2005-04-18

2005-04-18 08:34 am
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interesting scrabble facts

John Chew says that OXYPHENBUTAZONE is the highest-scoring word known under American tournament Scrabble rules (OSPD+MWCD). It can score 1778 under suitably contrived circumstances listed and credited in the Scrabble FAQ. An example of that play can be seen here. The highest-scoring opening plays are MUZJIKS (128) in OSPD [North American Scrabble] and QUARTZY (126) or SQUEEZY (126) in OSW [British Scrabble].

John Chew reports the plural ETHYLENEDIAMINETETRAACETATES is the longest word in his electronic Scrabble lexicon. (However, he did not explain where on the Scrabble board the word fits!)

The Q without U words accepted in the U. S. Scrabble list are: QAT, QAID, QOPH, FAQIR, QANAT, TRANQ, QINDAR, QINTAR, QWERTY, SHEQEL, QINDARKA, and SHEQALIM (alternate plural of SHEQEL). The combined US/UK list (SOWPODS) adds (from Chambers Dictionary), with their plurals: BUQSHA, BURQA, INQILAB, MBAQANGA, MUQADDAM, QABALAH, QADI, QAIMAQAM, QALAMDAN, QASIDA, QI, QIBLA, QIGONG, QINGHAOSU, QIS, QIVIUT, QWERTIES, QWERTYS, SUQ, TALAQ, TRANQ, TSADDIQIM, TSADDIQ, TZADDIQIM, TZADDIQ, UMIAQ, WAQF, and YAQONA [Stuart Kidd].

[Some words containing Q and U but not the QU sequence are QIVIUT, UMIAQ, and BUQSHA.]

Another work day, another dozen student appointments, another bunch of hours to count down.