Scrabble terms and tips to help you...

Scrabble terms and tips to help you play like the pros:

* BINGO: A word using all seven of a player’s tiles in one turn,

worth 50 bonus points.

* VOWEL DUMP: A word composed of mainly vowels, played to solve a

surfeit of A’s, E’s, I’s and O’s. A common example is “oilier;” a

more obscure one is “aalii” (a small Hawaiian tree with hard, dark

wood.)

* SAVE YOUR Ss: In Scrabble, an S is gold because you can include

it in a word to make a plural of something else on the board, thereby

earning points for both words. (Blank tiles, which can be any letter

you choose when you first play them, are also valuable, so don’t

waste them on a low-scoring play.)

* LEARN THE LEGAL TWO-LETTER WORDS: Did you know “aa” (a Hawaiian

word for a type of volcanic rock) is an acceptable word in Scrabble?

So is “xi” (the 14th letter of the Greek alphabet). Even if you don’t

have many good letters or the board is full, a well-played short word

can earn big points.

* PLAN AHEAD: When you get ready to play a word, think about what

you’re leaving open for your opponent. Keep your words a few squares

away from the triple word score, unless you can play on it yourself.