Memorization is the key to winning at Scrabble
Memorizing is one of the best things you can do for yourself as well as your own brain. It will keep you mind fresh, sharp and even increase your attention span if you are already struggling in that area. By taking just some simple concepts and applying them to everyday life you can slowly increase your ability to memorize to a whole new level. Another great function about memorization is the ability to increase brain function. As we get older we tend to start forgetting things. You will be surprised how this tends to be more of an issue of unconsciously becoming complacent more than the deterioration of our brain. After all not doing something for sometime will always result in some form of forgetfulness.
Memory itself probably cannot be developed; however, improvement in remembering comes from correcting certain habits or thoughts so that we use our memory to its' fullest potential.
- California Polytechnic State University
Thankfully it`s like riding a bike, once you get back on you will be riding with ease in no time. With some simple small steps everyday you can start to increase your memorization, which will in time make you sharper and can even help you win some games in scrabble :) While this article in a whole is about memorization we are going to use tips that are more focused on helping you with scrabble, but remember that even applying these steps you will notice an over all increase in memorization and brain function in all areas of life.
The following are some steps you can take to memorize more efficiently:
Starting Point
A good place for you to start is going to be your 2 and 3 letter words. Since they are small and there are not as many as larger words you will be able to get through the entire list quickly. If you have not already read through our
Scrabble Helper page we recommend you read through and discover why 2 and 3 letter words are so important to learn when playing scrabble.
Baby Steps
Don`t worry about taking the bulls by the horn and going all out, little steps over a long period of time is like moving a mountain one inch at a time. It can be done. Try and take one word a day and memorize that word, if there are several definitions or variations of the word try and memorize those too. Knowing your variations in scrabble opens the doors for other possible solutions. If you feel this is to easy right of the bat then start memorizing origins and thesaurus terms in addition to the word itself. Every little bit counts, but don`t over do it. Take what ever pace you feel most comfortable with.
Get the point(s)?
Once you have gone a week or so and again when you feel comfortable start to memorize the point value of the words. Don`t worry about going back to the words you already learned, just take it easy and start from what ever word you are currently starting at. Try to memorize the base point value of the word, take the variations of the word and memorize those values as well. Being able to formulate words in your head while simply looking at the board will increase the amount of time you have to play your turn without having to open a dictionary or look something up in a search engine. The more time you have to play, the more time you have to make a smarter decision.
It`s all about length
You will see after a few short weeks or even days you will begin to start memorizing words quickly. You may even be doing 2 too 3 words at this point. Another great thing to memorize are word lengths. You may not realize but based on the layout of the tiles on the board you can get your double and triple word scores by knowing how many letters you need to achieve to get it. Instead of spending your time thinking of words and seeing if they are going to be long enough, you can memorize word lengths so by simply knowing the length of word you need you already have a list of them in your head. Imagine knowing the length, point value and variations of words when it is your turn? Its very powerful. By memorizing word lengths you eliminate a list of words out of your thoughts already which in turn make your turn that much more efficient.
We hope you found this article useful, not just for scrabble but for everyday life. If you have any comments or questions please don`t hesitate to contact us