Deluxe Scrabble Scores With Nontraditionalists

Virgin Mastertronics’ “The Deluxe Computer Edition of Scrabble” trades away much of the familiar appeal of the classic board game for some intriguing bells and whistles. Serious players looking to exercise their skills and stretch their vocabularies probably will embrace the new features. But traditionalists will long for the competition, surprise and camaraderie possible only between human players.

In its most basic form, this computer version of Scrabble--actually a totally redesigned update of an earlier electronic version of the game--closely resembles the actual board game. After fellow players--human or computer--and difficultly levels are chosen, random letters are assigned to each player.

Words are formed and placed on the board in the same way you would with actual tiles. A very welcome calculating feature keeps track of the point values for all levels of scoring.

Unfortunately, however, the computer version doesn’t do a very good job of hiding tiles. Whether playing the computer or another human, it is all but impossible not to know what your opponent has in his/her/its rack. Using the hide feature doesn’t help much either.

We also found a lot to be desired with the huge (2.5 megabytes) dictionary program that comes with the game: golfer and offer for two. The game makers promised the entire “Official Scrabble Player’s Dictionary,” but our trusty 1979 paperback edition turned out to be a bit more complete than the 1990 electronic one.

“Deluxe Computer Scrabble” has enough pluses to make it as a good solitaire game, but it is definitely not a substitute for an evening with the original board game and a couple of good friends.