This is a debate that has been going on for a while, whether playing games have any positive effect on human lives on not. Aside from the fun aspect, most people say that games, especially video games are not good for health and promote violence while others say that they don’t help in cognitive development in children.
But for Scrabble, that is not the case. Scrabble has been proven to have certain social, health, and emotional benefits just by playing this game. Let us have a look at some reasons Why You Should Choose and Play Scrabble Over Other Games:
1. Teaches Strategy
One of the reasons why playing Scrabble is better than other games is that it teaches you strategy, something that you won’t find in other games. Strategy in Scrabble involves planning out your words before your turn, anticipating the moves of your opponents, and trying to block them & turn them to your advantage. It also involves creating such word combinations targeting double and triple letter/word score squares on the board resulting in additional points.
There is also the opportunity for the players to score 50-points additional points for using all the seven-letter tiles at hand. This is called Bingo and the players must plan the strategy beforehand as to score a bingo for themselves.
Also Read: 6 Reasons Why You Should Choose Scrabble Over Other Games
2. Teaches Vocabulary
One of the obvious advantages of playing Scrabble is that it teaches vocabulary. The whole game of Scrabble is basically dependent on your vocabulary and word derivation skills and when you tend to play this game then your vocabulary starts to improve.
Research has shown that people who play Scrabble are better at the usage of prefixes and suffixes than people who don’t play this game. They know when to use a specific suffix or prefix. They can use the suffixes and prefixes correctly just because of vocabulary.
Apart from the ability to spell words correctly, you also learn the meanings of different words and phrases & how to use them. Although the use of a dictionary or any other tool such as Word Unscrambler or Anagram Solver is not acceptable unless a word is challenged but most of the new players learn the game of Scrabble by using the dictionary and these tools, which help them to become good at the game. However, for competitive Scrabble, the use of any helping tool or dictionary is not acceptable.
Also Read: Emotional and Mental Benefits of Playing Card Games
3. Improved Cognitive Abilities
Studies have shown that people who play word games are known to have their cognitive abilities increased. Playing word games is beneficial for the mind and even compensates for lack of education. When you are playing Scrabble and you come across a difficult or rare word/phrase that you don’t know about then you search for that word in the dictionary and get to know more about that word. In this way, you learn about new words and things from different fields of life through Scrabble.
4. Helps to Improve Social Relationships
Scrabble is one of those games that is loved by almost everyone. Families, friends, neighbors, almost everyone love playing scrabble for long hours and to increase your social bonding and social skill, you can play Scrabble for long hours. Scrabble is a game that is usually played between 2-4 players and if you want to improve your social relationships with someone then you can try playing this game with them.
Since Scrabble is both an individual and a group game, it is widely accepted as a form of social entertainment and you can easily play a game to scrabble for entertainment and recreation. Playing Scrabble on Weekends or on a game night might just be what you need to get your social relationship going.
5. Boosts Confidence
Playing Scrabble can also boost your self-confidence and self-esteem. Most people think that only winning at something gives you a confidence boost but that is not true. When you are playing Scrabble and don’t win, you still get a sense of achievement because you might have solved a particularly difficult tile hand or formed high-scoring words that you never did before. All of this can give a strong sense of personal achievement and help boost the confidence of an individual. Playing Scrabble helps us to remain confident and have faith in ourselves and our abilities throughout our lives.
6. Health Benefits
People who actively play the game of Scrabble get different health benefits from playing it too. Whether it is a young adult who is playing Scrabble or an old senior, Scrabble has tremendous benefits to human health, some of which are:
- Scrabble is known to lower the risk of mental illness because it keeps your mind engaged and stimulated. You can consider playing Scrabble as a mental exercise for your brain, which strengthens it and reduces the risk of development of serious mental ailments including dementia, Parkinson's, or any other disease affecting the brain.
- While playing the game of Scrabble, you feel relaxed and endorphins are released. Endorphins are very beneficial for health and help to lower and maintain normal blood pressure levels in the body. Plus, the muscles of the body relax and the blood circulation increases.
- Playing Scrabble also brightens up your mood because it is a fun game to play and when you are playing with someone who is close to you then the chit chat that goes along with the game makes everything much more fun and enjoyable.