The opening move: how to start well
On the first move the whole board is yours. A few tricks get you more points and leave your opponent less to work with.
- The first word must cover the star in the centre. The star doubles the word score.
- If your word reaches the double letter square, put your most expensive tile there.
- A few points less is fine if you keep good tiles.
Who goes first?
Under the rules, each player draws a tile from the bag. Whoever draws the letter closest to A starts, and a blank beats everything. The tiles then go back into the bag and everyone draws their seven.
The star counts double
The first word must cover the centre square with the star and have at least two letters. The star is a double word square, so your first word always scores double. Whether you play across or down makes no difference: the board is the same in every direction.
Put the expensive tile in the right place
Four squares to the left and right of the star there is a double letter square. A word of five letters or more reaches from the star to it. An expensive letter on that square counts double, and because the whole word is doubled again, it ends up counting four times.
An example with Q10U1A1R1K5:
- The Q on the star, the K on the premium square: (10 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 10) × 2 = 46 points.
- The K on the star, the Q on the premium square: (20 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 5) × 2 = 56 points.
Same word, ten points apart. The word finder can work this out for you: pick word score ×2 and letter score ×2 and it shows you the best spot.
All seven tiles: 50 bonus points
If you play all seven tiles on the very first move, you get 50 bonus points. The bonus itself is not doubled, but the word is. So it is worth taking a moment before the first move to look for a seven-letter word.
Don’t set up your opponent
Diagonally next to the star there are four more double letter squares. If you put a vowel such as E or O right next to the star, your opponent can lay an expensive tile above or below it, for example an X for E1X8, X8I1, A1X8 or O1X8. That tile then counts double, in two words at once. If you have the choice, put consonants next to the star.
Points versus a good leave
The first move is not only about points. If a word scores four points less but leaves you E1R1S1T1 instead of U1U1I1 on your rack, it is usually the better move. More on this in Which tiles to keep?
If your rack is really bad, you may also exchange on the first move. Then your opponent opens. When that makes sense is explained in When to exchange?