Scrabble

By: Bill Stiteler and Kirk Hiner

Genre: Board Game

Format: CD

Developer: Random Games

Mac Port: Westlake Interactive

Publisher: MacSoft

Minimum Requirements: 132MHz PowerPC, MacOS 8.1, 32MB RAM (Virtual Memory may be required), 60MB hard disk space, 4X CD-ROM, 800x600 display capable of thousands of colors

Network Feature: Yes

3Dfx Support: No

Retail Price: $29.99

Availability: Out Now

Bill: When game developers began allowing head-to-head play against other human beings, it was a revelation. Because no matter how much you tip the mechanics of the game in the game's favor, no matter how fast you make the 'bots or how powerful the boss, in the final equation there's simply nothing more sneaky, vindictive, and downright nasty as a human opponent. Particularly, as you find out later, if you're related to that human. Even more particularly if you're related to that human by choice.

Kirk: My older brother was the nastiest opponent I ever faced. He was the type of guy who'd pretend to not know the answer in Trivial Pursuit, wavering back and forth, and just as we were finishing the countdown from three, he'd blurt out the right answer. Every time. How I loathed him.

Bill: A lot of people blame TV for the destruction of the American family (I mean, when was the last time you actually saw an American family?), but I blame the Parker Brothers, Mr. Hasbro and Rabbi Mattel. People don't argue when they watch TV, they argue when they play board games. It's when you're stalking the killer in Mr. Boddy's mansion that you see what your family would be like in the bomb shelter. It's when you look into the eyes of your spouse as the little dog is slowly inching towards Park Place with three houses, that suddenly you understand Hitchcock films on a whole 'nother level.

Kirk: Know who I blame for the destruction of the American family? Alan Alda. All the time being so tall, being in M*A*S*H and stuff. And speaking of Parker Brothers, you know that they make that Ouija Board, right? I see that link with the dead all the time at Toys 'r' Us. Parker Brothers is apparently in league with Lucifer, so I'm not so sure I'll be playing Sorry anytime soon.

Bill: You kind of illustrated my point there, Kirk. The flaw, of course, is not with the games, but with the freaks you have to play and live with. Fortunately, we can now remove them from the equation of at least one classic board game, as MacSoft has ported Scrabble to the Macintosh.

Kirk: Actually, Westlake Interactive did the port, MacSoft published it.

Bill: You're just the kind of person I hate to play these games with. But for those of you who've never experienced the joy of rummaging in the closet for the missing "Z" tile, a little background. Scrabble is based on a crossword system, where the players pick random tiles and score by making long or difficult words ("W" is worth more than the omnipresent "E," for example). There are also various wildcards, like blank tiles which can represent any letter and bonus spaces on the board which double or triple the value of the tile placed on them or even the entire word.

Kirk: Which ends up becomming an obsession. I can't ever bring myself to lay down the "Q" or "Z" tiles unless they're sitting upon a triple letter score. As a result, I inevitably end up with "Q" and "Z" tiles at the end of the game.

Bill: Yep. As with most games, half the fun of playing is learning all the strategies. Quick! How many words can you think of that use "Q" but not "U?"

Kirk: Qix? Does that count?

Bill: No. So prepare to weep bitter tears at the feet of Maven, an AI built to challenge Scrabble players from novices to masters. I made the mistake of setting to "champion" level just to see what was happen, and was stunned to see her score Bingos (the use of all your tiles to make a word, and the Scrabble equivalent of a telefrag) like it was Friday night in Arkansas.

Kirk: I scored a bingo once.

Bill: Really? How'd that go for you?

Kirk: Best weekend of my life.

Kirk: Ooh, bitterness. Could it be that you had the same problem with the game that I did? That you're up against a perfect opponent whose intelligence setting affects only the size of words it uses?

Bill: Yes. There's no negotiating with Maven, especially in terms of "legal" words. That is to say, you will make mistakes, but the machine never will. Now I know that abbreviations don't count, nor do proper names, but the last time I remember, foreign words were valid. I could be mistaken, however, as those memories are locked deep, deep inside on top of the arguments over whether you get the community chest money if you land on Free Parking (You Do! Die, Heretic!) And Scrabble didn't recognize 95% of the stuff I tried to use, often to my legitimate surprise. There's no way to add words to the dictionary. Made me so mad I had to zoqo after a good ushnu. Anyone get that? Anyway, it was a bit of a pain having to let go of my "house rules" mentality and play by Official Style. Couldn't some modifications be possible?

Kirk: Actually, there is a custom dictionary option that you can get your words into. It's a bit archaic, however, and you can't add new words during a game. So when Maven challenged and beat my placement of "zen," I didn't have the option of proving it wrong. Instead, I had to wait until after the game to add the word to the dictionary.

Bill: The game also has a lot of eye candy to convince you that you're getting your money's worth. Tiles turn gold as they are played, a Bingo results in a fireworks display, and a bit-like computer helper floats and morphs on the upper left-hand corner of the screen (I kept wanting him to scream "No! No! No! No! Yes!" as I chose tiles).

Kirk: I don't have to follow that link to get the reference. What kind of geek does that make me? But how about the sound? Those audio tracks started to drive me insane. I kept feeling I was in some casino scene in a 1970s detective TV show, and not even a good casino scene in a 1970s detective TV show. I'm not sure what kind of music Scrabble players normally listen to, but I know this is not it. I also know now what Charlie Brown's teacher would sound like with laryngitis, because that voice was Maven's.

Bill: To its benefit, Scrabble has several mini-games included that really exist more to help you learn new words and new ways to look at the game. Some score you on how many two or three letter words you can make out of a set, others do the same thing with anagrams. Others give you a board set up in the middle of a game, and you have to figure out the best placement for your letters. I imagine serious Scrabble players will find the tools very valuable.

Kirk: True. After playing this game a few times, I was no longer looking at my tiles to see what words I could make, but was instead looking at the board to see where opportunities for words existed. I then came back to my tiles to see what I could force in there. This approach opened many more possibilities.

Bill: And that's Scrabble's biggest strength, I think; it teaches you to become a better player so you can go out and paste your friends. And if your friends come over or own their own version, you can find out who's the greatest in network or hotseat games. Actually, that's kind of a cool idea--having a LAN party of Scrabble, everyone hunched over their screens. Scrabble needs a broadcast feature so you can transmit "Good Play!" or "I was going to use that 'N!' " Just the thought of it makes me smile.

Kirk: Internet multiplay is supported through GameRanger, by the way. Of course, considering the vocabulary of the average GameRanger user, who knows what words will pop up on the board. Better put the kids to bed first.

Bill: Casual fans will enjoy Scrabble simply because it's a good game. That's what makes it a classic. But the built-in base of hardcore fans (and there are a lot of them) will also find the game challenging as an opponent and useful as a learning tool for when they play in tournaments (what, you thought Quake invented the idea?). So maybe I'm all mixed up on the joy of removing the human from the equation. Because that's the other thing about replacing AI's with human opponents: it feels really, really good when you win.

Kirk: Yeah, like you'd know what that feels like.

Bill: I kicked your butt, didn't I?

Kirk: That's only because I was...busy taking screen captures.

Bill: See what I mean about human opponents?

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