From the publisher’s rulebook

Who goes first in Scrabble?

Hasbro US rules, 2021 · English

Everyone draws one tile. The player with the letter closest to A goes first, and a blank tile beats any letter.

Rule details

Play moves clockwise.

All drawn tiles go back in the bag, then everyone takes seven tiles in playing order.

Source & edition

Scrabble Classic: English instructionsHasbro · Setup steps 4–5 (unnumbered folded sheet) · Checked 2026-09-25
PDF page 1

All 36 Hasbro starting rules

Image: © Hasbro, Inc. (U.S. Scrabble edition and marks) · Hasbro

Image: WOKANDAPIX / Wikimedia Commons · Wikimedia Commons · CC0 1.0

If your rules call for a random choice, use the player picker.

If there’s a tie

The rulebook doesn’t say. If you need a tie-break, pick a player at random.

Related games and editions

ScrabbleMattel Scrabble English instructions

Browse available game rules

Free game-night tools: score keeper · turn timer · dice roller · all tools

Embed this answer on your site

Copy this HTML into a blog post, forum or game café page. It’s plain text with a link back to this rule, so it works almost anywhere. More embed options

<blockquote class="whogoesfirst-rule" cite="https://whogoesfirst.fun/games/scrabble-hasbro-2021-en/">
  <p><strong>Who goes first in Scrabble?</strong> Everyone draws one tile. The player with the letter closest to A goes first, and a blank tile beats any letter.</p>
  <p>Source: <a href="https://whogoesfirst.fun/games/scrabble-hasbro-2021-en/">Official starting rule on Who Goes First?</a> (Hasbro US rules, 2021)</p>
</blockquote>

Found a different instruction in your edition? Send a correction with the game, edition, and source.