SCRABBLE free

Scrabble takes one of the world's most classic and revered board games and adapts it for mobile devices. But with games like Words With Friends and its sequel beating Scrabble to the punch by offering practically the same game for mobile users, the originality of this classic might not be enough to make it worth checking out. Fortunately, Scrabble is packed with a number of cool features that you won't find in Words With Friends, and that helps it carve out an identity all its own.

The core premise of Scrabble is fundamentally simple but hard to master. Play takes place on a board that resembles a crossword puzzle, and players are each distributed a given number of letters. Each turn is spent trying to combine the letters in your hand with those on the board to make new words, with each letter offering a given amount of points. Complicating the formula is the fact that there are a number of bonus multiplier spots on the board that can increase your score in a major way. While having an expansive vocabulary will get you a long way in the game, playing strategically is just as important. A player who finds a balance between saving their vowels and not letting their hand turn into just a collection of As, Es, Is, Os, and Us is more likely to find success. Then there's the importance of holding on to your most important letters until you can strategically use them to maximize the multipliers on the table.

That may be a lot to soak in, but Scrabble comes with a dedicated Teacher tool. This artificial intelligence component can help you improve your game by showing you what the best word would have been for any given play. It won't throw off the balance of gameplay, but it can help players improve their tactics moving forward. There's also an official Scrabble dictionary built in along with an in-game word list.

And you'll need them too. While there's a single player component here that lets you hone your skills against a computer opponent, the real meat of the experience happens in multiplayer. You can select friends from your list or find new players to compete against with a single tap of your finger. Scrabble allows you to play more concurrent matches than any other word game available on the App Store, an especially valuable advantage given that games can be slow and run for a very long time. For players who don't like to wait, there's also a speed mode built in that sets turn limits at two or five limits.

At its heart, this mobile app is essentially just Scrabble. But the ability to play with anyone at any time and the wealth of educational features make it potentially the best version of the game around.