Not only does this player earn the point value of PEKE, but the player also scores points for creating KA and EX in the process, a pair of two-letter words made up of high-value letters. Our next tip, then, follows naturally.
Learn the two-letter words
There are 107 playable two-letter entries in Crossplay, and learning them is one of the fastest ways to become a stronger player. You’ll know many of them already — they’re words you probably use every day, like ME, OK, AD and IT. The others, like XI, JO or AA, don’t take long to memorize. (I wrote them all on a Post-it note and stuck it to my bathroom mirror.) Not only are these crucial for those aforementioned parallel plays, but they can also score big points in their own right.
For instance, if your opponent leaves an I next to an open triple-letter square, placing a Q on that premium square to make QI earns 31 points. It can be tempting to always play the longest word you can make, but sometimes the shorter word is the smarter one.
Knowing your two-letter words can help you play defensively, too. In Crossplay, there are no two-letter words that contain a V or a C. That means words that contain those letters are much more difficult for your opponent to play off. “You want to maximize your score while, if possible, minimizing the capacity of your opponent’s,” said Robin Pollock Daniel, an elite player. “One word might put a juicy vowel next to a triple-letter score, whereas the same letters in a different order, also making a valid word, might put a C next to it. Now, it’s no longer a threat.”
Leave your opponent holding the (tile) bag
Similar to chess enthusiasts, the best Crossplayers are always thinking a few moves ahead. “I like to think about a play in terms of a three-turn-out sequence: how many points you score this turn, how many points it could give your opponent, and then how well you set yourself up for the next turn, given the tiles you’re keeping,” said Morris Greenberg, another contributor of Crossplay tips to The Times.
