Game: Scrabble Scoring Anagrams

Thread: Re: Review of Plain Anagrams (which doesn't have a BGG entry)

bryce_z — 2008-04-30T01:35:58+00:00

Tom: I'd take the M, but perhaps not in proper company?

Speaking of which, I remember reading a story somewhere about a game of anagrams being played among expert scrabble players. Most people thought the game was over, until someone (Kenji Matsumoto?) stole the word THORIUM and took CFGK?? (two blanks) from the pool to make an impressive 13-letter word. This is maybe a 3rd hand account though, so who knows if it's true...

Thread: Re: Review of Plain Anagrams (which doesn't have a BGG entry)

eganaden — 2008-04-29T19:15:28+00:00

Have you guys tried Snatch (2001)? Whoa! with the similarities.

Thread: Re: Review of Plain Anagrams (which doesn't have a BGG entry)

tomchaps — 2008-04-29T15:50:43+00:00

Shade_Jon wrote:
But the game you are referring to has quite different rules. For one thing, you pick a tile and then try to make words on your own, before passing a turn to the next player.

Yehuda

Actually, that's the version we used to play with, and it does suggest playing with stealing rather than taking turns--it's in the description. If it's possible, I'd relink to that game in the database...

Thread: Re: Review of Plain Anagrams (which doesn't have a BGG entry)

tomchaps — 2008-04-29T15:44:05+00:00

I fully agree--it's the best word game out there. I also agree that variations without stealing might be fun, but miss the point a bit. A good anagrams game is incredibly tense. You need to keep in your head the steals you have ready to go with a number of letters (we play you always have to flip the tiles away from you, to avoid seeing the letter a millisecond early), and think fast.

We realized early on that one-point-per-letter was our favorite scoring. Using the Scrabble points on the tiles rewarded easy to make, hard to steal words.

My two favorite plays: stealing PHONE with PHOENIX, and at the end of a close game, when there were absolutely no plays left, stealing YOGI with one of the following letters to win by one: A, S, M.

Anyone see it?

Thread: Re: Review of Plain Anagrams (which doesn't have a BGG entry)

sevoman — 2008-04-29T14:13:32+00:00

Please look up a game called Bananagrams - a specialised game of anagrams with what i feel is a more workable distribution of letters. Originally a teaching tool, our gaming group have adapted rules to allow competitive & team play - also playing in about 30 mins. There is no stealing of words but does allow you to work on a set of letters giving that end satisfaction of building up a crossword by the end of the game!!

Thread: Re: Review of Plain Anagrams (which doesn't have a BGG entry)

Shade_Jon — 2008-04-29T13:11:05+00:00

But the game you are referring to has quite different rules. For one thing, you pick a tile and then try to make words on your own, before passing a turn to the next player.

Yehuda

Thread: Re: Review of Plain Anagrams (which doesn't have a BGG entry)

rri1 — 2008-04-29T13:09:02+00:00

Anagrams is in the database.

Anagrams is not a new game. Scrabble players have been playing it for ages as a way to hone up their Scrabble skills, but versions of the game actually predate Scrabble.

Anagrams is significantly older than Scrabble.

Thread: Review of Plain Anagrams (which doesn't have a BGG entry)

Shade_Jon — 2008-04-29T10:02:29+00:00

I don't have the item actually pictured here which contains 180 tiles and scores based on the tile points. I play the same game simply using the 100 tiles from a regular Scrabble set.

Anagrams is the Eurogame version of Scrabble.

Anagrams is a game for 2 or more players. It takes about 30 minutes and there are no turns; everyone plays all the time. You can win right up to the very end of the game, and, while a good vocabulary helps, it is less of an issue than it is in Scrabble. More important is a quick pattern matching ability.

You can play Anagrams with any old Scrabble set. You don't use the board or racks.

Players sit in a circle. Flip over tiles, one at a time, with a reasonable amount of time between each flip. If you flip the blank tile, discard it.

Whenever you see a word that can be formed using the flipped tiles, simply call out the word. If you are first to call out a valid word, take the tiles and arrange them into a word in front of you, facing you.

In addition, whenever you see a word that can be formed using at least one flipped tile added to an existing word - yours or someone else's - you can call out the word and take the new word into your area. The new word must be of a different root - it can't simply be adding an "s" or "ed" or somesuch to the word. It must make an entirely new word. E.g. you can't steal a word by adding an "s" to "lair" to make "lairs", but you can call out the word "liars" to steal the word, because it is a new word ("liar" and not "lair").

You cannot break words into multiple words. You can combine two words into one entirely new word, so long as it uses one additional flipped tile from the center.

The game ends when the tiles run out and no new words can be found. There are many ways to score: length of words, number of words, number of tiles, points on tiles, and so on. But the game is one that doesn't demand any rigorous scoring; the play it all the fun.

At the beginning, it's easy to steal words and form anagrams. But as the game goes on and dozens of words litter the board, it's hard to wrap your head around all the words in play. At that point, you're usually best just focusing on the one letter you've been waiting for all game that will transform "trace" into "crated". If two people are waiting for the same letter to use in different words, you better be on the ball!

Anagrams is not a new game. Scrabble players have been playing it for ages as a way to hone up their Scrabble skills, but versions of the game actually predate Scrabble.

It's fast, fun, challenging, engaging, and often silly. And it's so easy to play and explain; anyone can join or leave the game while it's in progress without ruining the fun.

Non-gamers to who I teach it have a blast. It's one of my top ten games; I'll always suggest it and I'll play it anytime.

Image

Dolphonic — 2007-01-18T17:46:15+00:00

Image

Dolphonic — 2007-01-18T17:45:38+00:00

Image

Dolphonic — 2007-01-18T17:45:06+00:00

Thread: User Review

Dreadnaut — 2005-04-20T16:58:58+00:00

Well, as stated in my review of Anagrams is, in my opinion, the most over-looked of word games. Scoring Anagrams is the same game mechanically; however, as the title suggests, each tile has a point value assigned. The values for ach letter are the same as in Scrabble.

Please note, this review is based on my copy which is Selchow and Righter's version of Scoring Anagrams. This version also came with 180 Scrabble-type tiles.

To start, each player draws a letter. The closest to "A" begins the game. All of the letters chosen by players are now placed in the center. Then, the beginning player pulls letters until a total of 10 are in the center. All of the remaining letters from the pool.

On each players' turn, they draw a letter from the pool. With their chosen letter, they have the following options:

1. Combine their letter with at least 3 letters in the center to form a word. All words must be 4-letters minimum.
2. Add their chosen letter along with any letters in the center (if possible) to enlarge or change their own previously played word.
3. He/she may steal a word previously formed by an opposing player by adding their chosen letter (along with any letters in the center, if possible) to form a new word. However, in order to steal a word, all the letters in the word to be stolen must be rearranged. For example, if a player gets the letter "S" on their draw, and an opposing player has the word "CARE". You could not steal the word by making "SCARE", but you could by playing "RACES".

The game continues until one player has 10 words in their play area, or all tiles have been drawn. Once the endgame condition is reached, players will total the value of their words. Each word will be totalled by adding the value of the letters involved. Then the total of all 10 words for each player will determine the winner.

Regular Anagrams has become my favorite word game due to its purity. Scoring Anagrams is interesting; however, I do not like the inclusion of the point value for each tile. In my opinion, this tends to make the game a bit too luck based. This luck factor can be mitigated because you can steal your opponents' words, thereby taking the high value letters. This is my favorite aspect of this game because, in Scrabble, you cannot do anything about your opponents' words when they gain the high value tiles. All in all though, I would prefer to play regular Anagrams without the scoring option - it seems purer to me. But, Scoring Anagrams is still a solid word game.

Image

seeshells — 2003-10-13T14:37:53+00:00

Image

seeshells — 2003-10-13T14:37:49+00:00