Differences from Grabble
This Nugget has been written by marcmandy on 8 Feb at 3:38PM
Category: CrossDowns
CrossDowns is similar to Grabble in many ways. The critical difference is that CrossDowns uses more flexible and elevated criteria for allowable words in it's dictionaries than allowed in Grabble.
Another major difference is in the Large Variant available in CrossDowns, CrossDowns Race, CrossDowns Stacker, Stacking CrossDowns. The board is 21 x 21 boxes square instead of 15 x 15. There are opportunities as you play towards the outer board to score higher with 5x letter (5 diamonds) and 5x word (bullseye) multipliers. There are several areas where, if things work just right, players can score 2 Quad words on one play. There are also twice as many tiles in the bag.
There is also a variant which is a 5x5 Square CrossDowns. It is similar to the 4x4, but allows the player to use 2,3,4, and 5 letter words, sort of a mini Stacking CrossDowns.
Additionally, there is a feature that allows players to swap tiles for blanks enabling players to add blanks to their hands. Doing so takes up a turn but it adds to the strategy.
As in Grabble, the object is to score the highest. This can be best accomplished by using the letter and word multipliers wisely, trying to place higher value letters and letter combinations on them while not giving your opponent too many opportunities to do the same.
It's a good idea, when possible, to try to avoid setting up your opponent to use those squares, but sometimes it can be to your advantage to do just that, especially in the outer corners of the Large variants.
Another major difference is in the Large Variant available in CrossDowns, CrossDowns Race, CrossDowns Stacker, Stacking CrossDowns. The board is 21 x 21 boxes square instead of 15 x 15. There are opportunities as you play towards the outer board to score higher with 5x letter (5 diamonds) and 5x word (bullseye) multipliers. There are several areas where, if things work just right, players can score 2 Quad words on one play. There are also twice as many tiles in the bag.
There is also a variant which is a 5x5 Square CrossDowns. It is similar to the 4x4, but allows the player to use 2,3,4, and 5 letter words, sort of a mini Stacking CrossDowns.
Additionally, there is a feature that allows players to swap tiles for blanks enabling players to add blanks to their hands. Doing so takes up a turn but it adds to the strategy.
As in Grabble, the object is to score the highest. This can be best accomplished by using the letter and word multipliers wisely, trying to place higher value letters and letter combinations on them while not giving your opponent too many opportunities to do the same.
It's a good idea, when possible, to try to avoid setting up your opponent to use those squares, but sometimes it can be to your advantage to do just that, especially in the outer corners of the Large variants.
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Nugget Comments
Scatter
Posted on 1 Mar at 12:58PM by pegaleeta
When playing Crossdowns Scatter, the player who moves first has to use the center square for their first word(which is fine)therefore, this gives the second player the opportunity to score a lot of points if a tile is near a 4x or 5x square since he/she can place their word anywhere on the board that connects to another tile. When I have to move move first i do. Some players, if they have to make the first move will pass or trade tiles then the second player has to cover the center square unless he/she passes or trades tiles. This trading and passing can go on over and over. I think this is unfair. If a player is supposed to move first they should! There are players who do this in every game of scatter they play giving them the advantage every time of never having to move first and usually scoring big points. I think you should not be given the option to pass if you are to make the first move and only trading tiles on the first move if you absolutely can not make a word. I'm sure there is no way of controlling this which is unfortunate. Players who never move first when its their turn to move first are not playing fair by always giving theirself the advantage of scoring big on their first move.