Scrabble board vs. Words with friends: What are the differences

Words With Friends is a mobile app version of the scrabble board game. Although both the games look almost identical, some noticeable differences are lying between them. The layout on the board is such one.

Meanwhile, what makes these two games entirely different is scrabble is a physical game, and WWF is a mobile app game. However, the Scrabble game mobile app is also available in the play store and AppStore nowadays.

You may be thinking to switch from the traditional Scrabble board game to Words with friends for some valid reasons. But before doing so, let’s make you know the differences between these two games.

Comparison between Scrabble board and Words with friends

Carrying a mobile phone is way easier than carrying a scrabble board. And we don’t think anyone is disagreeing with the fact. It’s one of the reasons why people are switching to a WWF game from Scrabble.

Even though Words with Friends is a mobile version of Scrabble, it did come with a lot of modifications. Let’s go through the following comparison chart between scrabble and the WWF game.

Comparison Scrabble Words with Friends
Number of tiles 100 104
Tiles layout X-shaped Square-shaped
Center block value Double word space value Normal word space value
Inclusion of vowel and consonant words 42 and 56 44 and 58
Blank tiles 2 2
Double word space 17 12
Triple word space 8 8
Double letter space 24 24
Triple letter space 12 16
Bingo score value 50 35

Tiles layout in scrabble and Words with friends

The number of tiles and board designs of scrabble and the Words with Friends game look pretty similar from distance. But get a bit close, and you can see, the tiles in both boards have different layouts.

Not having identical tiles layout is the first and most noticeable difference in these board games.

Scrabble board

In scrabble board, the double word space, triple word space, double letter, and triple letters come in X-shape design. Moreover, the center block or start marked block is worth double word space.

Therefore, the starting player gets a better start that can sometimes come in handy in the latter part of the game.

Words with friends

In the Words With Friends game, triple word space, double word space, triple letter, and double letters come in square-shaped designs. Again, the star-marked center block doesn’t hold any special letter value.

It works as a normal block, which doesn’t help much to the player starting the game.

Number of tiles

Although it looks like both the scrabble board game and the words with friends game has an identical number of tiles, the reality is different. Words with friends come with 4 extra tiles compared to the 100 tiles of the scrabble game.

However, the number of special tiles is also different here. Again, the distribution of the tiles is something that makes these two board games different.

Scrabble board

Scrabble board game comes with 100 tiles, where 42 letters are vowels, and 56 letters are consonant. The rest two don’t have any value, and they are known as blank tiles. Again, it has 17 double word and 8 triple word spaces.

Meanwhile, the board also contains 24 double letter spaces and 12 triple letter spaces.

Words with friends

WWF or Words with Friends game has 4 extra tiles than the scrabble board game. In these tiles, you will get 44 vowel letters and 58 consonant letters. The rest two are similar to scrabble tiles that work as blank tiles in the game.

Meanwhile, it has only 12 double-word spaces compared to the 17 spaces that the Scrabble game has. However, the number of triple word spaces is identical to 8. Also, it has the same number of double letter spaces with 24 in total.

But the game offers four extra triple letter spaces that take the number to 16.

Value of the tiles included in both games

Words with friends have a higher letter value than scrabble board games. The reason is having the different values of individual tiles. Also, it is supposed one of the major differences between these two games.

Now, let’s not make it tougher for you to understand the difference in the value of the tile by providing the below chart.

Points Scrabble board tiles WWF tiles
0 Blank tiles Blank  tiles
1 A, E, I, L, N, O, R, S, T, U A, E, I, O, R, S, T
2 D, G D, L, N, U
3 B, C, M, P G, H, Y
4 F, H, V, W, Y B, C, M, P, W
5 K K, V
8 J, X X
10 Q, Z J, Q, Z

The number of tiles with 1 point value seems more on the scrabble board than Words with friends. It unwontedly makes it comparatively a bit harder to make more points quickly on the scrabble board.

However, you can always use the special scoring blocks that can let you score points quicker than your opponent. The following segment will tell you about the special scoring value.

Special scoring value

It’s not easy to win the game by acquiring one or two points. You need to follow some strategy to score rapid points that can let your opponent down. In special scoring, both these games have some similarities and dissimilarities.

Both games have double letter, triple letter, double word, triple word values. Double and triple letters will respectively double and triple the value of a single letter tile.

On the other hand, double and triple words will respectively double and triple the value of a single spelled word.

Scrabble board

The Scrabble game has five more double word squares, which enhances the possibility of scoring doubling the score value. On the other hand, it has five fewer triple letter words that lessen the chances of scoring.

Meanwhile, the game has bingo scoring with a value of scoring 50 points. Moreover, you can make fake words and earn points if your opponent can’t catch the trick.

Words with friends

WWF game has four extra triple letter spaces, which eases the way of scoring more points. On the contrary, having five fewer double word blocks stands than a scrabble board stands as an obstacle to rapid scoring.

Similar to scrabble, it also offers bingo scoring, but with a decreased scoring value of 35. As WWF is played online, it’s impossible to score through misspelled words.

How the games are played: Scrabble vs. Words With Friends

The playing method of both scrabble and words with friends are identical. However, the first one is a physical game with a game board, and the second one is played on a Smartphone or iOS.

Scrabble

The participants will draw a tile from the bag at first. One who draws a blank tile will start the game off. However, if none draws a blank tile, the tile closest to letter A will go first.

And if you can remember, a player going first has a slight advantage in the game. When someone finishes using all of his tiles, the game comes to an end.

Words with friends

It’s a mobile app game, and one player has to invite another to play with him online. One who invites starts the game by placing the first tile. However, there isn’t any advantage for the player going first.

The game ends similarly to the scrabble when someone gets rid of all of his tiles.