Scrabble

Recently there was an article in The New Yorker about the board game Scrabble and the various Scrabble tournaments around the world. It piqued my interest.
To be honest I’ve never paid much attention to the game before. Sure I’ve played, but never with the enthusiasm that would make me want to play again and again and again. To me it was just a game and a pleasant way to pass some time especially on a stormy night when there was nothing on TV worth watching and going out was not possible.

A few years ago I met a woman who was a Scrabble enthusiast. When she confessed her love of the game to me I was taken aback and the red flags went up thinking she was an unbalanced woman with too much time on her hands. She asked me to play, but I was too scared and politely declined. She would play as often as she could, and I mean daily, sometimes for hours. She eventually participated in some local tournaments. I haven’t seen her in a long time and have no idea if she’s risen in the ranks of Scrabble players.

Did you know the original name for Scrabble was Lexico?

Did you know there is a Braille version of the game?

Did you know Scrabble was invented in 1948 by Alfred Butts, who was never a good player?

Did you know that over 100 million games have been sold in 121 countries around the world?

Did you know that Chuck Woolery hosted the US television version of the Scrabble game show in the 80s and again in the 90s?

Who knew? Certainly not me.

Now that I’ve been re-introduced to the world of Scrabble I’m planning on purchasing the board game and having a Scrabble night. But before I can do that I have to brush up on the 109 permissible two-letter words containing every letter in the alphabet except V, and memorize the word benzoxycamphors (a type of chemical) and do my best to use it along the edges of the Scrabble board to earn a whopping 1970 points.

Maybe I’ll join one of those online Scrabble games and play against people I’ve never met, people from little towns I cannot pronounce from countries I’ve only read about.

Who knows, maybe someday I’ll travel the world and play the International Scrabble circuit and earn the Gold Medal of Scrabble.

Comments

Owen said…
I've *never* played scrabble or been in a room where others were playing. Is that odd?