Scrabble Slam! is a card game as well as word game by Hasbro. It was released on June 20, 2009. It is based on the popular board game, Scrabble. This game is also available on the Nintendo DSiWare in North America on April 26, 2010, and on Scrabble Showdown on The Hub.
The game features 55 cards. Each card has 2 letters on them. One on the front and one on the back.
The game can have 2 to 4 players. Each player pulls four letters out of the deck to form a four letter word. Afterwards, each player takes the remaining cards and changes the word (for example, BLOW can become SLOW, and SLOW can become SLOT, etc.). The first player to lose all their cards wins.
The best starting English word is WARE, providing for at least 23 common English words to be played next. A sample of the worst starting words are ALSO, ECHO, EXAM, GURU, IDOL, KEYS, OBEY, and TAXI. There are no common English words that can be played from those.
Scrabble Slam! is a card game sold in two different editions. One edition includes 55 cards and can be played by 2-4 players at a time. Hasbro also has a larger edition which includes 84 cards and can be played by 2-6 players. One game can be played in only fifteen minutes; it is a fast paced game which involves all players to be interacting with the word simultaneously. The object is to be the first player to successfully use all of your cards in your hand (Hasbro, 2008).
In some ways the game is similar to the board game Scrabble. No proper names, place names or acronyms are acceptable. Words can be disputed, but the player disputing the word has to call "Time Out" immediately to halt play and make a decision about the word on the table. Unlike the board game, words can be repeated throughout the game, but a player can never set a letter on top of a same letter. A "t" can never be placed on top of another "t" in the word. Therefore, the words change constantly. Blank cards in the deck can be used to represent any letter (Hasbro, 2008).