docs/UI_DESIGN.md

@@ -109,7 +109,10 @@ dismisses as soon as the lobby is ready. The pure layout and timing live in `lib
 ## Tiles & board
 
 - **Tiles**: the letter sits in the **top-left** corner (offset a touch more than the
-  value), the point value bottom-right; blanks show no value.
+  value), the point value bottom-right; blanks show no value. In **Erudit** the blank is the
+  "звёздочка" (star) chip: an unplaced blank shows the star (`✻`, U+273B) centred on the rack
+  tile, and a placed blank carries it in the value corner; the Scrabble variants leave the
+  blank unmarked (`usesStarBlank` in `lib/variants.ts`).
 - **Board zoom** (`Board.svelte`): a two-state zoom (full 15×15 ↔ ~9 cells) by **growing
   the board's width** inside a fixed-size viewport (a real layout change → native scroll
   that works consistently across browsers; no `transform`, which broke scrolling

ui/src/components/WordTiles.svelte

@@ -1,12 +1,14 @@
 <script lang="ts">
   // A best-move word drawn as a row of game tiles, mirroring the board's placed-tile
   // look (letter top-left, point value bottom-right) at a small fixed size. A blank tile
-  // shows its letter but no value, exactly as on the board. Letters are upper-cased for
-  // display. The tile values ride on each tile, so this renders without the variant's
-  // alphabet table (which the statistics screen has not cached).
-  import type { BestMoveTile } from '../lib/model';
+  // shows its letter but no value, exactly as on the board; in Erudit it also carries the
+  // blank's star (✻) in the value corner. Letters are upper-cased for display. The tile
+  // values ride on each tile, so this needs only the variant id (for the star) — not the
+  // variant's alphabet table, which the statistics screen has not cached.
+  import type { BestMoveTile, Variant } from '../lib/model';
+  import { usesStarBlank, BLANK_STAR } from '../lib/variants';
 
-  let { word }: { word: BestMoveTile[] } = $props();
+  let { word, variant }: { word: BestMoveTile[]; variant: Variant } = $props();
 
   const label = $derived(word.map((t) => t.letter).join('').toUpperCase());
 </script>
@@ -15,7 +17,11 @@
   {#each word as tile, i (i)}
     <span class="tile" class:blank={tile.blank} aria-hidden="true">
       <span class="letter">{tile.letter.toUpperCase()}</span>
-      {#if !tile.blank}<span class="val">{tile.value}</span>{/if}
+      {#if !tile.blank}
+        <span class="val">{tile.value}</span>
+      {:else if usesStarBlank(variant)}
+        <span class="val blankmark">{BLANK_STAR}</span>
+      {/if}
     </span>
   {/each}
 </span>
@@ -50,4 +56,10 @@
     font-size: 7px;
     font-weight: 600;
   }
+  /* A placed Erudit blank ("звёздочка") shows its star where the (absent) point value sits,
+     its ink kept on the value digits' line (mirrors the board tile). */
+  .blankmark {
+    font-size: 8px;
+    bottom: 0;
+  }
 </style>

ui/src/game/Board.svelte

@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
   import type { Premium } from '../lib/premiums';
   import { valueForLetter } from '../lib/alphabet';
   import type { Variant } from '../lib/model';
+  import { usesStarBlank, BLANK_STAR } from '../lib/variants';
   import { bonusLabel, type BoardLabelMode } from '../lib/boardlabels';
   import type { Locale } from '../lib/i18n/catalog';
 
@@ -254,7 +255,11 @@
           >
             {#if letter}
               <span class="letter">{letter}</span>
-              {#if !blank}<span class="val">{valueForLetter(variant, letter)}</span>{/if}
+              {#if !blank}
+                <span class="val">{valueForLetter(variant, letter)}</span>
+              {:else if usesStarBlank(variant)}
+                <span class="val blankmark">{BLANK_STAR}</span>
+              {/if}
             {:else if r === centre.row && c === centre.col}
               <span class="star">★</span>
             {:else if bl?.kind === 'single'}
@@ -410,6 +415,12 @@
     font-size: 2.4cqw;
     font-weight: 600;
   }
+  /* A placed Erudit blank ("звёздочка") shows its star where the (absent) point value sits,
+     its ink centred on the same line as a neighbouring tile's value digit. */
+  .blankmark {
+    font-size: 2.8cqw;
+    bottom: 0;
+  }
   .star {
     position: absolute;
     inset: 0;

ui/src/game/Game.svelte

@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@
   import { badgeKind } from '../lib/unread';
   import { historyGrid } from '../lib/history';
   import { centre, premiumGrid } from '../lib/premiums';
-  import { variantNameKey } from '../lib/variants';
+  import { variantNameKey, usesStarBlank, BLANK_STAR } from '../lib/variants';
   import { alphabetLetters, hasAlphabet } from '../lib/alphabet';
   import { hintsLeft } from '../lib/hints';
   import { shareOrDownloadGcg } from '../lib/share';
@@ -1293,7 +1293,7 @@
 
 {#if drag}
   <div class="ghost" class:touch={drag.touch} style="left:{drag.x}px; top:{drag.y}px">
-    <span>{drag.blank ? '' : drag.letter}</span>
+    <span>{drag.blank ? (usesStarBlank(variant) ? BLANK_STAR : '') : drag.letter}</span>
   </div>
 {/if}
 

ui/src/game/Rack.svelte

@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
   import { BLANK } from '../lib/placement';
   import { valueForLetter } from '../lib/alphabet';
   import type { Variant } from '../lib/model';
+  import { usesStarBlank, BLANK_STAR } from '../lib/variants';
 
   let {
     slots,
@@ -66,8 +67,12 @@
       animate:hop={shuffling}
       onpointerdown={(e) => ondown(e, slot.index)}
     >
-      <span class="letter">{slot.letter === BLANK ? '' : slot.letter}</span>
-      {#if slot.letter !== BLANK}<span class="val">{valueForLetter(variant, slot.letter)}</span>{/if}
+      {#if slot.letter === BLANK}
+        {#if usesStarBlank(variant)}<span class="star">{BLANK_STAR}</span>{/if}
+      {:else}
+        <span class="letter">{slot.letter}</span>
+        <span class="val">{valueForLetter(variant, slot.letter)}</span>
+      {/if}
     </button>
   {/each}
 </div>
@@ -133,4 +138,15 @@
     font-size: 0.7rem;
     font-weight: 600;
   }
+  /* Erudit's blank ("звёздочка") shows its star horizontally centred on the otherwise empty
+     tile face; the top offset centres its ink against the neighbouring letters' block, nudged
+     up a pixel to sit right by eye (it is slightly larger than them so it reads). */
+  .star {
+    position: absolute;
+    top: calc(0.5% - 1px);
+    left: 0;
+    right: 0;
+    text-align: center;
+    font-size: 1.7rem;
+  }
 </style>

ui/src/lib/variants.test.ts

@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@ import {
   availableVariants,
   supportsMultipleWordsToggle,
   multipleWordsForRequest,
+  usesStarBlank,
+  BLANK_STAR,
 } from './variants';
 
 describe('ALL_VARIANTS', () => {
@@ -53,3 +55,16 @@ describe('multipleWordsForRequest', () => {
     expect(multipleWordsForRequest('scrabble_en', true)).toBe(true);
   });
 });
+
+describe('usesStarBlank', () => {
+  it('marks the blank with a star for Erudit only', () => {
+    expect(usesStarBlank('erudit_ru')).toBe(true);
+    expect(usesStarBlank('scrabble_ru')).toBe(false);
+    expect(usesStarBlank('scrabble_en')).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  it('BLANK_STAR is the heavy teardrop-spoked asterisk (U+273B)', () => {
+    expect(BLANK_STAR).toBe('✻');
+    expect(BLANK_STAR.codePointAt(0)).toBe(0x273b);
+  });
+});

ui/src/lib/variants.ts

@@ -48,6 +48,20 @@ export const VARIANT_FLAG: Record<Variant, string> = {
 // ru -> Russian + Эрудит.
 export const VARIANT_LANGUAGE: Record<Variant, 'en' | 'ru'> = { scrabble_en: 'en', scrabble_ru: 'ru', erudit_ru: 'ru' };
 
+// BLANK_STAR is the glyph drawn on an Эрудит blank tile: the variant's blank is the
+// "звёздочка" (star) chip, so it carries a star rather than a bare face. U+273B HEAVY
+// TEARDROP-SPOKED ASTERISK.
+export const BLANK_STAR = '✻';
+
+// usesStarBlank reports whether a variant marks its blank tiles with BLANK_STAR. Only
+// Эрудит does: an empty rack blank shows the star centred, and a placed blank carries it
+// in the value corner (the corner is free — a blank has no point value). The Scrabble
+// variants leave the blank unmarked (an empty rack face; a placed blank shown by its
+// designated letter alone).
+export function usesStarBlank(v: Variant): boolean {
+  return v === 'erudit_ru';
+}
+
 // availableVariants gates ALL_VARIANTS by the player's variant preferences (the set
 // they enabled in Settings). An empty or absent set is ungated (returns every variant)
 // — a safety fallback; a real profile always carries at least one preference.

ui/src/screens/Stats.svelte

@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@
             {#each bestMoves as bm (bm.variant)}
               <span class="variant">{t(variantNameKey(bm.variant))}</span>
               <span class="score">{bm.score}</span>
-              <span class="wordcell"><WordTiles word={bm.word} /></span>
+              <span class="wordcell"><WordTiles word={bm.word} variant={bm.variant} /></span>
             {/each}
           </div>
         </div>