Editing Anagrams (game) (section)

== Variations ==
A host of variations come from both different versions and players' [[house rules]].

===Scoring===
[[File:Monday Scrabble (18215388853).jpg|thumb|If played with ''Scrabble'' tiles, the game of Anagrams can use their letter values for scoring]]

Other scoring systems include:

*Simple letter count. The most tiles win.
*Simple word count. The most words win.
*Add letter point values, using ''Scrabble'' letter values.
*Remove one or two letters from each word and count the remaining tiles, rewarding longer words.
*Sum of the squares of the lengths of the words, rewarding long words more.
*The first player to spell or steal some number of (in the Selchow & Righter, eight<ref name="sr"/>) words wins.

===Word length===

The minimum acceptable word length can be adjusted to a player's skill level (for example, in a game with adults and children playing together, the children may be permitted to form four-letter words while the adults are restricted to words of at least five or six letters). Tournament ''[[Scrabble]]'' players often play with a minimum length of six or seven.

===Turn-taking===
In some editions of the game, such as the Milton Bradley<ref>{{cite web |title=Anagrams Rules |url=http://www.poslarchive.com/math/misc/anagrams.html |website=www.poslarchive.com}}</ref> and Selchow & Righter versions, only the player whose turn it is may form words. In the Selchow & Righter edition, a word may be stolen by any player ''immediately'' after it was made if they form a longer word with tiles from the pool.<ref name="sr">{{cite web |url=https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Anagrams-Embossed-Edition-92-Tiles-Selchow-Righter-No-79-w-Rules-Orig-Box/114044118180?hash=item1a8d8f24a4:g:Tm4AAOSwPn1eDQyb}}</ref>

===National ''Scrabble'' Association===
The [[National Scrabble Association]] has published a set of rules for competitive Anagrams play in tournament setting. On a player's turn, after revealing a tile, they have a ten-second window during which only they can call a word. If a player calls a word on their own turn they take an extra turn. After 100 turns, the order of play reverses. Minimum word length is six letters.<ref>National ''Scrabble'' Association: [http://scrabble-assoc.com/rules/anagrams.html Tournament Anagrams Rules] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090130072904/http://scrabble-assoc.com/rules/anagrams.html |date=2009-01-30 }}: 2005</ref>

=== Tile banks ===
One variation is to have each player have a "bank" of tiles in front of themselves, which affords players a clearer view of the "pool" of face-up letter tiles in the middle of the table.

===Alaskan rules===
A faster-paced version—sometimes known as "Alaskan rules"—has each of the players (or several, if there are too many) simultaneously put a tile into the pool. This results in many more possibilities being available at a time.

===Miscellaneous variations===

Players may not create a word by creating a word that is already on the table or steal one resulting in such a word.

Some versions of the game name the winner as the person who, after the round of turns has finished, first acquires eight words. If more than one player has done so, then the winner is the player is the one with the most tiles. There may be a tie. A very similar rule found in The Embossing Company set simply says the "first player to complete ten words, wins."

Players are permitted to combine two or more existing words with zero or more letters from the pool to create a single new word. This is often difficult in practice.