Acronyms are abbreviations of proper English dictionary words. And these short forms are not really acceptable when one is playing scrabble. I myself used to have a lot of arguments with my sister on whether acronyms can be rewarded with points or not. Abbreviations are not actual words and that is the reason why they are not acceptable. In order to clear this confusion, I have come up with points arguing that whether or not abbreviations can help your score or not.
- There are some special cases where acronyms can be used to contribute to your total score. You can form those acronyms which have become so common that they are no longer regarded as short forms. For example the words LASER is now so commonly used that people do forget that it is the acronyms of “light amplification by the stimulated emission of radiation”. In this way the acronym will be thought as a word and you will most probably not lose your turn.
- But there are acronyms like MD or HR which cannot be treated as words. These are not real words and therefore do not help you score any point. The rules of scrabble states that the player is only permitted to form those dictionary word which cannot be expanded any more.
- The acronym OK is one of the most popularly used short forms. It is so common that it is treated as a word in conversations over social media platforms, in books, in articles and so on. Due to its popularity it was added to the dictionary in 2018. Because the game of scrabble follows the standard dictionary so the word OK is now acceptable and is legitimate to use.
- Some slang abbreviations which have a scientific or military origin are playable when playing scrabble. This is not an official statement given by any scrabble professional or by the designers of the game. This is just a part of observation by many players and they say that many of the acceptable acronyms are either related to the world of science or war. This clearly means that acronyms like MAYDAY can still be used.
- First in the year 1953 abbreviations were allowed to be used. And from that time some of acronyms were playable but the players had to consider the limitations and strings attached to their use.
- If you still use the abbreviations which are not allowed at your home in a match with friends or family then there is harm caused but on an official platform acronyms CANNOT be used apart from the ones mentioned above. But in order to not to cause any disagreements like I used to have with my sister you are advised to decide on the dictionary you will use when playing scrabble at home so that it gets cleared in the minds of players whether acronyms are acceptable or not.
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