The classic board game Scrabble encourages players to create long words out of a limited number of tiles, building off each player’s previous word.
Because the board and tiles offer such a simple setup, many people choose to create Scrabble boards in their own color scheme or style.
Knowing the dimensions of the board and playing pieces can help you make your own game, or it can give you more information about the classic board game itself.
Standard Board Size
The Scrabble board is made up of squares upon which letters can be placed to build words. A standard board has 15 rows and 15 columns, for a total of 225 squares. Each square is 1 inch by 1 inch or 25.4 millimeters by 25.4 millimeters.
At its very smallest, therefore, a standard Scrabble board could be 15 inches by 15 inches. However, traditional standard boards also feature a margin and a space for the game’s title.
The board’s margins are about 1 inch wide all around the board. This adds an extra 2 inches to the overall width of the board.
The size of the title space can vary from board to board, but most are only between half an inch and 1 inch wide, although fancier board designs can feature titles that are as much as 7 inches wide.
This means that the size of a standard Scrabble board is usually 17 inches or 43.18 centimeters by 17.5 to 18 inches or 44.45 to 45.72 centimeters, but these boards can be as large as 17 inches by 24 inches.
Tile Size
Each Scrabble tile has one letter, plus the value of that letter, printed on it. These tiles are traditionally made of wood, but some modern tiles are made of plastic.
Each tile is a 0.75-inch or 19.05-millimeter square, and these tiles almost always have a thickness of about 4 millimeters or around 0.16 inches.
There are 100 tiles in total for standard play. All of the tiles have a letter on them except for two, which are left blank. These blank tiles act as wildcards and can be used to substitute for a letter a player does not have.
Tile Rack Size
At the start of the game, each player is given a wooden tile rack. This lets players organize their tiles while still keeping them hidden. The tile rack measures 7 inches or 17.78 centimeters wide. It’s about 1 inch or 25.4 millimeters tall.
Travel Scrabble Sizes
Travel Scrabble is played the same way as standard Scrabble, but the game boards are smaller and often fold into a box shape, which holds the tiles and tile racks.
The size of travel Scrabble games has changed over the years. The most recent version, which was released in 2001, features a board measuring 24.5 centimeters by 21 centimeters, or about 9.65 inches by 8.27 inches.
The tiles are about 12.3 millimeters or 0.48 inches square and about 0.26 inches or 6.7 millimeters thick.
In the most modern travel version, the tiles click into plastic depressions in the board, which helps to keep them in place even if you’re playing as a passenger in a car or airplane.
The board can also be folded and stored with the tiles in place, saving your game even if you need to pause during play.
The 1980s travel Scrabble game was much smaller than the more recent travel Scrabble release. This version, released by Selchow & Richter, was designed as a pocket Scrabble game.
The game was popular with backpackers and campers, as it took up very little space.
The first travel Scrabble game was released in 1954. It was 8.5 inches or 21.59 centimeters tall and 7.75 inches or 19.69 centimeters wide.
The box was metal, and each tile, which was made of Bakelite, contained a magnet that stuck to the board when it was open. The tile racks were made of chrome.
Super Scrabble
Super Scrabble is played the same way as regular Scrabble, but there are more squares on the board. Instead of a 15 by 15 square set up, Super Scrabble uses a 21 by 21 square set up.
The board for a Super Scrabble Game is usually about 23 inches or 58.42 centimeters wide and between 24 and 25 inches or 60.96 and 63.5 centimeters tall.
The squares on a Super Scrabble board are all 1 inch wide and tall, and the tiles are the same size as those used on a standard board.
Letter Distribution
All 26 letters are represented on the Scrabble tiles, but some occur more often than others. For example, the letters Q, J, X, K, and Z are on only one tile each.
The letter E, on the other hand, is on 12 tiles. The letters A and I are on nine tiles, O is on eight tiles, N, R, and T are on six tiles, L, S, U, and D are on four tiles, and the letter G is on three tiles.
The letters C, B, F, H, M, P, V, W, and Y are on two tiles each.
