Fun & Interesting Twist on Scrabble

Game has one big problem | Scrabble Express

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	• Scrabble Express Hasbro Games Hasbro Games, 2007 average customer review:based on 5 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Review of Scrabble Express

Scrabble Express
I bought this game as a gift for my niece who is a sophmore in college and she loves it! The game is limited to 20 minutes (there is a timer), so it's just the right amount of time to play between classes or for a study break. Plus it's educational... or at least somewhat challanging to the mind. It's a very clever product that should be a winner for the Hasbro company.

Fun & Interesting Twist on Scrabble

Anyone who loves regular Scrabble will enjoy playing this cute little game in its well-designed, tidy, round carrying case. Perfect for a fast lunchtime game, but it will never replace Mama Scrabble. The game includes a board which unfolds into a cute cardboard miniature, a high quality fuzzy little bag for the letter cubes, concise directions, a 1-minute optional timer, a notepad & pencil. There's no "Q", but rather "Qu" which is probably a good idea, but there ARE some great Q-words that don't use a "u" such as Qi, Qat, etc. so just make a rule "qu" can be substituted with just "Q". The unfolding game board will wear out over time... it'd be a good idea to laminate it, but I wish Hasbro had done it. There's a bit of a problem getting the board to lay flat. Only two plays are ever on the board at one time... once player #2 makes his word and records his score, player #1's word is removed for the next person's play. This makes for some interesting opportunities and creates quite a different strategy than real Scrabble. There are four triple word squares and so far, while I've played, no one has ever reached one of them. When playing you must look directly over the board because the cubes are high, and at an angle you can't see the color squares. Rolling the dice can be a bit noisy. Over-all I rate this a 5-star because I enjoyed it and adore Scrabble. Sometimes it'll be fun to play this quick (IF you use the one minute "hour-glass") version. Great for people who can't stand the length of time it takes to play regular Scrabble. I think I'll try the Monopoloy Express game too.

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Game has one big problem

This game is broken.

In normal scrabble, triple word score is a one-time windfall. In scrabble express, it ends the game.

What happens is this:

1. You make the game-losing blunder of going anywhere near triple word score.
2. I manage to play on the TWS square.
3. You play off my word.
4. Before I play again, my word from step 2 is removed from the board, re-exposing the triple word score square. It's guaranteed I have a chance to hit TWS again because you had to leave one of my original word's letters on the board.
5. If I can play on that letter, go back to step 2.

This loop means that I triple score EVERY SINGLE TURN, while you never do. And there is nothing you can do to stop it. You can stall it for a turn by playing into the letter on the TWS so it doesn't open, but that won't escape the repeated abuse of TWS, only delay it.

There is only one reasonable way out of this loop: I get an unlucky roll and cannot make any word at all that plays on TWS square. But even when that happens, you don't get your chance because now the word is not in line with TWS.

I noticed this pattern going on with a double word score square the first time I played, and ever since then this sort of repeating lock has become the dominant feature of the game.

My girlfriend will probably never play me again because the last time we played I won 200 to 75 by playing over and over and over and over on the triple word score after she made the mistake of playing a letter on the edge row. (What a gentleman!)

Now that we've seen how critical it is, I'm sure she'll never play to the edge row again, but you START the game on a double word score square, so probably the correct strategy in this game is for whoever wins the initial die roll to camp that star square (which is a double) for the entire game.

I give this game three stars because it seems to have potential for fun, but the dominance of this looped abuse of the premium square is so central to the game and so one-sided and boring when it happens, that it's not very fun.

It may be an interesting strategy game about evading these loop-traps, but that's a bit more brutal than the light, friendly lunchtime word game I was shopping for.

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Scrabble Express

Scrabble Express is a game that can be played in a short time and is lots of fun. The board is created so that short words can have a high score value. Highly recommend this game

Scrabble Fun

This is a great game where you play one word at a time (meaning that there are only ever two words at a time on the board). It's a clever adaptation of the original game, and we like it much better than the Monopoly Express. The Monopoly Express has the feeling of a game that is a seriously dumbed down version of the original whereas Scrabble Express is a fun game in its own right. As far as durability, the game board folds into quarters, and our 3-year-old managed to tear it in two fairly easily.

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When Scrabble is on the brain, but you haven't got time for the classic version, Scrabble Express delivers the all-American crossword fix in 20 minutes. Roll the dice for a crossword challenge and use letters to build a word. Opponents build off a previous word. Be the first to score 200 points and you win. Store all the pieces in the handy plastic case and take it with you on the go. For 2 to 4 players.

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