, made up words, proper nouns and proper names, foreign words, abbreviations, acronyms, freestanding prefixes and suffixes, hyphenated words, and words with apostrophes.

If you think someone’s word is illegal, you may challenge that word before the next player starts their turn. Look up their word in the dictionary. If the word is illegal, then the illegal word is returned to that player’s rack, and no points are scored and their turn ends. If the word is legal, then the word remains and points are scored, but the challenger loses their next turn.

If you are unable to play a word, or choose not to, you may trade in tiles for new ones from the bag. Place all the tiles you wish to trade facedown on the table, then draw the same number of tiles from the bag, then return the facedown tiles to the bag and end your turn. If you want, you may also choose to skip your turn without playing or discarding.

Keep playing until the bag runs out of tiles, then play continues without players replenishing their racks. Then the first player to play all the tiles in their rack ends the game. Or if all the players pass two times consecutively, then the game ends. Either way, players now subtract points from their score based on all their remaining tiles left in their rack. If a player had played all their tiles, they add the sum of all the other players’ unplayed tiles to their score. Then the player...