L-O-N-G-E-V-I-T-Y; AS SCRABBLE TURNS 50, LATEST IN LEXICON MAKES WAY INTO POPULAR CROSSWORD GAME.

Byline: Lori Bergen Sacramento Bee

Anyone for za and a fast game of Scrabble?

Za?

Fraternity boys in the Midwest coined the term, street gangs in Los Angeles picked it up, and now za - a quicker way to say pizza - is the most awaited word in the English language.

If you're a Scrabble player, that is.

Lexicographers have tracked za for a couple of years. The word has finally made it into two standard dictionaries, meaning it's soon to be added to the acceptable words listed in the Official Scrabble Player's Dictionary.

``The `z' has been a liability,'' says John Williams Jr., executive director of the National Scrabble Association and author of ``Everything Scrabble.'' ``We've had no two-letter word with a z in it. Za will definitely change the game.''

And what a game it is. Two hundred and twenty-five squares, 100 letters and a rule that says it's OK to bluff with a phony word.

Give your thanks - or not - to Alfred Mosher Butts, an out-of-work architect from Poughkeepsie, N.Y., who invented the game in the 1930s. He combined the best of other board games - chances and skill - with the crossword puzzles and anagrams (in which new words are made from letters from another word).

First called Lexico and then Criss Cross Words, the game was rejected by manufacturers. It wasn't until 1948 that Butts and a new partner, James Brunot, renamed the game Scrabble, trademarked it and began production in an abandoned schoolhouse in Dodgington, Conn.

How do you spell `popular'?

This year, players and current manufacturer Hasbro are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Scrabble Brand Crossword Game. More than 100 million Scrabble games have been sold worldwide, and there's a game in every third household in the United States. The National Scrabble Association (NSA) in Greenport, N.Y., estimates there are 33 million leisure players in North America, and 10,000 of those are enthusiasts who've joined the national organization.

With the same enthusiasm - or obsession - you'd expect from professional chess players, Scrabble aficionados compete in 150 tournaments annually in the United States and Canada. A National Scrabble Championship tournament alternates yearly between London and a U.S. city, where 500 Scrabble aficionados compete for $80,000 in prizes, including a $25,000 first prize.

``We Scrabble players are a dedicated lot,'' says Lurlene Tweith of Yuba City, Calif., an NSA member who plays regular five-hour Scrabble marathons on Sundays. ``Once you get to playing, you just keep going.''

Sam Kantimathi, an aerospace engineering consultant from Sacramento, is a world-class Scrabble player whose forte is competing in international tournaments, such as the Australian Masters Championships, where he placed second last February. Ranked 20th among tournament players in the United States, Kantimathi won the Philippines International Scrabble Championship Tournament last year and a $10,000 prize with the winning word, ``arcature,'' which means a miniature arcade.

Kantimathi finds Scrabble a unique blend of luck and strategy.

``In Scrabble, there's an `ah-ha' sensation that happens when you play a word like `arcature,' for example,'' Kantimathi said. ``That's the joy of it - to be able to work your mind and come up with solutions.''

Game makes the grade

But the game's not just for adults. A half-million students across the nation participate in School Scrabble, a program developed in 1992 by the National Scrabble Association, either as part of a formal lesson plan, as a class reward for homework completion or as an ongoing extracurricular activity.

``The kids ask to play,'' said Annette Weiskircher, a fourth-grade teacher at F.C. Joyce Elementary School in North Highlands, Calif. ``I had to remember to leave a note for the substitute because she wouldn't believe I let them play Scrabble during reading time.''

Scrabble is a wonderful way to supplement reading instruction, Weiskircher said, especially in a class like hers with LEP, or limited English proficiency, students. Spelling scores among her 29 students improved last year after playing Scrabble in class.

``They don't realize that they're learning, and that's the great part,'' Weiskircher said. ``It's a fun way for them to learn to spell and use the dictionary. The kids come up and ask, `Is this a word?' And I say, `I don't know. Look it up.' They have to prove it's a word before they can use it. It finally becomes a challenge to see who can make the longest word or the biggest word. It's really something for the students to get excited about.''

School Scrabble indirectly caused a ripple to run through the Scrabble community when 169 words were expurgated from the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary because they were - how shall we say? - not very nice. But as any youngster knows, you can find some really good bad words in the dictionary. You're just not going to find them in the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary anymore, and that perturbs Scrabble aficionados.

Oddly, only in tournament play can Scrabble players still use these words. Equally strange is the rule that says you can play a phony word - if you're not challenged when you place the word on the board. Of course, if your opponent challenges a real word, he loses his turn. Rules, rules, rules.

But if rules are meant to be broken, Scrabble offers the perfect opportunity. Some people play ``theme'' Scrabble - for instance, all medical words or all foreign-language words (you can buy a Spanish-language version).

IS THAT REALLY A WORD?

Most expert Scrabble players don't really care about the definitions, just the words. Here's a sample of some two-letter words that come from the official Scrabble word list.

aa - Yep, it's a word. It means rough scoriaceous lava. You can look up scoriaceous yourself.

ba - One of the reasons Scrabble players don't worry about the definitions. Here's what Webster's says: ``The living, immortal, eternal and ultimately divine soul in Egyptian religious belief represented as a bird with a human head and believed to leave the body at death and return eventually to revivify the body if it is preserved.''

jo - The way the Scots use English seems to have contributed some good Scrabble words. This one means sweetheart or dear and often is used when addressing a person, such as ``my jo Johnny.''

mo - Scrabble players are thankful for slang. Who would have thought ``mo'' means moment?

oe - Our favorite. Oe is a violent whirlwind off the Faroe islands.

yo - OK, here's one you probably do know. Yo is an interjection used to call attention, especially by sailors as a signal to commence hauling on a rope. You know, ``Yo, ho!'' And you can use ``ho'' in Scrabble, too. It's got the same definition as ``yo.''

IMPROVE YOUR SCRABBLE SCORE

These tips on improving your Scrabble skills come from Joe Edley, the only two-time winner of the National Scrabble Championship, and John D. Williams Jr., executive director of the National Scrabble Association.

Learn the two- and three-letter words. Experts say knowing these short words can increase your average score by as much as 50 points per game.

Remember the secret of the ``S.'' You can use an S to form two words at once, since you can create a plural of one word while forming another at the same time. Example: Add an S to DOCK while also forming SCRUB on the board and you can score points for both words.

Shuffle your tiles. Look for some of the common ways that letters go together, such as BR, CH, CL, DLE, ED, ENT, EST, FUL, GHT, ING, NK, KLE, MIS, ISM, IUM, MB, MP, ND, NT, PR, PL, RE, STR, TH, UN, IVE and OUS.

Play the bonus squares. Check especially for any bonus squares next to vowels. For example, if the word ME is on the board, with the E above a Triple Letter Score square, by adding AX below it you also form MA and EX and score 54 points.

Think about your next play: Make your current play with an eye toward your next one. You can do this simply by saving some good tiles. Good tiles? That's right. If you save some combination of the letters ``AEILNRST,'' you have better odds of having a great ``next rack.'' You should also try to save the same number of vowels and consonants, or just one extra consonant.

Look for ``bingos,'' any word you play that uses all seven letters on the rack; it earns a bonus of 50 points. You also get to yell ``Bingo!'' which is an added bonus.

Here's how the experts do it: Learn the common beginnings and endings, such as IES, ION, ING, PRE, DE, OUT and OVER. When you see these on your rack, put them together and then work with the other tiles to form three-, four- and five-letter words that can be attached to them. You'll discover how easy it is to find words like OVERRULE, OUTGOING, PREFERS, RESTRING, PARTING, STARRED or ORATION.

Learn the Q-without-U words: Hard to believe, but there are some. Twenty-one, in fact, if you count their plurals. Here they are: QAT(S), QAID(S), QOPH(S), FAQIR(S), QANAT(S), TRANQ(S), QINDAR(S), QINTAR(S), QWERTY(S), SHEQEL, QINDARKA and SHEQALIM.

Use a hook: Hooks are single letters that you add to existing words to form other words. The S is a hook, but you also can look for words that could end in Y, E, R or D. For example: HAND(Y), PLAN(E) or TAME(D,R).

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos, 2 Boxes

Photo: (1--Cover--Color) HAPPY FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY SCRABBLE

(2) Scrabble experts say this is the best hand you can be dealt in the game.

David R. Crane/Daily News

Box: (1) IS THAT REALLY A WORD? (See Text)

(2) IMPROVE YOUR SCRABBLE SCORE (See Text)