GAME RULES

Each player chooses a colour and takes a position with their corresponding coloured triangle on the board which is their ‘HOME’ Scrump Zone. The order of play is clockwise from whoever starts first. 5
Each player draws 7 tiles from their corresponding coloured bag –no peeking!and arranges them on their rack (concealing them from the other players).
Throw the die. Highest score starts the game (Say Yellow)
The first player (yellow) begins with forming a word from the central star towards his/her ‘Home’ Scrump Zone Yellow territory, with the aim of getting as near to ‘Home’ as possible. The used tiles are replaced from his/her yellow bag.
The next player (blue) connects his/her word to anywhere on the yellow word, preferably in the direction of his/her blue ‘Home’ Scrump Zone. All words must be formed in typical crossword fashion from LEFT TO RIGHT and from TOP to BOTTOM (the starting word being the directional guide, as shown on the lid of the box and on the App and online examples.
Words must always be attached to a letter currently on the board., and thereafter, players may attach their words to any colour of tile, preferably towards their [own] ‘home’ Scrump Zone..
When a player enters his/her ‘Home’ Scrump Zone, they are immediately in their ‘scoring area’ and on their next turn are permitted to ‘Scrump’ (steal) up to 2 letters of any colour from anywhere in the central 15 x 15 board (you can even ‘Scrump’ your own letters). Any ‘Scrumped’ letters must be used in that turn. It does not matter if words are broken up as a result of the ‘Scrump’.
Any letters which have been placed in a player’s ‘Home’ Scrump Zone may not be ‘Scrumped’ or moved by ANYONE. Letters in the ‘Home’ Scrump Zone are FIXED, but letters anywhere in the central 15 x 15 board are available for ‘Scrumping’ – the centre board is the route to get you to your ‘Home’ Scrump Zone.
Only letters entering ‘Home’ Scrump Zone will score – scores are calculated by multiplying of the marked value of each letter by the corresponding number of each line. When a single letter on a player’s turn makes a word into a plural then all the letters in that word are scored again (not just the single letter), and when letters are placed in a way that creates more than one new word, then all letters involved will score.
Adding single letters to a word or pluralising a word that has already yielded a high score is an easy way to increase score – e.g. TAX on row ‘4’ would yield 52 points. If on any subsequent turn the player adds I – TAXI - (still on row ‘4’) a further 56 points are scored, and if on any further subsequent turn an S – TAXIS - is added a further 60 points are scored. The word TAXIS has therefore score 168 points.
Make sure that you calculate your score at the end of each turn and add it to the previous score – a running total is important.
New words may be connected to unconnected letters or words in the central 15 x 15 board to assist you to get ‘Home’ – providing that they make a new word or words.
Players may not invade another player’s ‘Home’ Scrump Zone or remove tiles from anyone’s ‘Home’ or move tiles within any ‘Home’ Scrump Zone.
Players may, on any turn, make words by placing tiles that come out of their ‘Home’ Scrump Zone, or anywhere else on the centre board (perhaps to shed high value letters when they anticipate another player finishing a ‘round’ or game).
If a player finds it impossible to make a word, or decides that he/she would prefer to exchange some letters, they may exchange up to 2 letters from their coloured bag but, forfeit that turn.
Frustrating other players by ‘Scrumping’ their letters when they are just about to get into their ‘Home’ territory is the important part of the strategy.
‘Blocking’ – adding one or more letters to another player’s word, making it difficult for them to reach their ‘Home’ Scrump Zone, is to be encouraged – funny when it happens. Thanks Mandy!
The ‘game’ is over when a player reaches his/her Apex Star 7. We suggest that at least one ‘game’ is played corresponding to the number of players starting 2, 3, or 4. Unlike some other word games, many ‘games’ of ‘SCRUMPIT’ can be played in a short time.
Each player should take it in turn to start a ‘game’ for each Match/session/, to enable each player to experience play from alternative directions.
At the end of each ‘game’ any unused tiles on a player’s rack are totalled and deducted from that player’s score, the player finishing that game does not make any deductions. When each player has had a turn to start, the totals from each game are added and the highest total wins the Match. Being first to reach the Apex Star will finish a game but may not necessarily win the game. Scores are cumulative over the ‘games’ , Matches, and sessions played – the highest cumulative score wins and this is where REVENGE comes into play.