TV Scrabble screen and stylus and the tiles would fly out of the podiums onto a giant upright Scrabble board. Contestants scored points for the word they made but only the higher scoring word remained on the board to be played off for the next go. This would be played four or five times. The second round was Speed Scrabble. Each player was given a clean board and had just one minute to formulate as many words and score as high as they can. They would take their minutes in turn. The winner of the first game would do battle with the
Tile tracking player who can plan and calculate the best move while taking into consideration the other player's possible responses—winning a close game by blocking an opponent’s big play or setting up a high-scoring play the opponent cannot block. Scrabble champion John Holgate notes that tile-tracking is particularly important in tight "bobbing" finishes when the bag is empty, and that many games are lost through "just not knowing what tiles your opponent has on her rack. You simply cannot calculate possible permutations if you are unsure about which letters are relevant." Tracking can also tell a player if the bag is ‘vowel-heavy’