Scrabble Twists & Turns
Scrabble Twists & Turns Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Object of the Game
Get rid of all of your lettered tiles first.
Setup
Turn all of the tiles face down on the table and mix them thoroughly.
To determine who takes the first turn, each player turns over one tile. The player whose tile contains the letter closest to "A" in the alphabet takes the first turn. (If you turned over an action tile, choose another tile until you get a tile with a letter.) Turn all of the chosen tiles face down again and mix them once more.
Turns pass from one player to the next clockwise.
To start the game, take the number of tiles shown in the table below.
| Each player takes | |
|---|---|
| Game for 4 players | 27 tiles |
| Game for 3 players | 36 tiles |
| Game for 2 players | 54 tiles |
At the start of the game, all of a player's tiles must remain face down and be arranged either in a stack or in a row in front of the player, depending on the player's preference. You will form words from these tiles.
To start the game, turn over 7 of your tiles. You may use these 7 tiles to form words when the turn passes to you. After your turn, you may turn over new tiles so that you again have 7 active tiles for forming words.
Note: You are not allowed to hide or conceal your 7 active lettered tiles! They must be visible to all other players.
At the start of the game, the first player places his or her word in the middle of the play area. Tiles are joined by connecting the edge with notches on one tile to another tile.
Forming Words
Words are formed from tiles joined together in this way. If a notch does not fit a tile, then that letter is not part of this word.
And here is the unexpected twist.
Spelling must be correct, but you may form words from letters arranged in any direction. That is all you need to know.
If that is not enough, a more detailed explanation follows.
- Words may be formed with letters arranged in any direction. This means you may form words from right to left, diagonally, upward, downward, or upward and downward (and, of course, from left to right).
Example: the spelling of the word ОКОННЫЙ shown below complies with the rules of the game:
[Diagram: letter tiles joined in a diagonal and bent pattern forming the word ОКОННЫЙ.]
-
Words may be formed using any letters in a word that has already been formed earlier. In the example above, the letters К and О of the word ОТКОС are used in the word ОКОННЫЙ. In the same example, the word СОННЫЙ, formed using the last letter of the word ОТКОС and read from right to left and downward, also complies with the rules of the game. The player must name the word being formed and use its correct spelling.
-
The word being formed MUST contain at least one letter from a previously formed word on the board. This means you may not form TWO words during your turn by adding the letter Б to the end of one word in order to start another word.
Example: among your letters there is the following arrangement of tiles:
[Diagram: a bent chain of letter tiles.]
CORRECT (ПРАВИЛЬНО)
INCORRECT (НЕПРАВИЛЬНО)
[Diagram: a longer bent chain of letter tiles, marked INCORRECT.]
- A tile with a notch may be joined to another tile from any side that it fits, WITHOUT CHANGING THE POSITION OF OTHER TILES.
(If you need to change the position or move tiles that have already been used, you are not allowed to use your tile in that way.)
This also means that during play you may place tiles so that the other players cannot use that letter again.
Now the players take turns forming words from tiles that are already in play.
Action Tiles
The set includes 4 different types of action tiles. An action tile may be used after completing a turn, in relation to any letter that the player has just used during his or her turn. (Only ONE action tile may be used per turn.)
Action tile types
Skip (Пропустить): the next player in turn skips his or her turn.
[Icon: Skip.]
Reverse (Обратный ход): the direction of play and passing of turns is reversed.
[Icon: Reverse.]
Give 2 tiles (Отдать 2 фишки): give 2 tiles to any other player. These tiles may come from the group of active tiles or from among the tiles lying face up in front of you. You may give these tiles to any player or players in any combination. For example, you may give 2 tiles to one player, or one tile each to two players. These tiles are added face down to the stack of tiles for the player(s) you have chosen.
[Icon: Give 2 tiles.]
Give 3 tiles (Отдать 3 фишки): the same as above, except that in this case you give 3 tiles to the other players in any combination.
[Icon: Give 3 tiles.]
Passing and Exchanging Tiles
If it is your turn to move and you have only an action tile, add it to any letter on the board.
If you cannot form a word, you may pass your turn and exchange tiles. To exchange tiles, take new tiles from your stack of game tiles. Turn over the tiles that you do NOT use, face down, and mix them with the other tiles in your stack of game tiles.
Winning
The first player to get rid of all of his or her tiles becomes the winner!
[Graphic: tiles spelling УСПЕХ (success).]
Words That Comply with the Rules of the Game
As in the original Scrabble™ game, you may use any words included in the Russian dictionary, except for words that begin with a capital letter, abbreviations, prefixes, suffixes, and words whose spelling contains an apostrophe or a hyphen. (Words of foreign origin included in the Russian dictionary are considered established borrowings and comply with the rules of the game.) Before the start of the game, the players must agree on the dictionary to be used in case a dispute arises over any word. By the way, if your word is successfully challenged, you may simply form a different word.