The 3,699-point game
A complete two-player Scrabble game, planned move by move, in which every word on every turn is valid in the NASPA Word List 2023. It uses the standard 100 tiles, follows tournament rules, and ends the usual way: one player goes out with the bag empty. (See newer top scoring board of 3759)
The final board
Lowercase letters are blanks (scored as zero): the c in JOCOSER and the n in UNEQUIVOCALNESS. Click any row of the scoresheet to see the board at that moment.
Where the points come from
Three plays score 3,135 of the 3,699 points. Each one lays seven tiles into a 15-letter word whose other eight letters were placed earlier in the game, so a single move covers two or three triple-word squares at once. Every other move exists to get those eight letters onto the board legally.
Scoresheet
One row per turn, in tournament notation. A coordinate like 8G (number first) is a play across, starting in row 8, column G; H5 (letter first) is a play down. Letters in parentheses were already on the board. "Keeps" is what stayed on the rack after the play; "Draws" is what came out of the bag before the next turn.
| # | Rack | Play | Score | Total | Keeps | Draws | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | EJOORS? | H5 JOcOSER bingo +50 | 76 | 76 | — | ADIOORT |
| 2 | B | ACEFLSV | 8G VOCAL | 10 | 10 | EFS | EEFV |
| 3 | A | ADIOORT | 7K AIT also AL 2 | 6 | 82 | DOOR | ABM |
| 4 | B | EEEFFSV | 8M ES also TE 2 | 4 | 14 | EEFFV | EW |
| 5 | A | ABDMOOR | 5D DOORJAMB bingo +50 | 130 | 212 | — | ADEERU? |
| 6 | B | EEEFFVW | 11D FEVERFEW bingo +50 | 130 | 144 | — | EGGLRUU |
| 7 | A | ADEERU? | K1 ARDEB | 8 | 220 | EU? | INQS |
| 8 | B | EGGLRUU | E8 URGE | 5 | 149 | EGLU | DIP |
| 9 | A | EINQSU? | 8A UnEQUIVOCALNESS also IN 3 · bingo +50 | 404 | 624 | — | EEINNRS |
| 10 | B | DEGILPU | I11 FUGLE | 11 | 160 | DIP | IOTU |
| 11 | A | EEINNRS | D11 FES | 12 | 636 | EINNR | AT |
| 12 | B | DIIOPTU | 13C PSI | 10 | 170 | DIOTU | IT |
| 13 | A | AEINNRT | 15I EN | 2 | 638 | AEINRT | L |
| 14 | B | DIIOTTU | 9C DIRT also ED 5, QI 11, IT 2 | 25 | 195 | IOTU | AIT |
| 15 | A | AEILNRT | C13 PIN | 5 | 643 | AELRT | IL |
| 16 | B | AIIOTTU | 15B ON | 2 | 197 | AIITTU | A |
| 17 | A | AEILLRT | E13 IRE | 3 | 646 | AILLT | NO |
| 18 | B | AAIITTU | 1I UTA | 3 | 200 | AAIIT | AW |
| 19 | A | AILLNOT | N8 STALLION bingo +50 | 70 | 716 | — | ADEHNNO |
| 20 | B | AAAIITW | 15M IN | 2 | 202 | AAAITW | M |
| 21 | A | ADEHNNO | 2K RAD | 4 | 720 | EHNNO | OX |
| 22 | B | AAAIMTW | 2G AIT also UT 2 | 5 | 207 | AAMW | KRY |
| 23 | A | EHNNOOX | 1E HEN also NA 2 | 8 | 728 | NOOX | BPY |
| 24 | B | AAKMRWY | 14G AAL | 3 | 210 | KMRWY | CH |
| 25 | A | BNOOPXY | 1M ON also OD 3 | 5 | 733 | BOPXY | EZ |
| 26 | B | CHKMRWY | G14 AW | 5 | 215 | CHKMRY | G |
| 27 | A | BEOPXYZ | 1A OXYPHENBUTAZONE also BI 12, ZA 21 · bingo +50 | 1541 | 2,274 | — | IT |
| 28 | B | CGHKMRY | Pass | 0 | 215 | CGHKMRY | — |
| 29 | A | IT | B1 XI | 18 | 2,292 | T | — |
| 30 | B | CGHKMRY | 15A MONKEYWRENCHING also AR 6 · bingo +50 | 1190 | 1,405 | — | — |
| B | Plays out. A is left holding T; B adds twice its value | +2 | 1,407 |
Rules followed
- Lexicon: NASPA Word List 2023 (NWL2023). Every word formed on every turn, including two-letter crosswords, is in it.
- Tiles: the standard English set of 100, including two blanks. Each player starts with 7 and draws back to 7 after every play while the bag lasts.
- Moves: every play is in one line, touches the tiles already on the board, and the first play covers the center square.
- Ending: Player B goes out on turn 30 with the bag empty. Player A still holds a T, so B adds twice its value (NASPA rule).
- Cooperation: both players work together and the order of the bag is chosen in advance. That is what makes this a constructed game rather than a played one; nothing in the rules forbids any of it.
Checking it yourself
Draw the tiles in the order below: 7 to Player A, 7 to Player B, then each player draws back to 7 after each turn. Every rack in the scoresheet follows from this order. A ? is a blank.
The game is also given below in GCG, the plain-text format used by Scrabble software, so it can be loaded and replayed automatically.
Game record (GCG)
#character-encoding UTF-8 #player1 A Player A #player2 B Player B #lexicon NWL2023 #description Constructed cooperative game; every word valid in NWL2023 >A: EJOORS? H5 JOcOSER +76 76 >B: ACEFLSV 8G V.CAL +10 10 >A: ADIOORT 7K AIT +6 82 >B: EEEFFSV 8M ES +4 14 >A: ABDMOOR 5D DOOR.AMB +130 212 >B: EEEFFVW 11D FEVE.FEW +130 144 >A: ADEERU? K1 ARDE. +8 220 >B: EGGLRUU E8 URG. +5 149 >A: EINQSU? 8A UnEQ.I.....N..S +404 624 >B: DEGILPU I11 .UGLE +11 160 >A: EEINNRS D11 .ES +12 636 >B: DIIOPTU 13C P.I +10 170 >A: AEINNRT 15I .N +2 638 >B: DIIOTTU 9C DI.T +25 195 >A: AEILNRT C13 .IN +5 643 >B: AIIOTTU 15B O. +2 197 >A: AEILLRT E13 .RE +3 646 >B: AAIITTU 1I UT. +3 200 >A: AILLNOT N8 .TALLION +70 716 >B: AAAIITW 15M I. +2 202 >A: ADEHNNO 2K .AD +4 720 >B: AAAIMTW 2G AIT +5 207 >A: EHNNOOX 1E HEN +8 728 >B: AAKMRWY 14G AA. +3 210 >A: BNOOPXY 1M ON +5 733 >B: CHKMRWY G14 .W +5 215 >A: BEOPXYZ 1A OXYP...B...Z..E +1541 2274 >B: CGHKMRY - +0 215 >A: IT B1 .I +18 2292 >B: CGHKMRY 15A M..K.Y.R..CH..G +1190 1405 >B: (T) +2 1407
Background
Puzzle constructors have built cooperative maximum-score games since the early 1970s, mostly in the journal Word Ways. The best known reach 4,000 points and more, such as Jeff Grant's 4,207-point game from 1979, but they draw on unabridged and dialect dictionaries and accept words like WG, EATE and KU that no tournament word list allows. This game holds to the list used in North American tournament play, which keeps out many of the highest-scoring long words and most of the convenient filler.
I haven't found a published full game under a current tournament lexicon that scores higher. If you know of one, I'd like to hear about it.