FAQs

Once we get Word-sport^TM on a roll, this page will be used to answer your E-Mail questions which may be of interest to all Word-sport^TM enthusiasts. Click here to leave us your questions or comments. You can also leave your email address and we'll keep you informed on what's happening with Word-Sport™.

Already one person asked...Since Word-Sport™ has the same number of letter tiles and same tile distribution as Scrabble®, why not just use the letter tiles of my Scrabble® game?

My answer to that...Yes, you may use the letter tiles from your Scrabble® game. In fact that is how Word-Sport™ was inspired! I was at a Christians men’s retreat for the Highland Park Baptist Church of Southfield, Michigan back in October of 1999. After the day’s events, we were back at the cabin I was sharing with seven other men, when one of the more intellectual men (Bill Sokoll) of our group suggested that we play a game which he referred to as “Speed Scrabble” All eight of us sat down at a five ft. diameter table and began to play using two sets of Scrabble® letter tiles. All players were enthusiastic about the way the game was played. Incidentally, Bill managed to finish first in just about every round. We figured score not by place finish, but by adding the numbers on our letter tiles for the highest totals.

In the spirit of what I observed that evening, Word-sport™ is specifically designed for a board-less play format. Scrabble® tiles are somewhat small, designed to be played on their own game board. Word-Sport® letter tiles are large print, easy to read and easy to handle. Senior citizens will especially appreciate this.

Unlike Scrabble®, timing is everything in Word-Sport™. All scoring is done by place finishes. This made the use of a specially designed, battery operated timer clock necessary… after all we don’t have a game board to slow us down. After showing the game to another Highland Park Baptist Church members Mike Whelan and his wife Sue, we came upon the concept of the “Wild Tiles”, a game play option which allows one to encroach on the play of others (See full story on Wild Tiles page).

There are no numeric values on our letter tiles. Again, all scoring is done by place finishes. Word-sport™ also has the unique indicators on our letter tiles which allows one to break up a set of letter tiles into two exact half sets.

But, like Scrabble®, we left the time tested tile distribution the same. So while Word-sport™ is inspired from Scrabble®, it is a game on to its own!

Another person asked...You illustrate the game for an even number of players (two, four, six or eight). What if there are three, five or seven players?

My response...By using even numbers, this makes it easy to keep the number of tiles per player to twenty five. But one can play Word-sport™ with an odd number of players too! If you have three players, use the full set (100) letter tiles. That will make for thirty three letters per player (including the seven starter tiles).There will be one stray tile left over.

If you have five players and use a full set (100 tiles), that will make for 20 tiles each player. But if you use one and a half sets (150 tiles) for the five players, that will make it 30 tiles per player.

If you have seven players, you will need two full sets (200 tiles). This will make for 28 total tiles per person. You will then have four tiles left over.