Looking for a specific Dabble rule? | Setup | Playing the Game | End of Round | Winning the Game | Subject Words Variant | FAQ | Components |
Objective
The objective of Dabble is to be the first player to score 100 points by creating five words with your tiles.
Setup
- Place all of the tiles in the bag. If you are playing the English version of the game you should remove the rr, rr, ll, ll, ñ, and ñ tiles as they are only used in the Spanish version of the game.
- Each player takes a rack and places it in front of them.
- Mix up all of the tiles in the bag. Each player randomly draws 20 tiles from the bag and places them face down in front of their rack.
- Place the sand timer in the middle of the table.
How to Play Dabble
When all of the players are ready, one of the players turns over the one minute timer which starts the round. There are no turns in the game. All of the players play at the same time.
Each player turns over their tiles and tries to form words with them. Players have until the timer runs out to try and form words with their tiles. Each player has to try and create a two, three, four, five and a six letter word. When you have created a word, you can place it on the corresponding row of your rack.
There are a couple special tiles in the game.
- Blank tiles can be used as any letter but cannot be used as an apostrophe. These tiles are worth zero points.
- Apostrophe tiles count as a letter in a word, but are worth zero points.
The rules are pretty lenient on what words are allowed. You can use any word labeled as a part of speech including any words of a foreign origin, archaic, obsolete, colloquial, and slang. You cannot use abbreviations, prefixes, suffixes standing alone, and proper nouns.
Setting Up For the Next Round
Should none of the players complete all five of their words before the timer runs out, the current round ends. Before the next round begins all of the players can choose as many of their tiles as they want to return to the bag. Shake the bag, and each player draws as many tiles as they previously returned to the bag.
After everyone is done drawing their new tiles, the next round begins. Turn over the timer to start the next round. Players will keep playing rounds until someone is able to create all five words. You can also play where if no one is able to create their five words within five rounds, all of the tiles are returned to the bag and the players start over from scratch.
End of Round
The current round of Dabble ends when one of the players has created all five of their words. A player has to use all of their tiles to form the five words. You will finish off the rest of the round so the other players still have an opportunity to complete some or all of their remaining words.
The player(s) that formed five words shows their five words to the other players. Any player can challenge a word if they think it is misspelled or is not a word. If the challenged word is wrong, the player who created it loses points equal to the value of the word. You determine the value of a word by adding up the number on each tile.
Scoring
After the timer runs out the player(s) that was able to create all five words looks at the tiles the other players were unable to use in a word. They will score points equal to the number printed on each tile that wasn’t used. Blanks are worth zero points while apostrophes are worth five points. The players that were unable to complete all five words score zero points this round.
Most Valuable Word
Should all of the players create all five of their words in the same round, each player figures out which of their words is worth the most points. Add up the numbers on each tile to get the value of each word. The player that created the highest valued word scores points equal to the value of their most valuable word. If there is a tie for the most valuable word, all of the tied players score points for their most valuable word. The rest of the players score zero points.
Apostrophes
There is special scoring for anyone who creates a word that uses the apostrophe. Even if you aren’t the winner of the round, you will score points for the word that you place the apostrophe in. The apostrophe is worth zero points. You will score twice as many points as you would normally score for the word.
Winning Dabble
The first player to score 100 points wins Dabble.
You could also decide to play a longer game by deciding on a higher point threshold before the game begins.
Subject Words Variant
Players can decide to use the subject words variant to change up Dabble’s gameplay.
At the beginning of each round you will choose a category. At the end of each round all of the players will see if they created a word that matches the category for the current round. For each word that a player creates that matches the current category, they will score points equal to the value printed on each tile.
Dabble FAQ
If you have any questions about how to play the game, leave a comment below on this post. I will try to answer any questions asked as best and as quickly as possible.
Components
- 148 Tiles
- 4 Racks
- Sand Timer (one minute)
- Tile Bag
- Instructions
Year: 2011 | Publisher: INI LLC | Designer: George Weiss
Genres: Word
Ages: 10+ | Number of Players: 2-4 | Length of Game: 30-60 minutes
Difficulty: Light | Strategy: Light | Luck: Moderate
For more board and card game rules/how to plays, check out our complete alphabetical list of card and board game rules posts.