Tips for World Domination {at Boggle or Scramble With Friends}

So I know I mentioned I'm not a huge game player, but I"m kind of addicted to Boggle and Scramble With Friends.  I seriously LOVE this game!   I did win the sixth grade spelling bee after all!  ~wink~wink~ So word games are kind of up my alley. 

I have had a few friends and family members beg, I mean, ask me for tips on how to play because I don't mean to brag, but I kind of keep kicking their trash!  :D  I don't know if I'm really all that great of a player in the grand scheme of great spellers, but none of my friends have been able to beat me yet.

So because I love my friends 

and knowledge is power and all that, 

here are my top playing tips on how to 

dominate your friends at Boggle or Scramble With Friends:

1.  Learn and know some of the really easy letter combinations that will give you multiple words lickety split like these:

TEA

These three letters will give you lots of words right off the bat:

Tea
Eat
Ate
Tae
Eta

2.  Secondly, look for the letter S nearby any word and if you can pluralize a word, then try it!

By adding in the S to the above three letters you now can get exponentially more words:

Teas
Eats
Ates
Etas
{sorry, Taes isn't a valid plural though}

But!  That's not all!  Now you can make even more words than just plurals of those others.  Now you can get:

Sea
Sae
Seat
Sate
Set
Sat
Seta
East

So now we have 17 words from just four little letters {depending on their location on the board}.  And you can get those ones really fast if you know them!  There are other words out there that will give you combinations like these too, though some may give you less words, but knowing them gives you fast, easy points!  And since I'm feeling nice here are a few more quick and easy ones!

Ser ~ Res ~ Ers
Sit ~ Tis ~Its

 They don't give you quite as many word options as TEAS {which is the grand daddy in my book so far!}, but they do give you fast points!

3.  Another easy thing to look for that will make lots of words for you are double ee's.  If you have ee, chances are you will have lots of word options close by {and even more if you have an S nearby too}.

Just add another letter in front like p, t, l, d, s, n, c.

pee
tee
lee
dee
see
nee
cee
etcetera, etcetera and so forth!

Lots of options there!

Now look for endings on any of those double ee words.  If you have an l you might be able to get peel.  A d could give you a deed, or a seed or peed etc.  Or hey, there might even be an S nearby! ~hint~hint~

Next tip!   

4.  Make a word longer with -er and -ed combinations if you have them.
Oust can become ouster and ousted.  And sometimes you can get lucky with a bonus S!  For instance, ouster can become ousters! 

5.  Look for words within a word.  For instance STOP has TOP.  Don't forget to go backwards also.  Backwards its POTS and POT.  There you go!  A few more quick words.

6.  Work the board in sections until you exhaust all your word options before you move on to the next board section, or letter combination.  Be strategic this way or else you end up jumping all over the board and miss words because you're sidetracked with other words, or you forget if you have already gotten that word or not.

7.  Try words forwards and backwards.  Got becomes tog and lee becomes eel when its backwards and several other words work this way too.  When I first started out I always spelled things backwards to make sure I was getting words ~ I actually learned a few new words this way too btw. Keep your fingers moving smoothly and swiftly ~ don't worry if you don't get words or misspell them, just keep the fingers moving along trying words out.  This is a key to getting your speed and word count up.  Just go for it.

8.  And when you think all is lost and you just can't seem to find any more words...then remember to tilt or scramble the board for a fresh perspective.  Most times new words will suddenly appear when you couldn't quite see them before.

I'm really not a "pro" at this, but knowing these handy tips have helped to give me an edge over just about everyone I've played so far.

Phew!

Now if you made it this far, then go forth and dominate!

May the force be with you!

~ ~ ~

Do you have any word tips for Boggle or Scramble With Friends?