The Retro Site That Shames Modern Apps

It looks like it hasn’t been updated since 1996. It has sound effects that you’ve not heard since the glory days of AOL. Yet the Internet Scrabble Club puts the game’s official apps to shame.

Created by a Romanian player called Florin Gheorghe, according to the site’s Wikipedia page, the Internet Scrabble Club is all about the game – there are no ads, no in-app purchases, no distractions. There’s a premium tier for those who want to unlock more advanced features, but anyone can play for free. It’s a glorious reminder of what the Internet used to be like and the best place to play online Scrabble that I’ve found.

The Scrabble Apps

There is no shortage of apps and sites out there that will let you play Scrabble online – although many avoid using the ‘S’ word for intellectual property reasons.

One of the officially endorsed apps is Scrabble Go, which is available for both iOS and Android, but it’s a user experience horror show. It’s a barrage of pop-ups and promotions as you play, desperately trying to convince you to link social media accounts or buy virtual currency so that you can purchase needless trinkets such as fancy tiles. It feels more like playing a slot machine than Scrabble.

Then there’s Classic Words With Friends, which is very similar with the constant pleas to try this and that, and the full-screen, unavoidable video ads after you play each word.

Some of the websites are better. PlayScrabble.com lets you get on and play without even requiring you to register, and with minimal intrusive advertising. However, not having to register means anonymous players think nothing of abandoning games early if they’re getting well beaten and the site has some curious features. For example, it shows you precisely what letters remain unused, including your opponents’ letters when you get down to zero tiles left in the bag. That just feels like cheating.

The curiously named Woogles.io is a decent Scrabble site, too. It’s a non-profit funded by donations, allowing it to run ad-free. My only real gripe with the site is that it’s often difficult to find people waiting in the lobby for a game, especially outside of U.S. hours.

The Internet Scrabble Club

The Internet Scrabble Club doesn’t make the best first impression. It looks like a site that was abandoned around the turn of the millennium, with dated graphics and few concessions to modern web design. Don’t let that put you off, because the gameplay itself is wonderful.

It clearly has a small but committed community of players. There’s rarely any trouble finding an online match at any time of day and the players take it seriously. I’ve played almost 40 Scrabble matches on the site now, and only one of those games has been abandoned, with an opponent leaving midway through.

Players are courteous, but not overly chatty. It’s common to wish the opponent good luck before a game starts; seven-letter bingos are normally met with a “wp” (for “well played”).

It will take a while to get used to the site’s labelling and acronyms. The figure in brackets next to a player’s name is their ranking. Anything over 1,000 is seriously good, while 800 is the average (according to the site’s help files). Your rank will improve greatly if you topple a much better-ranked player, but it’s best to find opponents in and around your level and improve your rank gradually.

Most players use the CSW (Collins Scrabble Words) dictionary, which accepts both U.S. and U.K. English spellings and is more generous with two-letter words than most dictionaries. Most will play in a mode where you’re simply not allowed to play words that aren’t in the dictionary, but some players use “Challenge” mode where the opponent can dispute whether it’s a valid word, and you lose your turn or points if it’s not in the dictionary.

There is a variety of match times on offer too, ranging from three minutes per player right up to 20 mins. If you’re new, I suggest starting at ten minutes or longer. The faster “blitz” games require extraordinarily quick thinking.

The site looks like it’s desktop-only and it certainly plays best when using a PC or laptop, but it does play fine on tablets too. There’s the odd glitch as you drag a tile on to the board, but it’s more than playable on an iPad or Android tablet. It’s even usable on smartphone screens, although I personally find it a little small and fiddly.

So if you’re looking for a game of online Scrabble and you’re willing to be part of a friendly community, you could do a lot worse than party like it’s 1999 at the Internet Scrabble Club.