Originally Latin "Literatus, literati"; refers to people who are well read or highly knowlegeable in the field of Literature.

See:

Literati, the Yahoo! online version of Scrabble, is played - to the death - by the lunatics in #everything, and is also played by thousands of people over the Internet. Very like Scrabble, the rules are quite similar; challenges can be issued, up to five (instead of four, for Scrabble) can play. Literati is played on a board similar to that of scrabble, "on a 15x15 grid on which players create words by placing tiles at intersections on the grid." The positioning of special squares, like 2L (double-letter score), or 3W (triple-word score), are different than in Scrabble. Further, the middle square is not a double-word score as it is in Scrabble. There are other rules, like adding time limits to the game and individual turns. It does not take long to download the Java applet, a few minutes on a phoneline modem, and maybe fifteen seconds on DSL/cable. So, you don't have to wait long. There are five Literati subsections, each containing approximately 15 - 20 game rooms: Social, Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, and Ladder.

Also, the frequency of letters and the points that each letter is worth are different - it's random. In Scrabble, there are 100 tiles, each having a partiular value. In Literati, sometimes there will be no Q, sometimes there will be two or three. Letter tiles go from zero to five points, depending on on the letter. Wild cards (tiles which the user can type in the letter they wish) are worth zero points. The most common letters (E, S, T, and others) are worth one point. Letters like P are worth two points, and it goes up. Naturally, the hardest ones from Scrabble are worth five points: J, Q, X, Z. Though, it is possible to have more than one Q and Z in Literati, making it possible to have a word like quizzes.

The seven-letter-word score (bingo bonus) is also adjusted in Literati, from fifty in Scrabble to 35. Word checking is provided by http://www.dictionary.com.

There is a ranking system used for the ladder games, which I don't entirely understand, but here it is in a nutshell: points are issued if you win, and if you lose, you lose points off your score, based on how far from the game leader you were. A player is marked as provisional until they've played twenty games. Find this great game at http://games.yahoo.com. Or /msg any of the above names in #everything. They'll play, I can almost guarantee it.


Source:http://games.yahoo.com, http://games.yahoo.com/games/rules/literati/basics.html?page=lt

Lit`e*ra"ti (?), n. pl. [See Literatus.]

Learned or literary men. See Literatus.

Shakespearean commentators, and other literati. Craik.

 

© Webster 1913.

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