At the start of the game is the most treacherous part of the game. You are given 5 tiles, and every once in a while, you can make a 5-letter word from those tiles. You have to be careful not to block access to that first square. You want to be certain that you can cover that as you progress. Failing to cover them all will block you from getting to the center.

If you do accidentally block access to a square, it’s almost as good as a forfeit. You have 2 options:

Each player is racing towards the bullseye in the center, but the triple and "fourple" word value squares ( thank you Red Panda ! ) are critical. It's also wise to try to maximize your point value on the squares. I will often try to set up a higher value letter placement on those, attempting to use it as the center for 2 words.

Always remember, though, that the bullseye in the center is a quintuple (5X) WORD square and an awful lot of catching up can be accomplished if you are the first to reach it, I've come back from a 150 point deficit on the last word on several occasions. If you can create a good word with 7 or more letters (you have 11 tiles by then), that multiple of 5 can do amazing things to your score!