Scrabble: Your Scrabble Trainer

Review of SCRABBLE
by X-34 minus 5R1-6X36

Approximate hours played: 50+

You all know this game. Its PSP incarnation is very like its myriad other incarnations (even the TV one with Chuck Woolery) in that it features no mutant zombies, no cosmic rayguns, no slime cannons, or any of the other trappings of a great many videogames. It’s Scrabble. You place letters on a board to make words.

Do you like to play Scrabble? If you do, you will like Scrabble for the PSP. If you do not like Scrabble, there is a slim chance that playing it on the PSP will increase your fondness (and/or aptitude) for the game, but probably not. If you are like me in enjoying anagrams, obscure vocabulary, and wordplay in general, you will enjoy this game equally well on the PSP.

This version of the game – the first computer-based version of it that I’ve ever played, I believe – does offer a few useful little features that improve the game. In addition to functions you’d expect (shuffling tiles, swapping out letters, etc.), you can hone your game skills by playing timed minigames in which you must discover all of the anagrams of a given set of letters. This is the videogame equivalent of memorizing all the two- and three-letter words that are the secret to getting high Scrabble scores, but (at least to my dorky mind) much more fun. The game also includes handy lists of all the words that, for instance, contain a Q but no U. These features are nifty, easily accessible, and have great potential to improve your Scrabble game.

Gameplay itself is fairly straightforward. I rejected the option to play as both players, as it seemed uncomfortably schizophrenic. So I played against the computer, which turned out to be a good idea. The game’s programmers have given its digital player the mindset of a tournament Scrabble player: it uses all kinds of obscure two- and three-letter words like AI (some kind of sloth) and KYE (a Korean social organization [!!]). I am a pretty good Scrabble player, but I’ve never bothered to learn all these words. Here, however, you can learn them by paying attention to the words your computerized opponent uses. Moreover, the computer will often play these (and other) words in a highly defensive manner – that is, placing the tiles in such a way as to limit the number of viable options left for you to play. My Scrabble game has most assuredly improved since I started playing this on the PSP. I can now play WAW and UT with confidence!

I have a few small quibbles. Each time you or your opponent play a word, its definition appears on the screen. Many of these definitions were pretty scanty; as well, if you play your tiles so that they form two or more words (one of the keys to Scrabble success, by the way), you only ever see the definition for one of the words. Also, the particular button sequence required to switch letters in midword remained, for some reason, obscure to me, but this barely affects gameplay.

I honestly don’t even know how to assign a proper rating to this game. You already know whether you like or dislike the game of Scrabble, so the audience for this title is largely predetermined. It does bear repeating, though, that this version of Scrabble really can improve your game. Heads up, future competitive Scrabblers of the world!

This is one of the few PSP titles that I’ve reviewed that I intend to play again and again. I could play Scrabble more or less endlessly, as I find it challenging and rewarding. And, really, that’s one of the best things about this game, and one of the reasons why it’s become a classic: it has no end. You don’t get bored with it and chuck it aside once you’ve slain the final boss. In that sense, Scrabble truly is timeless, and will flourish in any format, foreseeable or otherwise.