What is the Board Simulator?

The Board Simulator is a full 15×15 Scrabble-style board where you can plan your moves, calculate scores with all premium squares and cross-words, and use the built-in API word finder to discover the best plays from your rack. It's like having a practice board and word finder in one tool.

Placing Tiles

• Click any cell on the board to select it (green highlight). The cursor auto-advances after each letter.
• Type A–Z (uppercase) to place a normal letter tile with its point value.
• Type a–z (lowercase) or # to place a blank tile (0 points, shown in italic).
• Click a rack tile when a board cell is selected to instantly place that tile at the cursor position — no typing needed!
• Drag a rack tile onto any board cell for precise manual placement.
• Click a placed tile (gold) on the board to pick it back up to your rack for repositioning.
• Drag a placed tile on the board to move it to a different cell directly.
• Click the same cell again to toggle between horizontal and vertical placement direction.
• Arrow keys move the cursor without placing tiles. Backspace removes the last placed tile.

Your Rack

• Click a rack tile with a board cell selected to place it directly on the board.
• Drag tiles from your rack to the board for precise placement — drop on any empty cell.
• Click an empty rack slot to enter keyboard mode — type letters to fill your rack for the word finder.
• The rack is used with the Find Words button, which queries the live A2zWordFinder API.
• Click any word result to open its full definition page.

Board Pattern

• Type a pattern directly into the Board Pattern field — use ? for unknown positions. Example: ?A?E finds words like BAKE, CARE, CAKE.
• Shift+click any locked (gray) tile on the board to automatically read the word pattern from that row or column into the field.
• Toggle direction (press Tab) before Shift+clicking to read the pattern from the other direction (horizontal vs vertical).
• Fit at controls where the pattern matches within results:
  • Start — pattern must match the beginning of the word
  • Any — pattern can appear anywhere (default)
  • End — pattern must match the end of the word
  • Exact — pattern must match the full word length exactly
• Combine Rack + Board Pattern together — the finder will return words from your rack letters that also fit the board pattern. This is the most powerful search for finding plays that fit specific board positions.
• Leave the rack empty and enter only a board pattern for a pure crossword-style pattern search.

Dictionary Selection

• Scrabble US Tourney (TWL) — Official tournament word list
• Scrabble US Casual — Broader casual Scrabble dictionary
• Scrabble World (SOWPODS) — International Scrabble dictionary
• Words with Friends — WWF-specific dictionary with different tile values
• Crossword Master — Extended crossword dictionary

Tile point values adjust automatically when you switch to Words with Friends.

Score Calculator

Scores are calculated in real-time as you place tiles. The calculator accounts for:

• Premium squares (DL, TL, DW, TW) — only activated for newly placed tiles
• Cross-words — any new perpendicular words formed by your tiles
• Bingo bonus — +50 points when all 7 rack tiles are placed
• Blank tiles score 0 but activate word multipliers

Premium Squares

Lock & Clear

• Lock Tiles (Enter) — Commits your placed tiles to the board. Locked tiles become grayed out and their premium bonuses are consumed.
• Clear Turn — Removes only the new (unlocked) tiles from this turn.
• New Game — Clears the entire board for a fresh start.

All Keyboard Shortcuts

• A–Z — Place a letter tile at the selected cell
• a–z (lowercase) — Place as a blank tile (0 pts)
• # — Place a blank tile
• ← → ↑ ↓ — Move the selected cell
• Backspace — Remove tile / move back
• Tab — Toggle horizontal/vertical direction
• Enter — Lock tiles to the board
• Esc — Deselect current cell

Solitaire Mode (vs Computer)

• Switch to vs Computer mode to play a full Scrabble-style game against an AI opponent.
• Choose Easy (random words), Medium (good but not perfect), or Hard (always finds the best play).
• Play Word — validates your word via the dictionary API, scores it, then the computer takes its turn.
• Pass — skip your turn. 4 consecutive passes (combined) ends the game.
• Exchange — swap all your rack tiles for new ones (counts as a pass for the consecutive pass counter).
• The computer uses an AI that scans the board for open positions, queries the API for fitting words, and picks based on difficulty level.
• Game ends when the tile bag is empty and one player plays their last tile, or after 4 consecutive passes.

Pro Word Finder

Need side-by-side word comparisons? The Pro Multi-Column Finder lets you search multiple dictionaries simultaneously in parallel columns — great for finding the highest-scoring play across Scrabble, WWF, and crossword dictionaries at once.