Study

Bingo stems

A bingo is a play that uses all seven tiles (plus 50 points). Tournament players memorise 6-letter “stems” that combine with lots of seventh letters. Type a stem plus ? into the Scrabble finder to see every bingo from it.

Stems worth learning first

• RETINA + ? — one of the most productive English stems.
• SATIRE + ? — anagram of RETINA; same family.
• TISANE + ?
• SENIOR + ?
• AEINRST — the classic 7-tile rack. Anagrams include RETAINS, RETSINA, STAINER, STEARIN.

You do not need the tournament lists to benefit. Train your eye on these six letters, then add whatever seventh tile you drew.