Uses in Scrabble
In many word games, notably in Scrabble, a player must build a word using a certain set of letters. If a player is obliged to use a q but does not have a u, it may be possible to play words from this list. Not all words in this list are acceptable in Scrabble tournament games. Scrabble tournaments around the world use their own sets of words from selected dictionaries which may not contain all the words listed here.
In Scrabble in North America, the number of accepted words changes when the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary is updated every five years – for example in a 2003 interview, John D. Williams, Jr. pointed out that "QI is not good in North American SCRABBLE play, only the rest of the world." Qi was added to the official North American word list in 2006. Qi is the most commonly played word in Scrabble tournaments.
Other words listed in this article, such as suq, umiaq or qiviut, are also acceptable, but since these contain a u, they are less likely to be useful in the situation described.
Read more about this topic: List Of English Words Containing Q Not Followed By U