With the basic premise of Scrabble where players are randomly assigned a variety of letters and then are required to form words from their inventory of letters, those who are able to create the most complex words or get the bonuses are rewarded with the most points. However, as some players may be able to have more frequently utilized letters such as “e” or “s” through a random sorting system, Even Steven Word Game ensures that luck in the assigning of letters does not affect performance as each player is given the inventory. Furthermore, the bonus squares that typically give multiplier points when words are formed on them such as Triple Word or Double Letter are randomly assigned across the board in such a way that it is difficult to pre-emptively strategize the placement of words for players who are more familiar with the game. Through these mechanisms which randomizes and democratizes the variables which may give one player an advantage over the other, both new and old players are able to compete based on skill and vocabulary knowledge as opposed to luck.[sc name=”quote” text=”Even Steven Word Game ensures that luck in the assigning of letters does not affect performance”]
Furthermore, the game ensures that players are not given an unbalanced number of vowels and consonants by assigning a fixed number of each, 3 and 4 respectively. Through this, the issue of being assigned an awkward number of consonants and vowels is alleviated to ensure that forming words is not extremely difficult. Beyond this, players are known to form unknown words by attempting to put the assigned letters together through trial and error where they simply combine letters randomly until a word is formed. By having a maximum of 6 tries to form a word with the given letters, this problem is removed as players are not able to combine letters through trial and error but instead must rely on skill.
While Even Steven Word Game has several different aspects which are able to ensure that both skilled and novice players are competing without the variability of luck, the costs that are associated with playing may deter potential players. For example, players must pay 2 tokens in order to play a round and are awarded with 4 if they win. With this, highly skilled players are able to amass a large number of tokens while those who are new or are not as skilled may run into the issue of not having enough tokens. To counter this, Even Steven Word Game gives every player 100 tokens when they first start to ensure that even those who are not familiar with the game are able to learn and play.
As an iteration of Scrabble that emphasizes skill instead of luck, Even Steven Word Game offers a tremendous amount of value for those who desire to compete based on skill instead of pure luck. From the average score of players, rankings are created in order to fuel a competitive environment where players can see how well they play relative to friends and others. With this competitive ranking system, the game is made more enticing and addictive for those who desire a high degree of friendly competition.
