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How to Get a Bingo in Scrabble

Not only is a good game of Scrabble fun, it is excellent exercise for the brain. Playing Scrabble challenges both the left and right side of the brain. While the right side is engaged with language-based activities like recognizing and recalling words, the left side is busy calculating moves and adding up points. When you are striving for that magical "bingo," a play that uses all 7 of your tiles in one move, there are a few things you can do with your left brain to free up the right to see those letter combinations and create words.

Instructions

- 1
  Save letter combinations that are most likely to build a bingo. These letters are R E T A I N S and a BLANK. The more of these letters you can keep on your rack, the higher your chance of a bingo. It is often wise to simply trade or play off one or two letters if you have the others.
- 2
  Play off or exchange letters that are not likely to increase you chances of getting a bingo. Letters like C, V, and K aren't likely to bring in a bingo. Putting them into play as soon as possible is worth a low point play if you can land a bingo in the draw.
- 3
  Hold onto S's and BLANKS. These are invaluable in getting a bingo and increase your chances of being able to play off other words already in play.
- 4
  Explore your possibilities when you draw E and R together. These are great for the prefix "re" and to add the suffix "er". ING is also a great combination for adding a suffix to a base word. Don't waste them on low scoring words. Take note of any letters that create common prefixes and suffixes. ED can translate to "de" or "ed". Hold onto them a bit to see if you can land a bingo.
- 5
  Play off as many letters as you can in each turn to increase your chances of drawing letters that may bring in a bingo, particularly if you have several of the prime letters or have the coveted S and a BLANK. Playing one or two letters consistently hoping for a particular letter to create a bingo can be risky, unless it is one of the abundant letters like an A or E, the risk is probably not worth it.
- 6
  Rearrange the letters on your rack often . You just may see a word you wouldn't have thought of. Avoid getting stuck in the rut of only viewing certain letter combinations in one way. ING may be a great suffix, but try breaking the letters up to find different combinations.

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