Scrabble

by Electronic Arts

Product Features

• Never pass on a turn again with six levels of in-game artificial intelligence help.
• Improve your game with six immersive in-game excercises designed to hone your skills with the tiles, and track your improvement game after game.
• Experience more ways to play with three exciting game modes: Classic, Speed, and the new SCRABBLE Slam.
• Utilize great learning tools with the in-game complete Merriam Webster SCRABBLE dictionary, as well as 'SCRABBLE Word Finder' which finds the best word in any given situation.
• Take your game anywhere as you challenge friends and family in DS single or multi-card play.

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B001LX4BN2
• Product Dimensions: 4.9 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches ; 3.2 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: March 17, 2009
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (64 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,626 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #9 in Video Games > Nintendo DS > Board Games
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Platform: Nintendo DS

Amazon.com Product Description

With this update of SCRABBLE for Nintendo DS, players take on the challenge of becoming the great word wizards that they have always wanted to be. First, hone your skills by strengthening your vocabulary, pattern recognition, and point strategies through fun training exercises like never before. Then, when ready, apply these newfound skills with the tiles in real games, either in single player mode, or against friends and family in Nintendo wireless DS single-card download play and multi-card play. At every turn adaptable computer A.I. help and onscreen reminders of the last words played ensure that this will be the most accessible and exciting version of SCRABBLE you have ever experienced.

Key Game Features: Improve Your Game - Immerse yourself in six in-game exercises designed to hone your skills with the tiles, and track your improvement game after game. More Ways to Play - Three exciting game modes: Classic, Speed, and the new SCRABBLE Slam. Great Learning Tools - Game includes a complete Merriam Webster SCRABBLE dictionary, as well as 'SCRABBLE Word Finder' which finds the best word in any given situation. Compete Anywhere - Challenge friends and family anywhere in DS single or multi-card play using six levels of artificial intelligence help.

SCRABBLE (DS) Players: 1-4 Wireless options: DS single-card download play, DS multi-card play.

Supports 1-4 player action. View larger.

Utilize in-game exercises View larger.

Enjoy 3 exciting game modes. View larger.

Product Description

Scrabble DS

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars One Jumpy Game!, March 23, 2009

By 

M. Franklin (Central Sierra, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Scrabble (Video Game)

This was the first time I ever pre-ordered a game; I was so excited that Scrabble was coming out for the DS. I started playing as soon as it arrived. I became frustrated pretty quickly with the whole placement of the tiles thing. I really thought it was just my DS which has seen a good amount of use. Thought my touch screen was getting worn out or something. I'm glad to see others are having the same issue, only because it means it's not just me! You try to place a letter on a particular square and more often than not, it jumps around somewhere else. It's spastic! I'm getting used to it now and I actually try to touch the square with the point of my instrument while placing the tile, which seems to give it a better chance of staying where I put it! This is a pretty serious glitch.

I really think they could have done a better job with the graphics and the colors. To make other schemes unlockables is a drag. And the music! Ick!

I give it three stars because I just love the game so much, just not this particular format. I'm really surprised by EA for releasing this out to the market when it doesn't seem ready.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Fine Touch, March 23, 2009

By 

Katyna K. Smith - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Scrabble (Video Game)

I got my Scrabble game over the weekend and have played about 75 games so far. The first dozen or so games were frustrating because this is most sensitive DS game I own, including Brain Age 1 & 2 and Flash Focus which are extremely sensitive. I even re-calibrated my DS to make sure I was touching the correct part of the screen, but it is the game that is ultra-sensitive. It takes a very fine touch to play the game, but once control and self-correction (compensating for the game's inefficiencies) is achieved, game play is very fun.

The features that are nice in this game are the ability to have the dictionary available, the list of two letter words and being able to select the skill level of your partner.

Hints can be turned on and off which was good when I was first learning to use the game. One feature that is interesting is being able to swap out blank tiles that are being used on the board for letters in your hand. This feature has the option of being turned off, but it is fun to always have a blank in your hand.

I am a huge Scrabble fan, owning the traditional board game, the deluxe version and even the Onyx version of the game. I've played Scrabble since I was very little and this is a fine addition to my Scrabble obsession.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars DS's AI vis-a-vis SCRABBLE for the PC's Maven, etc., April 26, 2009

By 

W. Wilson (Boxborough, MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Scrabble (Video Game)

SCRABBLE for the Nintendo DS is the second electronic version of SCRABBLE I've played. I've also played SCRABBLE for PC Windows and its infamous "Maven" artificial intelligence (AI) player. I therefore can't help but draw comparisons to see how far SCRABBLE has come in the e-gaming world.

First, the AI player for the DS version is a kinder and gentler opponent. It does not audibly gloat (chuckle or give the raspberry) after it makes 7-letter bingos or scores above, say, 60 points on its way to ALMOST inevitably trouncing players. (More about ALMOST later.)

Ever polite, the DS Lite version displays a bursting star on the screen when you make a bingo: "50+ points"..."Excellent!"

But SCRABBLE for the DS has a big problem for seasoned players.

They will be bored playing any level below 5. In fact, Level 5--although it does play 7-letter bingos--too often makes clumsy use of its tiles.

And going from playing Level 5 to playing Level 6 is noticeably harder! The Level 6 AI scores multiple bingos in every game and seems to acquire a fortuitous combination of consonants and vowels. I've marveled at its "luck" while staring at the three Us, two Is, and two Os on my rack.

I read somewhere, perhaps it was in Stefan Fatsis's bestseller _Word Freak,_ that players suspected Maven of cheating. I know for certain that Maven was able to see my rack and was therefore able to thwart my plays.

A healthy bit of paranoia makes me think that the DS's Level 6 AI is cheating, too, but in a different way or ways. It seems to place tiles where I am about to place them, for maximum points. Sure, this simply may be a matter of both of us seeing a good spot on the board; however, Level 6 has done this for a scant amount of points on its behalf.

It seems, too, that the DS's Level 6 player is able to pick from the bag the tiles it needs to score the maximum amount of points per turn.

Also, I have never seen Level 6 trade in any tiles, a practice not uncommon even during human tournament play. (For the record, Maven exchanges tiles.)

If Level 6 has an Achilles heel, I have yet to find it.

On to the training exercises...

The DS version has a training mode. This is fine, although I wonder why the training sessions are limited to 1 minute, after which the screen abruptly states, "You got X number of words right" and moves on. Why the 1-minute limit?

I also have several peeves with the DS's SCRABBLE dictionary, which claims to be "...the Official SCRABBLE Players Dictionary." (See the back of the box.)

Probably because of the game's "E" rating, the game would not allow me to play TURD, even though this word is in the OSPD and in other references such as _The SCRABBLE Word-Building Book_ (comp. by Saleem Ahmed).

Also, weirdly, it would not allow me to play FEATURETTE, which I know is a perfectly acceptable word.

This kind of human-AI interaction can be frustrating, especially when you see it put down ZA (for pizza) or URANIUMS.

Uraniums? I thought that "uranium" was the plural of uranium. It is, after all, an element.

As other reviewers have suggested, playing SCRABBLE on such a small footprint as the DS Lite takes some getting used to for those who think of the board game or even the PC versions of this game. For example, several times I have inadvertently passed my turn without intending to, and moving letters around on the rack is cumbersome.

I'll probably play this game more; however, its AI software needs to be modified to create a more credible opponent for the advanced player.

Oh, and unlike the DS's Level 6, Maven didn't ALWAYS beat me.

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