Crossword Round
The first round of every game was the Crossword round, where two players (almost always male vs. female) competed to try to be the first to guess three words correctly based on clues given by Woolery. Originally there was only one Crossword played per match, with the winner facing the champion in the Scrabble Sprint (see below). On December 29, 1986, as part of a broader format change, a second Crossword round was added. The first Crossword was played between the show's reigning champion and a challenger, and the second Crossword was played between two different players.
Each Crossword round began with a word building on the center square of a computer-generated Scrabble board, and depending on how many letters were in the word a set of numbered "tiles" were used corresponding to the letters. There were always three more tiles than there were letters in the word; these represented letters that were not in the puzzle and called "Stoppers".
Originally the winner of a backstage coin toss started the match, but when the second Crossword game was added in 1986 the player challenging the reigning champion started (a coin toss would determine the first player in the second Crossword at all times and would be used in the first game if there was no champion). The player in control was given a chance to guess the word immediately, but if he/she could not that player took two of the tiles and placed them in a slot on their desk. The contestant would then choose one of the two letters and would try to have it placed in the puzzle. If the chosen letter was in the puzzle, the player tried to have the second letter placed. If both letters were placed and the contestant still did not know the word, their turn continued. If a Stopper was chosen, that player lost control and play passed to the opponent. If there was a letter left in the display, the opposing player had to choose one tile; if not, he/she picked two. The last letter of any word was never revealed, and if neither contestant could come up with the correct answer at that point the word was thrown out and an alternate was played.
A contestant could guess at any time, but an incorrect guess passed control.
If all three Stoppers were revealed and no one could come up with the answer, the game moved into Speedword. Here, each remaining letter in the word was automatically placed at random until one of the players buzzed in with the correct answer. Speedword was also used if time was running short in a round or as the fifth and deciding word of the round if both players had each gotten two words.
Read more about this topic: Scrabble (game show), Gameplay