A Disney Twist on Scrabble for #NationalScrabbleDay

Today is National Scrabble Day, so we wanted to do a deep dive into Disney words that will be legal and score a lot of points. Obviously there are an abundance of words associated with Disney, but which ones qualify under the Scrabble rules.

Rules

1. No proper names. This obviously disqualifies many of the options–so long Mickey. However, any name that is also a “regular” word counts. For example, Piglet is indeed a piglet. Also, Mickey and Minnie aren’t legal, but mouse and ears are.

2. Each player has seven tiles. In theory that would mean none of the words can be more than seven letters. However, only the first word needs to be seven letters or less. All other words build off what is on the board. For example, if you start with the word mouse, then the next player can use the S for daisy. If rail is on the board, add mono to make it the higher-scoring monorail.

Scoring

Each letter has a point attached. A common letter is worth one point, but rare letters like Q and Z are worth ten. So now Frozen is very strategic!

Our Results

This was a full on family project. First my son started with titles that fit with the rules.

Frozen has a base value of 18 points. If you land just right the optimal scoring potential is 84 points.

Tangled, brave, cars, and soul were all great examples in this category. Then my brother, Nathan, texted fantasia. Not being the musician he is, I reminded him it was a proper noun. He sent me the definition, “a free form musical composition”.

Next were character names, and we came up with some great ones. Chip, daisy, beast, dale, goofy, aurora, and gopher were excellent examples. Nathan texted maleficent, again I pull the big sister act and remind him maleficent was a proper name. He sent me the definition, “working or productive of harm or evil”. Then when I was putting together the photo op board I noticed maleficent is a double great option because you can build off the words male or cent. Nathan for the win–except with only a base value of 17 points, Frozen actually wins by a point. (Would it be a Disney experience if good didn’t triumph over evil?)

Defending Your Word

When playing Disney Scrabble, Disney words get a bonus, so the trick is successfully defending a play. There was a Q at the top of the board just teasing me with its ten points. I played the word antique. Now I had to sell it. Woody is an antique. There’s an antique store in Toy Story 4. There are many Disney items in antique stores. I defended my word successfully. Would your family judges agree?

Enjoy National Scrabble Day and add some fun with a Disney twist. We would like to hear your Scrabble Disney words, please share them in the comments.