![]() “For ‘aa,’ I open up my front door, and I’m seeing an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting,” Santos said. Santos recalls the first 10 two-letter words in an instant by placing them into his apartment. When you want to remember a long list of information, such as the two-letter Scrabble words, Santos suggests using the “journey method,” a memorization style that involves mentally placing the visuals into familiar locations. These are the three core principles Chester Santos, known as “The International Man of Memory,” used to win the 2008 USA Memory Championship, an annual tournament-style competition where contestants engage in head-to-head memorization challenges. Turn it into an easy-to-picture mental image.When he first learned the two-letter words at 5 years old, he would list them off to his mom in order, and she would check them off down a list, letting him know if he missed any. Shaw suggests printing out a small copy of the list to always keep on hand.Ī partner can help, said Cooper Komatsu, a top-10 Scrabble player in Illinois and two-time National Adult Spelling Bee champion. “Start with ‘aa’ and ‘ab’ and go all the way through ‘za.'” “Whenever you’re in a boring meeting or just doing something dull, write them out because there aren’t that many,” Shaw said. Whether you break it up or go straight through the 107, practice is key. ![]() Then you only need to memorize 17 weird words in the miscellaneous category. He formed groups like Chew’s power tiles, musical notes, letter names, interjections, Greek letters, Hebrew letters and slang. “I kept looking at what was left and finding a category I could take out, so I didn’t wind up saying, ‘The rest are miscellaneous.'” “I looked at them, and I said, ‘OK, what’s the biggest group I can take out now?'” Shaw said. “That’s going to swing most games in your favor,” Chew said.Īfter you’ve eliminated the common words from the big 107, Shaw suggests grouping the remainder in as many ways as you can. For example, if you find a triple letter score next to an I, place a Q on it and another I next to the Q to spell “qi” for a baseline of 62 points. Take that concept to the next level by using your two-letter word knowledge in two directions. “Often there’s an opportunity to play just that word on its own, with the power tile on a bonus square, to give you either 25, 31 points or something like that, and that in a beginning game can make the difference between winning and losing.” ![]() “The easiest thing you can do to improve your skill as a beginning player is not even to learn all of the two-letter words, but just learn the two-letter words with the power tiles in them,” Chew said. John Chew, the chief executive officer of the North American Scrabble Players Association, recommends starting with all the J, Q, X and Z words: ax, ex, jo, ox, qi, xi, xu and za. If you can only memorize a few, make them count. (John Volk/MEDILL)Ĭross those off your list and you only need to memorize a more manageable 72. Doug Shaw’s common two-letter words in bold. In everyday conversation, the average English speaker uses about 35 of the two-letter words, like “as,” “in” and “so,” Shaw estimates. With Scrabble turning 75 this year, here are the five best tips to memorize all 107 two-letter words and take your game to the next level. ![]() “If I can use them and you can’t, you really don’t stand a chance.” “It is crucial to the point where I won’t play anyone who doesn’t have them memorized,” said Doug Shaw, a math professor at the University of Northern Iowa who published a guide on memorizing the two-letter Scrabble words. These shorties unlock new ways to play multiple words at a time, double-dip on high-scoring words, exploit point-boosting squares and challenge your opponent’s “phonies” off the board. Learn all 107 and prepare to win your next family game night. The game accepts 107 two-letter words, and 67 of them contain E, I or O. Does your Scrabble rack leave you feeling like Old MacDonald? Don’t worry - there’s so much you can do with E-I-E-I-O. ![]()
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