Playing board games has forever been a staple between friends and family. Some games have even been known to ‘ruin’ friendships but that’s mainly down to the competitive nature amongst groups. As long as your friendship is strong it will only be a few minutes before you’re right back into the game.
Word games are a fun way to exercise your brain and enjoy time with your pals. But how do you go about getting better at these kinds of games to give you a better chance of the win?
Use Online Tools
One way of upping your game to the next level is by using one of the many online tools available to you. If you’re struggling to change your letters to words then you can use an unscrambler. This will take your letters and provide you with a choice of different words to choose from. Some people might see this as cheating, but if you’re trying to improve your game then seeing words that you wouldn’t normally see is going to help you in the long run. Being exposed to better, more advanced words will help you remember them for next time. If your friends are really competitive then it might not be the best idea to use this when playing, they might have something to say. Use it as a tool when practicing.
Read More
Some people don’t need to be encouraged to read. They will happily sit down and dive into a book and read for hours on end. Those that read will tend to be better at any form of word game because they are exposed to a whole host of different styles of writing. Whether it’s fiction, non-fiction, or a newspaper, reading every day is going to help with your understanding of the English language and the retention of unusual words. The more you’re exposed the easier it is to remember.
Find something you’re going to enjoy reading. Many people find reading things such as newspapers rather boring, so finding a genre that’s going to suit you and enable you to continue reading is the best way to go.
Use The Dictionary
When was the last time you picked up the dictionary and had a look at it? Since the introduction of computers, phones, and autocorrect, people haven’t had the need to pick up a physical dictionary to have a look at how a particular word is spelled. But there is something incredibly useful about using a dictionary. When looking up certain words they are surrounded by other words that are similar in spelling. This could give you ideas for other words to use.
Every house should have a dictionary, so if you don’t have one then it’s time to get out and purchase one. As a little exercise, you could open the dictionary every night before you go to bed and learn one new word. The next day, it’s then your challenge to use that word in the correct context. This is a great way to learn new words in a fun and challenging way.
Learn All The Two Letter Words
When playing games such as Scrabble, there are many times where you think you can’t make any words from the letters sitting in front of you. Whilst this may be true of three words and up, there could well be some two-letter words that are legal within the game. Many of these involve the high scoring letters so you could end up saving yourself from a potentially low scoring round.
Some examples of these 2 letter words are xi, xu, ya, ye, and za. There are 107 two letter words that are legal in the game of scrabble, so learning these will help you to your first win. As long as you aren’t up against someone that doesn’t have a problem pulling out 7 letter words.
Sign Up To A Word Subscription Service
There are plenty of subscription services online where you sign up with your email and get sent a “word of the day” every day. These usually come with an interesting, unusual word with a definition and a few different uses. This is a similar technique to reading the dictionary every night, but instead of doing it yourself, you have someone emailing you instead.
Playing word games is a brilliant way to sharpen up your mind and widen your vocabulary. They’re also a lot of fun to play with your friends or even on your own. Getting better is a case of practicing like any other game or sport. Exercising your mind is going to enable you to work harder, better, and faster, making your wordplay top-notch.