How to Win at Scrabble: Learning Words

Learning to unscramble words you already know is an incredibly valuable skill as a Scrabble player. But to get to that next level as a player, you're going to need to add some new words to your arsenal. In this video, I talk about some of the strategies I've used to learn the Scrabble dictionary and how you can use those same techniques to boost your game.

0:00 Intro
0:32 Bingos and Probability
1:57 Zyzzyva
3:05 Cardbox
5:02 Other Resources
5:38 Shorter Words
7:00 What Should I Learn First?
8:01 Conclusion

Download Collins (CSW) Zyzzyva here:
Download NASPA (NWL) Zyzzyva here:

[ArsonFan]

Reading the comments before watching the video prepared me to actually learn the word zyzzyva as a word

[BLSKYZ]

Great timing on this video! ZyyZyva was just recommended to me, so your introduction, explanations, and suggestions have been most helpful. Thanks !

[Dfcameron]

This was excellent; Will takes the time to explain things slowly and completely. I've never used Zyzzyva. I was introduced to Aerolith by a top player named Scott Appel when I started club Scrabble in mid-2017. I've become so used to the Aerolith interface; that I'd find Zyzzyva unintuitive. I would never argue with Will on his assessment comparing the two, with best uses though. If you're starting fresh, seems Zyzzyva is a great way to go. Yet, I've learned a decent amount through Aerolith - but still have a long way to go!

[cynicalad]

Hallelujah! The video all us noobs have been waiting for. Cheers Will.

[incherestingly]

Thanks Will! I've been trying to understand Zyzzyva for a while now.

[javierrodrigo]

Hi Will! Thank you so much for making these videos - I've just started to get into Scrabble and they've been helping a lot, though it looks like you've sort of abandoned this series after the first two videos which is a shame. Could you maybe consider doing a video on board dynamics next, such as how to choose where to place your words specially in the early game to maximize your chances of scoring well while also preventing your opponent from doing so. Thanks again for bringing this beautiful game to the public eye!

[mapeus]

Nice to see spaced repetition systems being utilized in scrabble well too

[kylecobb]

Thanks Will, been looking forward to this one!

[DanielDugovic]

I just assumed Aerolith would have this, but 2s with blanks, 3s with blanks, etc. sound more beginner-friendly than simply recalling a word list.

[Firefly]

3s are really hard for me for some reason, I can do anagrams of JQXZ 4s, vowel heavy and high prob bingos, but recalling 3s without anagrams has always been hard, how do memorize better?

[johnwilder]

Nice! Been using Zyzzyva for a while and didn’t know about the “Word List Recall” feature - that’s great.

The only thing I’d add is that you can also set your Quiz settings to “Anagram + Hooks” instead of just “Anagrams, ” forcing you to recall the hooks as well. I think getting into the habit of learning words with the hooks is helpful, not just because you’ll learn new words but because sometimes it’ll show you hooks that you may not have thought of, despite knowing the words (a back -O to FLAMING, for example).

Would you say then based on your chart, that in terms of learning the 4s, learning the “4s with Scoring Tiles” is more important than learning the 3s —> 4s (I.e, all the hooks for the 3s)?

[empowers]

Recently have started getting into Scrabble and I've been loving your videos, especially the Scrabble History series and your Better Know a Letter vids. Question: would you recommend starting by learning the CSW lexicon, or should I learn the NWL first, then worry about CSW later? I'm mainly playing on International Scrabble Club which uses NWL, but not sure if it's best to start small and work up or if I should just start with CSW since it's a more expansive list. (Also, if you can recommend online Scrabble websites that use CSW, let me know!) Thanks in advance for your help!

[g_]

Thanks for the tutorial; this was a big help for someone looking to get started. One question that has been nagging at me, however: why do Scrabble players tend to learn 7-letter bingos with 6-letter roots instead of 8-letter bingos with 7-letter roots? Unless I am mistaken, most instances of playing all seven tiles require attaching them to an eighth letter somewhere else on the board, no? Thanks again

[omi]

How do you associate the alphagram to the word? Is it really just rote memorization done everyday with spaced repetition?

[mvshroomelleYT]

Thanks for the tips! These help a lott! :)

[carteryott]

Is it necessary to study the hooks? I’ve know about 1000 7s and 8s but I’ve been learning them with their hooks.. should I keep doing this or is it not that important?

[frankieporter]

Senarii is probably a very good bingo because
1. It gets rid of 2 I's
2. It's a bingo, so obviously it's good
3. It follows the retains rack
(Retains, you can have 6/7 of the word, but any letter but Q and Y can make a bingo)

[doorotabanasik]

Can you help me find a triple triple? My rack is TRLOG?I.
And the 7th letter must be a P.

[yeahmangamer]

Our profile pictures are very similar (great video btw!)

[_rafi]

Hey uhh i tried zyzzyva on mobile but i didnt see variables that gives me top order 1-50 word, is it different than pc?