Something About SCRABBLE™

 A Minimalist Approach to Excelling at the Game

$12.95

There’s something about SCRABBLE™ that creates a willingness in certain individuals to voluntarily undertake the study of materials that can, at times, be quite dry. You are, presumably, one of those individuals, and that “something” is, presumably, why you are checking out this web page.

This book makes certain assumptions about you. These assumptions include:

  • You are an average-level livingroom player who generally scores about 250 points per game.
  • You would like to become a strong livingroom player (or competent club player) with an average score of 300 – 350 points per game.
  • You are willing to do a reasonable amount of studying to achieve this goal, but you don’t want to devote all of your free time to it. Hence, you will appreciate the minimalist approach taken in this book, which includes only those concepts and word lists that are absolutely mandatory for excelling at the game.
  • There are three main parts to the book: Part I – Building Your Vocabulary, Part II – Playing Your Tiles, and Part III – Word Lists. The word lists include: The 101 Two-Letter Words, The 1004 Three-Letter Words, The 289 Vowel Dumps, The 112 Q Words, The 343 J, X, & Z Words, the Top 10 Six-Letter Bingo Stems, The 100 Beginnings & Endings, The 155 Consonant Combinations, and the 412 K Words. A pull-out “crib sheet” is also included in the back of the book.

REVIEWS

“This very easy to read monograph is by far the best short piece on scoring at Scrabble I’ve ever read. I really love the balance between the boring business of memorizing word lists (two sections) versus actual strategic play (seven sections). The author gives a lot of insights on how to manage your rack and how to play the board. This is a great Christmas gift for Scrabble players who average under 350 points per game, which is probably 99% of us. I admit to an average score of 320 and it taught me a lot.”  –Christine, Terra Alta, WV
x
Year Published

2011

ISBN

9780938467267

Cover

Paperback

Size

5.5 x 8.5

Pages

112

Author

David Ritchey

1 review for Something About SCRABBLE™

  1. Kristie Ingerto for Readers’ Favorite

    David Ritchey’s “Something About Scrabble – a minimalist approach to excelling at the game” is a quick read and a little treasure for anyone who has any interest, big or small, in the game of Scrabble! This book is split into three main sections making it a very user-friendly book and resource. The first section focuses on building your vocabulary as this will be extremely beneficial with regard to your success at this game. The second section is all about playing your tiles right, including which letters to focus on using and where to play the tiles on the board. The third section is word lists, including two letter words, beginnings and endings of words that will allow you more variety, with what to spell, and different letter groupings that are often not thought of and can use up tiles and score points.

    This book would be the perfect gift or stocking stuffer for anyone who enjoys the game of Scrabble or would like to learn or would like to play better! It is also a great guide to keep yourself and review before your family game night! There is a ton of knowledge and fascinating tidbits tucked into this little treasure. It is a very easy book to use and look up certain things as it is well-organized and there are bullets, lists and well-defined parts throughout the book. Be ready to wow game players the next time you are ready to play Scrabble!

Add a review

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

About the Author

After being educated in economics at Yale University, David Ritchey served five years as an officer in the U.S. Navy, including a year in Vietnam. Back in civilian life, he initially became a businessman as he had been trained but, suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, he dropped out, got a divorce, moved to a remote old stone farmhouse and took up fine art photography as his vocation, winning over 60 awards during the next fifteen years.

During that period, he became fascinated with the psychology and neurology of both creativity and metaphysics and returned to school to train as a psychotherapist. During his fifteen years of clinical practice specializing in hypnotherapy, he undertook a twelve-year project to research and write about such subjects and his first book, The H.I.S.S. of the A.S.P., was published in 2003. Writing proved to be every bit as rewarding as photography and became his primary vocation. Being an inveterate learner, he focused on non-fiction subjects, enjoying the research as much as the writing. His more than forty published works have won over 25 literary awards. His books can be found at www.davidritchey-author.com and online book stores.

See Books by David Ritchey Here

His avocations have included scuba diving, sailing, skiing, tennis, golf, gardening, woodworking, dogs, magic, bridge, and Scrabble. He has two adult children, Harper and Mac, and one almost-adult grandchild, Brendan. He lives in historic Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and spends most of his time either writing or engaging in stimulating conversations over restaurant meals with close friends.