Word Tiles, the Scrabble-Style Word Game – Play Online for Free

Word Tiles is a word game modeled on Scrabble®, whose roots go back to the Great Depression. It was invented by the New York architect Alfred Mosher Butts, who was out of work in the early 1930s and wanted a game that mixed luck and skill, anagrams and crosswords. To decide how many tiles each letter should get, he counted by hand how often every letter appeared in newspapers and magazines. He first called the game Lexiko, added the board in 1938, and saw the big game companies turn it down. In 1948 James Brunot took over the rights, simplified the rules and renamed the game Scrabble, an English word for scratching or groping about.

Today North American tournament players compete under NASPA, the North American Scrabble Players Association, and the New Zealander Nigel Richards became a legend in 2015 when he won the French-language world championship without speaking French. The trademark belongs to Hasbro in the United States and Canada and to Mattel in the rest of the world; our Word Tiles is an independent game with no connection to either company. If you want to play Scrabble online against the computer for free, you will not find the original product here, but you will find the same idea with its own English dictionary, three levels and no registration.

Seven Tiles, a Board Full of Premiums: Rules and Strategy for Word Tiles

Anyone who knows the board game from the kitchen table will feel at home right away. You play head to head against the computer on a board of 15 by 15 squares. The bag holds 100 tiles: 98 letters from A to Z with their point values and two blanks. Each player draws seven tiles for their rack, and the counter in the bar shows how many are still in the bag.

• The first word: it must cover the star in the center of the board and have at least two letters. The star doubles its score.
• Placing tiles: all tiles of one turn go in a single row or column and, together with the tiles already there, form one unbroken word read from left to right or top to bottom. From the second turn on, every new word must touch a tile on the board, and every cross word it creates must be valid too.
• Scoring: a word scores the values of its letters. Premium squares only count for the tile placed on them that turn, first double and triple letter, then double and triple word. Play all seven tiles at once and you earn 50 extra points, a move North American players call a bingo.
• Blanks: a blank tile stands for any letter you choose when you play it. It scores 0 points and keeps its letter until the end of the game.
• The dictionary: a word is valid if it is in the game's word list, nearly 250,000 words in American and British spellings, inflected forms included. Names, abbreviations and hyphenated words do not count. If a word is not in the list, the game rejects your move as soon as you press "Play"; there is no penalty, and your tiles stay where they are so you can change them.
• Exchanging and passing: instead of playing, you may exchange as many tiles as you like as long as at least seven are left in the bag, or simply pass. Neither scores any points.
• The end: once the bag is empty and a player lays down their last tile, the game ends. That player collects the value of the tiles left on the opponent's rack, and the opponent loses it. The game also ends after six scoreless turns in a row, passes and exchanges alike; then each player subtracts the value of their remaining tiles. Whoever is ahead after that wins.
• The levels: the rules are the same on Easy, Normal and Hard; only the computer's strength changes. It plays only common words, but on Easy it more often settles for a weaker move, and on Hard it almost always finds one of the best.

Drag tiles onto the board, or tap a tile first and then the square. While a move is open, the "Play" button already shows its score, "Recall" brings the loose tiles back to your rack, and "Shuffle" mixes up your rack so you see new words. You open game one; from then on the opening move alternates. These tricks will raise your score:

• Score twice: a tile on a premium square counts in every word it belongs to. A Z worth 10 points on a triple letter square that finishes both an across and a down word earns that premium twice.
• Plan for short words: two-letter words like OX, IT or ON let you play alongside a word on the board and form several words in a single turn.
• Keep good tiles: E, R, S, T and the blank fit into a huge number of words. Holding on to some of them gives you more chances to play all seven tiles and take the 50-point bonus.
• Do not waste the blank: it is worth too much to spend on a few points. It pays off best when it helps you play all seven tiles.
• Exchange instead of struggling: if your rack is all consonants or full of awkward letters, an exchange often pays off more in the long run than a meager word.
• Do not open the board: a word that opens a free path to a triple word square invites the computer to make a big play. Watch where your letters point.
• Count at the end: once the bag is empty, tiles left on your rack count against you. Whoever empties their rack first also collects what is left on the other one.

Want Even More Words? Five Games for Letter Lovers

If you enjoy building with letters, your next challenge is waiting here:

• Crossword: a full grid of clues across and down, with a check button and hints whenever you get stuck.
• Arrowword: the Swedish-style crossword, where every clue stands in the grid itself and an arrow shows which way the answer goes.
• Word Search: no tiles and no board premiums, just a block of letters with hidden words to circle.
• Letter Categories: one letter, six categories and a clock that keeps ticking. Fill every card before the computer calls Stop.
• Rummikub: you lay tiles from your rack onto a shared table here too, only with numbers instead of letters, and you may even rebuild the runs and groups already on it.