Cheating at Scrabble
“A vocabulary of truth and simplicity will be of service throughout your life”
This quote from Winston Churchill is totally true, I suppose, unless you play tons of Scrabble.Last night, I played Scrabble with Kim and today I played it with my family. I whupped Kim's ass--which isn't saying much because she'd never played before (but I still rubbed my win in her face). Today, unfortunately, I came in last place against Mom, Dad, and Robbie. This is pretty embarrassing for an English major because we're supposed to have remarkable vocabularies.
My father's strategy is to make up words and hope that we do not challenge him. Mom and Robbie hate that strategy because Dad also has a remarkable vocabulary, so there's no telling whether or not he made the word up. He also uses words that "might" be in the Scrabble dictionary. Today, he played the word "oui," even though the words used can only be English words. But nobody challenged him because he has a way of putting doubts in our minds. "Well, 'si' is in the Scrabble dictionary," he explained. I still don't know if it is or if he just made that shit up.
Anyway, I followed his lead and played the word "goy." Mom and Robbie rolled their eyes, but as with the word "oui," they didn't challenge, and the game continued. Though I lost, at that very moment the fact that they did not challenge was a good thing because "goy" was pretty much all I could play.
Mom is convinced that this is considered cheating, but there are no official Scrabble rules against this strategy. They could've very easily challenged, but they didn't. Dad has turned Scrabble into a game of poker, where the players must read each other's expressions. Now I must work on my Scrabble face.
Incidentally, neither "oui" or "goy" are in the Scrabble dictionary.
posted by Bird on a Wire @ 6:20 PM
8 Comments:
I need to use that strategy in playing Scrabble with my family. I almost always come in second place.
This is a version of the game that I would love. I'm good at making stuff up.
That's what I do: make up words and hope nobody challenges me on the basis that I'm the wordsmith. That never works, though.
Funny. My mother loves Scrabble and corssword puzzles. Words are fun -- made up or otherwise. Break out the OED ;)
Scrabble, ah how I love Scrabble but no one wants to play these days, except my mother in law, who is scary good at it. But she lives in australia!
Sorry dude but it is cheating to use words that aren't in the dictionary, even if your not challenged.
I try and use the odd letters like X on triple letter or word scores.
I am awful at Scrabble but it is so much fun! I always can only make stupid three and four letter words. Oh well!
I think it's allowed unless challenged - you are correct according to our house rules....
Good lord. What IS it with the Thomsen men and games? Did you ever hear about the time your uncle Jim reduced me to tears during a game of pinochle?
A nicely done entry. :-)
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