How many one-word city names can be played in Scrabble?
Example: Purchase, NY
I stress "one-word" cities, because there are lots of 2-word places where each word would be playable in Scrabble, e.g., "Long Beach". For those not familiar with the rules of Scrabble, words that are proper nouns are not permitted.
Let's also include homophonic cities, such as Vail, CO, since it is a homophone to veil. But add an (sp) for these.
(Actually, I found out that "vail" is acceptable in both Scrabble and Words With Friends.)
Bonus: Which two states can be found on a Scrabble board, allowing for both phonetic spelling and multiple words?
Main (Maine) and 2 words, New Jersey? If i understand your question correctly.
Oregon = Ore gone. :D
Savannah
Buffalo
Erie (sp)
Reading
Mobile
Meridian
Big John got the bonus question right. "The football player got a new jersey."
In Indiana:
Fishers
Portage
Highland
Dyer
Auburn
Speedway
Aurora
Close but no cigar: Carmel (always a proper noun without the second 'a')
Extending beyond cities to towns:
Porter
Upland
Chandler
Spencer
Fowler
Flora
Hope
Liberty
Lapel
Bourbon
Dale
Farmland
Converse
Brook
Hamlet
Paragon
Harmony
Laurel
Universal
Marshall
Carbon
Decker
Crane
Patriot
Economy
Griffin
Onward
I know that Munster is a kind of cheese, but everything I could find about it had the M capitalized, so I don't know if Scrabble would allow it.
Cork (Ireland)
If I understand the question, in WV:
Nitro
Hurricane
Welch
War
Aurora
Buffalo
Clay
Junior
Lester
Man
Mason
Pax
Union
Beaver
Boomer
Brandywine
Bud
Century
Comfort
Crum
Cucumber
Dixie
Enterprise
Frank
Gypsy
Hilltop
Justice
Middleway
Page
Pinch
Prince
Prosperty
Rand
Reader
Twlight
Van
I've got more than a few for Illinois:
Aurora
Sandwich
Diamond
Summit
Justice
Normal
Flora
Sterling
Savanna
Hometown
Riverside
Minnesota partial list:
Aurora
Badger
Cosmos
Crystal
Ray
Walker
Some of these may be repeats.
Normal, IL
Boring, OR
Reading, many states
Mars, PA ("mars" being a form of the verb "mar")
Bear, DE
Hull, MA
Orange, many states
Penguin, Tasmania, Australia
Epsom, NH
Intercourse, PA (eleven letters, though...)
Bend, OR
Aurora, IL and CO (and apparently many others)
Phoenix, AZ
Mesa, AZ
Butte, MT
Mobile, AL
Flint, MI
Newton, MA (SI unit of force)
Caribou, ME
Bow, NH
Union, NH
Freedom, NH
Rye, NH
Sandwich, MA and NH
Superior, WI
Hope, AR
Challenge mode: which has the highest score?
The fact that a word might be more than seven letters doesn't matter since you can add onto an existing word (say, someone played "course" and you add "inter").
Male, Maldives.
And how it is possible nobody mentioned Phoenix?
And there are at least two states that are valid words in Spanish Scrabble: Florida and Nevada.
Some from Oklahoma:
ANTLERS (7 points)
CANTON (8)
STERLING (9)
CEMENT (10)
MUSTANG (10)
PINK (10)
CALUMET (11)
CRESCENT (12)
SULPHUR (12)
BUFFALO (15)
KEYSTONE (15)
COMMERCE (16)
FLETCHER (16)
Thinking about Virginia, some place names that come to mind (not intended to be a thorough list, and some of these are rather obscure places):
Linden
Mineral
Cuckoo
Nethers
Gaylord
Ivy
Maidens
Provost
Freeman
Lackey
Cascade
Independence <---I envision someone playing "depend" and someone else adding to it.
Don't know whether Bumpass would qualify.
In Oregon we have Drain, Boring, Riddle, Powers, Remote, Harbor, Phoenix, Zigzag, Burns, Bend, Brothers, Sisters, Seaside, Lakeside, Baker, Alfalfa, Aolha, Alpine, Amity, Aurora, Banks, Beaver, Carver, Cove, Crane, Crow, Dairy, Dale, Echo, Flora, Fossil, Fox, Glide, Green, Halfway, Helix, Post, Sixes, Sylvan, Talent, Tiller, Timber, Tollgate, Trail, Vale and Woods.
After using my memory and wearing it out (LOL!), I decided to use my Rand McNally atlas to answer this post. That sure helped!
Rick
Quote from: nexus73 on March 22, 2016, 09:16:15 PMZigzag
Sorry, there's only one Z
10 in a set of Scrabble, so you'll have to use a wild card tile.
Quote from: Scott5114 on March 22, 2016, 05:10:14 PM
Challenge mode: which has the highest score?
Using 7 tiles at once would really help (50 bonus points), so an 8-letter city name would be a practical place to start.
Davenport is 15 points.
Also in Iowa:
Buffalo (15 points, also in many other states)
Argyle (10 points)
Agency (12 points)
Early (8 points)
Quote from: nexus73 on March 22, 2016, 09:22:57 PM
Quote from: formulanone on March 22, 2016, 09:20:20 PM
Quote from: nexus73 on March 22, 2016, 09:16:15 PMZigzag
Sorry, there's only one Z10 in a set of Scrabble.
You forgot about the two Blanks in the game!
Rick
Yeah, I always wind up substituting an A or E, instead of thinking about a 7-letter word.
I'm still trying to figure out a way to legally play "cazayoux", but it's a surname.
Dildo
Quote from: 1995hoo on March 22, 2016, 07:52:30 PM
Thinking about Virginia, some place names that come to mind...
Also Triangle, which I often hear about on traffic reports (I-95, with the express lanes, goes through there).
There's Orange and Sterling, though those were already mentioned in other states. I-66 and B.R. US-17 go through Marshall.
In CT: Canton, Derby, Orange, Prospect, Union, and Warren come to mind
Quote from: CNGL-Leudimin on March 22, 2016, 06:04:04 PM
And how it is possible nobody mentioned Phoenix?
Look at reply #10 :rolleyes:
Some more in Arizona:
Why
Valentine
Sentinel
Surprise!
Superior
Globe
Oracle
Mammoth
Tombstone
Snowflake
Congress
Hillside
Cottonwood
Alpine
Cherry
Strawberry
Pine
Young
Anthem
Page
Yucca
Quote from: lepidopteran on March 22, 2016, 10:34:09 PM
Quote from: 1995hoo on March 22, 2016, 07:52:30 PM
Thinking about Virginia, some place names that come to mind...
Also Triangle, which I often hear about on traffic reports (I-95, with the express lanes, goes through there).
There's Orange and Sterling, though those were already mentioned in other states. I-66 and B.R. US-17 go through Marshall.
Colony
Ford
Bayside
Pope
Gypsy
Midway
Possibly Subletts
Anchorage
Barrow
Nome (sp)
Chicken
And for the bonus, would "maine" be permitted as is, being an archaic spelling of "main"?
iPhone
Louisiana:
Arcadia
Baker
Ball
Banks Springs
Baton Rouge
Bayou Blue
Bayou Cane
Bayou Vista
Belle Chasse
Belle Rose
Boutte (sp)
Branch
Breaux (sp) Bridge
Bridge City
Castor
Center Point
Central
Church Point
Convent
Converse
Cotton Valley
Cut Off
Delta
Denham (sp) Springs
Dry Creek
Dry Prong
Empire
Fifth Ward
Forest
Forest Hill
Golden Meadow
Grand Cane
Grand Isle
Gray
Hall Summit
Independence
Iota
Junction City
Kinder
Lucky
Many
Mound
Michigan:
Alma
Auburn
Flint
Flushing
Grayling
Hart (archaic word for "stag")
Hastings
Ironwood
Mason
Midland
Perry
Portage
Saline
Walker
Warren
Yale
In Nebraska (only a partial list):
Alliance
Auburn
Aurora
Burr
Butte
Colon
Dodge
Eagle
Friend
Funk
Gibbon
Grant
Hooper
Imperial
Laurel
Mead
Orchard (one I BINGO'd with in Words With Friends just today)
Pierce
Superior
Valentine
Valley
Western
Peculiar, MO, assuming "liar" was already on the table.
I doubt this would fly, but in the 1960s, the IAU ruled "Moscow" was a state of mind.
:-D
Quote from: 1 on March 22, 2016, 04:54:17 PM
Some of these may be repeats.
Normal, IL
Boring, OR
Reading, many states
Mars, PA ("mars" being a form of the verb "mar")
Bear, DE
Hull, MA
Orange, many states
Penguin, Tasmania, Australia
Epsom, NH
Intercourse, PA (eleven letters, though...)
Bend, OR
Aurora, IL and CO (and apparently many others)
Phoenix, AZ
Mesa, AZ
Butte, MT
Mobile, AL
Flint, MI
Newton, MA (SI unit of force)
Caribou, ME
Bow, NH
Union, NH
Freedom, NH
Rye, NH
Sandwich, MA and NH
Three PA ones to add to the list: Media, Prospect Park & Bucks (the latter being a county).
There are so many towns that are named after plants, landforms, and objects that these lists could go on forever.
--The Illinois list--
In Illinois, there's several towns named after trees. E.g. Walnut, Sycamore, Cherry, Cypress, & Magnolia.
Others: Joy, Countryside, Galena (it's a mineral), Liberty, Equality, Highland, Golden, Hull, Viola, Kings, Mounds, Cave-In-Rock, Olive Branch, and who could forget...Sandwich. Also is "gays" in the dictionary? Because Gays, IL is a thing :biggrin:
Quote from: paulthemapguy (from earlier)Then there are the prissy suburban-sounding towns that are two natural features put together. Like Oak Lawn, Oak Brook, Oak Park, Oak Forest, Park Forest, Forest Park, Lake Forest, River Forest, Maple Park, Willow Springs, Lake Villa, Wood River, University Park, Wood Dale, and Beach Park. This doesn't even include the ones expressed as a compound word like Brookfield and Elmhurst.
Towns ending in City or Lake: Round Lake, Fox Lake, Wonder Lake, Farmer City, Pearl City, Coal City, Mound City, Granite City.
P.S. Honorable mention should go to the town of Happy, Texas :D
This seems like as good a time as any to remind everyone of the one-word rule.
Florida:
Alderman
Alliance
Archer
Argyle
Auburn
Aurora
Bailey
Baker
Balm
Bamboo
Bass
Baxter
Bell
Berry
Bland
Blocker
Childs
Cocoa
Confer
Coronet
Cove
Cypress
Day
Dell
Ebb
Fellowship
Flamingo
Foley
Gaskin
Golf
Gross
Harp
Harper
Hero
Highland
Holiday
Hull
Jay
Kent
Lakeland
Largo
Lee
Liberty
Lily
Lotus
Mango
Martel
Martin
Mason
Mayo
Medley
Midway
Mott
Oak
Olive
Orange
Oriole
Pace
Parkland
Pecan
Peck
Pierce
Plummer
Providence
Relay
Rex
Riverside
Roan
Rodman
Rose
Royal
Rye
Sandy
Sawdust
Shady
Sills
Spray
Spuds
Stern
Sunrise
Sunset
Surf
Tangerine
Tarpon
Trinity
Tropic
Victor
Vista
Ward
Woods
Others in Mass.:
Canton
Concord
Gill
Lee
Palmer
Savoy
Somerset
Stow
Sterling
Ware
These check out in the Scrabble dictionary. I'm sure there are others. Leverett has one T too many.
Also in PA, the greater Pittsburgh area has (to the east, south, west, and north, in order):
- Homestead (borough)
- Library (unincorportated. Gotta wonder what they call their public venue for lending books)
- Moon (township, near the airport)
- Cranberry (township, home of a former Breezewood situation between the Turnpike and I-79)
There is also a Cranbury in NJ, but with the (sp) qualifier.
Hmm, in New York you have:
Chili
Gates
Speculator (hard to play, though; you'd need "tor" already on the board)
Arena
Accord
Amity
Friendship
Willing
Independence (very unlikely)
Freedom
Victory
Victor
Triangle
Rose
That's just a few off the top of my head...
Quote from: empirestate on March 24, 2016, 10:46:37 PM
Speculator (hard to play, though; you'd need "tor" already on the board)
If there were more women here, someone by now would have pointed out that you can also build that off "specula."
Quote from: Pete from Boston on March 25, 2016, 09:05:28 AM
Quote from: empirestate on March 24, 2016, 10:46:37 PM
Speculator (hard to play, though; you'd need "tor" already on the board)
If there were more women here, someone by now would have pointed out that you can also build that off "specula."
Well I had thought of "speculum", but I suspect that coming up with its Latin plural has less to do with being a woman and more with being a–well, a person like us. ;-)
Cities in Ohio that meet the criteria:
alliance
aurora
canton
defiance
green
heath
independence
mason
mentor
reading
riverside
stow
union
vermilion
warren
A few from California:
Auburn
Riverside
Volcano
Weed
Palm Springs (of course that would be two separate plays)
And many more when playing Scrabble in Spanish: Fresno, Sacramento, Salinas, Paso Robles, Novato, Escondido, Arroyo Grande, El Centro, El Cajon, Carpinteria, Calabasas (sp), etc. Oh, and Los Angeles.
Four in a row along NY 39 in Wyoming County, NY:
Arcade
Eagle
Bliss
Pike
A few I can think of, which may or may not already be listed, or duplicated from other states:
Mission (KS)
Gardener (KS)
Prairie Village (KS, as two plays)
Rifle (CO)
Reserve (LA)
Liberty (MO)
Pearl River (LA, as two separate plays)
Port Sulphur (LA, as two separate plays)
Sun (LA)
Bush (LA)
Hickory (LA)
Oak Grove (MO, as two separate plays)
Grain Valley (MO, as two separate plays)
Monument (CO)
Fountain (CO)
Two from Europe:
Fucking
Wank
Cantonment, FL
Century, FL
Plantation, FL
Laurel, DE
Magnolia, DE
Sparks, NV
Flowers, MS
Petal, MS
Some for Iowa I am aware of:
Clarion
Coin
Crescent
Davenport
Gravity
Grimes
Hull
Independence
Manly
Newton
Rake
Soldier
Ute
Walnut
Whiting
Alabama:
New Hope (two plays)
Good Hope (two plays)
All Good (two plays)
Harvest
Chase (was technically annexed by Huntsville, IIRC)
Skyline
Section
Flat Rock (two plays)
Paint Rock (two plays)
Verbena
Trinity
Union Grove (two plays)
Auburn
East Point (two plays)
West Point (two plays)
Nectar
Centre
Spring Garden (two plays)
Sand Rock (two plays)
Pine Ridge (two plays)
Warrior
Locust Fork (two plays)
Minor
Rock Creek (two plays)
Lake View (two plays)
Reform
Union
New Site (two plays)
Camp Hill (two plays)
Gold Hill (two plays)
Our Town (two plays)
Equality
Central
Pine Level (two plays)
Shorter
Banks
Smut Eye (two plays)
Red Level (two plays)
Berry
And probably plenty more.
There's also...
Enterprise
Pineapple (technically, the town is two words)
Jasper
Butler
Foley
Valley
Colony
Bug Tussle (two plays, but...Bug Tussle!)
One from Hawaii: Pearl City (two plays), a suburb of Honolulu.
Quote from: sandwalk on March 30, 2016, 01:11:31 PM
Cities in Ohio that meet the criteria:
alliance
aurora
canton
defiance
green
heath
independence
mason
mentor
reading
riverside
stow
union
vermilion
warren
Handful more from Ohio:
- Dent
- Kinnickkinnick (although there's really not enough Ks or blanks for this one)
- Hanging Rock (2 play)
- Morrow
- Day Heights (2 play)
- Mount Repose (2 play)
- Mount Sterling (2 play)
- Felicity
- Cable
- Plain City (2 play)
- Brilliant
- Pleasant Plain (2 play)
Quote from: 1995hoo on March 31, 2016, 08:24:19 PM
Two from Europe:
Fucking
Wank
You forgot to add Dildo, Newfoundland
A partial New York list, of which some might be repeats:
Eagle
Ushers
Argyle
(Lake) Placid
Clay
Paradox
Victory
Crescent
Alcove
Hunter
Hillside
Liberty
Amity
Rye
Oceanside
Bath
Gates
Bliss
Armor
Derby
Stow
Limestone
Freedom
Pike
Dale
Arcade
Rose
Hope
Wells
Prospect
Speculator
Jay
Surprise
Corona
Counties:
Warren
Orange
Dutchess
Kings
Queens
Quote from: lepidopteran on March 22, 2016, 01:33:07 PM
How many one-word city names can be played in Scrabble?
Example: Purchase, NY
I stress "one-word" cities, because there are lots of 2-word places where each word would be playable in Scrabble, e.g., "Long Beach".
Quote(two plays)
ಠ_ಠ
Quote from: cl94 on April 04, 2016, 06:57:41 PM
Dutchess
Is "dutchess" an acceptable variant spelling for "duchess"?
Quote from: empirestate on April 04, 2016, 07:09:14 PM
Quote from: lepidopteran on March 22, 2016, 01:33:07 PM
How many one-word city names can be played in Scrabble?
Example: Purchase, NY
I stress "one-word" cities, because there are lots of 2-word places where each word would be playable in Scrabble, e.g., "Long Beach".
Quote(two plays)
ಠ_ಠ
Quote from: cl94 on April 04, 2016, 06:57:41 PM
Dutchess
Is "dutchess" an acceptable variant spelling for "duchess"?
Depends on how strict we are playing things. It is an archaic spelling that was used until the 19th Century, when the spelling was changed to be more similar to the French word.
Quote from: jbnati27 on April 04, 2016, 06:29:59 PM
- Kinnickkinnick (although there's really not enough Ks or blanks for this one)
What the Jesus Jeremiah Rob Lowe Christ is a kinnickkinnick?
Also holy crap people, we can tell when a name is two words or not lol.
Quote from: cl94 on April 04, 2016, 06:57:41 PM
Quote from: 1995hoo on March 31, 2016, 08:24:19 PM
Two from Europe:
Fucking
Wank
You forgot to add Dildo, Newfoundland
....
I mentioned it in an earlier one-word post that said simply "Dildo."
Quote from: paulthemapguy on April 04, 2016, 09:46:21 PM
Quote from: jbnati27 on April 04, 2016, 06:29:59 PM
- Kinnickkinnick (although there's really not enough Ks or blanks for this one)
What the Jesus Jeremiah Rob Lowe Christ is a kinnickkinnick?
Native American tobacco mixture, but there's only one k in the middle.
Quote from: 1995hoo on March 31, 2016, 08:24:19 PM
Two from Europe:
Fucking
Wank
I thought swear words wouldn't be valid ones on Scrabble, and as such I didn't mention that Fucking Austrian village. Any German or Austrian village ending with -ing that also happens to be a gerund is a valid play.
And one from Asturias, Spain some forumers here greatly appreciate: Poo.
Quote from: SD Mapman on April 04, 2016, 10:29:16 PM
Quote from: paulthemapguy on April 04, 2016, 09:46:21 PM
Quote from: jbnati27 on April 04, 2016, 06:29:59 PM
- Kinnickkinnick (although there's really not enough Ks or blanks for this one)
What the Jesus Jeremiah Rob Lowe Christ is a kinnickkinnick?
Native American tobacco mixture, but there's only one k in the middle.
Ooh! So if you had both blanks, and for some reason wanted to use them on kinnic_innic_, you could!
Looking at Austria through Apple Maps (I don't know if all these are real places):
Egg
Mining
Raiding
Ebbs
Moos
Rain
Hart
Gassing
Anger
Halt
Ring
Hard
Brand
See
Plans
Grins
Frög (ö plays like o, right?)
Pill
Wolf
Rum
Mils
Hub
Not
Flöcking
Grub
Quote from: kkt on April 05, 2016, 03:57:59 PM
Quote from: SD Mapman on April 04, 2016, 10:29:16 PM
Quote from: paulthemapguy on April 04, 2016, 09:46:21 PM
Quote from: jbnati27 on April 04, 2016, 06:29:59 PM
- Kinnickkinnick (although there's really not enough Ks or blanks for this one)
What the Jesus Jeremiah Rob Lowe Christ is a kinnickkinnick?
Native American tobacco mixture, but there's only one k in the middle.
Ooh! So if you had both blanks, and for some reason wanted to use them on kinnic_innic_, you could!
Oh! You're right! That was my bad for misspelling Kinnickinnick.
Quote from: Darkchylde on March 31, 2016, 01:45:11 PM
Gardener (KS)
Not actually a legal play–assuming you mean the city in Johnson County, it's spelled Gardner.
Quote from: CNGL-Leudimin on April 05, 2016, 09:56:07 AM
Quote from: 1995hoo on March 31, 2016, 08:24:19 PM
Two from Europe:
Fucking
Wank
I thought swear words wouldn't be valid ones on Scrabble, and as such I didn't mention that Fucking Austrian village. Any German or Austrian village ending with -ing that also happens to be a gerund is a valid play.
And one from Asturias, Spain some forumers here greatly appreciate: Poo.
As far as I can remember (I haven't played Scrabble in several years), the rules in the game box don't prohibit vulgarities, just proper nouns. Tournaments might have their own specific rules, of course.
Quote from: 1995hoo on April 07, 2016, 07:36:02 AM
Quote from: CNGL-Leudimin on April 05, 2016, 09:56:07 AM
Quote from: 1995hoo on March 31, 2016, 08:24:19 PM
Two from Europe:
Fucking
Wank
I thought swear words wouldn't be valid ones on Scrabble, and as such I didn't mention that Fucking Austrian village. Any German or Austrian village ending with -ing that also happens to be a gerund is a valid play.
And one from Asturias, Spain some forumers here greatly appreciate: Poo.
As far as I can remember (I haven't played Scrabble in several years), the rules in the game box don't prohibit vulgarities, just proper nouns. Tournaments might have their own specific rules, of course.
Correct. It's a common house rule, but we've always allowed it when playing with only adults. Yes, I checked the rulebook before using profanity.
Quote from: 1 on April 05, 2016, 04:10:10 PM
Looking at Austria through Apple Maps (I don't know if all these are real places):
Frög (ö plays like o, right?)
Nope, ö in German can be only replaced by oe when not having a diaeresis avalaible, so it would be Fr
oeg. Same with Floecking. OTOH, you missed Stocking.
From Maryland:
Accident -- on US-219 (no, that's where it's located!)
Bivalve -- a type of shellfish including clams. Small unincorporated community way out on the Eastern Shore
Boring -- along MD-30 north of Reisterstown. The jokes they must get...
Bowie -- think of a bowie knife
Butler -- signed on Exit 24 of I-83
Galena -- a kind of lead ore
Halfway -- overlaps I-70 in the Hagerstown area
Harmony -- on the Eastern Shore
Laurel
Parole -- US-50/US-301/secret I-595 goes through here
Pinto -- on US-220
Price -- on US-301 on the Eastern Shore
Savage
Street -- north of Bel Air near the PA border
And a few more from Florida
Homestead
Keystone
Plantation
Marathon (on the Keys)
Mulberry
Tamarac (sp) --the tree is spelled tamaracK
Vineyards
Some for Maine (in no particular order)...
-Strong
-Freedom
-Liberty
-Hope
-Unity
-Limestone
-Weld
-Gray
-Harmony
-Union
-Friendship
-Prospect
-Bath
-Limerick
-Wells
-Orient
-Amity
I like the Texas panhandle for this. Ignoring unincorporated communities, here are some of the good ones...
Cactus
Sunray
Shamrock
Earth
Turkey
Happy
Panhandle
OK, I lied. My favorite one is unincorporated: Twitty
Quote from: paulthemapguy on March 24, 2016, 10:06:47 AM
There are so many towns that are named after plants, landforms, and objects that these lists could go on forever.
--The Illinois list--
In Illinois, there's several towns named after trees. E.g. Walnut, Sycamore, Cherry, Cypress, & Magnolia.
Others: Joy, Countryside, Galena (it's a mineral), Liberty, Equality, Highland, Golden, Hull, Viola, Kings, Mounds, Cave-In-Rock, Olive Branch, and who could forget...Sandwich. Also is "gays" in the dictionary? Because Gays, IL is a thing :biggrin:
Thought of some more: Metropolis, Mineral, Summit, Industry, Standard, Mark, Media, Pearl, Banner, Triumph, Mason, Sterling, Campus and Bush. Also, does Eureka count?
Kind of surprised no one mentioned Difficult, TN.
Quote from: CobaltYoshi27 on April 21, 2016, 10:38:19 PM
Kind of surprised no one mentioned Difficult, TN.
Or Nameless, TN.