Scrabble house rules

Almost every family plays Scrabble® a little differently. Here are the house rules that come up most often, what the official rules say, and how to keep score when you use them. The one rule that matters: agree before the first tile goes down.

Brand names and proper nouns

Official rule: words that always start with a capital letter are not allowed, so no names of people, places or products.

House rule: allow them. Names like PARIS, or brands like LEGO and GOOGLE, become fair game. Groups that play this way usually add a safeguard:

• The player must be able to say what the word refers to, or
• Everyone at the table has to recognise it, or
• Only certain kinds are allowed, such as place names but not people.

Mattel released a spin-off edition in 2010, Scrabble Trickster, that allowed proper nouns through special cards, but Hasbro never sold it in the US or Canada. In the standard game, proper nouns are still out.

Scoring: no change. Score the word as normal.

Open dictionary

Official rule: a dictionary or word checker is only used to settle a challenge, after a word has been played.

House rule: players may look words up before they play them. It slows the game a little, but it's a great way to learn, and it takes the sting out of challenges. A common middle ground is to allow checking whether a word exists, but not searching for words to play.

Scoring: no change.

Recycling blanks

Official rule: once a blank is played, it stays on the board as the letter it was given for the rest of the game.

House rule: if you hold the real tile a blank stands for, you may swap it in on your turn and take the blank back to use again. Some groups only allow the swap as part of a normal play. Others don't allow it at all if the blank sits in two words.

Scoring: no change to scores already made. The blank is still worth 0, wherever it's played next.

Gentler challenges

Official rule: if a challenged word is invalid, the player takes the tiles back and scores nothing for the turn. What happens when the word turns out to be valid depends on the edition and the club. In the standard home rules, the challenger misses their next turn. Tournament rules vary: many UK events have no penalty at all, and the international norm is a 5-point penalty per word wrongly challenged.

House rules you'll see:

• No penalty. Anyone can check a word, and nobody loses anything for being wrong.
• Points penalty. A failed challenge gives the other player a few points, often 5, instead of costing a turn.
• Double challenge. Whoever is wrong, the player or the challenger, loses a turn.

Scoring: a lost turn is a 0 in that player's column. A points penalty can be typed into the next turn box as an extra amount.

Free exchanges

Official rule: exchanging tiles uses your whole turn, and you can only do it while at least seven tiles are left in the bag.

House rules:

• Allow an exchange as well as a normal play, or
• Allow a free exchange when a rack is hopeless, for example three or more of the same letter, or all vowels.

Scoring: no change. On the score sheet, a turn spent exchanging is a 0.

Turn time limits

Official rule: the home rules set no time limit. Clubs and tournaments use chess clocks, usually 25 minutes per player for the whole game.

House rule: a limit per turn, typically one to three minutes, keeps everyone engaged. What happens when time runs out is up to you: finish your word, or pass.

Scoring: no change. The score keeper has a turn timer with a gentle chime, and a buzz on phones that support it.

Changing the bingo bonus

Official rule: using all seven tiles in one turn earns a 50-point bonus.

House rule: some groups lower it, to 30 or 40 for example, so one lucky rack doesn't decide the game, especially with younger players.

Scoring: set the bonus under House rules on the score keeper and the word calculator uses it automatically.

Skipping end-of-game deductions

Official rule: when the game ends, each player subtracts the value of their unplayed tiles. If someone went out, they add everyone else's leftovers. See the scoring guide.

House rule: skip the arithmetic and stop the game as soon as the bag is empty, or as soon as one player goes out, with no deductions.

Scoring: turn off End-of-game adjustments under House rules and the sheet hides those rows.

Playing with children

Easing the rules keeps younger players interested. Ideas that work well:

• An open dictionary for the children, or for everyone.
• Allow names and well-known brands.
• Let them swap tiles freely when they're stuck.
• Play in teams, an adult and a child sharing a rack.
• Drop the timer, and drop challenge penalties.

Setting house rules on the score keeper

Open the score keeper and expand House rules under the score sheet. You can change the bingo bonus and switch end-of-game adjustments on or off. Your choices are saved in your browser for next time. Rules that don't change the arithmetic, such as proper nouns or recycling blanks, just need everyone to agree before you start.

Last reviewed: October 2026.