Why the Endgame Is Different

In the late game, the board is dense with tiles and valid placement positions are scarce. The strategic calculus shifts entirely from the opening. Instead of maximising your own score, your primary concern becomes ensuring you can always make a valid move while making it as difficult as possible for your opponent to do the same. Offensive thinking gives way to positional thinking.

The Late-Game Priority Order

When the tile pool drops below 20 tiles remaining, reprioritise in this order:

• First: Block any unclaimed bonus cell your opponent is one move away from reaching, even at a significant score sacrifice. The point differential from a bonus cell miss is usually larger than any score difference from a single move.
• Second: Clear high-value tiles from your rack before the game ends. Tiles still in your rack when the game concludes are subtracted from your final score. A rack holding 40 points in unplayed tiles that you could have cleared is a 40-point penalty you chose to take.
• Third: Score points where you safely can, as a secondary concern only after the first two priorities are addressed.

Rack Management in the Endgame

The tile-in-rack penalty is crucial and consistently underestimated by newer players. When you see the tile pool dropping below 15, start planning which tiles you are going to place in the next three turns regardless of score. A 15-point move that clears a 20-point tile from your rack is actually worth 35 points in the final accounting. The player who ends the game with fewer tiles in their rack has a significant hidden advantage.

When Both Players Keep Passing

If you and the AI both pass consecutively, the game ends immediately. This is a tactical option: if you are ahead on score and neither player can make a good move, engineering a double pass ends the game in your favour. If you are behind, avoid triggering a double pass — keep playing even weak moves to prevent the AI from ending the game while it is ahead.