A Word Domination Primer
Word Domination is essentially a condensed version of the game formula made popular by Scrabble. Your skills as a Scrabble word finder certainly apply. The game is very similar, but with a few important differences.
Game Board
In Word Domination, you play against an opponent on a board with empty squares. Some spaces are marked with score multipliers, just like in Scrabble. The difference is that the board is not the same size. Word Domination’s board is 9 x 9 squares while Scrabble’s game board is a 15 x 15 grid.
Winning the Game
Word Domination games also end differently. For each game, you only play five rounds. The player with more points at the end of the final round wins the game. For Scrabble, the game ends when you and your opponent use every letter tile in the bag or neither of you can create any more words with existing tiles.
Time Limit
Another big difference when playing a game of Word Domination is you have a time limit during each round. You must make your move within 75 seconds. With a smaller board, fewer rounds and a time limit, Word Domination is a game for people who want to think and play fast.
Transfer Scrabble and Words With Friends Skills
Word Domination has a lot of custom rules, but that doesn’t mean you are unable to transfer most of your skills over from other games. What you’ve learned in Scrabble and Words With Friends can help you here.
Know your dictionary: Develop your vocabulary and memorize as many words as you can. Being able to rely on your memory to find the best words for a situation is invaluable. The Word Domination word list is very similar to almost any Scrabble dictionary you may have used before.
Form words from your opponent's words: Look for every opportunity to use the letters and words your opponent has played. Often, you can then make words that are far better than anything you can create with your tile rack letters or the words you’ve already played.
Take advantage of multiplier squares: Always try to land on the multiplier squares as the game progresses. Failing to do so will rob you of the points you need to overcome your opponent’s plays. You also want to block your opponent from using those squares freely.
Use the high-value letters: Word Domination uses individual letter values that are similar to Scrabble’s. This means that the less-common letters are worth more. If you see a chance to spell a word that uses them, more often than not, you should take it.
Watch the Timer
As mentioned above, each Word Domination game round has a timer. Once your turn begins, you have 75 seconds to play a word. If you fail to do so, the turn will automatically pass to your opponent.
The trick is to be mindful of but not obsessive about the timer. Don’t waste all your time trying to find the perfect word or a word that will set you up for more points down the line. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to do those things. Just don’t waste all of your time planning. Keep the game going and keep your score growing by playing your best option at the moment.
Be Aggressive at the Start
You only have five rounds to play, so starting off strong is essential. Coming back from behind can be challenging. Since you and your opponent have access to the same power-ups, which can help boost scores, there’s no way to gain the advantage outside of playing some valuable words early.
If you go first in the first round, try your best to create a word that uses your letter tiles with the highest values. (But again, don’t waste too much time trying to find the perfect word.)
Don’t Leave Your Opponent Too Many Openings
The flip side of playing high-value letters is that you need to be mindful of creating openings for your opponent. As mentioned with the transferable skills, you’ll be looking for those opportunities to score big. That means your opponent will be looking too.
This brings up one instance when it might be best to play lower-value words. Another option is to use words with uncommon letters. Do this toward the end of a game. Restrict your opponent’s options by leaving them with letters that they can’t do much with.
Use the Boosters
Boosters are Word Domination’s power-ups. You can unlock more as you play, but everyone starts out with three main options.
Amplify: This will increase the point value of one random tile on your tile rack by one.
Freeze Time: This will freeze the timer for 30 seconds.
Go Fish: This will discard three of your tiles at random and replace them with three new ones.
Use the boosters when you are in a bind, but try not to use them right away. If you waste them all at the start, you’ll just be helping your opponent. They will still have all their boosters, which will help them take more control of the game.
Find the Most Points With WordFinder
When things are looking bad and you can’t figure out any decent words to play, call on WordFinder for help. Our word unscrambler tool will sort out the letters on your tile rack and show you the most valuable words you can create. You can descramble letters and find high-scoring words in a snap.
Playing the Best Word
While WordFinder can’t show you every best possible word you can form with every letter already on the board, you can do this manually.
Say you have an “X” on the board at the end of a vertical word.
On your rack, you have BHJOOSTT.
If you type your rack letters into WordFinder, it will show you words like BOOTH, JOB and HOST.
If you add the X, it will also show you the word HOTBOX. This will earn you more points than any of those other words.
Remember to take advantage of the advanced search functions too!
Play Scrabble at Your Pace
Word Domination is a lot of fun. It takes the competitive nature of similar games and refines them into an intense experience. But, understandably, the competition can become a bit draining at times. When that happens, it’s a good idea to play something at a slower pace. If you still want to play a similar word game, explore this list of single-player online Scrabble games. You’ll be sure to find something you’ll love to play.
Zac Pricener has been a content creator for the past eight years. He’s a bit of an all-around nerd, and he has a bad habit of working movie and TV show references into conversations whenever possible.
