LESS IS MORE
I teach an online scrabble class. Only the most interested and driven players will pay a fee and enter into the participation agreement that I require. It’s not about the money for me, I receive less than $6 a day for doing my part. I’m looking to share my knowledge with others who are devoted enough that they will commit to work diligently for 15 – 30 minutes a day, 7 days a week, for 5 weeks.
‘Less Is More’ describes the way I look at my results. Most people are not willing to make that kind of a commitment to take any kind of class, let alone a scrabble class. But the students who decide to enroll, all come away with a deep appreciation and knowledge of the game. There is never a dropout.
One of the most difficult concepts that I attempt to teach to novice scrabble players is that Less Is More when playing the game.
Everyone understands that when the game is over, the player with the most points wins the game. So, most players are determined to earn as many points as possible on every single turn. For some, it becomes unthinkable to exchange tiles on a turn and earn ‘Zero Points’. For some, it feels like they are throwing in the towel if they play off one or two tiles, earning a small score on a turn.
Expert players know that ‘rack balance’ is key, when building opportunities for achieving bingos and other high scoring plays. In order to balance one’s rack it may become necessary to exchange or play off a few tiles for few points. But when the expert player does those things it is with a purpose in mind. It usually, but not always, leads to an extraordinary play on a turn down the line.
Less Can Lead To More. (This notion is also true in other parts of Life.)