Monday, 8 October 2007

Scrabble Etiquette (or How I Stopped Worrying and Love the Bomb)


Two player Scrabble is big on the net at the moment and Facebook holds my tables. Through the Scrabulous application, you can play multiple two player games against other enthusiasts from across the Interblag. Like any fb application, there are people trying it out every day, there are those who play once in a while and of course there are the serious ones who only think in two letter words or bingos. During the last few weeks, I have played all types and apart from the basic rules of Scrabble, there should be a certain etiquette encouraged. My suggestions are...

  1. If you start a game, you should finish it. Even if you only want to try it out, you should complete a started game and not just wander off part way through it;
  2. Don't cheat. It defeats the point of playing the game. If I wanted to play a word lookup website then I'd implement a computer opponent who does the same lookup but is more efficient and has a better personality. Even the experts will play no more than four bingos in one game. It's obvious that you are cheating;
  3. Try not to act like a baby. This happens in two ways - the opponent is losing by a large margin and decides to concede rather than continue; and the opponent puts down swear words in order to show their dislike of losing;
  4. Play the game you accepted. Don't accept a Moderate game (played over 2-3 days) if you want your opponent to play it all in one sitting. A fast game of Scrabble online will easily take 2 hours if played in one sitting. Not everyone wants that and hosting a Moderate table indicates that. Sending insulting messages about turns taking too long or the person wandering away after 5 moves is not good form. Try to hide your sociopathic me-me-me tendencies;
  5. Have fun. It's just a game. If you wouldn't pick up a board and smash it over your grandmother's head then don't do that to a complete stranger. It's just a game. Learn to lose with grace or at least suck it up and cry to your dog.

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