I (re)discovered a problem which doesn't seem to have been explored
widely (a Google search leads to only ONE result !): it's Pentascrabble.
What is Pentascrabble ?
It's a Scrabble problem with 5 racks, and this has been invented by
Jean-Jacques Bloch in 1973.
The aim of the game is to find the highest FINAL score, instead of finding
the tops of every rack.
All unused letters from a rack are lost at the end of a turn.
This problem is MUCH harder than the duplicate version (it belongs to
Scrabble what mate in n moves belongs to chess).

Let's take the first published example (in french):

1) EEIUBN?
2) AOUGLN?
3) AEOYCNS
4) AEOFRST
5) AEUCDLQ

Solution:
1) H8: IN(C)UBEE, 72 points
2) 12H: BUNGALO(W), 70 points
3) 15C: CYANOSE, 161 points
4) O8: SOFT(W)ARE, 140 points
5) 14G: DECALQUER, 99 points
total: 542 points

With the ODS4, I found:
1) H2: BU(R)INEE
2) 2H: BOULANG(E)
3) 4A: CYANOSER
4) A1: FORCATES
5) O1: DECALQUE
total: 611 points

It's interesting to note that suboptimal words can lead to higher scores.

Jean-Jacques Bloch also invented the Hexascrabble, which is the same problem
with 6 racks and with 'jokers' replacing vowels.
An example:
1) ++++PPR
2) +++?KLS
3) +++?LRZ
4) +++++DQ
5) +++CCHN
6) +++FLRR
+ represent any vowel.
Best published score: 753 points.

I just wrote a solver for Pentascrabble, but it's really very slow.
Did somebody already work on this problem ?
The source code of my solver will be published very soon, after a cleanup
phase.

Jean-Charles


---
Attached, the source code of my Pentascrabble solver, with one problem file
(10.TXT) and its solution (SOL10.TXT).

I use a DAWG generator which has its ROOT_NODE equal to 1 (don't remember
exactly what version it is).

Feel free to place it on your site.

JC
---
PS See also http://www.scrabble.ro/simultan21rezultate.htm