Here is the legacy Crabble puzzles that the variant itself was updated to designate the center square for opening plays as a triple word score instead of a double word score.
Solution:
MODIFIC 7C/9C (101 points) [from MODIFICATION]
Solution:
8D UN(IMPEACH)ABL (72 points, leaving LP) [from UNIMPEACHABLE/UNIMPEACHABLY]
Tip: PACEWALK is a substring of SPACEWALK (can be made by taking the front S hook).
Solution:
F2 LALIQ (71 points, leaving HW) [from LALIQUE]
The HW leave allows you to score 50+ points consistently without a bingo, especially for WH- plays by making flashy overlaps with a boatload of Crabble-only twos, as well as the DWS/DLS hotspot in the D column next to the K of PACEWALK.
Solution:
You best off playing UW 8H or WU 8G for only a measly 10 points (leaving CEIPR) instead of WIPER for 28 points (leaving CU). The W limits some overlaps for a small handful of high-point consonants like the Q and the V. By playing only two tiles while retaining a fantastic five-tile leave instead of a mediocre two-tile leave, you will have an amazing shot of hitting a potentially high-scoring bingo on the very next turn with a variety of two-tile draws. The C and the P together aren't necessarily harmonious at first glance, but they actually have some decent synergies since there are so many long words containing both the C and the P, those two letters have very flexible role of the word construction on their own without any restrictions (especially in longer words), and those two higher-scoring tiles also combines well with most of the consonants in the alphabet, such as one-point consonants, the H, the K, the M, and the Y. They also combines surprisingly well with the X and the Z, especially in Crabble, which are primarily found in longer words like 10+ letter words. Even though the P and the V retain the poor synergy in the regular Scrabble, the V pickup also actually potentially yield a handful of bingos in Crabble due to the availability of 9+ letter words that have both the P and the V in them combined with the remaining EIR. Not only that, your options to score 40+ points is also greatly preserved if you fail to draw into a bingo.
Tip: ROGRAPH is a substring found in a handful of scientific words like BAROGRAPH, HYDROGRAPH, and MICROGRAPH.
Solution:
You best off exchanging five tiles keeping QU. The QU combination will come in handy for scoring in multiple different spots of the board in the future turns, especialy at the front A/E/I hooks onto ROGRAPH on the E column for potentially huge 120+ point double-double QU bingos, as well as 70+ point non-bingo QU plays next to the triple-letter scores that will also apt to keep a good leave (either for scoring or bingoing). Choosing not to exchange tiles and take the 44-45 point plays like QU next to ROGRAPH, leaving the outright horrible GUUVW, would actually be much more damaging to your long-term chances of winning the game due to several factors. The key factors including the heavy reliance on the long-term winning chances, expert players score roughly 60 points on average turns in Crabble (which is far more than 35 points in the regular Scrabble), greatly inflated tile equity and luck factors influenced by the long-term winning chances in Crabble versus the regular Scrabble, and the versatility of scoring a large number of points in both bingos and non-bingo plays due to the corresponding high-scoring bingo plays can be played in the very same spot as with the non-bingo counterparts do. The QU combination is worth roughly 14 points on equity in Crabble due to the flexibility of playing short sequences of words (often coming from bingo-length QU words of seven or eight letters in length or even longer), and the GUUVW leave is worth roughly a negative 49 points on equity, which ranks the 40-point QU play with a negative equity value. Given my estimation of equity in Crabble, the 45-point QU play is a 18-point mistake on equity. Taking the 40-point QU plays while leaving the outright horrible four-, five-, or six-tile leave would saddle yourself with a real long-term liability for three or more consecutive turns with minimal future chances to respond with anything that score 60+ points or simply retaining a great leave that your opponent's responses that might have opened some big counterplays, and won't put yourself in a good shape in the long term. Therefore, we cannot afford to do so in these sort of circumstances, as the only crucial thing to win at Crabble easier is to maximize the long-term winning chances while also avoid saddling yourself with a real liability in the long term, and the short-term winning chances don't matter that much in Crabble.
Score: 0 - 0
Opponent: Rooster
In this puzzle, you best off exchanging QVVW, keeping EIZ. Opening plays such as ZQ, QW, VIVE, and WIZ are clearly bad, as those plays retain some outright horrible leaves from the very start that might significantly reduce your long-term chances of winning the game without some extremely specific tile draws. The Z is such an amazing tile in Crabble due to the high 10-point face value, massive number of two-letter sequences being playable (44 out of 51 different two-letter pairings), and a large variety of longer sequences primarily coming from -IZE words, chemical names, and loanwords, that allowing you to score 70+ points consistently without a bingo, and it is also worth nearly 30 points on equity, which also eventually outperforms the blank tiles in the regular Scrabble as well. Not only that, exchanging tiles against rooster will make it much more likely for your opponent to open with a bingo that would give yourself a massive counterplay on the very next turn far more often, and reducing the risk of holding onto unhelpful combinations that you would might struggle while dealing with those weak letters.
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