Opponent played a word which was correct and another that was incorrect.

by Brenda Mosler
(Sequim, WA)

The word COUPE was on the board. The other player added a D (which I challenged and lost), but continued to add another word beginning with the D that I challenged and I was correct. What is the penalty?

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Hi there Brenda. If you challenge your opponent's play, and ANY of the newly formed words that you challenged is/are incorrect, your opponent must take back the letters they played and miss their turn. End of story.

So, even though COUPED was valid, since the D- word they also played was incorrect, your opponent misses their turn.

I hope this was the ruling that you made in the actual game. If not, I'm sure it will be next time ;-)

All the best, and thanks for asking



P.S. The accepted protocol in challenging a move in Scrabble is to wait until your opponent has made their complete move, and then challenge all the words you doubt. I mention this because it sounds like you challenged one word before the play was complete, and then challenged another after the move was completed. It isn't against the rules to do it that way, but it gets messy because the opponent can deny that they were going to keep their play on the board.

But I'm just being picky now ;-)