It’s knowing the little words — like wo, de, ne and os — that makes a great Scrabble player.

Scrabble success relies, to a surprising degree, on addictive memorization and strategic skills, game players say.

“Learn the two-letter words!” said Corinne Henderson, a local CPA who co-founded Chattanooga’s Scrabble Club.

This spring, Ms. Henderson and an online Scrabble friend, real-estate agent Rolanda Pullen, started the area’s first social Scrabble club.

“I love to play Scrabble and wanted to be able to play the game with others who do, too,” Ms. Henderson said.

Members now meet twice a month at Stone Cup on Frazier Avenue to play, practice and socialize. Up to 13 people usually attend, and all skill levels and ages are welcome, club members say.

“We really enjoy the game, but we are far from cutthroat about it,” Ms. Henderson said.

Recently, Scrabulous, an unauthorized online version of Scrabble on Facebook.com, was replaced with a new game called Wordscraper. The new game has new rules and circular tiles, to avoid legal action from Hasbro, the owner of the Scrabble brand.

Though many Scrabble club members play online, Scrabble Club taps a real-life social side.

“We have a great group of members, and we enjoy hanging out and talking as much as the game itself. I never pay attention to my score when we play because I’m so busy talking,” said Jay Zuckerman, a 24-year-old Chattanooga freelance writer.

People join the club for a range of reasons, members said.

“I love words, and the game also appeals to my analytical nature,” Mr. Zuckerman said.

It’s also good for recharging the brain, others say.

“Scrabble keeps your mind active, and it’s always fun,” said Marco Guerrero, a 46-year-old medical underwriter at Unum.

One of the benefits of attending club meeting, for Scrabble beginners, is a chance to learn new skills.

At a recent meeting, Mr. Guerrero and many other players helped newcomers “stack” words by running them alongside previously played words to create multiples of two- and three-letter words in one move.

The letter “s” can also be used to create a plural of almost any word, they informed the beginners. The suffix “ing” was considered another golden formation.

As even beginners know, the letters “x” and “z,” with their high points, are terrific scorers.

But advanced players at Scrabble Club combine these gems with multiple two- or three-letter combinations.

Or they might save them until they can play all seven tiles at once — called a “bingo” — for a 50-point bonus.

“I make my plays based on maximizing my point total while keeping a good balance of tiles that remain on my rack,” Mr. Zuckerman explained.

An “enormous vocabulary” helps, Ms. Henderson said, memorized ideally from the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary.

Mr. Zuckerman said a book called “Everything Scrabble” aided him in mastering basic skills.

“It featured a bunch of exercises, tips and word lists. I worked really hard to memorize some of the material. Needless to say, the book enabled me to get better quickly, and no friends or family wanted to play me anymore,” he said.

Yet all players must contend with the literal luck of the draw.

“There is a significant element of chance, in the draw of the letters,” Ms. Henderson said.

With so many elements and angles, some players may be tempted to stress. Not so the casual players of the Chattanooga Scrabble Club.

While several players recommended watching “Word Wars,” a documentary about obsessive Scrabble players, they also said Chattanooga’s Scrabble Club isn’t ultracompetitive.

“If a game ceases being fun, why play?” Mr. Zuckerman said.

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