SCRABBLE Trivia

Here is a list of some of the more unusual or significant items of SCRABBLE Trivia that have come to our attention. Send your suggestions to us at info@scrabbleplayers.org.

1. The highest scoring legal play is to make OXYPHENBUTAZONE across the left side of the board, hitting three Triple Word Score squares while making seven crosswords downward, for a total of 1,784 points. It was discovered by Jodi and Eric — Highest Play Board.
2. The strongest player in the world is Nigel Richards, a New Zealander based in Malaysia, who spends his life travelling from SCRABBLE tournament to SCRABBLE tournament. He has won the World SCRABBLE Championship three times and the National SCRABBLE Championship five times (as of 2013).
3. The NASPA Word List includes words that cannot be played with a regulation set, such as PIZZAZZ or STRESSLESSNESS (there are usually only two blanks, four S's and one Z). They are included in case a game is accidentally started with extra tiles in the bag.
4. Only two players have won the National SCRABBLE Championship, the Canadian National SCRABBLE Championship and the World SCRABBLE Championship: Adam Logan and Joel Wapnick.
5. The North American record for high-scoring tournament game was set in 2011 by former World Champion Joel Sherman when he scored 803 points at an event in Stamford, CT.
6. The highest scoring opening play is theoretically MUZJIKS for 128 points; the highest actually attained in tournament play is MuZJIKS (using a blank for the U) for 126 points, by Jesse Inman at the 2008 National SCRABBLE Championship.
7. In expert play, each player typically has 12–14 turns and averages about 30 points per turn, bingoing (playing all of their tiles for the 50-point bonus) once or twice. The player who plays first has an advantage of an average of 13.5 points.
8. A 500-rated novice player is considered to have approximately 1 chance in 120 to beat a 2000-rated world-class player
9. The top-rated player is a program called Quackle, developed by John O'Laughlin and Jason Katz-Brown. Its 2224 rating places it 30–50 points above the top human players, giving it a 52–53% chance to beat them.
10. There are 192,111 acceptable words in the 2018 Edition of the NASPA Word List. The most common word length in the lexicon is eight letters; there are 31,557 words of this length.
11. Two players have managed to play seven bingoes in one game: Nigel Peltier in Reno, NV in 2010 with PINTOES, ACONITE, RAPIDLY, INFOLDED, EMIRATE, SHEARING, DAtABLE, and Joel Sherman CRUMP(L)ED, OUTRATED, COTHURNI, TRAVOISE, SHAKING, aVENGED, AIRLINE in Stamford, CT in 2011.
12. In 2006, Kevin Fraley set a record by playing six consecutive bingoes to start a game in Reno, NV: REOILI(N)G, MARINER(S), cO(N)TRITE, (O)UTMODED, DUN(E)LIKE, GARDEN(E)R.
13. At the 2013 National SCRABBLE Championship, expert players collectively averaged 402 points scored per game each; players in the lowest division 353.
14. The National SCRABBLE Championship is overseen by 7–10 officials wearing black and white striped referee shirts.