Scrabble Strategy:

Constantly shuffle the tiles on your rack even if you think you're great at rearranging the letters in your mind. Chances are you'll have words appear that you couldn't come up with otherwise. There are 7x6x5x4x3x2x1 = 5040 (some probability rule for you) possible ways to arrange your seven letters on each rack.

This can also be more useful if you start noticing which particular letter combinations help you see certain words. For example, CK and GH are two letter combinations in many words. There are common three letter combos like NDL and STR.

2-17-04

2 letter word: li - a Chinese unit of distance
3 letter word: oho - used to express surprise or exultation
7 letter word: nitpick - to fuss over petty details
Q word: qwerty - a standard typewriter keyboard

2-9-04

2 letters: aa - rough, cindery lava
3 letters: edh - an old English letter
7 or more letters: aecidia - spore-producing organs of certain fungi
Q word: tranq - a variation of tranq

Strategy: the best possible six letter combination to hope for is: SATINE. 23 letters can be added to this combo to make a seven letter bingo.

2-2-04

2 letters: bo - a pal
3 letters: ghi - ghee, a kind of liquid butter made in India
7 or more letters: eucaine - an anesthetic
Q word: quai - quay, a wharf

1-5-04

2 letters: ya - you
3 letters: hyp - hypochondria
Q word: quinoa - a weedy plant
7 or more letters: afreets - evil sprits in Arabic mythology

Strategy: one in seven opening draws of seven tiles has a possible bingo in it, so anagramming skills are crucial. You can practice by drawing seven tiles out of the bag and seeing how many words you can make.

12-10-03

2 letters: eh - an interjection used to express doubt (and loved by Canadians)
3 letters: hae - to have
q word and 7 or more letters: aquiline - curving like an eagle's beak

Strategy: There are 96 acceptable two letter words in Scrabble. Learning these are a key to becoming a pro. You don't just lay a single tile to build a two letter word, but instead build off an existing word with that a two letter word and make a longer word in the other direction. For example, if the word ram was down, you could add an "E" below it and build a word that starts off with E:
R A M
E A S Y

These small extra points from creating an additional small word gives you the leading edge, and raises your probability of landing a letter or word bonus.

Here are the first five two letter words in Everything Scrabble: AA, AB, AD, AE, AG

Additional words of the week:
J word: jeed - past tense of verb "jee" meaning to turn to the right
X word: dexy - a tablet of dex
Z word: izar - an outer garment worn by Muslim women

11-19-03

2 letters: et - a past tense of eat
3 letters: jus - a legal right
q-word: faqir - fakir, a Hindu ascetic

11-12-03

2 letters: oe - Old English word for "one"
3 letters (and with a Q): qua - in th capacity of
7 or more letters: roseola - a rose-colored rash

11-5-03

2 letters: ta - an expression of gratitude
3 letters: cwm - a deep, steep-walled basin on a mountain
7 or more letters: pochard - a sea duck
Q word: qaid - alternate spelling of caid, a Muslim leader

Strategy: Don't always build your words by attaching a single word. Constantly search for opportunities between nearby perpendicular words that can create two words when you are thinking about laying down your main word.

10-29-03

2 letters: ta - an expression of gratitude
3 letters: cvm - a cirque (deep, steep-walled basin on a mountain)
7 or more letters: pochard - a sea duck
Q word: qaid - caid (a Muslim leader)

Strategy: Hold on to your S's and Y's so you can use it to add to the end of an existing word on the board and then build another word down or up off that S. This strategy can easily add another 10-20 points to your score.

10-22-03

2 letter word: oe - a whirlwind off the Faeroe Islands
3 letter word: gox - gaseous oxygen
7 or more letters: piasava - a course, stiff fiber
Q word: Qoph - alternate spelling of Hebrew letter koph

Strategy: if you get your hands on an I, N, G, and S, hold on to it until your other three letters allow you to lay down a massive seven letter word (which gives you an additional 50 bonus points).