How To Play Scrabble Without Facebook

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Since its release in 1948, the Scrabble crossword game has been popular with fans, leading to a number of derivative games, including software versions on a number of platforms. After dealing with a competitor game, Scrabulous, Hasbro, owners of the Scrabble trademark in North America, authorized a version of the Scrabble game for Facebook created by Electronic Arts. The Facebook version of Scrabble plays much like the board game, allowing you to play against your current Facebook friends or other Facebook users. The steps below describe how to play Scrabble on Facebook.

1

Get a Facebook account if you don't have one.
2

Go to Facebook's App Center page. Type "Applications" in the field labeled "Search for people, places and things," and click the magnifying glass icon.

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3

Click "Search for apps." A search field will appear in place of the text link.
4

Enter "Scrabble" in the search field.
5
Select the appropriate option from the list. Which version you select depends on where you live.
- If you live in the United States or Canada, select "Scrabble."
- If you live elsewhere in the English-speaking world, select "Scrabble Worldwide (excl. US/CA)." (The separate apps exist in part because while Hasbro holds the rights to Scrabble in the United States and Canada, Mattel holds the rights to Scrabble for the rest of the world. Each company recognizes a different dictionary as the "official" dictionary for its online version and for the face-to-face tournaments it sponsors.)
- If you choose the wrong application for where you live, Facebook will ask you to uninstall it.
6
Click the appropriate play button. If you're accessing Facebook from a desktop or laptop computer, click "Play Game." If you're accessing Facebook from a smartphone or tablet computer, click "Send to Mobile."
- Before clicking either button, note the disclaimer below stating what information the app collects from you and that it may post to your profile on your behalf. If you have any privacy concerns, adjust your privacy setting for the app before clicking either of the Play buttons. (You may also wish to review the app's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy before continuing.)
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1

Click "Create New Game." A "Create New Game" window will appear.
2

Choose the number of opponents you want to play against. You can choose to play a 2-player game or a game with 3 or 4 opponents.
3
Choose which of your friends you wish to play against. The "Create New Game" window lists your friends who also have the Scrabble for Facebook app. You can select from this list or, if you don't see the players you want to play, click "Load More Friends" at the bottom of the scrolling list to display the names of more friends with the app. Once you have selected your opponents, you'll see 7 tiles on your rack.
- The 2-player game also offers you the option of playing a random opponent. If you select this option, your opponent will be chosen randomly from all Facebook users with the Scrabble app.
4

Drag and drop the tiles you want to play onto the Scrabble board. If one of the tiles you're playing is a blank tile, the game will prompt you to indicate which letter you're using it to represent and mark that letter on the tile in red so that all players know your intent.
5
Click "Play" to signify you've made the word you want to play. At this point, your score updates and play passes to the next player. The game will notify you when it's your turn again.
- Players have as much time as they need to make their moves, so a Facebook Scrabble game may take several hours or even several days. You can play more than 1 game at a time, if you wish.
- As soon as you've played a word, your rack is refreshed with new letters to bring it back to 7 tiles. The bag icon displays the number of tiles remaining in the game, not counting yours and your opponents'. Once the bag is empty, the game reports the number of tiles a player who has fewer than 7 has remaining.
6

Continue play until all tiles have been drawn and 1 player's rack is empty. As with the Scrabble board game, the values of unplayed letters are subtracted from the scores of the players who have them. Highest score wins. You then have the option to share your results on your timeline.

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Add New Question

Question

If I'm away and can't play Scrabble, how long before the game automatically ends?

You have 24 hours to play, then your opponent can "nudge" you. You then have another 24 hours to play, then your opponent can either wait for you or force a forfeit, which means you forfeit the game and lose points. This is what usually happens, as the opponent does not know you will be away. You can, of course, click on "chat" and inform your opponent you will be away so they can wait for you.
Question

What should I do if the option to play will not work and I am stuck at "pass"?

I would try uninstalling and re-installing the game, or at least logging out and logging back in. That will hopefully jump start the game.
Question

I would like to play a game with 4 people, but when I try to create a new game, there is only an option for a game with 2 players. How do I create a game for 4 players?

After you click the "create new game" button, look at the top of the new game popup. There should be two radio buttons. By default, the 2-player option should be selected. Simply click the 3 to 4 player option to start a 4 player game. If this option is not available, you may need to contact Facebook or EA support for help.
Question

Can I play more than one game at a time?

Yes, you can play more than one game at a time.
Question

What do I do if the game won't allow me to exchange tiles? I can't click or drag letters.

There are a number of things that could be wrong. The 'bag' could be out of tiles, or the connection is bad. Either wait it out or refresh with a new game.
Question

How do I drag tiles in Scrabble on Facebook?

You click and hold the tile you want to move, drag it to the right space, and let go. If this doesn't work, there may a problem somewhere.
Question

How do I make my name appear as anonymous when playing Scrabble on Facebook?

You can't change your name or make yourself anonymous when playing Scrabble on Facebook because it gets information on your Facebook profile/account.
Question

What happens when no one can play any more tiles in Scrabble?

Press "pass". Your opponent then has to press "pass". After this has happened 3 times each (which is 6 actual passes), the game will deduct your remaining tiles from your score, and same for your opponent, but it doesn't pass that number to the other person.

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In addition to Scrabble, word games such as Zynga's Words With Friends and RJ Softwares' Lexulous (the new name for Scrabulous) are also available for Facebook.
You can also access the Scrabble application from the Facebook App Center page by selecting "Word Game" from the "Games" list on the Application Categories menu on the left side of the App Center page. You can then select the appropriate version of Scrabble from one of the tabbed lists under the "Games: Word Game" label.
A still faster way to access the Scrabble for Facebook app is to type "Scrabble" in the "Search for people, places and things" field at the top of the App Center page and then select your version of Scrabble from the App section of the dropdown list that appears.

Thanks for submitting a tip for review!

The Scrabble app for Facebook previously played differently than described in the rules above, and there may be subsequent changes to the app based on user feedback.

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