Take Two

Scrabble^© aficionados may want to close their eyes.  Those that find their Scrabble^© opponents take far too long to form their words may want to take notes.  There’s a new game in town . . . actually it doesn’t seem new to Timor-Leste; it appears more a staple of resident malae. 

The name of the game is Take Two and the aim of the game is to use all your tiles to make intersecting words of any length but that comply with the general Scrabble^© rules.

Here’s how it goes:

·         All the tiles are placed face down.

·         Each player takes seven (7) tiles.

^·          Each player tries to use all their tiles in making intersecting words ala normal Scrabble^©.

·         The player that uses up all their tiles first shouts, “Take two” and everyone dives into the tile pool and pulls out another two tiles.

·         Players again try to use up all their tiles.

The beauty of Take Two is that you’re basically constructing your own mini-Scrabble^© board.  You can rearrange any or all of your words at any time.  The challenge is to do so quickly enough before another player shouts “Take two”.  Once all players have exhausted the tiles  from the pool and one player has successfully used all their letters, the round is complete and scores (if you’re keeping score because you don’t have to) are tallied.

To get your score, add all the letters in all the words they’re used.   That means intersecting letters are counted twice.  The sum of any leftover letters is deducted from your overall score and that gives your total for that round.  Rounds continue until a player reaches 500 or any other nominated target.

It’s fast.  It’s fun.  It’s just perfect for those chilly nights at the base of a mountain.