SCRABBLE + Logology

My mind occupied with the game, I began thinking about how closely Scrabble and logology are related. Specifically, I started to think of some recreational questions which are both 'wordplay' in nature and unique to the Scrabble game, its letter distributions, point values, and board layout.

I pose these questions, as I think of them, on this page and invite the visitor to submit any answers (partial or complete) which he or she might discover. I will document all the answers on these pages as I receive them (or maybe even come up with them myself), and I will certainly give credit to anyone's contributions.

I realize that some of these questions may have been asked (and answered) in the past. I would ask the reader to suffer through any repeated information.

Also, if a reader has a question or puzzle of his or her own which might be appropriate, feel free to email it to me. If I include it as a question, I will, of course, give credit.

I may be reached via email.

Oh, also... I assume that readers are familiar with the standard Scrabble game, its letters, their distribution and individual scores, and the layout of the Scrabble board (consult the notation page to see how I represent the board on these pages). Unless otherwise noted, I ask the questions in context of the Official Tournament and Club Word List (OWL) -- if the reader does not have access to this list, he or she should refer to the Official Scrabble Player's Dictionary (OSPD); when words of length greater than eight letters are needed, the Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth Edition should be consulted. Often I will also use Webster's Third New International Dictionary when I'm feeling particularly adventurous.

Many of the questions ask the reader to construct 'idealized' games of Scrabble (in order to maximize scores, for example). Unless otherwise noted, all such games are assumed to have two imagined players. All plays within the games must be legal plays within the rules of Scrabble. Tiles may only go unplayed on a rack at the end of a game if there are no possible plays (i.e. if there is a play, the imagined player must take it). If a player has no possible plays, and letter exchanges are possible, an exchange of some sort MUST be made. However, the reader obviously decides what order the tiles are extracted from the bag, so it is quite likely scenarios might be generated such that one or both of the players cannot play, and none of the tiles left in the bag may be played either.