How to keep score in Scrabble

In Scrabble you score every word you make or change on your turn: add up its letters, count any premium squares you covered, and write it down. Use all seven tiles in one turn for 50 more. At the end, letters left on your rack come off your score, and the highest total wins.

At a glance

• Players: 2 to 4

• Who wins: Highest total when the tiles run out

• Tiles: 100, with 7 on your rack

• Bingo: 50 for using all 7 tiles in one turn

What each letter is worth

The value is printed on each tile. These are the values in the English-language set.

Sets in other languages have their own letter values, printed on their tiles.

Premium squares

• Double letter and triple letter squares double or triple the tile placed on them.

• Double word and triple word squares double or triple the whole word, after any letter premiums. The centre star is a double word square, so the first word of the game scores double.

• A word that covers two double word squares scores 4 times. Two triple word squares make it 9 times.

• A premium square only counts on the turn a tile is first placed on it. After that, it's a plain square for every later word.

• A blank on a letter square still scores 0. On a word square, it still doubles or triples the word.

Several words in one turn, and the bingo

Score every word you make or change on your turn, then add them together. A new tile that's part of two words counts in both, and so does the premium square under it.

Use all seven tiles from your rack in one turn and you score a bingo: 50 points on top of the turn's score. The 50 is added after the premium squares, so it's never doubled.

The end of the game

The game ends when the bag is empty and one player plays their last tile, or when every player passes twice in a row.

Everyone then takes the value of the letters left on their rack off their score. A player who went out adds the total of everyone else's leftover letters to theirs.

If two players tie, the one who had the higher score before those leftover letters were counted wins.

Variants that change the score

• Tournament rules: two players. The player who goes out adds twice the value of the other player's rack, and the other player loses nothing. Six scoreless turns in a row also end the game, and then each player loses their own rack.

• Finish Line Scrabble: a shorter game from the box rules. The first to an agreed score wins, however many tiles are left: two intermediate players play to 120, for example.

A scoring example

The last four turns of a game between Ana and Ben, and the leftover letters at the end.

Before the leftover letters, Ana led 339 to 329. Ben went out, so Ana's 11 comes off her score and goes onto his, and Ben wins 340 to 328. His bingo was doubled to 16 before the 50 went on.

Keep score in Tallynight

Scrabble is set up for you: a running score, highest wins. Add each word's score as it's played: tap + for 1, 5 or 10 at a time, or tap a total to type a big one.

At the end, take each player's leftover letters off their score and add them to whoever went out, then tap End game.

• A big tile for each player, in their colour

• Tap a total to add a 66-point bingo in one go

• Undo, and a scoring log to fix a miscounted word

• A winner card and a race chart at the end

• Get Tallynight on the App Store: free, no ads.

• Print a Scrabble score sheet if you'd rather keep score on paper.

Questions

How do you score Scrabble at the end of the game?

Everyone takes the value of the tiles left on their rack off their score. If a player used all their tiles, they add the total of everyone else's leftover tiles to theirs.

How much is a bingo in Scrabble?

50 points on top of the word's score, for using all seven tiles from your rack in one turn. Premium squares don't double the 50.

What if a word covers two triple word squares in Scrabble?

It scores 9 times its letter total: tripled, then tripled again. Two double word squares make it 4 times.

Do premium squares count again on later turns?

No. A premium square only counts on the turn a tile is first placed on it. Later words through that tile score it at face value.

How do you score more than one word in a turn in Scrabble?

Score each word you made or changed, then add them together. A new tile that's in two words counts in both, premium square included.

What is a blank tile worth in Scrabble?

0 points. It can stand for any letter, and on a double or triple word square it still multiplies the word.

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