Suggested rules for the game of
NOTE: These rules detail something fun to do with an ordinary Scrabble set. This game is not to be confused with the commercially marketed game "Scribbage," which went out of print in 1968 and was later republished as "Ad-Lib." We do not know where you can find a copy of that game.
Overview:
Scrabbage combines elements of Scrabble and cribbage. Players with experience playing both should have no trouble with Scrabbage.
Players:
Normally two, but playable with up to four.
Materials:
One Scrabble set and one cribbage board with pegs.
Order of Play:
The game is composed of a series of hands, each of which consists of the following steps, in order: Draw, Discard, Play, Scrab. Although there is not any actual dealing as such, a "dealer" is nevertheless chosen randomly, and the "deal" thereafter passes clockwise with each hand.
The Draw:
Each player draws six Scrabble tiles from the bag (it is recommended that the tiles be kept in a bag or box, to make mixing easier when tiles which have been seen are thrown back). Players look at their own tiles but do not show them to the others.
The Discard:
Each player chooses two tiles to discard. All discarded tiles are set aside, face down, to comprise the "Scrab," which will be played by the dealer at the end of the hand.
The Play:
Beginning with the dealer and proceeding clockwise around the table, each player in turn plays one tile at a time by placing it on a square of the Scrabble board. The very first tile must be played on the star at the center of the board. Thereafter, as in Scrabble, all tiles must connect to those already played, either in a horizontal or vertical direction. If a player's tile completes a word of at least two letters, she scores two points. If the tile completes multiple words simultaneously, two points are scored for each word completed. Scores may be further modified by special squares, as detailed later. A tile which does not complete a word scores no points, except as detailed under Special Squares.
Note that, unlike Scrabble, each player plays only one tile per turn. It is not necessary that that tile complete a word, however, if it does not, the player MUST be "working on a word," which is to say, there must be a legitimate word which the player can legally complete using the tiles in her hand. It is not necessary to reveal that word, however, a word MUST be completed by the end of the current hand (punishments for violators of this rule should be determined according to local statutes). As in Scrabble, this applies in all directions, that is to say, a tile may not be played if a non-word will be left in any direction at the end of the hand. The ONLY circumstance under which a "word fragment" may be left on the board is if a legitimate word "in progress" becomes blocked, that is, if it may no longer legally be continued as a result of someone else's subsequent play.
Go:
There will be circumstances in which a player will find herself unable to make a play. This is called a "go," and is announced aloud. The other player scores one point and continues to play tiles one at a time until
With more than two players, when someone calls "go," play continues until all players are stuck but one, at which point that remaining player scores one point for the go (note that in this case it is possible for the originally stuck player to become unstuck before the point is scored, possibly even winning it herself).
Running out of tiles never counts as being stuck.
Last:
Whoever plays the last tile of a hand scores one point.
The Scrab:
When the hand is played out and everyone is either out of tiles or stuck, the dealer plays the scrab - the four tiles which were set aside earlier. She plays as many of those four tiles as possible, still following the rules as regards connecting to existing tiles and forming complete words. Score is two points for each word completed, plus any special square bonuses.
The scrab is scored all at once, as a single, simultaneous move, after all of its tiles are played (or as many as possible). So, for example if one were holding B, I, N, D it would not be possible to play IN, score two, add B to make BIN and score two more, then add D to make BIND and score two more - the score would be calculated only on the basis of the final position, thus two points for BIND and not the others.
The Janitor:
After the scrab is played, all unused tiles, both from players' hands and from the scrab, are thrown back into the bag before the draw for the next hand.
Special Squares:
A Scrabble board has four types of special squares on it:
A tile played on a double or triple letter square scores two or three points, respectively. The points are scored regardless of whether or not the tile completes a word when it is played.
A tile played on a double or triple WORD square will double or triple the two points which would ordinarily be scored for a word, to four or six points, but only if the tile completes the word as it is played on the square. A tile played on a double or triple word square without completing a word scores nothing. If a tile played on a double or triple word square completes multiple words, the bonus applies to each word completed.
The Numbers on the Scrabble Tiles:
The numbers on the Scrabble tiles are ignored. All letters are equal in Scrabbage.
End of the Game:
Score is kept on a standard cribbage pegboard, and as soon as one player reaches the end (121 points), that player is the winner.
If, during the draw phase of a hand, it turns out that there are no longer enough tiles remaining in the bag for each player to draw a full hand, the game ends immediately and the player with the most points is the winner.
Scrabbage for Four Players:
In four player Scrabbage, each player draws five tiles per hand and discards only one into the scrab. Turns are taken individually but the scores are tallied together in two teams, with teammates seated across from each other.
Scrabbage for Three Players:
In three player Scrabbage, each player draws five tiles per hand and discards only one into the scrab. Immediately before playing the scrab, the dealer draws one last tile to bring it to a full four tiles.
This final tile is also included in the requirement for number of remaining tiles during the draw phase (see "End of the Game") - even if the players are able to draw five tiles each to make full hands, at least one tile must still remain in the bag or the game ends immediately.
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Scrabbage was developed by Dave Grossman and Jesse Clark.
This is version 1.0.
Comments regarding your experiences playing or attempting to play this game may be mailed to Dave via the Phrenopolis contact page. Scrabbage is not completely debugged, so your opinions will be useful in fine-tuning the rules.