Deranged Scrabble

What is this?

The key idea here is to roll dice - the value of which dictate a limit on what can be played. Additional pieces are given to each player to balance this.

Equipment

A scrabble set, and some dice (at time of writing: 2x D4). Future testing may encourage tweaks to the scrabble used (eg: Lexicon Crossing tileset on a superscrabble board?), or dice used

Gameplay

Each player has a double-rack of dice (14), and on each turn rolls 2D4 - the sum of which dictates play. On the first playtest we operated on "number dictates the exact number of tiles to be played". The very first roll was a double 4, and the first word played was DERANGED - lending itself as the initial name for the game. If a player could not make a word, they could skip turn by returning the target count of tiles to the bag instead, and redraw. When the bag was empty and tile racks were incomplete (and board was getting crowded) we played that a player could choose instead one of the dice values instead of the sum - thereby giving three options at endgame.

Alternatives to be playtested

The very initial playtest found long words difficult, so some options to keep the game playable and moving.

• value dictates word length (eg: a dice roll of '5' could pluralise a four letter word even though only one tile is used)
• player may re-roll on a double (thereby allowing both likely-low-scoring 2, and high scoring/difficult 6 and 8 to be rerolled
• player may sacrifice a random piece (turned down by opposition player) to buy a reroll regardless. They must then play the new roll with the resulting 13 pieces (or 12 if they sacrifice a second, etc etc). If the player ultimately skips, then these sacrificed pieces must be part of the return (in addition to... reroll? the highest value the player rolled leading up to this? in addition to the most recent roll? )

Playtests

• 2023 Sept 16:
  • two players on scrabble with 2D4 and value = tiles to be used (either play or redraw). Endgame allowed either or both dice values to be used.
    • first was a roll of 8, word was "DERANGED" giving an 8 point bonus.
    • further 7 and 8 point rolls resulted in returned tiles
    • 19 plays (9 or 10 per player) rounds before racks incomplete. A further 9 plays till endgame.
    • player1 won by ~100 points
  • second game with value = a word must meet this target, OR exact number of tiles used (in which case +5 bonus). Endgame allowed either/both but bonus only awarded on tile use meeting value of both dice
    • both players got two 50point bonuses, and both got 7 5point bonuses.
    • 18 plays till racks incomplete. A further 8 plays in endgame.
    • Player 2 won by ~30 points (and it was acknowledged the high point tiles (QXZ) all fell in their favour.