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Qiao and I started playing the game (together as a 2-person team to begin with), when Qiao's sister gifted him with an iPad while he was recuperating from his accident. Several of his sisters and in-laws play the game, so at any time, we have several games going with them. Later, Qiao installed the app on his cell-phone, so he and I play against each other too. He's quite good at it too.
Over the last year and a half, I've come up the following strategies for getting the most points in the game.
- On the first word of the game, if you can't take advantage of a DW (double word) tile, then play a word using only your low-value letters, even if it is only 2 or 3 letters long. Save your high-value letters for later in the game, so that you can get more points for them.
- In later turns, it is sometimes also better to save your high-value letters rather than playing them right away, even if that means getting a few less points on your current turn. An exception is near the end of the game, where you want to use up your high-value letters to keep them from being counted against you when the game goes out.
- When considering words to play, always try to position your high-value letters on DL/TL tiles, and/or include them in DW/TW words, to get the most points. I especially always try to take advantage of those special tiles when placing a 'Q' or 'Z'.
- Placing a word alongside another word also gives you extra points. Example: if you play the word "FOB" above the word "AYE", then you get points for all these words: "FOB", "FA", "OY", and "BE". So effectively, you get twice the points for your original word plus all the points of the other word, not even taking into consideration any DL/TL/DW/TW tiles.
- If you don't have any high-value letters yourself, try to take advantage of high-value letters that were already played by adding on to them.
- Try to avoid opening up (making accessible) any TW tiles for the other player when you place your word.
- If a TW tile is accessible but you can't make a word with it, consider playing a word that will at least make it harder for the other person to take advantage of the TW tile.
- Don't always play the first good word you come up with. Keep looking to see if you can find an even better word.
And lastly, my most important advice: Sometimes, you'll come up with such a fabulous word, that you simply MUST play it, even if it goes against ALL the above rules.
Over the last year and a half, I've come up the following strategies for getting the most points in the game.
- On the first word of the game, if you can't take advantage of a DW (double word) tile, then play a word using only your low-value letters, even if it is only 2 or 3 letters long. Save your high-value letters for later in the game, so that you can get more points for them.
- In later turns, it is sometimes also better to save your high-value letters rather than playing them right away, even if that means getting a few less points on your current turn. An exception is near the end of the game, where you want to use up your high-value letters to keep them from being counted against you when the game goes out.
- When considering words to play, always try to position your high-value letters on DL/TL tiles, and/or include them in DW/TW words, to get the most points. I especially always try to take advantage of those special tiles when placing a 'Q' or 'Z'.
- Placing a word alongside another word also gives you extra points. Example: if you play the word "FOB" above the word "AYE", then you get points for all these words: "FOB", "FA", "OY", and "BE". So effectively, you get twice the points for your original word plus all the points of the other word, not even taking into consideration any DL/TL/DW/TW tiles.
- If you don't have any high-value letters yourself, try to take advantage of high-value letters that were already played by adding on to them.
- Try to avoid opening up (making accessible) any TW tiles for the other player when you place your word.
- If a TW tile is accessible but you can't make a word with it, consider playing a word that will at least make it harder for the other person to take advantage of the TW tile.
- Don't always play the first good word you come up with. Keep looking to see if you can find an even better word.
And lastly, my most important advice: Sometimes, you'll come up with such a fabulous word, that you simply MUST play it, even if it goes against ALL the above rules.