Scrabble letter distributions

[2] Scrabble editions listed in this section are officially licensed by Hasbro (for North America) or Mattel (for the rest of the world).

Finnish-language sets use these 101 tiles: This distribution lacks Q, Š, X, Z, Ž, and Å, since they are virtually absent in Finnish.

[18] Arguably B, C, F, G (outside the digraph NG), and W do not exist in Finnish either, but they are included as they are used for borrowed words, and F in some western dialects.

The letter distribution for this larger set is: German sets marketed as Foreign Language Editions produced by Selchow & Righter had 100 tiles with the following distribution: In the mid-1950s, licensed by James Brunot's Production and Marketing Company, the wooden-toy company J. Schowanek KG.

This is because its capital version did not exist officially in standard German orthography prior to 2017 and the letter itself is unused in Switzerland and Liechtenstein.

The most recent edition for Hebrew was published in 2008 by J. W. Spear & Sons, a subsidiary of Mattel UK with 100 tiles in the following distribution: A version produced in the late 1980s by J. W. Spear & Sons under the Spears Games label has these 104 tiles: In 1977 J. W. Spear & Sons published their original 97-tile Hebrew language version under the tradename נא‎-שבץ‎™ (Hebrew: "Scrabble"): Just two years earlier, in 1975, Selchow & Righter released their Foreign Language Edition of Hebrew with the following 98-tile distribution: Hungarian-language sets use these 100 tiles: DZ and DZS, which are fairly rare in Hungarian, have no tiles, nor do Q, W, X and Y (outside the digraphs "GY", "LY", "NY" and "TY"), which are only used in loanwords, as part of the extended Hungarian alphabet.

[citation needed] In 2016, Tinderbox games under license from Mattel produced Icelandic-language sets using these 104 tiles:[20][21] Earlier in 2016, to address a realized need for an improved letter distribution for the Icelandic-language, sets under the name Krafla, independent of the Scrabble brand, were produced and made available.

Netskrafl (meaning "Net Scrabble"),[22] a popular online crossword game website, supports the Krafla distribution.

Irish-language sets, created in 2010,[24] use these 100 tiles: J, K, Q, V, W, X, Y, and Z are absent since they do not belong to the standard Irish alphabet, although they are sometimes used in loanwords.

[30] The second distribution, developed by the Centre for Medieval Studies of the University of Toronto, uses these 100 tiles: An extension of the second distribution for Latin Paleography, developed by the Centre for Medieval Studies of the University of Toronto, uses these 120 tiles: The point value of Ↄ is unknown, but it is believed to be 3.

The distribution for the older, unofficial, KrisKros Klasik is as follows: Malagasy-language sets use these 102 tiles:[34] C, Q, U, W, and X are absent because these letters are not used in Malagasy.

Slovak-language sets use these 100 tiles: Q, W, Ě, Ö, Ř, and Ü are absent because they are only used in loanwords, but may be represented with a blank.

Spanish-language sets sold outside North America use these 100 tiles: Stress accents and diaereses are disregarded.

According to FISE (Federación Internacional de Scrabble en Español) rules, a blank cannot be used to represent K or W; loanwords containing them are simply not playable.

[49] Spanish-language sets sold within North America (known as Scrabble – Edición en Español) use - including "K" and "W" but without "CH" - these 103 tiles: Stress accents are still disregarded.

Spanish-language sets sold within Latin America under the name Escarbar (a Spanish word for Scrabble) - including "K" and "CH" but without "RR" and "W" - use these 108 tiles [citation needed]: An unofficial practice in some variants of Spanish Scrabble is the permit of words with QU to be played with the Q and with or without the following U.

Ü and Æ require a blank, and as of 2010 only occur in one and three playable words respectively: müsli and three forms of Laestadianism (læstadianism in Swedish).

Sometime in the 1980s, produced under BRIO's subsidiary, Joker, the number of Ts in the set were reduced by one and an 8-point Z tile was added.

In 2002, under the ownership of Mattel and its brand name Scrabble, the Swedish language set tile values of the C and Z were changed, respectively, to 8 and 10.

Though Alga had lost its license to Mattel Europa in the early 1990s in the production of the game, the company held onto its ownership of the name Alfapet.

The polygraphs MH, NGH, NH and PH also exist in Welsh, but they are omitted because they are used almost exclusively in mutated words, which the rules disallow.

Anglo-Saxon uses the letter Z, but it is a very rare spelling of TS, and is used in loanwords for the sound of Z in modern English, so there is no tile for it.

Bambara-language Scrabble sets use these 106 tiles:[34] The uncommon digraphic letters sh (sometimes represented with the IPA symbol ʃ; a regional variant of s) and kh (only used in loanwords) are absent as they are now considered obsolete.

Breton-language Scrabble sets, created in 2008 as Skrabell, use these 100 tiles:[57] C, Q, and X are absent because they are only used in loanwords or, in the case of C, the digraphs CH and C'H.

But for a few exceptional cases, the sounds ɐ, β, ʙ, ɓ, c, cʼ, ɕ, ç, ɗ, ɖ, ɘ, ɣ, ɤ, ɠ, ɢ, ʛ, ħ, ʜ, ɦ, ɥ, ɧ, ɨ, ɟ, ʄ, ʝ, kʼ, ɭ, ɬ, ɮ, ʟ, ɯ, ɰ, ɲ, ɳ, ɴ, ø, ɵ, œ, ɶ, pʼ, q, qʼ, ɻ, ɽ, ɺ, ʀ, ʁ, ʂ, tʼ, ʈ, ʉ, ʋ, ⱱ, x, χ, y, ʏ, ʎ, ʐ, ʑ, ʡ, ʕ, and ʢ, ǀ, ǁ, ǃ, ʘ, and ǂ are not used in American English.

Romaji scrabble games consist of all 3 scripts used in Japanese language - Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji in romanized form.

One board game (Romeo) has a different distribution, released earlier: In this version, note that C has no tile as it is used exclusively in the digraph CH.

An older Klingon distribution by a different manufacturer (which is also not official) uses these 102 tiles (the first game was missing the blanks):[80] These versions are separate from Hasbro's own licensed "Star Trek Scrabble" game, in which players can receive bonus points by playing Klingon words using standard English-language tiles.

[92] The letters Ѡ, Ѯ, Ѱ, Ѳ and Ѵ are only used as numerals and in Greek loanwords and optional when it comes to playing.

Also, ஸ், ஸ, ஸா, ஸி, ஸீ, ஸு, ஸூ, ஸெ, ஸே, ஸை, ஸொ, ஸோ, ஸௌ, ஜ், ஜ, ஜா, ஜி, ஜீ, ஜு, ஜூ, ஜெ, ஜே, ஜை, ஜொ, ஜோ, ஜௌ, ஷ், ஷ, ஷா, ஷி, ஷீ, ஷு, ஷூ, ஷெ, ஷே, ஷை, ஷொ, ஷோ, ஷௌ, ஹ், ஹ, ஹா, ஹி, ஹீ, ஹு, ஹூ, ஹெ, ஹே, ஹை, ஹொ, ஹோ, ஹௌ, க்ஷ், க்ஷ, க்ஷா, க்ஷி, க்ஷீ, க்ஷு, க்ஷூ, க்ஷெ, க்ஷே, க்ஷை, க்ஷொ, க்ஷோ, க்ஷௌ and ஶ்ரீ have no tiles because these are only used in Sanskrit loanwords; these letters can still be played with a blank.