Constructed Scrabble · NWL2023 · two players

The 3,759-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 prior top scoring board of 3699)

Constructed by Brian Link · October 2026

3,759combined score

2,112Player A

1,647Player B

28turns, no passes

9bingos (all seven tiles in one play)

The final board

the three 15-letter plays triple word double word triple letter double letter

Step through the game After turn 28: final position

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 3,096 of the 3,759 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. The other 6 bingos double as the bridges that get those eight letters onto the board legally.

OXYPHENBUTAZONE1,508Turn 28, row 1, and the move that ends the game. Covers A1, H1 and O1 (×27). P and Z land on the double letters: (41 + 3 + 10) × 27 = 1,458, plus the 50-point bingo bonus.

MONKEYWRENCHING1,184Turn 27, row 15. K and H on the double letters: (33 + 5 + 4) × 27 = 1,134, plus the 50-point bingo bonus.

UNEQUIVOCALNESS404Turn 15, row 8. Covers A8 and O8 (×9), with Q and N on the double letters. The n on B8 is a blank. (28 + 10 + 1) × 9 = 351, plus IN 3 and the bingo bonus.

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	—	ACLORTV
2	B	ABDMOOR	5D DOORJAMB bingo +50	130	130	—	AAFLOTU
3	A	ACLORTV	8G VOCAL	10	86	ORT	DETT
4	B	AAFLOTU	J4 AM	4	134	AFLOTU	E
5	A	DEORTTT	3G TROTTED also TAM 5 · bingo +50	75	161	—	AAIIINT
6	B	AEFLOTU	M1 OLD	4	138	AEFTU	EV
7	A	AAIIINT	K2 IT	2	163	AAIINT	U
8	B	AEEFTUV	1I UTA also AIT 3	6	144	EEFV	EFW
9	A	AAIINTU	7K AIT also AL 2	6	169	AINU	GGR
10	B	EEEFFVW	11D FEVERFEW bingo +50	130	274	—	DEIPRST
11	A	AGGINRU	I11 FA	5	174	GGINRU	E
12	B	DEIPRST	13C STRIPED also FAD 9 · bingo +50	89	363	—	AEHINUW
13	A	EGGINRU	C13 SIN	3	177	EGGRU	EN
14	B	AEHINUW	G13 PAW	8	371	EHINU	EN
15	A	EEGGNRU	E8 URGE	5	182	EEGN	SU?
16	B	EEHINNU	E13 RUE	3	374	EHINN	AI
17	A	EEGNSU?	I11 FADGE	10	192	ENSU?	EQ
18	B	AEHIINN	G2 IT	2	376	AEHINN	L
19	A	EENQSU?	15I EN	2	194	EEQSU?	I
20	B	AEHILNN	1M ON	2	378	AEHILN	I
21	A	EEIQSU?	8M ES also TE 2	4	198	EIQU?	NS
22	B	AEHIILN	1E HEN also NIT 3	9	387	AIIL	ADN
23	A	EINQSU?	8A UnEQUIVOCALNESS also IN 3 · bingo +50	404	602	—	BIOPXYZ
24	B	AADIILN	N8 SIALIDAN bingo +50	72	459	—	CHKMORY
25	A	BIOPXYZ	15M IN	2	604	BOPXYZ	E
26	B	CHKMORY	15B ON	2	461	CHKMRY	G
27	A	BEOPXYZ	1A OXYPHENBUTAZONE bingo +50	1508	2,112	—	L
28	B	CGHKMRY	15A MONKEYWRENCHING bingo +50	1184	1,645	—	—
	B		Plays out. A is left holding L; B adds twice its value	+2	1,647

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 28 with the bag empty. Player A still holds an L, 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.

JO?OSERDOO RAMBVCALTR OAOLUTAFTT EDEIAITAIN VEUFEWRGGS TRIPEDEAWU EINHNEENSU ?IAEQLIINS DANIOXYPBZ OMKYRCHEGL

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: ABDMOOR 5D DOOR.AMB +130 130
>A: ACLORTV 8G V.CAL +10 86
>B: AAFLOTU J4 A. +4 134
>A: DEORTTT 3G TROTTED +75 161
>B: AEFLOTU M1 OL. +4 138
>A: AAIIINT K2 I. +2 163
>B: AEEFTUV 1I UTA +6 144
>A: AAIINTU 7K AIT +6 169
>B: EEEFFVW 11D FEVE.FEW +130 274
>A: AGGINRU I11 .A +5 174
>B: DEIPRST 13C STRIPED +89 363
>A: EGGINRU C13 .IN +3 177
>B: AEHINUW G13 .AW +8 371
>A: EEGGNRU E8 URG. +5 182
>B: EEHINNU E13 .UE +3 374
>A: EEGNSU? I11 ...GE +10 192
>B: AEHIINN G2 I. +2 376
>A: EENQSU? 15I .N +2 194
>B: AEHILNN 1M .N +2 378
>A: EEIQSU? 8M ES +4 198
>B: AEHIILN 1E HEN +9 387
>A: EINQSU? 8A UnEQ.I.....N..S +404 602
>B: AADIILN N8 .IALIDAN +72 459
>A: BIOPXYZ 15M I. +2 604
>B: CHKMORY 15B O. +2 461
>A: BEOPXYZ 1A OXYP...B...Z..E +1508 2112
>B: CGHKMRY 15A M..K.Y.R..CH..G +1184 1645
>B: (L) +2 1647

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.