[pbmserv] Unwritten Scramble rule?

[Robert Barrell <games@rdbhn.org>]

In Scramble game 3812, I seem to have encountered a rule that is not 
documented anywhere in the help file, nor any other "Scrabble" rules, 
for that matter: I won the tile draw, and am the first player.  We are 
playing with the "-grand" option, and my opening rack contains a 
complete, eight-letter word.  When I try to play the word, however, I 
get the error message, "You cannot use more than 7 letters for the first 
move of the game."

I have never heard of such a handicap being placed upon the first 
player, especially when there is well-known documentation among Scrabble 
players to show that, although slight, the first player has a slight 
DISadvantage over the remaining players (since there are no existing 
tiles with which to increase the probabilities of being able to play a 
bingo).

If this really IS a rule somewhere, it needs to be added to the 
documentation for the game.  If not, then the program needs to be 
debugged before game 3812 can continue.