What Constitutes Cheating in Scrabble?

Brailing

• A common method of cheating in Scrabble is known as brailing. Each letter is imprinted on a tile and concealed in a bag. In brailing, some players feel for distinguishable letters and try to draw favorable ones from the bag. Scrabble tournaments use smooth tiles to prevent this form of cheating.

Looking

• Sometimes players hold the bag at eye level and tilt it horizontally so that they can see inside the bag and select preferable letters. To prevent this, players can be required to look away when they're choosing letters.

Cheating Electronically

• Some people cheat in Scrabble using the Internet and mobile phones. According to Steven Alexander, who maintains an information site for competitive Scrabble players, electronic assistants, such as mobile phones, are small enough for players to conceal while playing. When playing a game, make sure all mobile phones are switched off to keep players from checking the spelling of words.

Word Lists

• Scrabble players sometimes cheat by looking at pre-printed tracking sheets that record previously played words. Looking at these words violates the rules and counts as cheating, because players may get ideas from the tracking sheets to use on their next turn. In addition, do not allow players to rifle through previous game sheets or allow them out of the room to check spellings. Instead, provide a dictionary for this.