Clabbers is a game played by tournament
Scrabble
''Scrabble'' is a word game in which two to four players score points by placing tiles, each bearing a single letter, onto a Board game, game board divided into a 15×15 grid of squares. The tiles must form words that, in crossword fashion, re ...
players for fun, or occasionally at Scrabble variant tournaments. The name derives from the fact that the words CLABBERS and SCRABBLE form an
anagram
An anagram is a word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of a different word or phrase, typically using all the original letters exactly once. For example, the word ''anagram'' itself can be rearranged into the phrase "nag a ram"; which ...
pair.
Rules
The rules are identical to those of Scrabble, except that valid plays are only required to form anagrams of acceptable words; in other words, the letters in a word do not need to be placed in the correct order. If a word is challenged, the player who played the word must then name an acceptable word that anagrams to the tiles played.
Because the number of "words" that can be formed is vastly larger than in
standard English
In an English-speaking country, Standard English (SE) is the variety of English that has undergone codification to the point of being socially perceived as the standard language, associated with formal schooling, language assessment, and off ...
, the board usually ends up tightly packed in places, and necessarily quite empty in others. Game scores will often be much higher than in standard Scrabble, due to the relative ease of making high-scoring overlap plays and easier access to premium squares.
Web version
The
Internet Scrabble Club
The Internet Scrabble Club (ISC) is a website that allows players around the world to play Scrabble through a web interface. Previously, one had to download software, called Wordbiz, to play, but Wordbiz is no longer supported.
Using ISC
Players ...
offers the ability to play Clabbers online.
Example game (SOWPODS)
Horizontal words from top to bottom (# denotes words that exist in the
Collins English Dictionary
The ''Collins English Dictionary'' is a printed and online dictionary of English. It is published by HarperCollins in Glasgow. It was first published in 1979.
Corpus
The dictionary uses language research based on the Collins Corpus, which is ...
but not the TWL). Some of the words below have multiple anagrams:
*ALI = AIL
*TOD = DOT
*ISNAETCR = CANISTER
*WOPL = PLOW
*DEER = DEER
*ZIF = FIZ
*SIATX = TAXIS
*BTADEI = BAITED
*MGU = GUM
*EMING = MINGE#
*ECOPU = COUPE
*RATHE = HEART
*IQ =
QI
*VUEJ = JUVE#
*EWY = WYE
*ODOR = ODOR
*ASSGEOU = GASEOUS
*ROH =
RHO
Rho (; uppercase Ρ, lowercase ρ or ; or ) is the seventeenth letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 100. It is derived from Phoenician alphabet, Phoenician letter resh . Its uppercase form uses the same ...
Vertical words from left to right
*ATIW = WAIT
*KAMER = MAKER
*LOSODF = FLOODS
*GCALINS = SCALING
*IDNPE = PINED
*UOT = OUT
*ALEZ = LAZE
*PHA = HAP
*RSITOUEN = ROUTINES
*FIAR = FAIR
*EBRYE = BEERY
*XIM = MIX
*NAV = VAN
*UO = OU#
*GULNED = LUNGED
*JOR =
JOR#
*RO = OR
References
Mentions of Clabbers on the National Scrabble Association (USA) websiteAn A-Z of Variants, Association of British Scrabble Players
*"V-A-K-I-L: 'VAKIL' is a word? No way! Scrabble for the serious at District 14", ''The Boston Globe
''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...
'', October 7, 2001
{{Scrabble
Scrabble variants