Scrabble

no scrabbling for someone to play with me
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I’ve always loved playing Scrabblle but rarely can I find a partner to play with. Now that I’m getting on in years my vocabulary and spelling skills have dwindled down pathetically. I like to play with my Ds at bedtime as a way to wind down and fall asleep but solitaire and the other games I was playing were getting kind of boring. HOORAY!!! Here comes Scrabble for DS! I almost didn’t get this based on other reviews about the difficulty of the tile placement. I’m really glad I went for it. The only time I’ve experienced the stylus difficulties described by others is when I had excessive light shining on the screen, when my stylus tip was bent (how’d THAT happen)and when my screen protector was so worn out and scratched that none of my games were playing right. I have had this game for about 3 weeks and now play at least 3 games a day as well as weekly training sessions. My spelling and vocabulary are increasing as well as my communication skills when “out in the real world.” I have yet to find it boring as I change my opponents and their skill levels frequently. I have also played a number of games with others using DS download play. I am usually miffed when my computer opponent plays some weird word like a unit of jewish measurement or a strange spelling or a common word I would never have thought acceptable but turnabout is fair play, so I just file it away for use should I get stuck and need to play some bizarre combination. I particularly like the fact that the definition is shown for the word that was most recently played. I’ve already logged over 40 hours of playtime in and, now that I think of it, I’d rather play Scrabble than write reviews so …later!

scrabble nintendo ds
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
excellent for training and a variety of playing combos. letters a little small so may be better on dsi

Great portable version of Scrabble
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
EA/Hasbro really have made a great version of portable Scrabble. The touchscreen mechanics work very well and the mini-games are fun. The best part is being able to play “Hot Seat” mode where you can play against someone on one DS. It’s great fun for me and my wife.

ADDICTED!
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I love this Scrabble game! I didn’t have the issues some others have had with the sensitivity problems. You can choose the level of your opponent which is nice and I played a game with my nephew which was fun. While I like the single player mode, there is no record of the score. Also, there are two different games other than Scrabble but once again, no record of scores kept. That is the reason I gave it only 4 stars. The dictionary is helpful and what is nice is you can place your tiles on the board until you get it right. I’ve learned many new words this way. The scrabble game also has a mode where you can recycle blanks and get hints for the best scoring word. I would recommended to anyone a fan of word games or Scrabble.

Red Sox Rob Reviews Scrabble for DS
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
The point-and-drag system of placing tiles is cumbersome and hit-or-miss. Often the desired tile snaps back to the rack or to some random space on the board. I got used to it after a while, but my wife and scrabble partner won’t even play with me it’s so frustrating for her. Also, the newly added word “za” is apparently in the dictionary, but does not appear in the list of 2- letter words. The AI used this fact to hose me, playing the word that I thought was not valid based on the 2-letter word list. Boooo! It’s still Scrabby, so it’s still great, but the PC version from several years ago is still the prefered one in our house. EA’s DS program needs some tweaking…

Good and bad
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
The game is too sensitive. Once they fix this the game will be great. It has a dictionary available where I used to use [...] , and being able to select the skill level of your partner is good for AI playing. Hints can be turned on and off. Overall, it is ok, but they need to work on the screen sensitivity.

DS’s AI vis-a-vis SCRABBLE for the PC’s Maven, etc.
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
SCRABBLE for the Nintendo DS is the second electronic version of SCRABBLE I’ve played. I’ve also played SCRABBLE for PC Windows and its infamous “Maven” artificial intelligence (AI) player. I therefore can’t help but draw comparisons to see how far SCRABBLE has come in the e-gaming world.

First, the AI player for the DS version is a kinder and gentler opponent. It does not audibly gloat (chuckle or give the raspberry) after it makes 7-letter bingos or scores above, say, 60 points on its way to ALMOST inevitably trouncing players. (More about ALMOST later.)

Ever polite, the DS Lite version displays a bursting star on the screen when you make a bingo: “50+ points”…”Excellent!”

But SCRABBLE for the DS has a big problem for seasoned players.

They will be bored playing any level below 5. In fact, Level 5–although it does play 7-letter bingos–too often makes clumsy use of its tiles.

And going from playing Level 5 to playing Level 6 is noticeably harder! The Level 6 AI scores multiple bingos in every game and seems to acquire a fortuitous combination of consonants and vowels. I’ve marveled at its “luck” while staring at the three Us, two Is, and two Os on my rack.

I read somewhere, perhaps it was in Stefan Fatsis’s bestseller _Word Freak,_ that players suspected Maven of cheating. I know for certain that Maven was able to see my rack and was therefore able to thwart my plays.

A healthy bit of paranoia makes me think that the DS’s Level 6 AI is cheating, too, but in a different way or ways. It seems to place tiles where I am about to place them, for maximum points. Sure, this simply may be a matter of both of us seeing a good spot on the board; however, Level 6 has done this for a scant amount of points on its behalf.

It seems, too, that the DS’s Level 6 player is able to pick from the bag the tiles it needs to score the maximum amount of points per turn.

Also, I have never seen Level 6 trade in any tiles, a practice not uncommon even during human tournament play. (For the record, Maven exchanges tiles.)

If Level 6 has an Achilles heel, I have yet to find it.

On to the training exercises…

The DS version has a training mode. This is fine, although I wonder why the training sessions are limited to 1 minute, after which the screen abruptly states, “You got X number of words right” and moves on. Why the 1-minute limit?

I also have several peeves with the DS’s SCRABBLE dictionary, which claims to be “…the Official SCRABBLE Players Dictionary.” (See the back of the box.)

Probably because of the game’s “E” rating, the game would not allow me to play TURD, even though this word is in the OSPD and in other references such as _The SCRABBLE Word-Building Book_ (comp. by Saleem Ahmed).

Also, weirdly, it would not allow me to play FEATURETTE, which I know is a perfectly acceptable word.

This kind of human-AI interaction can be frustrating, especially when you see it put down ZA (for pizza) or URANIUMS.

Uraniums? I thought that “uranium” was the plural of uranium. It is, after all, an element.

As other reviewers have suggested, playing SCRABBLE on such a small footprint as the DS Lite takes some getting used to for those who think of the board game or even the PC versions of this game. For example, several times I have inadvertently passed my turn without intending to, and moving letters around on the rack is cumbersome.

I’ll probably play this game more; however, its AI software needs to be modified to create a more credible opponent for the advanced player.

Oh, and unlike the DS’s Level 6, Maven didn’t ALWAYS beat me.

AI Needs Improvement
Rating:2 out of 5 stars
The mechanics of this game do not compare well to other versions I have used, such as on my Mac. However, you get used to it and it is amusing to play. The real issue is with the AI logic. There are 6 levels of play which are supposed to advance along with your skill. However, levels 1-5 are all very similar. I have lost only 1 game out of about 100 against level 5 opponent. When you move to level 6, however, your opponent becomes a genius. I have played a few dozen games and won only 1 at level 6. I usually lose by well over 100 points.

Bottom line: If you don’t mind having only two levels of difficulty (easy and impossible) then you’ll enjoy the game. Otherwise, if you’re a mid-skill player who wants a reasonable opponent, you’ll be disappointed.

LOVE IT!!!! LOVE IT!!!! LOVE IT!!!!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This game is so addictive! I’ve been playing it so much…the other games stay in their cases!

As for the “tiles” issues that some people are having… you know where you think you have the tile, try to put it in place and then it just “falls”. I HAD the same issue. But I discovered the “cure” by accident. I got new screen sheet protectors right around the same time I got the game. I try to change them out frequently as they get scratched pretty bad. (take a look at the screen up close and from the side…yuck!) VOILA!!! No more falling tiles. Give it a try before giving up on this cool game!

great implementation
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Got it for Fathers Day and love it. A bit hard to see the full board on the original DS, but the DSi (and Lite, presumably) are more than adequate (for my bifocals, anyway). Also had problems with the placed tiles ending up in the wrong square, but it doesn’t distract from the game (for me). I play with all cheats off with two AI players (skills 4-5, now), and so far it’s a decent match. I’m learning my 2 letter words watching the AI play.

Too Jumpy, Too Buggy, Too Frustrating
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
I bought this game in early June and have played it every day since. Few, if any, of the reviews here fail to mention the problem of the letters being difficult to position on the board, and my review is no exception.

I have found it nearly impossible at times to position the letters on the board. They jump back to the rack or anywhere on the board, over & over again. This problem severely impacts the enjoyment of the game. It is far too frustrating to try to play this game, and nearly impossible to play any of the timed training exercises.

I read here that if you recalibrate your Nintendo screen (you can do this on the opening screen prior to tapping the game card), it will eliminate the problem. I’ve tried doing that two times, and it has made absolutely no difference. The letters still are difficult to place.

The most frustrating thing that happens frequently is when you shuffle or move the letters around on the rack, and the “pass your turn” key is somehow activated. Suddenly you’ve lost your turn when you had no intention of passing. You have to be extremely careful when shuffling your letters not to activate “pass-your-turn” and frankly, I’m not sure it’s possible NOT to have it happen occasionally, randomly.

The training games are pretty much useless because of one’s inability to position the letter tiles quickly. All the training exercises are timed, and yet you’ll spend precious seconds trying to position letters over & over again on the screen. There’s no way you can get an accurate time based on your ability and knowledge because of that.

All in all, I am extremely disappointed in this game. I think the company that produced it should offer a free upgrade to everyone who purchased it to date — if and when they debug and fix the numerous problems with this current edition.

I agree with the reviewer who complained about the ‘locked’ Avatars and Themes. It’s silly to do that. Scrabble is not a game where a player needs to be ‘rewarded’. Winning a game and doing well during that game is reward enough. Most people buying this game are more sophisticated than that! However, if that were the only problem with this game, I would be a very happy customer.

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DS Scrabble review
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Being a big Scrabble fan, I had to purchase the DS game and try it out. I really enjoy playing the game on the DS and I can take it anywhere with me. My grandkids get mad at me sometimes because Grandma is “hogging” the DS. I gave this game 5 stars and I think it deserves it.

Awesome
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Absolutely love this review, however they could have left the dictionary for the downloadable single card play. It makes it difficult when you have a question about a word that you have to wait for your turn to try the word first then everyone sees the letters that you have. That would be the only change I would make to the game. Play it all the time.