Prope names without intent?

Here's the scenario, if someone puts a word thinking and intending it to be a particular meaning, then that word is challenged and it turns out that it is not a real word, but instead is another word (in this case it turns out it was a name of a drug), then should the person still get the points? For example, someone puts 'agria' thinking it means a substrate. It is challenged and it turns out not to mean substrate. But upon further research it is the name of some drug. We're playing that proper nouns are okay. So since the intent is different, should they get the points anyways?

1 Response

Depends on what rules you are following for the game, the rules in the box, the tournament rules, or some improvised ones. Box and tournament rules for a regular game of Scrabble require no definition to be given. In fact, tournament players tend to only study the words, not the definitions, since no definition is needed. It's hard enough memorizing words, let alone their meanings.

Now, for improvised rules... rules that vary from the game's directions and that the players came up with before playing... well, that's up to you. If you agreed upon giving definitions for each word, then I'd like to think that if that person gave a wrong definition, the word would be invalid, regardless of another meaning. But then there is always the fact that it was never stated what would happened in this situation before the game was played. This should all be given in the agreed upon rules beforehand. But for your current game, from this point on, you should agree upon allowing or rejecting real words with improper definitions, and do it before each game in the future.

But that's just my opinion.

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