Flash Scrabble Games

Several Ways to Play

• Scrabble Flash comes as a set of five electronic tiles. Each tile has a large LCD screen and a button. Pressing the button turns the tile on and off and selects the game to be played. During game play, the tile displays one letter at a time on the LCD screen. Each tile has the ability to sense the letter displayed on any tile placed adjacent to it, and the tiles are programmed to sense whether they are arranged so as to spell a valid word.

  There are three main games on the Scrabble Flash menu, with "advanced" options for the first two. The different games are accessed by pressing the button on the tile that shows the number of the game you want to play. Contrary to the manufacturer's instructions, excluding a tile (the "advanced" option) can actually make the game easier to play.

Game One: Finding Words

• The object of this game is to quickly make as many two-, three-, four- and five-letter words as you can. When the timer runs down you are given your score as compared to the total number of words that could have been formed.

  The game counts prefixes and suffixes. If you get an "s" be sure to add it to each word you create. The game will certainly count it against you if you don't.

  The instructions that come with the game instruct you to use all five tiles for this first game. In fact, the game is a little easier if you only use four tiles. Simply leave the fifth tile turned off and the game will play with four.

Game Two: Finding Just One Word

• In the first game you are using the tiles to find as many words as you can. In the second game you are using all of the tiles to spell just one word. Multiple words can be formed from the same set of letters ("skate" and "takes" for example), and score equally. The goal is to form a valid word as quickly as you can.

  As soon as you complete a valid word a new set of letters pops up. The game is scored by the number of valid words you create within the time period. As you create more words the timer speeds up.

  Leaving one of the tiles out actually makes this game play faster. It can be easier to think of and quickly spell more four letter words than five letter words within the tiny time frame allowed by the game. Many of the five letter words are plural nouns, such as "tasks". You'll find it's much easier to identify "task" out of the jumbled letters than it is to figure how to use a double "s" with a "k" and an "a".

Game Three: Multiplayer

• The third game is the multiple player version of the second game. The word N-E-X-T pops up on the tiles when you've created a valid word, prompting you to slide them to the next player. Although the game can accommodate any number of players it doesn't track them separately; that's up to you.

  Otherwise Game Three is the same as Game Two.

Notes on Game Play

• The tiles have to line up squarely next to one another. Make certain to press them firmly together as you play. If there is a gap between them the game won't recognize the word you are trying to form.

  Turn the tiles off by holding the button on any one of them down for a few seconds. When one tile turns off it turns all of them off.

  To play a four-tile game, simply don't turn on the fifth tile.