SCRABBLE - The Last Word Newsletter

W O R D G A M E N E W SThe Last WordThe Independent Tournament SCRABBLE® NewsletterA Monthly Newsletter Issue 28 - May 2013National School SCRABBLE ChampionshipBAT ResultsTeamUSA2000+ rating at 13!Photo credit: Patricia Hocker,National SCRABBLE® AssociationFirst 11Qualifiers for WorldsCONGRATULATIONS TO 2013 NATIONAL SCHOOL SCRABBLE CHAMPIONS KEVIN BOWERMAN & RAYMOND GAOMack MellerThe Last Word is an independent publication for tournament SCRABBLE® players. It is notaffiliated with Hasbro, Mattel, the North American SCRABBLE® Players Association (NASPA),the Word Game Players’ Organization (WGPO), or the National SCRABBLE® Association (NSA).Our mission is to provide content of interest to all SCRABBLE® players, so please let us know ifthere are topics you would like us to add. We welcome contributions: stories, artwork, etc.For the time being, we are hoping to provide this Newsletter at no charge; however, since it is a100% volunteer effort, we would appreciate any donations. Advertisers are encouraged, too. Ifyou would like to have The Last Word emailed to you, please send a request with your emailaddress to CorneliaSGuest at gmail dot com and we will add you to our mailing listEditor-in-Chief: Cornelia GuestColumnists: Joe Bihlmeyer, Jan Cardia, Timothy Cataldo, Judy Cole, JoeEdley, Stu Goldman, Jeff Kastner, Daiva Markelis, Joan Mocine, Tony Rasch,Lester Schonbrun, Larry Sherman, Chris Sinacola, Siri Tillekeratne, LindaWancelEditors-at-large: Robin Pollock Daniel, Joe Edley, Stefan Fatsis, Ted GestPhotographer-at-large: Betsey WoodContributors: Mike Baron, Marc Booth, Connie Breitbeil, Angela Dancho,Carmel Dodd, Tom Draper, Curran Eggertson, Marty Gabriel, Patricia Hocker,Bob Jackman, Michal Josko, Sam Kantimathi, Jessica Meller, Mack Meller,National SCRABBLE® Association, Larry Rand, Luise ShafritzThe Last Word is a volunteereffort. We appreciate yourdonations.(PayPal or snail mail--contactCorneliaSGuest@gmail.com)For advertising rates,please emailCorneliaSGuest@gmail.comCopyright © 2013 GuessWhat! Some data copyright ©1999-2012 NSA; copyright © 2010-2013 NASPA; and copyright © 2005-2013 Seth Lipkin and Keith Smith.SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark of Hasbro, Inc.in the USA and Canada. Elsewhere it is the trademark of J.W. Spear & Sons, Ltd.

Table of ContentsT A B L E O F C O N T E N T SFrom the Editor 3Advertising Section: Equipment, Tournaments, Organizations, Books 4Tournament News 12WGPO Chandler One Day by Larry Rand 12New York, NY: 4/6 15BAT 2013 162013 New England School SCRABBLE® Championship by Cornelia Guest 19From the Ocean to the Desert: 2nd Annual Las Vegas-Orange County Invitational by Luise Shafritz 22Rocky Mountain Rumble by Angela Dancho 24Katonah, NY: 4/27 by Cornelia Guest 262013 National School SCRABBLE® Championship 27Tournament Results 33New Faces: Marc Booth 35Endgame Puzzle by Mack Meller 38Book Review: Puzzler’s Word Guide 2012 40Word Trivia Quiz by Siri Tillekeratne 41Know the Rules by Jan Cardia 43SCRABBLE® and Scrabblers in the News edited by Judy Cole 44SCRABBLE® Stragegy Video Guide: Tile Tracking by Curran Eggertson 55SCRABBLE® Champions Tournament Announced 56Word Star by Jeff Kastner 68The Wordsmith: London (and York) calling by Chris Sinacola 63Art of Dowel by Mike Baron 65Fill in the Blanks by Jeff Kastner 66The Nervous Rack: My Life in SCRABBLE® by Daiva Markelis 70Scrab-doku by Jeff Kastner 72Club News edited by Larry Sherman 75Historic Moments: SCRABBLE® Through the Years by Stu Goldman 76Nigel Richards Memes 77Collins Tournaments on ISC by Michal Josko 78One Up! Cup for April by Timothy Cataldo 80SCRABBLE®: Thoreau & Thoreau by Frank Lee 81Passages edited by Larry Sherman 82SCRABBLE® Resources 83Tournament Calendar 87Archives 972

From the EditorF R O M T H E E D I T O RI’ve just returned from the 2013 National School SCRABBLE® Championship, held this year in Washington,D.C. As always, it was an exciting event, culminating with the finale: a room filled with kids, their coaches,and their families watching the final game on a giant screen. This year’s winners, Kevin Bowerman andRaymond Gao from the Smith Middle School in Chapel Hill, NC, took home a $10,000 prize check, plus wona flight to California to appear on Jimmy Kimmel Live! (May 23).Drew Magary, a friend of Stefan Fatsis, has written an excellent article for Deadspin about the NSSC:“Searching for Anything But Bobby Fischer At School Scrabble Nationals” (http://deadspin.com/searchingfor-anything-but-bobby-fischer-at-school-scra-496035498.In it he quotes John D. Williams, Jr., ExecutiveDirector of the National SCRABBLE® Association, saying, “We learned what not to do from the SpellingBee.” Unlike the Scripps National Spelling Bee, which features the best spellers in the United States, theNSSC has 4th-8th graders of widely varying abilities. The NSSC is also played in teams of two,encouraging camaraderie and fun. While there were several dozen young competitors with NASPAtournament experience, the majority of the players were there for the excitement and joy of spending twodays with other kids who like SCRABBLE. Teams wore matching shirts; kids played Twister at the ice creamparty; there were many more smiles than tears.But is there room in School SCRABBLE for the more serious players--and for players who have “aged out”after 8th grade? As a School SCRABBLE coach, I encourage my young players to compete one-on-one insanctioned tournaments. I also provide shorter (3- to 4-game) “Youth Tournaments” at my tournaments,limited to 3rd-12th graders rated under 1000. These tournaments give the young players a chance tocompete as individuals against other kids, as is done in chess and other competitions.Karen Richards, from Australia, is the chair of the Youth Committee of the World English-Language ScrabblePlayers Association (WESPA). Since 2006 she has organized the annual World Youth ScrabbleChampionship, which brings together young players under 18 to compete for the title of World YouthChampion. This past year two Americans, Tim Bryant and Brad Robbins, competed in the WYSC, doingwell and having a fantastic time meeting fellow young Scrabblers from all over the world. The 2014 WYSCwill be in Dubai, and Karen is hoping that Americans will again attend.I’d love to see a TeamUSA of young Scrabblers at the 2014 WYSC--ideally with their expenses subsidizedby a scholarship. The rub: The championship uses the Collins lexicon. Most young players here use theOWL (or the OSPD, in the case of School SCRABBLE players). However, the championship is severalmonths away, and strong youth players can learn Collins-only 2s, 3s, JQXZ words, and high-probabilitybingos over the summer. These players may in a few years be our team players for the World SCRABBLEChampionship--now renamed the Scrabble® Champions Tournament, and debuting December 3-8 inPrague with a guaranteed prize fund of $25,000.In the meantime, I’d like to encourage other directors to offer Youth divisions at their tournaments. It saddensme to see top competitors from each year’s NSSC leave tournament SCRABBLE. Yes, there are those whostick with it and become competitive in regular tournaments. However, wouldn’t it be more fun for most to beable to compete in a youth league? I’m looking forward to offering more opportunities for kids to play withother kids: school and library teams matches; SCRABBLE in school curricula; America joining the rest of theworld as a force at the World Youth SCRABBLE Championship.Cornelia Guest 3

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A D V E R T I S E M E N TBROW-RAISERS EDITION IIBrow-RaisersEdition II is abrilliantlyorganized studyguide gearedtowards the successof beginning andintermediate players.It provides anefficient means tolearn the words most important forwinning an extra game or two.Excellent Present!http://www.browraisers.com/ADVERTISE HERE!With more than 1,500 subscribers and over4,000 hits per issue, The Last Word is agreat way to reach Scrabblers around theworld. For information on our reasonablerates contact CorneliaSGuest@gmail.com.Made for Word Lovers by Word LoversIncredibleTileBags.comFun. Unique. Festive.Over 100 styles in stock!Select a new bagfor your nextSpring tournament!We can also makecustom bags with yourown fabric. Send us ane-mail via our websiteand we’ll chat!www.IncredibleTileBags.com!!Want to improve your game?Take a break, go for a bike ride, but don’t forgetto protech your most precious possession. Don’tscrabble your brain. Wear a Bandbox Helmet,available with many attractive helmet coveroptions. Great holiday gift for a college studentor active retiree.Visit our online store at bandboxllc.com or callCheryl Allen-Munley at (908) 309-1172. 7

A D V E R T I S E M E N TBethel CT Double-headerBack-to-back SCRABBLE® TournamentsSat., June 8 and Sun. June 9Fully rated NASPA tournaments with TWL & CSW DivisionsTOURNAMENT #1DATE: Saturday, June 8TIME: 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.VENUE: Hampton Inn Danbury, 81 Newtown Rd., Danbury, CTFORMAT: Main Event: 7 games; 2-3 TWL divisions by rating; 1 CSW division (4-playerminimum). Unrated Novice Event: 3 games from 10 a.m. - 1 p.m., restricted to playersrated under 1000 (divided into Youth and Adult divisions if entries warrant).ENTRY FEES: Main Event: $55 ($15 discount for first-time players). Novice Event: $25.$5 LATE FEE IF PAID AT DOOR--NO WALK-IN ENTRIES.ALL PLAYERS IN MAIN EVENT MUST BE NASPA MEMBERS.TOURNAMENT #2 FULL--WAITING LIST ONLYDATE: Sunday, June 9TIME: 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.VENUE: Guest House, 135 Codfish Hill Rd., Bethel, CTFORMAT: 7 games. TWL & CSW divisions (2-3 divisions if at least 4 players in each).ENTRY FEE: $50 (lunch included). 16-player limit--must pay in advance to hold spot. Norefunds after 6/2/13.ALL PLAYERS MUST BE NASPA MEMBERSLODGING & ENTERTAINMENTLODGING: The Hampton Inn is offering us a special rate for 6/7-8 of $99 plus tax pernight for rooms with two double beds or one king bed. Breakfast is included.Reservations must be made at 203-748-6677 by 5/17/13 (indicate you are part of theScrabble Group). There are many nearby restaurants.ENTERTAINMENT: Players are invited for after-hours games, snacks, and beverages from7:30-10:30 on Saturday, 6/8, at my house at 135 Codfish Hill Rd., Bethel.Send entry fee(s) with name, address, phone number and entry details toCornelia Guest, 135 Codfish Hill Rd., Bethel, CT 06801 (PayPal accepted).Contact: Cornelia Guest at CorneliaSGuest@gmail.com or 203-244-5324.8

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WGPO Chandler One DayApril 6, 2013By Larry RandC H A N D L E RWe held our first-ever Chandler One Day rated tournament at our home in Chandler. Twentyplayers attended, including three who drove up from Tucson. Players were asked to bring a fooditem to share, and the hosts provided all of the beverages. The SCRABBLE® was enjoyable, butthe food was “fantastic” and included homemade chili, meatballs, pasta salad, pork loin, samosa,chicken wings and spinach salad. There was a plethora of appetizers, snacks. beverages anddesserts.The early-entry winner was Satya Mahapatra, who won a set of Bob Schoenman’s new Laser RedProtiles. One new player competed, Mike King, and he was awarded a set of Protiles that originallybelonged to Jim Wait. Mike did well winning three games in his firt tournament.The players completed ballots, and Karin Somerville was selected for serving the best food item ofthe day, a pork loin. Karin won a chef’s apron and pot holder. Susan Kessler won her game againstLuther Durant by 3 points and won a One Up! game donated by Jeff Kastner.The tournament was divided into two divisions of eight and twelve players, respectively. For themorning session, the fun prize for each division contained the letters C and H (for Chandler). In theafternoon session, the play contained the letters O, P and T, (for pot luck). The $25 prize winnerswere: Barbara Van Alen (CHIDING, 32); Mike King (BEACHED, 81); Jim Lamerand (OPERATES,61); and Lynn Hall (POT, 29).12

C H A N D L E RIn Division A, Jim Lamerand was Gibsonizedgoing into the final round. In the final round,Laurie Cohen defeated Travis Carlson to takethe second place honors. Barbara Gray wasseeded 7th in the division and came in third forthe Best Performace in the Bottom Half (BPBH).In Division B, Martin Janowski was the 10thseed and won the division. This was Martin’sthird tournament. Susan Kessler was tied withMartin going into the KOTH round and lost byfour points to take second place honors. TomHendler, playing in his second tournament,finished third. Tom was seeded eighth. LynnHall seeded 11th in the division finished 8th tocapture the BPBH prize.Division A winners: Jim Lamerand (1st), Laurie Cohen(2nd), and Barbara Gray, Best PerformanceDivision B winners. Martin Janowski (1st), Susan Kessler (2nd),Tom Hendler (3rd), and Lynn Hall, Best PerformanceThe prize winners for the tournament:Division A1- Jim Lamerand 6-2 +524 $1202- Laurie Cohen 5-3 +439 $60BPBH- Barbara Gray 5-3 -141 $50Division B1- Martin Janowski 7-1 +305 $1202- Susan Kessler 6-2 +273 $603- Tom Hendler 5-3 +400 $50BPBH- Lynn Hall 3-5 +116 $50Fun prize winners for play containing C & H.Barbara Van Alen and Mike King 13

C H A N D L E RThe WGPO received $1 per player ($20), and player contributions ($40) for a total of $60. Thiswas a FOTD tournament, but there was not one single tally slip error on the 80 slips turned in!Fun prize winners for play containing O, P &T, Jim Lamerand and Lynn HallKarin Somerville was selected asthe best chef for her pork loin andwas awarded a chef's apron andpotholder, donated by CelebrityCruises.14

New York, NY: 4/6N E W Y O R KTwenty-eight players competed at Club 56 headquarters in New York City in Andrew Friedman’s fifthNew York City one-day tournament.Winning Division 1 was Will Anderson, who won his final game against Joe Weinike to finish with a6-2 +487 record. Joe was second with a 5-3 +308 record, followed by three other 5-3 finishers: JoelSherman (+240), Vicki Kahn (+119), and Richard Popper (+109). This was Will’s second win at aClub 56 tournament.Division 2 stayed all in the family, with Adam Townsend beating his wife, Nancy Konipol, in the finalgame to finish first (7-1 +751). Nancy was second (5.5-2.5 -2) and Paul Avrin third (5-3 +244).Division 3 also came down to the final game, with Emily Lichtman beating fellow Club 56 player JimPiazza to take the division with a 7-1 +369 record. Jim was second (5-3 +274) and Barbara Epsteinthird (5-3 +274).Kudos to director Andrew Friedman for another smoothly run tournament!Division 1 winner Will AndersonAdam Townsend and his wife, NancyKonipol, finished 1-2 in Division 2.Division 3 winner Emily Lichtman 15

BAT 2013B A T 2 0 1 3April is a month of change, with signs of spring andchange bringing renewed optimism. This year’s BostonArea Tournament in at the lovely Westford Regency inWestford, MA, April 12-14, attracted some 160optimistic players, competing in the TWL and CollinsMain Events and Early Bird, and in a NewcomersTournament for new players and players rated under1100.Sherrie Saint John always does a spectacular job ofmaking players feel welcome. This year she was joinedby codirector Judy Cole, who did a terrific job. From thebadges handed out as players registered to the mints left at the table during games, BAT is a mostenjoyable tournament. It is also an exciting tournament, as the special Premier Division offers 16players an opportunity to play in a field of the best of the best.The TWL 5-game Early Bird was held as an open, withratings ranging from 876 to 2043. Top seed Ian Weinstein,fresh from his undefeated victory at Princeton, was thewinner with a 4-1 +409 record. Second was 16th seedLinda Wancel, with a 4-1 +409 record, and Verna RichardsBerg was third (4-1 +125). In the Collins Early Bird top seedDavid Koenig took the top prize, with a 4-1 +391 record,with Puneet Sharma second (3-2 +220) and Chris Lipe third(3-1 +192). That event welcomed Australian player CarmelDodd, playing in her first U.S. tournament; she finishedfourth.Early Bird winners (L-R) Ian Weinstein (TWL)and Dave Koenig (Collins)Saturday night players got to enjoy Jason Keller’s Jeopardy! Experience.Jason, who won has won $223,900 on Jeopardy!, awarded the night’s topprize to Judy Cole, who will appear on the real Jeopardy! on June 21!BAT Premier winners (L-R): Will Anderson (2nd); Stefan Rau(1st); Mack Meller (3rd)The 15-game MainEvent had someexciting finishes.Going into the finalgame of the roundrobinPremier division,Stefan Rau, WillJeopardy! Experience winnerJudy Cole with organizer (andJeopardy! superstar) JasonKeller.Anderson, and 13-year-old Mack Meller were allin contention for the win. Stefan won his lastgame to finish 11-4 +946, taking the division forthe second straight year. Will Anderson won hisgame with Mack to take the second slot (11-4+688), and Mack finished third 9.5-5.5 +414,bringing his rating to an impressive 2014.16

B A T 2 0 1 3Mack also won the Robert Felt Memorial Star StudentAward for the best performance by a Youth Player--probably the first time the winner has ever come fromthe Premier Division!Joe Edley and Jeremiah Mead entered the final gameof Division A with 10 wins apiece. Joe prevailed in thatgame to take the win, 11-4 +386, earning himself aspot in next year’s Premier Division. Jere finishedsecond with 10-5 +470 record, and Steve Glass wasthird, 10-5 +91.Division A winner Joe Edley with codirectors Judy Coleand Sherrie Saint John.In Division B Brandon Randall entered the final gamein the lead by one game over Ed Liebfried, Mike Ecsedy and Daniel Blake. Mike beat Brandon towin the division, 11-4 +932, with Ed second (11-4 +805). Brandon finished third (11-5 +625).L-R: Division B winner Mike Ecsedy; Division C winner Steve Moniz; Division D winner Harolyn MeyerSteve Moniz won Division C with an 11-4 +521 record, a game ahead of runner-up Jackie Prince(10-5 +650) and Helena Gauthier (10-5 +446). Also with 10 wins was the 4th-place finisher, LillaSinanan.Division D came down to the final game, too, withHarolyn Meyer beating Marvin Kraus to take thetop prize. Harolyn ended with an 11-4 +582record, with Marvin second at 11-4 +302. Thirdwas Texan Robin Gates, who finished 10-5 +634.Collins winner John O’LaughlinThe Collins Division was also a close finish, withtop seed John O’Laughlin beating former WorldChampion Joel Wapnick in the last round to takethe division, 12-3 +1222. Joel was second, 10-5+1398, and David Koenig third, 10-5 +816. Allthree will be heading to the World SCRABBLEChampionship in Prague in November, John andDavid representing the U.S.A. and Joelrepresenting Canada. 17

MACK MELLER REACHES 2000 AT BATB A T 2 0 1 3First appearing on the tournament scene in November, 2010, when he wonDivision 3 at Ardsley at the age of 10, Mack Meller has been on an unprecedentedupward trajectory in the world of SCRABBLE. He won his division at the 2011Albany--his first multi-day tournament--at 10. He reached “expert” status of 1600+that June--at 11--then finished the year with his first Division 1 win at the Stamfordmulti-day in December, crossing into the 1800s. At 12 he had three Division 1wins, finishing the year as the Gibsonized Division 1 winner at the Albany NewYear’s Tournament--and bringing his rating to 1997.Seeded eighth in the prestigious 16-player Premier division at this year’s BAT, 13-year-old Mack finishedthird to end the tournament with a 2014 rating. Currently ranked eighth in the United States, Mack islooking forward to competing in his first Nationals this summer--and hopefully to playing Nigel Richards!The Saturday Newcomers Tournament attracted 12 players,including 4 first-time players. The winner was Ken Weiner,who beat the leader, Youth Player Aron Klopper, in the finalgame to finish 5-1 +451. Aron, who had beaten Ken in thefourth game, was second with a 5-1 +186 record. MarlaChoslovsky was third, 4-2 +239.Jason Keller ran this year’s BAT Roto, where players can beton “teams” of players to see whose team finishes with themost wins. The winner was Steve Pellinen, whose teamincluded himself and Stefan Rau, Will Anderson, Joe Edley,Daniel Blake, and Puneet Sharma, for a total of 71 out of 83possible wins.Stefan Rau, BAT Premier winner for thesecond straight year, with his wife, TerryKang Rau.Thanks to Sherrie, Judy, and Jason for a great 2013 BAT!Youth Players at BAT L-R): Evan McCarthy,Mack Meller, Nathaniel Sandalow-Ash, SamHeinrich, and Brad Robbins.Division winners!Robert Felt Award winner Mack Meller18

N . E . S C H O O L S C R A B B L E C H A M P I O N S H I P2013 New England School SCRABBLE® ChampionshipBy Cornelia Guest, Director; photographs by Tom DraperTwenty-six 3rd-8th graders from seven SCRABBLE programs in four different states came to theYerwood Center in Stamford, CT, on Saturday, April 20, to play in the 2013 New England SchoolSCRABBLE Championship. Players were allowed to select which division they wanted to enter:Championship, Intermediate, or Novice.Because there was an odd number of teams in the Novice Division, in each of the five games oneteam played one-on-one. That game counted as a bye win for the team competition, with individualresults tallied toward a "solo division" prize.Sheng Guo (NY) and Thomas Draper(NJ) were the 2013 New EnglandSchool SCRABBLE® Champions.Intermediate Division winners JordanDowd and Santi Alvarez from the SageSchool (MA).Novice Division winners Fiona FisherSleigh and Maura Murphy from theRidgefield (CT) Library.The Championship Division attracted four teams, with all but oneof the players heading to the National School SCRABBLEChampionship in Washington, D.C. May 3-4. Going into the finalgame, 8th grader DeeAnn Guo (Bedford Library, NY) & 6th graderEmma Baughman (Ridgefield Library, CT) were just a gamebehind the leaders, 7th grader Thomas Draper (MontgomeryMiddle School, NJ) & 6th grader Sheng Guo (Bedford NY Library),having lost to them by 2 points in Game 3. But Thomas andSheng had a huge spread. DeeAnn and Emma won the finalgame; however, their 11-point spread in the game wasn't enoughto pass Thomas and Sheng--this year's New England SchoolSCRABBLE Champions! Interestingly, Thomas and Sheng havedifferent teammates for Nationals; however, those partners weren'table to make it to the NESSC.The Intermediate Division, for players with NASPA ratings under700 or in 7th-12th grade, had an exciting finish as well, featuringtwo teams from Massachusetts. The Woburn Library team ofMichael Cerullo (8th) & Max Marshall (7th) headed into the finalwith a 1/2-point game lead over the Sage School team of SantiAlvarez (7th) & Jordan Dowd (8th). With just two tiles left in thebag, the teams called the director over: They had not realizedthere were any tiles in the bag, and they'd played several turns, sothey did not know which team should have drawn the tiles. Theyalso hadn't written down any of the words, so the director ruledthat each team would get one tile. Santi and Jordan were thenable to eke out a 7-point win to take the division.The Novice Division, for unrated players or players in 3rd-6thgrade, was dominated by 6th graders Fiona Fisher Sleigh & MauraMurphy from the Ridgefield (CT) Library. The girls won all five oftheir games, ending as the only undefeated team in thetournament. Second were two boys who had never playedtogether before: 6th grader Matthew Cerullo from the WoburnLibrary and 3rd grader Conor Fisher Sleigh from the RidgefieldLibrary, the youngest player at the event. 19

N . E . S C H O O L S C R A B B L E C H A M P I O N S H I PMatthew Foster, a 5th grader from the James A. Dever ElementarySchool in Long Island (NY) won the Solo Division, winning his gameagainst his teammate with a 140 spread.High Game and High Play trophies were awarded in each division,with no team permitted to win more than one prize (division winnerswere excluded).In the Championship Division, High Game went 6th graders NoahKalus & Jack Kochansky (408), and High Play went to DeeAnn Guo &Emma Baughman (QUOTED,76). (Division winners Thomas Draper &Sheng Guo had the top play of GLANCER, 92, and the top twogames of 477 and 525).Emma Baughman & DeeAnn Guo(Ridgefield Library, CT) won HighPlay, Championship Division.The Intermediate Division High Play trophy went to Lucy Paganos(5th) and Lola Paganos (4th), sisters playing in their first tournament,for the bingo BLOUSES (104 points). High game went to MichaelCerullo & Max Marshall (377). (Division winners Santi Alvarez &Jordan Dowd had the top game of 395).The Novice Division High Play went to 5th graders Hannah Indiviglio& Angelina Perrone from James A. Dever Elementary School(VERSION, 76). The High Game trophy went to 5th graders MatthewFoster & Muhammad Hydorali from James A. Dever, who scored 351.(Division winners Fiona Fisher Sleigh & Maura Murphy had the topplay of WISHFUL for 106 points, and the top game: 490.)Intermediate Division High Gamewinners Max Marshall & MichaelCerullo (Woburn Library, MA).There was a prize for "Best Spring Word," selected by applause fromthe crowd. Hannah Indiviglio & Angelina Perrone won for TULIP, theoverwhelming favorite, and were each presented with a spring-greenset of tiles.Each year this event features a raffle, offering many prizes, to raisefunds to help Yerwood's SCRABBLE program. Santi Alvarez, the firstname called, chose a giant SCRABBLE rug, donated by SamKantimathi and Cornelia Guest.Thanks to the Yerwood Center for allowing us to use their space,preparing lunch, providing coffee and donuts, and printing upParticipation Certificates. Thanks also to all those who providedterrific prizes: Gene Tyszka (tile racks); Penguin Books (TheFingertips of Duncan Dorfman); Joe Edley (Anagrammar); BobSchoenman (Protiles); the National SCRABBLE Association (Bogglegames and The Official SCRABBLE® Players Dictionary, 4th Edition);Adam Kalai (Aceil in addelnnorW: A BKoo); Tony Rasch (Brow-Raisers II); Incredible Tile Bags (tile bag); and Sam Kantimathi &Cornelia Guest (giant SCRABBLE rug).And thanks, too, to the coaches and parents who brought teams tothis annual event!Novice Division High Play winnersHannah Indiviglio & AngelinaPerrone (James A. Dever ES, NY).The girls also won the prize for“Best Spring Word” and were the5th Grade Champions.Novice Division High Game winnersMatthew Foster & MuhammadHydorali (James A. Dever ES, NY).Matthew also was the Solo Divisionwinner.20

N . E . S C H O O L S C R A B B L E C H A M P I O N S H I PComplete results follow:CHAMPIONSHIP DIVISION1. Thomas Draper & Sheng Guo: 4-1 +4082. Emma Baughman & DeeAnn Guo: 4-1 +1733. Noah Kalus & Jack Kochansky: 2-3 -2084. John Paul Baughman & Dustin Brown: 0-5 -373High Game: Noah Kalus & Jack Kochansky: 408High Play: Emma Baughman & DeeAnn Guo: QUOTED, 76INTERMEDIATE DIVISION1. Santi Alvarez & Jordan Dowd: 4-1 +1742. Michael Cerullo & Max Marshall: 3.5-1.5 +1543. Lola Paganos & Lucy Paganos: 2.5-2.5 -1144. Ellie Carter & Sophie Guo: 0-5 -214High Game: Michael Cerullo & Max Marshall: 377High Play: Lola Paganos & Lucy Paganos: BLOUSES, 104NOVICE DIVISION1. Fiona Fisher Sleigh & Maura Murphy: 5-0 +7572. Matthew Cerullo & Conor Fisher Sleigh: 4-1 +2573. Hannah Indiviglio & Angelina Perrone: 3-2 +794. Matthew Foster & Muhammad Hydorali: 2-3 +375. Emily Plevritis & Casey Wells: 1-4 -880High Game: Matthew Foster & Muhammad H: 351High Play: Hannah Indiviglio & Angelina Perrone: VERSION, 76SOLO DIVISION1. Matthew Foster, 1-0 +1402. Casey Wells, 1-0 +823. Fiona Fisher Sleigh, 1-0 +584. Angelina Perrone, 1-0 +55. Matthew Cerullo: 1-0 +2Raffle winner Santi Alvarez with his GiantSCRABBLE® Rug, donated by SamKantimathi and Cornelia Guest.GRADE CHAMPIONS3rd: Conor Fisher Sleigh:4th: Lola Paganos5th: Hannah Indiviglio, Angelina Perrone6th: Fiona Fisher Sleigh, Maura Murphy7th: Thomas Draper, Santi Alvarez8th: Jordan Dowd, DeeAnn Guo4th Grade Champion Lola Paganos fromthe Pequot Library (CT).BEST SPRING WORDHannah Indiviglio & Angelina Perrone: TULIPPrizewinners! 21

L A S V E G A S V S . O R A N G E C O U N T YFrom the Ocean to the Desert2nd Annual Las Vegas-Orange County Invitational: 4/20-21By Luise ShafritzThey came from the ocean to the desert -- two intrepid SCRABBLE® warrior maidens from OrangeCounty, picking up their third compatriot transplanted to Laughlin -- to do battle in the Las Vegasdesert. This is the second time they've made the journey. Their quest? Trophies! Three of them!Awarded to the team that prevails -- desert or ocean? Turf or surf?Also at stake was a $60+ prize fund for First Place $20, Second Place $16, High Game $4, HighLoss $4, Low Win $4, Most No BS bingos (naturals without blanks or esses) $4, and lastly a "tuffluck" award for the most losses with the fewest point spread. This was funded through a piggy bankin which everyone had to pay 10¢ per bingo played. Turned out to be $9 since 90 bingos wereplayed in 11 games!FROM THE OCEAN: Jamila Atcha, Lynn Gunn, Gretchen CowanFROM THE DESERT: Mary Parrish, Miriam Green, Luise Shafritz22

L A S V E G A S V S . O R A N G E C O U N T YAnd here are the results!SECOND ANNUAL LV-OC INVITATIONAL(Las Vegas - Orange County)name wins losses cume % bgo avgmiriam 8 3 310 73% 16 391mary 7 4 -38 64% 14 364luise 6 5 718 55% 19 420gretchen 6 5 78 55% 15 391lynnsey 4 7 -251 36% 13 357jammy 2 9 -817 18% 13 34233 33 0 90Miriam was first and Mary second. Gretchen had the High Game of 602! Luise had the High Loss of401, Mary had the Low Win of 340.Luise and Gretchen split the No BS bingo award with 4 each, and Luise collected $9 mostly indimes from the piggy bank for two losses of -15 and -5!The weather was superb. The food was magnificent! The camaradarie even more so. We all cannotwait till we do it again! 23

R O C K Y M O U N T A I N R U M B L ERocky Mountain Rumble, April 27-29, 2013By Angela Dancho, DirectorFour days before the start of the Denver, CO RockyMountain Rumble, the weather was 30 degrees andsnowing! Luckily, by the weekend it was sunny and inthe 70s. The Rumble, which has been held off and on inColorado since 2005, had tremendous financial supportfrom the local SCRABBLE® community. We receiveddonations in excess of $1700, which allowed us to offera $1000 first prize for the open division and cover theroom rental fees for entire tournament. We had out-ofstatevisitors from Utah, New Mexico, South Carolina,and Oregon.Early Bird Div. A winners DominickMancine, Ryan Barrett & Angela DanchoEarly Bird Div. B winners DaveGoldberg & Julia SwaneySaturday night dinner at DiCicco’s--aRocky Mountain Rumble tradition!The 5-game Early Bird on Friday had two divisions. Division A prizewinners were DominickMancine, Ryan Barrett, and Angela Dancho. Division B winner was Dave Goldberg, and secondplace went to Julia Swaney.Open Division winners Ryan Barrett, Keith Hagel, Dave Goldberg, AnneMcCarthy, and Jon Shreve with Angela Dancho.The Main Event started with threegames Friday night. Playersenjoyed seven games onSaturday, with a large groupending the evening with a dinnerat DiCicco’s, a local Italianrestaurant. We finished up thetournament on Sunday with thefinal five games. DominickMancine won the open Division A,taking home the $1000 top prize.Second, third, and fourth placeswent to Ryan Barrett, Jon Shreve,and Dave Goldberg respectively.Anne McCarthy won aperformance prize for her sixthplacefinish, and Keith Hagel won a prize for his high loss (457-472).24

R O C K Y M O U N T A I N R U M B L EThe top prize in Division B went to local playerJulia Swaney, who also designed the Rumblemugs that each player received. Second andthird places went to Diane Waldman andDebbie Hendrich.As a director, I couldn’t ask for a better group ofplayers. They made it easy for me to both playin the tournament and direct. Preparations forthe 2013 WGPO Word Cup in Aurora, Coloradoare in full swing – hope to see you there!Angela DanchoDirectorAngela Dancho with Division B winners Debbie Hendrich, DianeWaldman, and Julia Swaney. 25

Katonah, NY: 4/27By Cornelia GuestK A T O N A HThirty-two players came to Katonah, NY, onApril 27 to compete at a new tournamentvenue: the Katonah Memorial House.Despite a problem with parking (the spacesallotted to us had just been resurfaced), thevenue worked well. It's a short walk fromthe train station and to many nice places toeat and shop. One player even bought apair of pants at the Katonah Thrift Shop nextdoor during the lunch break!Katonah winners (L-R): Judy Horn (Div. B); Jonathan Kent (Div. D);Joe Edley (Div. A; and Marie Puma (Div. C).Division A was a strong field, and the top 5players all finished with 4-3 records, withspread deciding the winners. Joe Edley'sspread of 483 proved insurmountable.Second was Jan Cardia (+165), with herhusband, Aldo Cardia, third (-109). Joe alsowon the prize for High Loss (456).Division B went to the Judys--with Judy Horn first with a 5-2 +182 record over Judy Cole (5-2 +125).Mike Ecsedy, who won the prizes for High Game (538) and High Play (HEREDITY, 110), was third.Judy Horn also won the prize for "Best Green Word" for FROG.Marie Puma was the clear winner of Division C with a 6-1 +457record. Second was her husband, Steve Sikorski (4-3 +112). JimFonti finished third with a 4-3 +51 record.Division D was a fight to the finish, with the top four players allending up with 5-2 records. Jonathan Kent was first, with a +366spread, nosing out Katonah resident Luann Morris (+333), who wasplaying in her second tournament ever--her first was in North Salemin 2006 (she finished second then, too!) Third was Sheldon Gartner(+281), just 3 points ahead of Lane Lynn (+278).Tournament director Cornelia Guestwith Division C winner Marie Puma.A special thank you to Lane Lynn and Saidou Saidy, who had hoped to play in the Collins divisionbut graciously agreed to play TWL when the CSW division didn't fill. Saidou, who was playing hisfirst tournament, hopes to play many more! Luann Morris also was accommodating, switching tothe full day from the Novice division that didn't fill--her prize money almost repaid her for the switch!Another first-time player was Kia Lindsay, who finished fifth in Division D. We look forward to seeingher back soon.I’ll be having another Katonah tournament on October 26. In the meantime, come join me at theBethel CT June 8 tournament, with a night of SCRABBLE and swimming (if the weather is good) atmy house Saturday night. Hope to see you there!26

2 0 1 3 N S S C2013 National School SCRABBLE® ChampionshipPhotos by Patricia Hocker, National SCRABBLE@ Association2013 National School SCRABBLE Champions! (L-R) Tournament Director John Chew; Raymond Gao;Kevin Bowerman; Eric Grosskurth, Kevin’s father; and John D. Williams, Jr., Executive Director of theNational SCRABBLE Association. (Photo credit: Patricia Hocker, National SCRABBLE@ Association.)This year the National School SCRABBLE Championship, held for the first time in Washington,D.C., attracted 89 teams of 4th-8th graders from 14 different states and provinces and the District ofColumbia. All the teams played seven games, with the final two facing each other in an exiting onegamefinal. The winners were Kevin Bowerman and Raymond Gao, two 8th graders from the SmithMiddle School in Durham, NC, who beat the runner-up DC/NJ team of Sam Masling (8th grade) andThomas Draper (7th grade) 409-386 in the championship game. That 23-point victory earned Kevinand Raymond $10,000, plus a chance to appear on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in California (5/23).Kevin and Raymond also won the prize for 8thGrade High Win with a 504 game.Sam and Thomas, who were undefeated going intothe final round, won $5,000 for second place.Third went to the NY/TX team of Kyle Imperato(8th grade) and Jacob Sass (7th grade), and fourthto the Salem, NC brothers Kenny Hoang (8thgrade) and Eric Hoang (4th grade). The Hoangsare the younger brothers of Andy Hoang, theNSSC winner last year and in 2009 with his partnerErik Salgado.Runners-up Sam Masling and Thomas Draper, flanked by StefanFatsis (Sam’s coach) and Tom Draper (Thomas’s father and coach). 27

2 0 1 3 N S S C3rd with a 6-1 +588 record wereJacob Sass, a 7th grader from TX,and Kyle Imperato, an 8th graderfrom NY.Andy Hoang, winner in 2012 and 2009, coached hisbrothers Kenny (8th grade) and Eric (4th grade), whofinished 4th with a 6-1 +581 record. The brothers areshown here with their father, Danny Hoang.Smith MS (NC) 6th gradersGautam Sirdeshmukh andLaolu Charles were 5thwith a 6-1 +305 record.The additional games provided great excitement, with a number of teams still in the running inGame 7. Spread ended up making the difference for Kevin and Raymond, as they had a 198-pointwin in Game 7 to qualify for the final with a +717 spread. Their only loss had been in Game 3,where they lost to the California team of Bay SCRABBLE 1 by just 3 points. This is the second yearthe NSSC has offered 7 games, and it gives more teams a chance for the prize. In previous years asingle loss made it very difficult to make the finals. It would be great to see even more games helpdecide this championship in the future!Teams from the East Coast did particularly well. Five of the top-10 prize winners were from NorthCarolina, where coaches David Klionsky and Teresa Schaeffer have helped build a very strongprogram. Smith MS teams finished 1st, 5th, and 10th; Salem MS/ES finished 4th; and Seawell ESfinished 9th.Stefan Fatsis brought 22 teams representing the D.C. area, with his student Sam Masling finishing2nd and his 5th-grade daughter, Chloe Fatsis, finishing 8th with her partner, Ali Bauman. The15th-19th place teams were Stefan’s students from Janney ES and Deal MS.Andrew Crowell (8th) and SamuelBoysen (7th) of the EvangelicalChristian School (TN) finished 6thwith a 5.5-1.5 +330 record.Emma Baughman, a 6th grader from CT, andDeeAnn Guo, an 8th grader from NY, placed 7th witha 5-3 +901 record and won the Mixed Grade HighGame award with a 559, the tournament high game.Shown here with their coach, Cornelia Guest.5th grader Chloe Fatsis and 8thgrader Alexandra Bauman (DC)finished 8th with a 5-2 +519record. Stefan Fatsis, Chloe’sfather coached the two girls.28

2 0 1 3 N S S CCornelia Guest’s five teamsfinished 3rd, 7th, and 11th-13th,with her 7th-place team of 8thgrader DeeAnn Guo and 6thgrader Emma Baughman playingthe highest game of thetournament, 559, which won theprize for Mixed Team High Win).Another close finisher was theEvangelical Christian School 2team of Andrew Crowell (8thgrade) and Samuel Boysen (7thBryson Torgovitsky & Nathan Wagner (L)) from D.C. and Rajiv Nelakanti & VineetMudupalli from CA (above) each had 506 games to tie for 7th Grade High Win.grade) from Tennessee. They ended 6th with a 5.5-1.5 +330 record, losing only their final game toSmash’d an Atom (Thomas Draper and Sam Masling)--by a heartbreaking 9 points. These boyswere playing in their first tournament, but one of their mothers said they played online games “a lot.”Also in the top 20 were 8thgraders Josh Kattsir and SamShaffel (the 2013 Toronto SchoolSCRABBLE Champions), and theBay SCRABBLE 1 team of 7thgraers Rajiv Nelakanti and VineetMudupalli from San Francisco,who finished 20th. The BaySCRABBLE 1 team also tied forthe prize for Grade 7 High Winwith the Deal MS 10 team ofBryson Torgovitsky and NathanWagner with 506 games.Sportsmanship Prize winnersAlexis Eley (7th) & ZionThornton (8th) of the MountPleasant Christian School (MD).Jack & Nicholas Miklaucic from RandolphMiddle School (NC) scored 555 to earn theprize for 6th Grade High Win. The brothers areshown with their coach, Katya Lezin.The Grade 6 High Win went to the Randolph MS Team 1 (NC) of 6th grade brothers Jack andNicholas Miklaucic, who scored a 555. And no, the brothers are not twins--they’re triplets!The Grade 5 High Win went to the Pine Crest ES team of Aiden Cook and Simon Chervenak fromMaryland, who scored a 477.(L-R): Aiden Cook & Simon Chervenak (MD) won 5th Grade High Win; 5th graders Caleb Anderson & Ryan Cheney (DC) wonHighest-Scoring Bingo; 8th graders Alyssa Haniff & Edward Quaye (FL) won for 2nd Highest-Scoring Bingo; 7th graders TheoHolt & Thomas Brodey (NC) won the High Loss prize. 29

2 0 1 3 N S S CThe Highest-Scoring Bingo was awarded to the top two bingos. The winning bingo was VARMINTS,for 167 points, played by Caleb Anderson and Ryan Cheney of Janney ES Team 1 (DC). Thesecond prize went to Florida students Alyssa Haniff and Edward Quaye, the Walter C. YoungKnights of SCRABBLE Team 2, who played RELATIVE for 140 points.The High Loss prize went to The Tile Hounds, Theo Holt and Thomas Brodey from North Carolina,who lost to the Deal MS 8 (DC) team of Calvin Wagner and Sam Radack, 422-461.The Sportsmanship prize was awarded to Alexis Eley and Zion Thornton, the Mount PleasantChristian School 1 team from Maryland.Throughout the event Merriam-Webster ran a wordcontest, with a Kindle E-Reader as first prize. So manyperfect entries were submitted that there ended up beinga drawing for the prize. The lucky winner was 7th graderThomas Brodey from North Carolina.Seventh grader Theo Holt from North Carolina wona Kindle E-Reader in the Merriam-Webster contest.The event offered fun and educational events for all. Onboth days three-time National Champion Joe Edley ranspecial SCRABBLE workshops for parents and coaches,and on Saturday night players and their coaches andfamilies celebrated Cinco de Mayo with a Dessert &Game Fiesta, complete with a mariachi band, ice cream,and game galore (even games other than SCRABBLE!)Competitors also could try their luck in SCRABBLEgames against top experts Joe Edley and Chris Cree.Many thanks to organizer Jane Ratsey Williams of the National SCRABBLE Association and all herhelpers, and to John Chew of the North American SCRABBLE Players, tournament director, for yetanother great National School SCRABBLE® Championship!Among the many helpers were Bryan Pepper and KristinChew (back row) and Sherrie Saint John and ChrisEconomos (front row, L-R)30

Dessert & Game Fiesta2 0 1 3 N S S C 31

It’s all in the shirt (or headband!)2 0 1 3 N S S C32

TournamentResultsAPRIL 1-30AKRON OH (LCT) 4/41. Daniel StockGATLINBURG TN 4/5-71. David Gibson2. Flora Taylor3. Ben MayesCHANDLER AZ (WGPO) 4/61. Jim Lamerand2. Martin JanowskiDANVILLE IL 4/61. Melissa Routzahn2. Elizabeth Davis3. Tim Fish4. Troy Thompson5. Marc BoothDANVILLE IL (COLLINS) 4/61. Marty GabrielLINDEN MI 4/61. Jason J. Smith2. Cheryl Melvin3. Arthur Van TolNEW YORK NY 4/61. Will Anderson2. Adam Townsend3. Emily LichtmanBERKELEY CA 4/71. Cesar Del Solar2. Robin Levin3. Jon DemeterDANVILLE IL 4/71. Peter SchwartzmanT O U R N A M E N T R E S U L T SDANVILLE IL (COLLINS) 4/71. Marty GabrielGUELPH ON CAN 4/71. Gabriel Gauthier-Shalom2. Terry Aitken3. Peter SawatzkyLINDEN MI 4/71. Daniel StockBOSTON MA EARLY BIRD4/121. Ian WeinsteinBOSTON MA EARLY BIRD(COLLINS) 4/121. David KoenigBOSTON MA 4/12-141. Stefan Rau2. Joe Edley3. Michael Ecsedy4. Steve Moniz5. Harolyn MeyerBOSTON MA (COLLINS)4/12-141. John O’LaughlinBATON ROUGE LA 4/131. Winter2. Noreen Kenny3. Annette McCafferyBOSTON MA NEWCOMERS4/131. Ken WeinerEDMONTON AB CAN4/13-141. Curran Eggertson2. Rodney Weis3. John LazeskiPITTSBURGH PA 4/131. Dorcas Alexander2. Thomas Chang3. Greg FeldkampWEST LINN OR (WGPO)4/131. Steven Alexander2. Betty CornelisonCOEUR D’ALENE ID 4/20-211. Gunther Jacobi2. Maureen MorrisDALLAS TX 4/201. Chris Cree2. Linda Villarreal3. Barbara HildenbrandLAS VEGAS VS. ORANGECOUNTY INVITATIONAL(UNRATED)1. Miriam Green (Las Vegas)NEW ENGLAND SCHOOLSCRABBLE®CHAMPIONSHIP,STAMFORD CT, 4/201. Thomas Draper & ShengGuo2. Santi Alvarez & Jordan Dowd3. Fiona Fisher Sleigh & MauraMurphySOUTH LYON MI 4/201. Jason Idalski2. Mark Garrod3. Denise MahnkenPHILADELPHIA PA 4/211. Connie Creed2. Nancy Hanley3. Zachary Dang 33

MOUNTAIN VIEW CA(WGPO) 4/211. Max DwyerTORONTO ON CAN 4/211. Tony Leah2. Tim Anglin3. Tara Smylie4. Will RobertsonTORONTO ON CAN(COLLINS) 4/211. Evan BerofskyROCKY MOUNTAINRUMBLE, DENVER COEARLY BIRD (WGPO) 4/261. Dominick Mancine2. David GoldbergROCKY MOUNTAINRUMBLE, DENVER CO(WGPO) 4/26-281. Dominick Mancine2. Julia SwaneyAUSTIN TX 4/271. Matt Canik2. Mariah SmithBERKELEY CA 4/271. Leesa BerahovichCATONSVILLE MD 4/271. David Engelhardt2. Jason Jones3. Sheikh K. Dukaly II4. Martin GoldCHARLESTON IL 4/271. Scott Garner2. Beth Palmer3. Mary Maddox4. Roxane Gay5. Della LutzT O U R N A M E N T R E S U L T SFORT LAUDERDALE FL4/271. Steve Glass2. Angela Hellmann3. Mike Corbett4. Patricia BuckKATONAH NY 4/271. Joe Edley2. Judy Horn3. Marie Puma4. Jonathan KentMONTREAL QC CAN 4/271. Andy SuandersSEATTLE WA 4/271. Rafi Stern2. Jim Brooks3. Daval Davis4. Adam Henderson5. Charles DupontSIOUX FALLS SD 4/27-281. Scott Jackson2. Zbigniew Wieckowski3. Kay AdamWEBSTER NY 4/27-281. Ben Schoenbrun2. Betzy Collins3. Denise DixonWINNIPEG MB CAN4/27-281. Brian Williams2. Annelies Kaufmann3. Shirley CookeBERKELEY CA 4/281. Leesa BerahovichCHARLESTON IL 4/281. Scott Garner2. Becky Albin3. Cheryl HawkerNATIONAL SCHOOLSCRABBLE®CHAMPIONSHIP,WASHINGTON, DC 5/3-41. Kevin Bowerman &Raymond Gao34

New FacesN E W F A C E SSince our last issue, 38 new faces have competed at NASPA and WGPO tournaments, includingour featured “New Face,” Marc Booth, who won Division 5 at the Danville IL Tournament on 4/6 witha perfect 7-0 +591 record to earn an initial NASPA rating of 931._______________________________________________________________________________Marc BoothMarc Booth, a 42-year-old eye surgeon from West Lafayette, IN,didn’t play much SCRABBLE® when he was growing up. However,he thought of the game earlier this year when he was looking for anew hobby that would stimulate his mind, and which he couldpotentially share with his wife, Jennifer, and their 9-year-olddaughter, Charlotte. Luckily, Marc had a friend from high school hecould go to for advice: tournament expert Doug Lundquist.“I consulted Doug in late February about getting more serious aboutSCRABBLE and potentially entering tournaments. He rightfullyrecommended Joe Edley and John Williams’s EverythingSCRABBLE® and Joel Wapnick’s How to Play SCABBLE® Like aChampion. Doug also turned me on to Zyzzyva and Quackle. The books infused me with a bettermindset for strategy and thinking critically about situations like the endgame and concepts likeclosing down a board. Obviously I'm still a newbie, but I still constantly refer back to these booksand have entered the matches listed in Wapnick's book into Quackle and tried to think about themmove by move without looking first at the player's moves.“Doug also mentioned that I might consider a tournament listed on cross-tables in March in nearbyCharleston, Illinois at Marty Gabriel's house. I thought that was too soon, considering my dearth ofknowledge and general lack of eagerness to humiliate myself at competitive SCRABBLE. However,I noticed the tournament for charity in April in nearby Danville and thought the extra month andwillingness to contribute to charity at the expense of my potential personal humiliation would besufficient cause for participation.”Prior to the tournament Marc had played live games primarily with his wife. He had also attended anew SCRABBLE club in Crawfordsville, IN, which meets once a month. “I have tinkered around withisc.ro and Words With Friends as well, but greatly prefer to play live or using the Scrabble iPad app.It's what my wife has on her phone and we frequently have 5-10 games going at once.”The tournament was somewhat daunting at first. “I was nervous and made all sorts of beginnerprocedural errors. Overdrew tiles, hit the clock at the wrong time, miscounted the score... and don'teven get me started about trying to track tiles. I still get lost trying to do that accurately. Despite mygeneral ineptitude regarding all things involving live SCRABBLE, I still managed to have a goodtime, thanks in large part to the very friendly and patient players in my division. The tournamentwas extremely well organized by Marty. Even the lunch was memorable; I sat down outside to eatwith two players I did not know, but recognized as players from the Collins and expert divisions. Imentioned a possible bingo I’d lacked the courage to try (OUTLEAR*). The division 1 playerimmediately said that I was correct not to play it and that TORULAE was the only bingo, instantlyafter which the Collins player confirmed that and said there were two other bingos valid "in Collins.” 35

N E W F A C E SAt that point, I laughed to myself and quickly realized the chasm between a beginner and an expertlevelplayer. They kindly offered me tips, including "learning the 5's" (HA! I'm just working now onthe 4's). Thanks, Melissa and Brian , you two certainly made a favorable impression on me!”The best moment in the tournament for Marc was when he played his first bingo. “In my first game,against Rhea Rashad, I was down 70 points after 12 moves and then played FLINGERS for 66points and managed to come back for the narrowest of my wins that day. I will admit I was a bitnervous when she challenged it, since, although it seemed perfectly legitimate to me, I hadobviously never used that word EVER in my life. Eye surgeons just don't go around sayingFLINGERS. Now, UVEITIS, that's another thing. I will put that and CARUNCLE down with gustoagainst you and smile knowingly when you challenge.”Does Marc have advice for other Scrabblers considering a first tournament? “The best advice I cangive is to have expert friends to get advice from and then sit next to players on the US Nationalteam at lunch. Kidding aside, the two books and software programs I’ve mentioned are invaluable,but putting in the time and effort is key. And doing it at a pace that doesn't detract from your love ofthe game. I'm learning slowly and enjoying it. I may not become an overnight expert, but theprocess has been fun. I take the time to look up words I don't know and learn interesting factsabout the new vocabulary. Have you read the wikipedia page about the QUOKKA? You should! It'sfun to use the game as a vehicle for general enrichment of my knowledge base. The words are aninteresting stepping stone into new areas of exploration in our world.”While Marc is not planning on competing in another tournament anytime soon, he does hope tocompete at the Nationals in 2014. “Until then, I will grind away studying Baron's SCRABBLE®Wordbook and competing against my wife and those who attend the local club. I will not allowmyself to compete at Nationals though, unless I'm able to tile track accurately--and learn those 5’s(just kidding!)”Look forward to seeing Marc at the 2014 NSC!_____________________________________________________________________________Welcome to Marc Booth and the following other new faces:GATLINBURG TN 4/5: Emily Brodeur, Catherine Fleming, Mia KangDANVILLE IL 4/6: Kim StaffordLINDEN MI 4/6: Sally Miklos, Valerie SylvesterGUELPH ON CAN 4/7: Jonathan WattonBOSTON MA (COLLINS) 4/12: Carmel Dodd (new to America)BOSTON MA NEWCOMERS 4/13: Michael Cerullo, Leonid Chindelevitch, Mary Beth Cotter-Goldberg, Peter SchofieldEDMONTON AB CAN 4/13: Bill Chalanchuk, Helen Hauser, Andrew LiuPITTSBURG PA 4/13: Boyd Reed, Jada Rossman, Joyce Shull, Robbin SteifCOEUR D’ALENE ID 4/20: Tracie LeeDALLAS TX 4/20: Jared Williams36

N E W F A C E SPHILADELPHIA PA 4/21: William Dingfelder, Sheikh K. Dukaly II, Willie KotaTORONTO ON CAN 4/21: Marcela Kadanka, Carol Laimer, Derek Mercey (2nd); Matthew OuyangCATONSVILLE MD 4/27: Lynn LoganCHARLESTON IL 4/27: Colby KnerrFORT LAUDERDALE FL 4/27: Curtis Nelson, Erika Schell, Thomas Triwedi (2nd)KATONAH NY 4/27: Tenekia Kia Lindsay, Saihou SaidyWEBSTER NY 4/27-28: Andy Holt, Paul Holt 37

Endgame PuzzleBy Mack MellerE N D G A M E P U Z Z L EDown 61 points, it seems impossible to guarantee yourself a win. But, is there asneaky way to do so?Current score: 379-318 in opponent’s favorYour rack:Unseen tiles:ANSWER on next page.38

E N D G A M E P U Z Z L EANSWER: The only move that guarantees you the win is the sneaky FORTALICE J4 for 14 points.Several other plays will win 75% of the time, but only FORTALICE will win 100% of the time. AfterFORTALICE, regardless of whether you draw a D, O, P, or S, you will have two spots for bingoes;your opponent will be unable to block both. Furthermore, although your opponent is currentlywinning by 61 points, he or she will not be capable of outrunning you after FORTALICE, regardlessof what you pick out of the bag.After FORTALICE, if you draw a D, you will have two playable bingoes, only one of which can beblocked: TRAGEDIAN O5 for 68 and ANTHERID D8 for 96. In this scenario, your opponent’s bestplay is SHOP D10 for 34, after which you will be losing, 332-413. After you play TRAGEDIAN, youwill be losing 400-413; once double your opponent’s rack is added to your total, you will win,414-413.If you draw an O after playing FORTALICE, you will again have two bingo spots on opposite halvesof the board; your bingoes will be ARAGONITE O5 for 67 and ANTIHERO D7 for 90. Youropponent’s optimal play will again be SHOP D10 for 34, after which bingoing out with ARAGONITEleads to a 415-413 victory for you.If a P is drawn after FORTALICE, you will have PERIANTH in two spots: at 2A for 80, and at D4 for78. Your opponent cannot block both spots; the best play is again SHOP D10. After you playPERIANTH at 2A, you will triumph, 424-413.Finally, when an S is picked after FORTALICE, two bingoes will be availble: STEARINE 6A for 64and NASTIER 13H for 81. Your opponent’s best play is now OPS 13H for 23, blocking your higherscoringbingo; after STEARINE, you will win, 412-402. Thus, no matter what tile you draw from thebag, FORTALICE will always win.There are also numerous moves that will win 75% of the time. Plays such as NA N2, AG M14, andNA 12F, among others, will win unless the S is drawn; if you pick the S, you will only have one bingospot, STEARINE, as LICES* is a phony. Once your opponent blocks STEARINE with a play such asPE 6G, you will lose. Although plays like AG 13E and AGA O7 exploit the same tactic, such playsblock a bingo lane and will win even less frequently.Quackle suggests another interesting play creating a new lane: AH 2G. This play, however, neverwins. If you draw the P, your opponent can simply block both PERIANTH D4 and row 3 with a playlike POODS 3C, after which you are hopeless. Similarly, you pick the S, your opponent playssomething like POPS F2, after which you have no bingo since LICES* is not a word. Also, if you pickthe D, SHOP D10 will now win for your opponent as AH scores 9 less than FORTALICE; althoughyou now have TRAINED or ANTIRED at 3A for 75, you will lose 412-413 after SHOP. Finally, if youdraw the O, you will again lose after SHOP; after ARAGONITE, your only bingo, you will lose,404-413.Therefore, it can be concluded that the only way to guarantee a win is by playing FORTALICE J4.Regardless of which tile you draw next, FORTALICE will always result in having two different bingospots; despite leading by 61, your opponent will not be capable of outrunning you in anycircumstance. Several alternatives win 75% of the time, and AH 2G, a seemingly attractive move,will surprisingly never win; only FORTALICE wins 100% of the time. The main tactic exploited byplaying FORTALICE is to create a second bingo spot in the event that you draw an S; previously, asLICES* is unacceptable, there was only one bingo lane for your rack after drawing an S. 39

Book ReviewPuzzler’s Word Guide 2012Compiled by Don HadleyB O O K R E V I E WAt this year’s BAT (Boston Area Tournament) I had the pleasureof playing Carmel Dodd, from Australia, in the Collins division.She was the ideal competitor: both a strong player and a friendly,outgoing person. As the tournament ended, she suggested I geta copy of Don Hadley’s Puzzler’s Word Guide 2012. Sheshowed me her well-worn copy, and I put in an order with BobJackman (rjackman@ozemail.com.au).This book is the perfect book for any Collins player--especially anew player like me. It basically serves the same function as theTWL OWL2 (Official Word List for Club and Tuornament Play,2nd Edition), in that it lists all the 2- to 8-letter words acceptablein the Collins lexicon, with no definitions. However, it goesbeyond this by also listing front and back hooks and anagramsfor each word. In the front of the book Hadley includes a quickreference guide to Q words without U, 2-letter words, 3-letterwords, and 3- to 8-letter words deleted in 2012 (useful for playerswho started playing Collins before January, 2012).The book’s handy size (5-3/4 x 8-1/4) make it easy to carry or place in a handbag, much as I do withthe similarly sized OWL2 in the TWL division. Despite being 482 pages long, it isn’t bulky, thanks toa light paper stock and a small but readable typeface.The author uses bold and italic fonts to indicate main words and anagrams; extensions are in aregular font. Words added in 2012 have an asterisk. While there is no introduction telling thereader how to use the book (other than the example on the cover), that posed no problem. Forexample:ABASBABASCABASYABAS*ABASEABASHABASKBAASThis presentation helps me truly understand how to use a word in my game. ABAS takes fronthooks of B, C, and Y; back hooks of E, H, and K; and anagrams to BAAS.Players using both TWL and CSW lexicons may prefer consulting Bob’s British Bible and Bob’sColor-Coded British Bible (both by Bob Gillis), as these books indicate which words are good in bothlexicons. However, for a simple reference handbook for the Collins player, Puzzler’s Word Guide2012 is superb!40

Word Trivia QuizBy Siri TillekeratneW O R D T R I V I A Q U I ZThe following words whose unique meanings are given were added to the OSPD in 2006. What arethose words?1. A spherical bacterium2. To pack tightly3. A silvery marine fish4. A deep cooking pot with two handles5. A ragged garment6. A fish of the mackerel family7. To slide with short movements8. An elastic band for fastening the hair9. Clean trash10. Tedious or menial workANSWERS on next page.Siri Tillekeratne is a director of the Calgary NASPA SCRABBLE® Club #374 and a former Directorof the Year. 41

W O R D T R I V I A Q U I ZANSWERS1. A spherical bacterium SARCINA/S/E2. To pack tightly SARDINE/S/D/NING3. A silvery marine fish SARGO/S4. A deep cooking pot with two handles SAUCEPOT/S5. A ragged garment SCHMATTE/S6. A fish of the mackerel family SCOMBRID/S7. To slide with short movements SCOOCH/ES/ED/ING,SCOOTCH/ES/ED/ING8. An elastic band for fastening the hair SCRUNCHY/CHIES9. Clean trash SCULCH/ES, SCULTCH/ES10. Tedious or menial work SCUTWORK/S42

K N O W T H E R U L E SKnow the RulesBy Jan Cardia, NASPA Rules Committee ChairJan Cardia, a longtime expert player and chair of the NASPA Rules Committee,writes this monthly column on rules for The Last Word. We are thrilled to haveJan sharing her rules expertise with our readers, and we encourage you toemail any questions you may have about tournament and club rules toCorneliaSGuest@gmail.com. (Photo credit: Jill Jarrell)________________________________________________________________________Question:I am confused about when it is permissible to change a score once the tally slips havebeen turned in. Do the score sheets have to indicate the agreed-upon score?Answer:Yes, the rule states that the two players have to agree to the change and that they have toshow their score sheets as confirmation that it was before the fact and simply a misreportingerror. No other corrections can be made.Jan Cardia has been playing competitive SCRABBLE® for 32 years and in tournaments for 29years. She has been a member of the Rules Committee since its inception. She divides her timebetween New York City with her husband, Aldo, and Delaware, where her children andgrandchildren all reside. 43

S C R A B B L E I N T H E N E W SSCRABBLE® and Scrabblers in the NewsEdited by Judy ColeSee something about SCRABBLE® or a SCRABBLE® player in the news? Let us know! Send yourstories to Judy Cole (judithcole@msn.com)._______________________________________________________________________________Tourney TalkSCRABBLE® clubs and tournaments are in thenews: SCRABBLE® and Scrabblers in theNews• Whangarei (NZ) – Alex Leckie-Zaharic, at12 years old, is the youngest person ever toqualify and play in the New Zealand NationalMasters Championship held at the end ofMarch.Alex, whose favoriteword is EUOUAE#,has yet to cash in buthas won a chocolatefondue maker,popcorn machine,and doughnut makerin past competitions.• Dublin (Ireland) – On April 20 and 21, 2013,Paul Gallen won the All IrelandSCRABBLE® Tournament with plays suchas OUTBAKE and BLUELINE.The win in Dublinmoved Paul fromfifth to fourth in theworld SCRABBLE®rankings.Belfast Telegraph(04/24/2013) http://APRIL MILESTONESMACK MELLER reached 2000 for the first timeat the BAT in Westford (MA).BEN SCHOENBRUN reached 2000 for the firsttime at the Poughkeepsie (NY) tournament.CHRIS WILLIAMS reached 1900 for the firsttime at the Seattle (WA) tournament.DANIEL CITRON reached 1800 for the firsttime at the Rome (NY) tournament.CARMEL DODD reached 1800 (Collins) for thefirst time at the BAT in Westford (MA).JIM BROOKS reached 1700 for the first timeat the Seattle (WA) tournament.KOLTON KOEHLER reached 1700 for the firsttime at the Portland (OR) tournament.SHAN ABBASI reached 1600 for the first timeat the Toronto (ON) tournament.JUDY ROMANN reached 1600 for the first timeat the Portland (OR) tournament.DANIEL BLAKE reached 1500 for the first timeat the BAT in Westford (MA).MICHAEL KAPERNAROS reached 1500 forthe first time at the St. Louis Park (MN)tournament.LEAH KRULEY reached 1500 for the first timeat the Portland (OR) tournament.TVNZ (03/31/2013) http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/scrabble-champs-getyoungest-ever-competitor-5390708www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/localnational/northern-ireland/two-words-youve-probably-never-heard-of-one-isnt-even-in-the-oxforddictionary-but-they-helped-to-make-paul-gallen-a-scrabble-champion-29214314.html44

S C R A B B L E I N T H E N E W S• Esperance (Australia) - Melville Club competitor Louise Love took 13.5 wins out of a possible16 games at Esperance's first SCRABBLE® tournament.All players received a tile bag featuringleaping dolphins, the word Esperance,and the dates of the tournament andenjoyed a bus ridearound Esperance's beaches, windfarm, and Lake Monjingup at the end ofthe tournament.Brain PowerNASPA co-president John Chew was interviewed on the radio program Life Elsewhere for asegment “Brains and How to Use Them” – along with crossword celebrities Rex Parker (MichaelSharp) and Merl Reagle on April 1, 2013.You can listen to the interview at http://sound.wmnf.org/sound/wmnf_130401_090617_life1_391.MP3.Buddying UpCharlotte Magazine (May, 2013) profiled the Chemo Buddies program thatlocal SCRABBLE® player Katya Lezin began at the Levine Cancer Institutelast November.An average of 20 patients a day ask a buddy to accompany them to theirtreatments.The Esperance Express (05/13/2013)http://www.esperanceexpress.com.au/story/1467074/esperance-hosts-itsfirst-scrabble-tournament/?cs=2150http://www.charlottemagazine.com/Charlotte-Magazine/May-2013/Buddy-System/School DaysStudents playing SCRABBLE® are in the news:• National School SCRABBLE® Championship – 89 teams of fourth through eighth gradecompeted on May 3 and 4, 2013, in Washington, DC. 45

S C R A B B L E I N T H E N E W SA team of 8 th graders from North Carolina, Kevin Bowerman and Raymond Gao, won the eventand the $10,000 first prize. Second place went to Thomas Draper, a 7 th grader from NewJersey, and Sam Masling, an 8 th grader from DC.North Fork Patch (04/23/2013) http://northfork.patch.com/groups/around-town/p/greenportsnational-scrabble-association-hosts-competitionThe Washington Post (05/04/2013) http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/national-schoolscrabble-championship-taking-place-in-washington-teams-of-2-competing/2013/05/04/8494124eb4e8-11e2-9fb1-62de9581c946_story.htmlWTOP (05/07/2013) http://www.wtop.com/109/3310584/Young-Scrabble-champs-crownedWFMY News (05/05/2013) http://www.digtriad.com/news/local/article/283472/327/Chapel-Hill-8th-Graders-Are-Natl-Scrabble-ChampsWTVD-TV (05/05/2013) http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/local&id=9091082My Fox 8 (05/05/2013) http://myfox8.com/2013/05/05/nc-eighth-graders-win-10k-at-scrabblechampionship/WRAL-TV (05/06/2013) http://www.wral.com/chapel-hill-teens-take-home-top-scrabble-prize/12416336/Purple Pawn (05/06/2013) http://www.purplepawn.com/2013/05/2013-student-scrabblechampions/•Hampton Bays (NY) – Hampton Bays Elementary Schoolscheduled the 3 rd annual SCRABBLE® ‘Fun’ Raiser for April 7,2013.All funds raised from the 3-game team tournament will be used todefray the costs of the school’s team attending the NationalSchool SCRABBLE® Championship in Washington, DC.Westhampton-Hampton Bays Patch (03/26/2013) http://westhampton-hamptonbays.patch.com/groups/editors-picks/p/don-t-miss-it46

S C R A B B L E I N T H E N E W SWesthampton-Hampton Bays Patch (05/01/2013) http://westhampton-hamptonbays.patch.com/groups/schools/p/hampton-bays-students-head-to-scrabble-championship•Hannibal (NY) – Third and fourth graders at the FairleyElementary School are happily staying an extra hour to playSCRABBLE®. As one student commented, “I think about itall day. I can’t wait!”The Valley News (03/30/2013) http://valleynewsonline.com/blog/2013/03/30/scrabble-club-spells-fun-for-fairleystudents/• Stamford (CT) – The 2013 New England School SCRABBLE® Championship in Stamford onApril 20, 2013.••Lola and Lucy Panagos, who participate in the Pequot Library SCRABBLE®Club led by Cornelia Guest, won a prize for High Word – BLOUSES for 104points – at the 2013 New England School SCRABBLE® Championship inStamford on April 20, 2013.Fairfield Sun (04/30/2013) http://www.fairfield-sun.com/11837/pequots-scrabbleclub-member-wins-at-scrabbler-championship/••Two Ridgefield (CT) 6th graders, Fiona Fisher Sleigh andMaura Murphy, won the Novice Division with a 5-0 +757 recordand were named Sixth Grade Champions.The Ridgefield Press (05/07/2013) http://www.theridgefieldpress.com/17459/ridgefield-team-wins-divisionat-regional-scrabble-championship/•Eastern Greene County (IN) - The Eastern Greene MiddleSchool Pep Band played and the students cheered at a pep sessionon April 30, 2013, for the team headed to the National SchoolSCRABBLE® Championship.The four teams played with enthusiasm and integrity at theChampionship and enjoyed the sights in DC, including a duck tour, avisit to Woodrow Wilson’s house, and Union Station.Greene County Daily World (05/01/2013) http://www.gcdailyworld.com/story/1965167.htmlGreene County Daily World (05/10/2013) http://www.gcdailyworld.com/story/1968040.html 47

Nigel on Jeopardy!S C R A B B L E I N T H E N E W SNigel Richards was in – rather on – Jeopardy! on May 10, 2013 as part of $200clue in the category, They Are the Champions.Batter UpNew York City (NY) SCRABBLE® player and baseball enthusiast Diane Firstman combined hertwo interests by analyzing the Opening Day rosters of the Major League teams for the acceptabilityin SCRABBLE®.Franklin Morales of the Boston Red Sox wins the MVP award since both his first and last namescan be played while Joba Chamberlain of the New York Yankees has the longest acceptable word.ESPN (04/06/2013) http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/34504/ranking-teams-by-bestscrabble-rostersWake UpWoodlawn (ON) SCRABBLE® playerDonna Balkan plays the narrator in theRural Root Theatre Company’s springproduction of The Drowsy Chaperone onMay 1 through 7, 2013.Donna used her commute to downtownOttawa to learn her lines: “A reading ofthe play was recorded onto a CD, and Ilearned my lines listening to it in the carall the way to work and all the way backfor weeks and weeks.”Will a Zyzzva CD be her next commutingcompanion?+upcoming+Rural+Root+Theatre%27s+musicalWest Carleton EMC (04/18/2013) http://www.emcwestcarleton.ca/20130418/entertainment/Talent+shines+in48

S C R A B B L E I N T H E N E W STeam ToyotaWhile you can play neither TOYOTA* nor AVALON*, you can now play onlineSCRABBLE® on a Toyota Avalon board.The Avalon Luxury Kit provides a new board and tiles (as well as a permanent ad)and will unlock tile tracking if you play words associated with the Avalon threetimes.http://www.dealerelite.net/profiles/blogs/toyota-turns-to-scrabble-to-find-avalonbuyers-2?xg_source=activityBombs AwayWith the help of students from Clary Sage College's interiordesign program, Jeanne and Daniel Davies have converted a1950s bomb shelter in their backyard into a tornado shelterand play room.Games available in the shelter include SCRABBLE® andUncle Wiggly.Tulsa World (05/04/2013) http://www.tulsaworld.com/article.aspx/Tulsans_turn_bomb_shelter_into_space_for_fun_games/20130504_43_d1_cutlin342591?subj=4Crystal ClearCrystal Light Liquid sponsored the Biggest Words With Friends Giveaway on May8, 2013. Players could win prizes for playing specific words - FUN, DIET, ZERO,MIX, YUM, SIP, GIRL, FRUIT, WATER and LIGHT - as often as possible during thegiveaway.http://www.friends.crystallightliquid.com/Scrabbling for a CauseSCRABBLE® tournaments as fundraisers are in the news:• Beacon Falls (CT) – On March 21, 2013, the Friends of Beacon Falls Library held its fifth annualLetters for Our Library SCRABBLE® Challenge. Fourteen teams participated in the challenge,which raised $2,500 for the library building fund.Citizen’s News (03/31/2013) http://www.mycitizensnews.com/columns/2013/03/letter-scrabblechallenge-a-success-due-to-support/ 49

S C R A B B L E I N T H E N E W S• Danville (IL) – The 8 th annual SCRABBLE® for Literacy event, scheduled for April 6-7, 2013,was expected to draw about 65 participants to Danville Area Community College (DACC). Theevent consists of 2 1-day NASPA-rated tournaments as well as an unrated tournament for acasual players and an open house for casual play.Proceeds from the SCRABBLE® tournament entry fees will be used to provide a $500scholarship for a literacy student or instructional materials used by the DACC Reader’s Routeprogram.Commercial News (03/25/2013) http://commercial-news.com/local/x1499312824/Wordsmithsready-for-Scrabble-tourney• Baltimore (MD) - Around 200 people are expected to attend the Greater Homewood CommunityCorporation's 12th annual SCRABBLE® Fundraiser for Literacy on Saturday, April 6, 2013.Attendees will include tournament regulars Tobey Roland, who once played TRISTEZA for 228points, and Dave Engelhardt, who once score158 points for DUMPIEST.The Baltimore Sun (04/06/2013) http://touch.baltimoresun.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-75227742/••Cheyenne (WY) – On April 12, 2013, the Word Birdsof Cheyenne SCRABBLE® Club held the 1 st NationalSCRABBLE® Day Tournament for Alzheimer’s. 14players competed in the 4-round tournament.The tournament raised $700 through entry fees,program adverstising, donations, and a raffle, whichinclude a hand-made SCRABBLE® quilt.http://wyominginmotion.com/?p=254http://wyominginmotion.com/?p=25850

S C R A B B L E I N T H E N E W S•Worcester (MA) – On April 6, 2013, the team fromBay State Bank repeated as champion at the annualLiteracy Volunteers of Greater WorcesterSCRABBLE® tournament.The team took advantage of the opportunity to buyextra Z tiles and played ZYZZYVA, ZUZIM, ZANZA,and ZZZZ*. Another team, the Dictionary Divas,played the longest word, BENZODIAPINES*.Worcester Telegram & Gazette (04/06/2013) http://www.telegram.com/article/20130408/NEWS/104089965/-1/NEWS06• Lompoc (CA) – The Lompoc Public Library hosted the annual SCRABBLE® Mania to benefitliteracy programs on April 14, 2013.For a $20 registration fee, players enjoyed 2 games, dinner, dessert, and prizes. Trophies wereawarded to the highest scorer at the beginner, intermediate, and advanced level.Lompoc Record (04/16/2013) http://www.lompocrecord.com/news/local/war-of-the-words/article_334371c6-a658-11e2-b746-001a4bcf887a.html•Norton (UK) – Craig Beevers and Ray Tate tookpart in a SCRABBLE® marathon to beat the worldrecord for most points scored in SCRABBLE® overa 24-hour period on April 20 and 21, 2013.Playing 240 games, the pair raised funds for DaisyChain, Norton’s autism charity, and End Polio Now.Gazette Live (04/23/2013) http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/2013/04/23/norton-wordsmith-craig-beevers-beatsworld-scrabble-record-84229-33221392/ 51

S C R A B B L E I N T H E N E W S•Toronto (ON) – Toronto (ON) Vivienne Muhling was interviewedon Celebrity Chat on April 28, 2013, about her career in theatreand the SCRABBLE® With the Stars fundraiser on May 6, 2013.The fundraiser benefits the Performing Arts Lodges whereVivienne has lived since 1999.http://www.blogtalkradio.com/commffestradio/2013/04/28/community-chat?fb_action_ids=10151380246411016&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_ref=.UX1ogUnVdl4.send&fb_source=other_multiline&action_object_map=%7B%2210151380246411016%22%3A409530332488261%7D&action_type_map=%7B%2210151380246411016%22%3A%22og.likes%22%7D&action_ref_map=%7B%2210151380246411016%22%3A%22.UX1ogUnVdl4.send%22%7D•Eau Claire (WI) – On April 25, 2013, the SCRABBLE® Bee raised arecord $40,000 for Literacy Volunteers of the Chippewa Valley.WQOW (04/26/2013) http://www.wqow.com/story/22093741/2013/04/26/record-setting-scrabble-bee-for-literacy-volunteers•Salisbury (NC) – The annual SCRABBLE® Scramble on April 30,2013, raised about $3,500 to benefit the Rowan County LiteracyCouncil.65 players on 8 teams competed over 3 rounds to makethe highest score after the emcee provides the startingplay - ANNIVERSARY, TENTH, and SEQUESTRATION.Salisbury Post (05/01/2013) http://www.salisburypost.com/article/20130501/SP01/130509991/1006/literacy-council-spells-x201ccompetition-x201d-s-c-r-a-b-b-l-e• Greensboro (NC) – The annual SCRABBLE® Challenge at the West Market Street UnitedMethodist Church raised $24,000 for Reading Connections, which provides free and confidentialbasic literacy services to adults.WFMY News http://www.digtriad.com/video/default.aspx?bctid=234200983700152

S C R A B B L E I N T H E N E W S•Enfield (CT) – The 9 th annual SCRABBLE®Challenge for Literacy took place April 25, 2013, inEnfield.Journal Inquirer http://www.journalinquirer.com/living/out_and_about/out-about-th-annual-scrabblechallenge-for-literacy/collection_566b51eeb357-11e2-8a9e-0019bb2963f4.htmlBig BoardFor his Eagle Scout project, Vincent Alcorn, a Lakeland HighSchool senior, created a giant SCRABBLE® board for theHighland (MI) Public Library to benefit those with poor eyesight.The folding, hinged wooden board measures 5 feet by 5 feet andis being used in both the adult and teen services areas of thelibrary.Observer & Eccentric (05/09/2013) http://www.hometownlife.com/article/20130509/NEWS11/305090410/Scout-creates-giant-Scrabble-set-Highland-libraryDrive His CarTed Gest, co-director of Washington (DC) NASPA Club #171, analyzes the playability of words hesees while driving. When he looks at his license plate, he sees SYZYGY.The Washington Examiner (04/06/2013) http://washingtonexaminer.com/3-minute-interview-3-minute-interview-scrabble-expert-ted-gest/article/2526391HolidayDid you celebrate National SCRABBLE® Day – April 13 th ?To commemorate the holiday, David Bukszpan, the author of Is That AWord?, offered a poem to help you remember the 2-letter words.The Daily Beast (04/13/2013) http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/04/13/national-scrabble-day-a-poem-so-you-ll-know-all-101-twoletter-words.html 53

SCRABBLE® CelebritiesCelebrities share our love of the game.S C R A B B L E I N T H E N E W S•Rosario Dawson and James McAvoy, stars of the art heistthriller Trance, relaxed between takes by playing Words WithFriends.Rosario commented, “We'd be doing these really intense scenesand then as soon as it cut, I'd be like, ‘OK, your turn!’”http://www.contactmusic.com/news/scrabble-mad-rosario-dawsonand-james-mcavoy_3578896• One Direction singer Harry Styles tweeted on April 21, 2013: “Just lost SCRABBLE® by 5points. To my mother.”Celebrity Teen Scoop (04/21/2013) http://www.celebrityteenscoop.com/2013/04/21/harry-stylesplaya/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=harry-styles-playa• President Obama’s half-sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, whom he calls Kid, exchange SCRABBLE®moves daily on their iPads.The Republic (04/29/2013) http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/obama-sister/obama-sisterJudy Cole is co-director of the Lexington MA Scrabble® #108 and solves crossword puzzles whennot playing SCRABBLE®.54

S C R A B B L E S T R A T E G Y V I D E O G U I D ESCRABBLE® Strategy Video GuideTile TrackingBy Curran EggertsonThe tenth video (an easy one!) in my series of SCRABBLE strategy tutorials. Something that waytoo many people ignore or have never considered... TILE TRACKING. What is it? How do you do it?How does it help? Lots of useful information in here.Click photo below to watch the video. To download some sample tracking sheets, click http://www.scribd.com/doc/141158524/Track-SheetsXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 55

S C R A B B L E C H A M P I O N S T O U R N A M E N TSCRABBLE® Champions Tournament AnnouncedFirst 11 Chosen for TeamUSAOn May 1 Sam Kantimathi of the NASPA International Committee announced the selection of thefirst eleven members of the 14-player TeamUSA:Dave Wiegand, ORNathan Benedict, AZSam Kantimathi, CADave Wiegand, ORJohn O'Laughlin, MAChris Cree, TXGeoff Thevenot, TXBrian Bowman, KYJesse Day, CADavid Koenig, MDMarty Gabriel, ILConrad Bassett-Bouchard, CAThree more players will qualify for the team roster at the World SCRABBLE® ChampionshipQualifying Tournament in Princeton, NJ, June 14-16.On May 17 Mattel announced that this year’s World SCRABBLE® Championship will be renamedThe SCRABBLE® Champions Tournament and will take place at the Andel’s Hotel, Prague,December 3-8, with a guaranteed prize fund of $25,000. The Tournament will be split into Elite andOpen events, with the Elite event by invitation only to the players qualified by their countries for theformer WSC. The Open event will be open to all entrants. A copy of the release with completeinformation follows.Scrabble® Champions Tournament Set to Debut in PragueChampionship Event Evolves to Bring Exciting New Challenges and Formats to Scrabble® PlayersEL SEGUNDO, CA (May 17, 2013) Prague is set to play host to The Scrabble® Champions Tournament, anexciting new annual tournament that brings together the best Scrabble® players.Formerly known as the World Scrabble® Championships, The Scrabble Champions Tournament will takeplace at the Andel’s Hotel, Prague from December 3rd – December 8th, with a guaranteed prize fund of$25,000.The event celebrates top ranked players and encourages up-and-coming Scrabble game enthusiasts to takepart in a refreshing new format.“We are pleased to be creating an exciting new event that will not only create a great tournament for thevery best players but will also encourage new players to get involved and challenge themselves in a fun andfriendly format,” comments Elizabeth Grampp, Global Marketing Director, Mattel Games.“2013 is a year of evolution and enhancement for our Scrabble brand. Not only do we have a brand newlook, new variations, and new community initiatives launching, but our commitment to the live Scrabble56

S C R A B B L E C H A M P I O N S T O U R N A M E N Ttournament scene is evolving thanks to our partnership with key territory associations and leading eventmanagement consultancy, Mind Sports (International) Ltd. It is an extremely exciting time for all Scrabbleplayers," stated Grampp.Honoring players that have competed for the past two years for a place at the prestigious event, TheScrabble Champions Tournament will this year adopt the same entry procedure as the past World ScrabbleChampionships. The newly created Elite Tournament is by invitation only and will recognize the qualificationplaces pre-assigned to each participating country, with over 100 places going to the best, spanning fivecontinents.For up-and-coming players, an Open event has been created to sit within The Scrabble ChampionsTournament. This event welcomes new players to the tournament for the first time and encourages broaderparticipation.The Elite and Open events within The Scrabble Champions Tournament will be conducted in English, with aseries of language-specific side events set to take place as part of the annual Prague Mind Sports FestivalScrabble schedule, which takes place around The Scrabble Champions Tournament. This gives players fromnon-English speaking countries the opportunity to compete in their native languages and again encouragesnew players to test their skills, regardless of their knowledge of the English dictionary.For further information on The Scrabble Champions Tournament, the event schedule and structure, pleasevisit: www.praguemindsportsfestival.comTeamUSA: The first 11Dave Wiegand, from Portland, Oregon, has been playing tournamentSCRABBLE for the last 20 years. He has won 70 tournaments and is a two-timewinner of the National SCRABBLE Championship (2005 and 2009). Othermajor wins include Reno (1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2008); Seattle (1997,2000, 2004, 2005, 2008 and CSW 2011); Portland (1997, 1998, 2000, 2001,2002, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2011, and CSW 2012); the Silicon Valley Showdown(2000, 2003); the Western Canadian Championship (2006, 2007); Phoenix(2007); the Dallas Open (2007, 2010, 2011); the California Open (2008);Vancouver (2009); Can-Am (2011); Ashland (CSW, 2011); New Orleans (CSW, 2012); Malibu (CSW,2012); and Las Vegas (CSW, 2013). He has competed in 13 National SCRABBLE Championships,the 1995 SCRABBLE Superstars Showdown, and the 2003 All Stars Championship. He has playedfor TeamUSA at the World SCRABBLE Championship in 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2009, and 2011,finishing 3rd in 2009 and 4th in 2011. His current CSW rating is 2031 (peak 2081), making him the6th ranked Collins player in the United States.Nathan Benedict, from Tucson, AZ, started playing tournament SCRABBLE in1998, moving to a 1700+ rating at the end of a year. Since then he has won 32tournaments, with major wins at Irvine (1998); Scottsdale (1998); Grand Canyon(2003); Los Gatos (2004); Albuquerque (2004, 2009); Tucson (2004); Las Vegas(2005); Portland (2006); Reno (2007, 2009); Chicago (2007); Phoenix (2008);Albuquerque (2009); Sacramento (CSW, 2010); Phoenix (CSW, 2011); and LasVegas (2012, CSW). He has played for TeamUSA at the last three WorldSCRABBLE Championships, finishing 12th of 108 in 2009. His current CSWrating is 2058 (peak 2075), making him the top-ranked Collins player in the United States. 57

58S C R A B B L E C H A M P I O N S T O U R N A M E N TSam Kantimathi, from Sacramento, CA, has been playing tournamentSCRABBLE in the United States since the early 1980s. He has won 47tournaments, most impressively the inaugural Collins National Championship inOrlando last year. Other major wins include the Thailand International (1984);the Manila International (1997--$10,000 first prize!); Wisconsin Dells (2001); theSilicon Valley Showdown (2001); Tucson (2001); Albany (2008); the DallasTournament of Champions (2008); Phoenix (2009); Victoria (CSW, 2010); andthe ArdenCup (CSW, 2011). He has played in over 400 tournaments, including17 National SCRABBLE Championships, the 1995 SCRABBLE Superstars Showdown, and the2003 All Stars Championship. He has played for TeamUSA at the World SCRABBLE Championshipin 2003, 2007, and 2009, finishing 29th of 104 in 2007. His current CSW rating is 2047 (peak 2054),making him the 2nd ranked Collins player in the United States.John O’Laughlin, from Boston, MA, has been playing tournament SCRABBLEsince 2001. He has won 26 tournaments, including Twin Cities (2002, 2007);Baltimore (2007); the Texas SOWPODS Challenge (CSW, 2008); the MaineEvent (2008); Seattle (CSW, 2010); Bethesda (CSW, 2011); BAT (CSW, 2011and 2013); Portsmouth (CSW, 2011); Old Greenwich (CSW, 2011); and Portland(CSW, 2013). He has played for TeamUSA at the last five World SCRABBLEChampionships, finishing 14th of 102 in 2005. His current CSW rating is 2039(peak 2045), making him the 4th ranked Collins player in the United States.Chris Cree, from Dallas, TX, has been playing tournament SCRABBLE for forover 30 years. He has played in more than 400 tournaments, winning 92. Hismajor wins include Dallas (1983); Reno (1989); the Texas State Championship(1991, 1992, 2012); Tucson (2000); Phoenix (2002); Mid-Cities (2003, 2008);Houston (2003, 2007); the ArdenCup (2006); Oklahoma City (2009); Columbia(2010); Austin (2010, 2011, 2012); Irving (2011, 2012); Orlando (2012); and theEastern Championship (2013). He has played for TeamUSA at the WorldSCRABBLE Championships in 2001 and 2011, finishing 73rd of 106 in 2011.His current CSW rating is 1875 (peak 1891), making him the 21st ranked Collins player in theUnited States.Geoff Thevenot, from Austin, TX, has been playing tournament SCRABBLEsince 2003. He has played in 100 tournaments, winning 22, including majorwins at the Can-Am Match (2007); the Texas State Championship (2008, 2011);Austin (2009); Phoenix (CSW, 2010); the California Open (2010); Waco (2012);and New Orleans (CSW, 2013). He has played for TeamUSA at the last threeWorld SCRABBLE Championships, finishing 16th of 106 in 2011 and 21st in2009 and 2007. His current CSW rating is 2010, making him the 8th rankedCollins player in the United States.Brian Bowman, from Villa Hills, KY, has been playing tournament SCRABBLEsince 2006. He has played in 86 tournaments, winning 22. His major winsinclude Pontiac, MI (2008); Elyria, OH (2008, 2010, 2013); Pittsburgh (2009);Warren, MI (2010); Akron, OH (CSW, 2010); Cleveland (2010); Findlay, OH(2011); Albany, NY (CSW, 2013); and Port Clinton, OH (2013). He has playedfor Team USA at the last two World SCRABBLE Championships, finishing 23rdof 108 in 2009. His current CSW rating is 1984 (peak 2008), making him the11th ranked Collins player in the United States.

S C R A B B L E C H A M P I O N S T O U R N A M E N TJesse Day, from Berkeley, CA, has been playing tournament SCRABBLE since2005. He has played in 90 tournaments, winning 22. His major wins include NewYork (2008); Arcata, CA (2011); New Orleans (2012, 2013); Portland, OR (2012);Oakland, CA (2012); and Las Vegas (2013). He finished 3rd in last year’s NationalSCRABBLE Championship. His current CSW rating is 2031, making him the 5thranked Collins player in the United States. This will be his first time playing forTeamUSA at a World SCRABBLE Championship.David Koenig, from Silver Spring, MD, has been playing tournamentSCRABBLE since 2002, when he won his very first tournament. He has playedin 102 tournaments, winning 17. His major wins include Philadelphia (2007);BAT (CSW, 2012); Pittsburgh (CSW, 2012); and Cambridge, MD (CSW 2012).He played for TeamUSA for the first time at the 2011 World SCRABBLEChampionship, finishing 62nd of 106. His current CSW rating is 2012 (peak2018), making him the 7th ranked Collins player in the United States.Marty Gabriel, from Charleston, IL, has been playing tournament SCRABBLEsince 1996. He has played in 145 tournaments, winning 15. His major winsinclude Elmhurst, IL (1999, 2000, 2003); Peoria, IL (2003); and Wisconsin Dells(2004). He has played for TeamUSA at the last three World ScrabbleChampionships, finishing 46th of 106 in 2011. His current CSW rating is 1980,making him the 12th ranked Collins player in the United States.Conrad Bassett-Bouchard, from Piedmont, CA, has been playing tournamentSCRABBLE since 2004. He has played in 95 North American tournaments,winning 19. He also has played overseas, winning the Princess Cup in 2011and rising to the top of the WESPA rankings, where he is currently rankedsecond to Nigel Richards with a WESPA rating of 2220. His major wins includePhoenix (2010) and Seattle (2010). His current CSW rating is 2006, making himthe 9th ranked Collins player in the United States. This will be his first timeplaying on Team USA at a World SCRABBLE Championship. 59

Word StarBy Jeff KastnerW O R D S T A RPlay Word Star, a word game with similarities to Boggle, created and presented each month by Phoenix, AZexpert Jeff Kastner.The puzzle grid is in the shape of a hexagram…also known as the “Star of David.”Your object is to find and list as many words as possible, using only the 7 letters contained in the Word Starpuzzle. All words must be OWL2 or Long List acceptable.There are 3 basic rules to finding words within a Word Star puzzle:1. Words must be at least 3 or more letters long (with no limit on how long the word can be).2. Words are formed by using letters that adjoin each other. For example, the words TON andSUM are acceptable, but not TIN, because the “I” and the “N” are not neighboring letters.3. Letters within a word may repeat as many times as possible, as long as such letters arerepeated twice (or thrice) in a row, or as long as Rule 2 is followed. So, for example, ONTO andMUSS are acceptable. But MUTT would not be acceptable because the “U” and the “T” are notadjoining.• Note that the Center Star, located in the white middle portion of the puzzle, is the most importantletter. It is the only letter that adjoins each of the 6 others in the puzzle. In addition, there are bonuspoints awarded for using the Center Star as often as possible. The Center Star in this month’s puzzleis the letter “O.”60

W O R D S T A RMultiple forms of the same word are acceptable (for example, RATE, RATED, RATER, RATERS, andRATES would all be fine, if they were in the puzzle). No points are awarded (and no penalty points areassessed) for any entries on your word list that are not in the OWL2 or the Long List, or that do not adhereto the above rules.Points are scored as follows:• 2 Points for each WORD found.• 5 Bonus Points for each BINGO (7 or more letters) found.• 1 Point for each LETTER of every word found.• 1 Bonus Point for each CENTER STAR of every word found.Example of Points Scored:Let’s say a Word Star puzzle has an “S” as the Center Star letter, and your list consists of the followingwords:ATTIREATTIRESSATSATESATIRESATIRESTIRETIRESYour score would be:• 16 Points for the 8 WORDS found.• 10 Bonus Points for the 2 BINGOS (ATTIRES and SATIRES) found.• 42 Points for each of the 42 LETTERS used in the 8 words.• 7 Bonus Points for each CENTER STAR used (the letter “S” is used 7 times).TOTAL SCORE in this imaginary example = 75 Points.Par Scores for this month’s Word Star:285 points (Novice); 425 points (Intermediate); 540 points (Advanced)Once you’ve compiled your list, check out my SOLUTION on the next page.See you next month with another Word Star puzzle! …Jeff KastnerJeff Kastner, originally from New York City, has been living in Phoenix, AZ since 1985. Jeff is one of ahandful of players who has ever been ranked in the USA-top-50 in both SCRABBLE® and chess. He is the2010-2011 Phoenix SCRABBLE® Club champion, the 2011-12 Phoenix “Floating” Club champion, as wellas the 2011 Scottsdale SCRABBLE® Club champ. 61

W O R D S T A RWord Star Solution for: The Last Word May 2013IONIONSMIMMITTMITTIMUSMOMMOMIMOMUSMONMONOMONOSMONOTONOUSMONSMONSOONMONSOONSMOOMOONMOONSMOOSMOOTMOSMOSSMOSSOMOTMOTIONMOTIONSMOTTMOTTOMOTTOSMUMMUMMMUMUMUMUSMUONMUONSMUSMUSSMUUMUUMUUMUUSNOMNOMOINOMOSNOONOONNOONSNOSNOTNOTIONNOTIONSNOUSOMITONOONOSONSONTOOOTOTTOOTTOSSNOOTSNOTSOMSONSONSSOONSOOTSOSSOTSOUSOUSSUMSUMMITSUMMONSUMMONSSUMOSUMOSSUSSTITTITITOITTOMTONTONSTOOTOOMTOONTOONSTOOTTOSSTOTUMMPAR SCORES: 285 points (Novice); 425 points (Intermediate); 540 points (Advanced)BEST SCORE:2 Points for each WORD found:90 Words = 180 points.5 Bonus Points for each BINGO found:8 Bingos = 40 points.1 Point for each LETTER of every word found:387 Letters = 387 points.1 Bonus Point for each CENTER STAR of every word found:113 O’s = 113 points.TOTAL = 720 Points62

The WordsmithLondon (and York) callingBy Chris SinacolaT H E W O R D S M I T HI cannot sleep on airplanes. I cannot understand how anyone can. So, the second half of mylinguistic tour of the Celtic and Anglo-Saxon lands – this time to England and Scotland - began asmy first had, with five-plus hours to read history.This time, it was Simon Jenkins’ A Short History of England, which offered a useful, whirlwind tour ofEnglish history from William the Conqueror to Queen Elizabeth and most everything in between –particularly useful for someone like me whose grasp of English history is suspect.The flight over was actually two flights, with a one-hour stop in Rekjavik, where we puzzled over theprices in the gift shop (in kronor) and soon concluded that everything was more expensive than ourbudgets and conscience would allow us to spend.I can’t tell you much about the Icelandic language, except to say that it is a North Germaniclanguage and distantly related to English, in the way that a third cousin twice-removed is related –you know you have something in common, but it might take hours over dinner to discover exactlywhat it is, and the rest of the time you have to put up with a harsh scraping sound that makes nosense to you.Once we had landed in England, made our bus connections, checked into the hotel and so forth, wehad a precious two hours of free time remaining in our first day. Several of our group decided to visitthe British Museum.If, as we did, you have about 90 minutes to see 8.5 million objects, you can do worse than to startwith the Rosetta Stone. Of all the artifacts on the planet, this is surely among the few that mattermost to language mavens.Young folks, and maybe a number of older folks, may think of a language instruction company whenthey hear “Rosetta Stone,” but the actual stone was, of course, the key to deciphering ancientEgyptian.Thanks to later discoveries, it is no longer the case that the Rosetta Stone is the only key tounlocking the Egyptian past, but it is surely true that the history of Egyptology and ourunderstanding of one of the world’s great civilizations would have unfolded in a very different andprobably much slower way without it.Egyptologists may dispute me on this point, but I think it fair to say that the Rosetta Stone’sdiscovery and translation in the early 19 th century played a role in spurring exploration of Egypt andother regions of the Middle East.Those explorations would, within a few decades, see Britain establish herself as the dominant forcethroughout the Middle East, Africa and Southern Asia, with enormous geo-political and socioeconomicconsequences that have echoed to the present day.And, lest we forget the linguistic consequences, it is surely the case that that British encounter withthe world – and British hegemony over large swathes of the globe – enriched British English and, in 63

64T H E W O R D S M I T Hturn, American English. We word-game players are the beneficiaries of a long, often bloody, and inmany ways inequitable history of empire.The world might be a fairer and better place had the British remained on their island, but our favoriteword game would, I think, be much poorer in vocabulary had the Rosetta Stone never been located.That goes double for the Collins lexicon.So much for high culture on our first, 35-hour, jet-lagged day.The next morning, and on several occasions during the week, we noted the many differencesbetween British and American English.One delightful example could be seen on a sign above the fish and chips shop across the streetfrom our hotel in Greenwich: “The Golden Chippy.”As an adjective, CHIPPY means belligerent, and, in reference to sports – hockey and soccer cometo mind – describes that moment when the play has grown a bit rougher than normal, although notnecessarily outright hostile.Interestingly, our tour guide had never heard the word used in this way. To him, it simply meant fishand chips.But CHIPPY is also a noun meaning a prostitute, and can also be spelled CHIPPIE, for bothprostitute and fish and chips. While none of us visited The Golden Chippy, I am almost certain it wasselling dinners, and not catering to wealthy men in search of female companionship.Exactly how all this CHIPPY business got started is anyone’s guess, but the words appear to havecarried both meanings (belligerence and prostitution) on both sides of the Atlantic for well over acentury, although the reference to food is limited to England.(Except, of course, we Americans do use hips to describe the potato snacks that the British callcrisps.)A few days later, in Oxford, we passed another of the touchstones of modern literary culture, TheEagle and Child pub, where J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis and other members of the literary circleknown as the Inklings met to share lunch, liquid refreshment, and literary ideas.INKLING, of course, is a common enough word meaning “a slight suggestion,” but despite its soundand the apparently obvious link to ink, the word seems to have arrived at its modern Englishmeaning through a very different route, and had nothing to do with ink per se.Start with the French niche, bring that into Middle English as nik, meaning a notch or tally, and thennikking, a “hint or whisper.” One spelling variation, found in just one printed source, is ningkiling, andvoila – one has the modern English INKLING.In Stratford-upon-Avon we had the privilege of attending a perfomance of As You Like It by theRoyal Shakespeare Company, which reaffirmed my belief that the Bard of Avon’s work is essentiallyflat when read, but sublime when performed. Reading the plays is OK, but I think most fondly of thehandful I have seen put to the stage or screen, including King Lear, Othello, and Henry V.Shakespeare deserves any number of columns to himself, so I will forgo any discussion of his workhere. But I did stumble upon one very interesting etymological – and entomological – connectionwhile touring his birthplace.

T H E W O R D S M I T HOn the first floor of the house – what we Americans would call the second floor – there is a very oldwindow covered with a protective shield.Because the English-language guides usually disappear rapidly at the major tourist attractions, I amsometimes left to grab one in another language, and will favor Italian if available. So, when Ireached this exhibit, I read how the “turisti del XIX secolo usavano scarabocchiare il loronome” (“tourists of the 19 th century used to inscribe their names.”)That word scarabocchiare, which I had not known, means to inscribe. But while it isn’t good inSCRABBLE (except of course when using the ZINGA lexicon), it looks a lot like another word that is– SCARAB or SCARABAEID#, a large black beetle.Could there be a connection? The Garzanti Italian dictionary tells me that scarabocchio, thescrawling of a name, desirves from scarabotto, which was the old Italian word for the SCARABbeetle.Perhaps it was the resemblance of ink on paper to the legs of the beetle. Perhaps someonesquished one of the beetles. I have no inkling, really, but the words are simply too close, and thedictionaries offer no other persuasive explanation.Our next stop was the medieval city of York, one of the cultural gems of Northern England, wherewe spent most of our time marveling at York Minster, and shopping in the old part of town, and inparticular in The Shambles.Look up SHAMBLES and you will find two defintions. As a verb it means to walk awkwardly. As anoun, a place of slaughter or complete disorder.The original meaning derives from the Latin scamnum, meaning a bench, and referred, as in York,to the merchants who would set out their benches and wares in the narrow, medieval streets.Nothing bloody or disorderly about that, but over time, the word changed its form and meaning torefer to a place when meat was butchered and sold, leading to today’s idea of a bloody mess anddisorder.The newspaperman in me cannot leave England without taking note of the local daily, the YorkshirePost, which was founded in 1754 as the Leed Intelligencer.INTELLIGENCER is a lovely word, which survives most notably in the American press as theSeattle Post-Intelligencer, which is today an online-only paper.Quite a mouthful, INTELLIGENCER, a word that originally meant an informer or spy, one whobrought news and intelligence.The OED cites the word as early as 1591, in Sir Henry Savile’s 1591 translation of Tacitus’ Agricola.”It is now considered an obsolete word. Unless you happen to be in Seattle, of course, or manage tomake a 13-letter play in SCRABBLE!I shall put off discussion of the Scottish portion of my trip until another time. The linguistic treasuresare too many, the word count too high, and your patience has been taxed quite enough for thismonth.Chris Sinacola is director of the Worcester (MA) NASPA SCRABBLE® Club #600. 65

Art of DowelBy Mike BaronA R T O F D O W E LHaving entered Syracuse University in fall of1967 in their School of Architecture, I would,eleven years later, obtain a PhD from theUniversity of New Mexico and become apsychologist. While my career has been andcontinues to be so personally rewarding as apsychologist, the urge to create took form in anew way in 2012, and I have started a newenterprise: ART OF DOWEL furniture & more(www.artofdowel.com). In the Artist's Bio sectionof the website is the downloadable "Packin'Wood" autobiog, from a wood perspective. It has 150 photos (so it takes a bit to download),including that incredible custom wood Scrabble Board (p. 9) and my proposal to Pamina on aScrabble board (p. 10).I will be exhibiting at the 52nd Annual New Mexico Arts & Crafts Fair, the state's largest, inAlbuquerque on June 21-23 in the Wood category. Last year's event had 220 artisans, with 7 inWood.Starburst Table. The blue pieces are turquoise; includes over 5,000 pieces of hardwood dowelssurrounded by pine.66

A R T O F D O W E LWoodEye TableThe Bean TableBosque 2012 - for daughter Melina's graduating high school class at Bosque School(In Albuquerque). Blue band consists of nameplates for 66 seniors. 67

Fill in the BlanksBy Jeff KastnerF I L L I N T H E B L A N K SHere’s a fun game that will put your bingo-finding and anagramming skills to the test.Every one of these seven racks contains six letters and a blank (represented by the “?” symbol). There isone (and only one) bingo in each. What letter do you make the blank in each case and what is the bingo?(All words must be OWL2 acceptable.)Secret Word: Once you’ve filled in all the blanks correctly, unscramble those seven letters to form anotherunique bingo (the “Secret Word”). Even if you have only a few of the letters, you may still be able to uncoverthe Secret Word with the following clue:“This adjective of Yiddish origin can be used to describe those SCRABBLE® players who habituallycomplain about their tiles.”CANARY ? =ARAMER ? =UNSWAB ? =SIZIER ? =STORAX ? =REEKED ? =THRENG ? =ANSWERS on the next pageJeff Kastner, originally from New York City, has been living in Phoenix, AZ since 1985. Jeff is one ofa handful of players who has ever been ranked in the USA-top-50 in both SCRABBLE® and chess.He is the 2010-2011 Phoenix SCRABBLE® Club champion, the 2011-12 Phoenix “Floating” Clubchampion, as well as the 2011 Scottsdale SCRABBLE® Club champ.68

F I L L I N T H E B L A N K SANSWERSCANARY ? = ANARCHYARAMER ? = EARMARKUNSWAB ? = BAWSUNTSIZIER ? = VIZIERSSTORAX ? = OXCARTSREEKED ? = REKEYEDTHRENG ? = GREENTHSecret Word: HKTVCYE = KVETCHY 69

T H E N E R V O U S R A C KThe Nervous Rack: My Life in SCRABBLE®CrazyBy Daiva MarkelisDaiva Markelis is a professor of English at Eastern Illinois University andthe author of White Field, Black Sheep: A Lithuanian-American Life. Sheand her husband, expert Marty Gabriel, both play tournament SCRABBLE._________________________________________________________________________(1/23/13) I’ve been thinking of ways to drive my husband crazy. Not the I’ve decided it’s time we hada threesome, so I’m bringing home a cheerleader from school-crazy, but the I need some newcreative ways to bother my husband-crazy.Equilibrium is important in a marriage. If a husband drives a wife more nuts than she does him, orvice-versa, imbalance of the marriage chakras occurs. Imbalance leads to tension, tension toarguments, and before you know it the police are at your door, summoned by angry neighbors.Lately my husband has been a tiny bit annoying. Oh, he was mostly great during my birthday lastweek, lavishing me with a fabulous pair of new boots. I picked out the boots, of course; I don’t trustmen with the really important decisions in my life. When a huge box arrived from Zappos (if youdon’t know about Zappos and their great selection and wonderful return policy, you must go to http://www.zappos.com/ right now), I thanked Marty profusely.“What for?” he asked.“This very thoughtful gift.”“What gift?”“These one hundred and forty-nine dollar boots.”“One hundred and forty-nine dollar boots? That’s outrageous. I’ve never heard of such a thing,” hespewed.“I know. What a great price! They were originally over two hundred bucks.”Marty settled down eventually, and we went out for a nice steak dinner. But during dinner, Martycraftily shifted the conversation to his upcoming birthday at the end of February and how he wasthinking of having a SCRABBLE® tournament in his name and maybe sharing the glory with fellowScrabbler Sam Smith, whose birthday falls around the same time.“I could call it the S and M tournament,” he said. “For Sam and Marty.”“That’s real classy. And where would you hold this S and M SCRABBLE tournament?”“At our house. I thought maybe you could make some chili and get some cold cuts and stuff. Iwould limit the number of entrants to no more than thirty-six.”He kept talking about the logistics of the tournament—prize money, advertising, etc. when I had abrilliant idea: I would start to pepper my conversation with unacceptable SCRABBLE words—words70

T H E N E R V O U S R A C Kthat should be allowed, and that very soon (when the SCRABBLE dictionary committee comes upwith its new list in 2014) will be allowed, but that now are verboten. (By the way, verboten is anacceptable SCRABBLE word.) Marty is very sensitive to intruder words; he’s afraid they will maketheir way into his brain like worms from some science fiction movie and nestle there, perhapsmating with the acceptable words.I was about to say something like “A lot of women like to get bling for their birthdays, but I don’t needbling. I’m not a bling kind of woman” when Marty paused and looked me tenderly and said, “Let’stalk about you. It’s your birthday.”“Good timing,” I mumbled, but Marty didn’t know what I was talking about.Another annoying incident occurred on Saturday at SCRABBLE Club. We have a tradition ofcelebrating monthly birthdays; we have cake and a prize for the highest scoring word played thatday that includes the initials of the birthday person. For example, someone might submit DeMentedfor Daiva Markelis. Sometimes we have prizes for the word that best describes the personality of thebirthday girl or guy; the birthday person is the judge. I was not happy with last year’s selection;people entered words such as slut, grump, grumpy, and, inexplicably— dogears. Luckily, my friendMary Maddox submitted ritzy, which won hands down.It is Marty’s job as Mr. Director to read the words out loud slowly.He came to the word cagey and looked at me for a long time and then uttered, “Daiva is a cageyLithuanian.”“Cagey is not going to win,” I announced.“How about enabler? Daiva is an enabler to her students.”“Nope.”I was getting exasperated with his examples and thought I’d start making up words and repeatingthem over and over. Words like wordworm.“Wordworm is an acceptable word, isn’t it?” I was about to ask. “It’s kind of like wormwood, right?Wordworm, wormwood—what’s the difference?”But then Marty looked at me and uttered the word young.“My Daiva is always young,” he said and smiled and put his arm around me.All thoughts of wordworm left my being. 71

S C R A B - D O K UScrab-dokuBy Jeff KastnerIn a standard Sudoku, your object is to fill in every square of the grid so that all nine rows across, all ninecolumns down, and all nine 3-by-3 boxes contain the numbers 1 through 9, with no repeats.Same rules apply to this Scrab-doku, but I’ve added a few twists to help you solve it. First of all, I use lettersto replace the numbers. These letters are part of a “Keyword,” which I’ve scrambled below. I’ve alsoprovided a clue to help you find the correct anagram. Once you’ve unscrambled the Keyword, one of therows or columns will contain all of its 9 letters in the proper order.This month’s “Scrambled” Keyword: WAVE GIRLSClue: The NASPA Rules Committee members, in a sense, belong to this group.SOLUTION on the page after next.72

Word-Finder Challenge:S C R A B - D O K UHere’s an additional test of your anagramming ability. Your object is to find all the words you cancontaining 6 or more letters and using only the 9 letters of this month’s (Scrambled) Keyword: WAVEGIRLS.Words can be 6, 7, 8, or 9 letters long, and must be OWL2 acceptable. Each letter of the Keyword may beused only once within any word you find. So, for instance, LIVERS is acceptable, but not RIVERS.Par Scores for this month’s Word-Finder Challenge:30 Words (Novice); 45 Words (Intermediate); 56 Words (Advanced)Once you’ve compiled your list, check out my SOLUTION on the next page.See you next month with another Scrab-doku puzzle and Word-Finder Challenge! …Jeff KastnerJeff Kastner, originally from New York City, has been living in Phoenix, AZ since 1985. Jeff is one ofa handful of players who has ever been ranked in the USA-top-50 in both SCRABBLE® and chess.He is the 2010-2011 Phoenix SCRABBLE® Club champion, the 2011-12 Phoenix “Floating” Clubchampion, as well as the 2011 Scottsdale SCRABBLE® Club champ. 73

S C R A B - D O K UKeyword (Unscrambled): LAWGIVERS (72 Words Total)AIVERSARGILSARGLESARIELSASWIRLEARWIGEARWIGSERVILSGAVELSGAWSIEGIVERSGLAIREGLAIRESGLAIVESGLAREGLARESGRAILSGRAVELGRAVELSGRAVESGRAVIESGRILSELAGERSLARGESLAVERSLAWGIVERLAWGIVERSLIGASELIGERSLIVERSLIVRESRAVELSRESAILREVISALRIVAGERIVAGESRIVALSSAGIERSAILERSALVERSERAILSERIALSERVALSILAGESILVAESILVERSLAVERSLIVERSWAGERSWIVELVAGILEVALISEVARIESVELARSVERGLASVERSALVIRGASWAGERSWAILERWAILERSWAIVERWAIVERSWAIVESWALEWALERWALERSWALIESWARSLEWAVERSWAVIERWAVIESWIVERS74

Club NewsEdited by Larry ShermanC L U B N E W SIf you'd like your club to be considered for an article or if a newsworthy event has taken place atyour club in the last month, please submit material to CorneliaSGuest@gmail.com.________________________________________________________________Twilight Zone at Club 50?From Mike Turniansky: April 18 at Baltimore (MD) NASPA SCRABBLE® Club #50, our host, RichardSilberg was away for a couple of hours. During that time, I had the rack of ?LESION. I was havingtrouble remembering one particular seven, LESION+F, and ended playing SONLIkE against myopponent. During a later game that evening against Dr. Silberg, I asked him what LESION+F was.He stared at me for a few seconds, and answered "OLEFINS". Later that game, he told me thatwhen I asked him that question (which to him, was totally out of the blue), he had OLEFINS on hisrack (although it was unplayable), which is why he was momentarily stunned at my question.BALTIMORE (MD) NASPA SCRABBLE® Club #50 meets Thursday nights at 7:00 p.m. Calldirectors for location. Contacts: Diana Grosman, 410-526-6788, dianarose@aol.com; DavidEngelhardt, 410-825-0613, daveengelhardt4@aol.com 75

H I S T O R I C M O M E N T SHistoric Moments: SCRABBLE® Through the YearsThe Luck of the Q--Good and BadBy Stu GoldmanNo letter bodes more for either good or ill in your favorite game than the Q. With a way to play itgreat scores can be achieved. Of course, the rub is when there is no way to rid it from your rack,and a 20-point loss at game's end looms. A recent ISC experience motivated me to explore thistopic.A few of us remember the bad old days when no words containing Q could be played that did notalso have a U. But as QAID, then QAT, and finally QI (plus a few other less frequently played words)became available, the threat of a Q-stick gradually lessened, but did not disappear completely. In1995, I missed qualifying for $50,000 SCRABBLE® Superstars Showdown by just one rating point. Iblame the Q. Earlier that year I had bingoed in a tournament game and drawn the Q among the lastfive tiles in the bag. QI had just become acceptable in SOWPODS (now Collins). So, with nothingelse to do while my opponent planned her winning endame, I searched the board to see if QI wasplayable. It was not.Two players I know have been so affected by unlucky Q experiences that they left the game for atime. One lost a tournament by being stuck with it and quit playing for over 2 years. The other quitfor nearly 15 years when, in the first U.S. national tournament, he picked QZ on his final rack twicein one day. Besides the example given above, I count as one of my worst racks of all time onepicked as a final rack that contained QU and no other vowels. My skilled opponent promptlyblocked all the open vowels, so that, while stuck with the Q, I barely won the game.Yet, Q can be a blessing at times. This eventuality has been made more frequent by the U-less Qwords. In one tournament I played QUIZ, making four 2-letter words--helped by ZA as well as QI.In a club game, the director was helping a reporter who wanted to write about the club and wascautioned to look for open A's and T's as the game wound down to its end, since QAT had justbecome acceptable, and I held the Q. Finding none of those that had to be blocked, he made aplay. I then played my Q onto AT, which had not been noticed.The incident that caused me to write this? I was playing a good friend on ISC. Off the R that I hadjust been played in the word RIOT, I could play QUIVERER, the Q being at A3. But my opponentstarted a word with G to make GRIOT, so I had to be content with QUIVER. The tiles I picked wereEIRSU, which, with the ER of my leave made the triple-triple REQUIRES. I realized that, had Iplayed QUIVERER, my chances of picking AC, EN, IN or ER, or one of those letters plus a blank, orthe even rarer 2 blanks, were extremely unlikely. So I thanked my friend for spoiling QUIVERER.Stu Goldman lives in California and has been playing tournament SCRABBLE® for 40 years.76

Nigel Richards MemesN I G E L R I C H A R D S M E M E SEnjoy the ongoing collection of memes at http://www.quickmeme.com/Nigel-Richards/popular/1/?upcoming !Nullam arcu leo, facilisis ut 77

C O L L I N S T O U R N A M E N T S O N I S CCollins Tournaments on ISCBy Michal JoskoBetween 2009 and December 2011, three Polish buddies and I played tournaments on ISC;however, it became difficult to arrange our schedules, so the games were discontinued. AroundDecember 2012, I came with idea about bringing back the tournaments, and they have proved asuccess. At this point, our group of participants is little bit bigger and some tourneys have sixplayers. We are condidering enlarging the tournaments and inviting players who are not Polishcitizens. At this point, we allow each player to bring one guest, as long as the number of players isn’thigher than six. Once we solve some web communication issues (announcing pairings, standings,etc.), we may invite more people.Let me introduce you to our current participants:Michal Josko: I have lived in Rochester, NY, for seven years. I’m one of the few people on Earthwho first learned Collins, then had to compete in TWL tournaments.Zbyszek (Zbigniew) Wieckowsi: He lives in Minnesota and has played in many parts of the UnitedStates, competing in four National SCRABBLE Championships. He played on the Polish team atthe World SCRABBLE Championship in Warsaw in 2011, with wins against Andrew Fisher andHerve Bohbot.Rafal Dominiczak: A courier from Leszno, Wielkopolskie, Poland. Competed on the Polish team atthe World SCRABBLE Championship in Warsaw in 2011, finishing 55th with wins against MartyGabriel and Herve Bohbot.Wojtek Usakiewicz: An editor from Warsaw who has represented Poland at the WorldChampionships on multiple occasions. Finished 17th at the 2012 Prague Mind Sports Festival, withwins over Adam Logan, Sam Kantimathi, and Alistair Richards.Bartosz Pieta: One of my first SCRABBLE teachers. An international competitor living in Poland.He played on the Polish team at the World SCRABBLE Championship in Warsaw in 2011, with winsagainst Alistair Richards and John O’Laughlin.Robert Yufanyi: A Polish-Cameroonian player since 1991.Here are our basic rules:Because Europe uses CSW, this dictionary is the only one we used. Games are 15 minutes perplayer with a 5-point per play challange penalty. We play three to six games. The 2013 tourneys sofar are being played every Sunday on 4pm Warsaw time. It's possible that they may be on differentdays as well soon. We recently voted on rules addressing penalties for running out of time penaltiesand connection issues. Because these are more complicate, I can send them by request throughemail for interested individuals.So how was the last tournament? We had four participants: Me, Zbyszek, Rafal, and the organizer,Wojtek. We played two round robins. It started well for me, with two wins against Rafal and78

C O L L I N S T O U R N A M E N T S O N I S CWojtek. In the game with Rafal I played JOLTING, INERTIAE, and DIVERSE; Rafal had no bingos.I played HANKERS on my first rack against Wojtek. He later had DEPOSING with two blanks, but iquickly replied with MARINATE. I lost my third game to Zbyszek. After three games, three playershad two wins: Rafal, with the best spread, then Zbyszek, and then me.In the second round robin I started Zbyszek again. I'm not lucky against him lately. I've started withQUOTE for 48; then he played the phony PROCENTS*, followed by RABIDEST, HESITATE, andPURSIER. I finished with EROTICA but lost. The next two games i lost badly to Rafal and Wojtek. Ididn't do anything creative against Rafal, who played VITRINE, EMIRATE, and HARDEST. Wojtekkilled me in the two first moves with HOSTILE and INDEXES. I was able to play TAENIAE later, andcould have caught him had he not blocked a spot for ZATI for 95. That was significant, because itgave Wojtek 3rd place and 4th and last for me. Meanwhile on second table, Rafal showed his skills,beating Zbyszek hardly and winning the tournament with 5 wins and 1 loss. His top plays in his lastgame were ENSILAGE, TYRONES, UNFITTED, and DREVILLS; Zbyszek had AUGURIES.The tournament scores and standings are available by request, and some games are on myFacebook page or cross-tables. We plan soon to have our first international ISC tournament againstRomania. I’d also like to see a tournament against the U.S.A. or North America. If you areinterested in to playing in either regular or international tournaments on ISC, let me knowat mjosko001@hotmail.com or message CWKS99 on ISC.I hope to play you soon! 79

O N E U P ! C U POne Up! Cup for MayBy Timothy CataldoWelcome back, vocabularians! Just like lastyear, we'll post a One Up!® “game situation”every month so all you doubledomes outthere can show everyone how brilliant andquick you are.Here's all you need to know now to play:Take one or more letters from the center andadd them to an existing word to make a newword. Send your entry tojohnnymustard@oneupmanship.com.Since there won't be a “right” answer, we'll be looking for originality, wit and wow! The winner willreceive a One Up!® and have his or her name put in the drawing for the Grand Prize at the end ofthe year.APRIL WINNEREliot was right — April is the cruelest month:Hi Tim,Your April contest is a real challenge because it featuresa clunkier variety of center tiles than usual. In fact, theseare tiles (VHIUZ) I'd probably exchange if they were onmy SCRABBLE® rack. Additionally, there are no Uppitytiles anywhere to help things along. Therefore, there arefewer possibilities to make words and you will likely geta lot of duplicate entries.So, once again to separate myself from the pack, I am choosing the most obscure and uniquelookingword I could find. First, I am starting with COPE, then adding IHU from the center pool tomake the word COPIHUE. It's not only an obscure word, but it has a very unusual pronunciation:koh-PEE-way.The COPIHUE, also called the Chilean bellflower, happens to be the national flower of Chile. It'smost commonly seen in the Chilean forests as climbing vines with a very distinct look: leatheryevergreen leaves and bright reddish flowers shaped like a bell. Hope you agree that my entry"climbs" above the rest of the competition this month!Sincerely,Jeff “Mr. One-Up-Man” KastnerExcellent job, Jeff, and thanks to everyone who entered. May the best man win May!80

S C R A B B L E : T H O R E A U & T H O R E A USCRABBLE®: Thoreau & ThoreauBy Frank Lee MoodyExcerpts from “The Hazards of Becoming a Truly Good Scrabble® Player,” 1997, by ThoreauMaskin:A total of forty-five human brains were dissected in the study, conducted 1991-1995 atJohns-Hopkins University after the phenomenon had been accidentally discovered. All hadbeen used by adult human Scrabble® players. Twenty-two of the brains were those ofplayers rated higher than 1900 for a sustained period longer than two years. In each ofthose, researchers found nearly a third of the brain area gelatinized--destroyed. The uselessarea had once controlled creativity and the ability to think abstractly. Twenty-three of thebrains were those of under-1800 ratings. All twenty-three of the mediocre brains werehealthy, intact and fully functioning at time of death.Witnesses say the intermediate player proffered his hand after the game, as goodsportsmanship dictates, and that the losing premium player turned apoplectic and begansputtering as though she were a child making auto racing noises. She fell off her chair. Theconcerned young man bent over to aid. She jammed his large intestine with a tile rack. Theoutraged crowd mottled her entire body with a great diversity of shoe prints, including onewhich apparently had been designed for the purpose--it read: “Advice for top Scrabble®players: Good defense.”Excerpt from “Winning Formulas for Scrabble®,” 1997, by Thoreau Maskin:“Nobody taught me,” King E. Lee Tiist’s Lieutenant Damgud retorted. “I saw anadvertisement for the stuff in ‘Soldier of Fortune’ and figured out all by myself how it wouldhelp me pull victory from the jaws of unlucky mediocre players. Stuff my nose with cotton.When it’s plain those lousy little know-nothing turkeys start to pull out the win, I sprinklepowder, unbeknownst to them, on the table in front of them. It touches their skin. Burns likehot coals. They go off to the emergency room. I win by forfeit. Nobody taught me; I figuredit all out by my own self.”**Excerpts copyright ©1994, 1997 by Frank Lee. Reprinted here courtesy of Connie Breitbeil.Players interested in free copies of SCRABBLE®: Thoreau & Thoreau should contact Connieat Conniebreitbeil@yahoo.com 81

PassagesEdited by Larry ShermanP A S S A G E SDEATHSBETTY CAMPBetty Jacqueline Boss Putnam Camp (aka BC) died on April 12 ather home in Monroe, GA. She was 83. Although she had notbeen on the SCRABBLE® scene for the past few years, she isremembered by many--as is her Briard, Maggie, who at onetournament in Cincinnati left her room, got on the elevator, andfound her way to BC in the tournament room.Betty played in more than 60 tournaments starting in the late1980s, including 4 National SCRABBLE Championships.A real estate broker, developer, and builder, Betty was also thefounder of the Gwinnet Walton Music Society.She was predeceased by her husband, Sanders Camp, and her son, Hynes Putnam. She issurvived by her daughter, Denise Putnam; her siblings, Wendell and Bobby Boss; hergranddaughter, Courtney Cook; and her great-grandchild, Cash King.82

SCRABBLE®ResourcesThere are many study tools tohelp SCRABBLE® playershone their skills, including anumber of programs that canbe downloaded for free. Thissection will offer suggestionsand links for both players anddirectors.SCRABBLE® TutorialsJOEL SHERMAN:NEWBIES’ FIRSTSCRABBLE® LESSONExpert Joel Sherman givesinvaluable advice to playersnew to club and tournamentSCRABBLE.MIKE BARON’SSCRABBLE® TIPSMike Baron, expert playerand coach (and author of theSCRABBLE® Wordbook)shares tips from his book.Play OnlineSCRABBLE®POGO SCRABBLE®The official SCRABBLE®online game. Created underagreement with Hasbro in2008.SCRABBLE® ONFACEBOOKSelect the SCRABBLE®application on the Facebookhome page to play the officialSCRABBLE® game. Variousgroups hold tournaments atthis site, including a groupcalled “Mad Scrabblers”.S C R A B B L E R E S O U R C E SINTERNET SCRABBLE®CLUBA Romanian-based site andapplication for interactivegames. A favorite site formany of the top players.Play Live SCRABBLE®CROSS-TABLESLists all upcomingtournaments, as well asresults of past tournaments.Has SCRABBLE®tournament aides.NASPA CLUB LISTINGSLists competitive clubsthroughout North Americawith their meeting times andlocations.NSA CLUB LISTINGSLists casual clubs throughoutNorth America with theirmeeting times and locations.WGPO CLUB LISTINGSLists clubs throughout NorthAmerica with their meetingtimes and locations.Apps for ScrabblersZARFA free multipurpose iPhone/iPad utility for SCRABBLE®players in any language. Itprovides word list lookup,pattern matching,tournament-style adjudicationand a timer customized fortournament SCRABBLE®play.ZYZZYVA/ZYZZYVA LITEiPhone app for practicinganagramming skills andlearning words. Zyzzyvaincludes Quiz, Search, andJudge functions; CardboxManagment; Dropbox Sync;Custom Lexicon Support; andLexicon Symbols. ZyzzvaLite (free) includes Searchand Judge functions; CustomLexicon Import; and LexiconSymbols. You can sync quizdata between the iPhone appand the desktop program.WORDLIST PRO 2.0Android 2.2+ app forpracticing anagramming skillsand learning words. Alsofunctions as Word Judge.Lightning fast word searches.Supports TWL06, OSPD4,CSW12, and CSW12 uniquewords.CROSSWORD GAMESCORESHEETThis app keeps track ofscoring in crossword gamessuch as SCRABBLE®.SCRABBLE®Play SCRABBLE® on youriPhone/iPad. Teacher featureallows you to see what yourbest word could have beenafter every turn. Now alsoavailable for Android devices:click here.SCRABBLE® TILE RACKTurns your iPhone or iPadTouch into a SCRABBLE® tilerack. For use with an iPad.WORDS WITH FRIENDSThe popular SCRABBLE®variant for your iPhone/iPad.Anagramming/PracticeTools 83

JUMBLETIMEA free web site for practicinganagramming skills.MAC USERS: After you do aJumbletime quiz on a Mac, thescroll bar to view the results ismissing. To make it appear, goto the lower right corner andgrab the striped triangle andshrink the window all the way tothe top left corner. When youpull it back, the scroll bar to theright of the answers to the quizappears.AEROLITHA free application for practicinganagramming skills andlearning words.QUACKLEA free application for playing,simulating, and analyzinggames.WHATMike Wolfberg’s computerprogram for anagramming, wordjudging, and word study.Includes lexicons for TWL,CSW, OSPD4, Spanish, andFrench. Available to buy athttp://wolfberg.net/what/ZYZZYVAA free application for practicinganagramming skills andlearning words. Also has WordJudge capabilities.SCRABBLE® DICTIONARYType a word to check foracceptability. OSPD4 words.LEXIFIND SCRABBLE®HELPER AND WORD GAMEWIZARD WORDFINDERFOR GOOGLE CHROME84S C R A B B L E R E S O U R C E SA full-board SCRABBLE® wordfinderprogram that shows youevery word that can possibly bemade on an entireSCRABBLE® board. Fullversion available at http://bit.ly/ecwHPtFRANKLIN SCRABBLE®PLAYERS DICTIONARYAn electronic handhelddictionary and anagrammer,with many helpful options andgames. Includes the latestword lists, and can be adjustedfrom OSPD4 to OWL2 lists witha code.CLICK HERE TO HELP ENDWORD HUNGER AS YOULEARN WORDSA free vocabulary testing site.For every correct word, grainsof rice are donated through theUnited Nations World FoodProgram. Feed hungry peopleas you expand your vocabulary!Online SCRABBLE®Discussion GroupsCGP (crossword-gamespro@yahoogroups.com)This group, for NASPAtournament players anddirectors only, has the largestmembership of any onlinetournament SCRABBLE®discussion group. Admission isby approval only. Details can befound at http://sasj.com/cgp/join.html.OSPD (ospdscrabble@yahoogroups.com)This group, dedicated to playersusing The Official SCRABBLE®Players’ Dictionary, offers lightheartedhumor, daily word lists,and more. Admission is to allSCRABBLE® lovers.WGPO Listserv(WGPO@yahoogroups.com)This group, open to allmembers of the tournamentcommunity, is a forum for issuesof interest to SCRABBLE®players. No approval of anykind is needed to join, andreaders need not be membersof the Word Game Player’sOrganization (WGPO).SCRABBLE® BlogsTHE BADQOPHDIRECTORYThis is a database of blogs byknown SCRABBLE® bloggers,primarily tournament players.As of March 29th there were196 blogs in the directory.Cheat SheetsMIKE BARON’S CHEATSHEETA great cheat sheet with 2s, 3s,vowel dumps, short high-pointtilewords, and good bingostems. Includes useful frontand back hook letters to make3s from 2s.MIKE BARON’S CHEATSHEET (for SchoolSCRABBLE® and homeplay)A great cheat sheet with 2s, 3s,vowel dumps, short high-point-

S C R A B B L E R E S O U R C E Stile words, and good bingostems. Includes useful frontand back hook letters to make3s from 2s.COOL WORDS TO KNOWA terrific cheat sheet from theNational SCRABBLE®Association for SchoolSCRABBLE® and home play.Gives useful information on howto find bingos, plus the 2s, 3s,vowel dumps, and short highpoint-tileplays.ERICA MOORE’S COLLINSCHEAT SHEETA great cheat sheet, particularlyfor players new to Collins.Includes 2s, 3s, vowel dumps,for players new to Collins.Includes 2s, 3s, vowel dumps,Q without U words, short JQXZwords, and the top 250 7s and8s by playability.COLLINS WORD LISTSUseful links to Collins word listscan be found at the followingwebsites: http://www.absp.org.uk/words/words.html; http://www.math.utoronto.ca/jjchew/scrabble/lists/; http://www.scrabble.org.au/words/index.htm; http://members.ozemail.com.au/~rjackman/.Tournament ManagementSoftwareDIRECTOR!Marc Levesque’s software formanaging tournaments. Alsohas a Yahoo user group youcan join as a support option.TOURNEYMANJeff Widergren’s software formanaging tournaments.TSHJohn Chew’s software formanaging tournaments.BooksANAGRAMMARJoe Edley’s new book with over6,000 puzzles to help youbecome a better anagrammarfor SCRABBLE® or Words withFriends. (Reviewed in theNovember 2012 issue.)BOB’S BIBLEA terrific book to build wordpower for tournaments.BOB’S BIBLE, SCHOOLEDITIONFor School SCRABBLE® andhome play.BOB’S BRITISH BIBLEThe ideal book for learningCWL12 (Collins) words. (Seereview in the June issue of TheLast Word.)BOB’S COLOR-CODEDBRITISH BIBLEThe ideal book for learningCWL12 (Collins) words, withcolor-coded entries for easyidentification. (See review in theJune issue of The Last Word.)BROW-RAISERS IIA brilliantly organized studyguide geared towards thesuccess of beginning andintermediate players.ENGLISH LANGUAGEWORD BUILDERBob Jackman’s guide tobuilding a strong Collinsvocabulary, organized by wordlength, familiarity, and part ofspeech.EVERYTHINGSCRABBLE®, THIRDEDITIONThe ultimate guide to winning atSCRABBLE@ by 3-timeNational Champion Joe Edleyand John D. Williams, Jr.Completely updated to includeall new words. (See review inthe January issue of The Lastword.)HOW TO PLAYSCRABBLE® LIKE ACHAMPIONA guide to winningSCRABBLE® from WorldSCRABBLE® Champion JoelWapnick. Fantastic insights intoexpert playing techniques. (Seereview in the October, 2011,issue of The Last Word.)THE OFFICIALSCRABBLE® PLAYERSDICTIONARY, FOURTHEDITIONThe official word source forSchool SCRABBLE® andcasual play.THE OFFICIALTOURNAMENT AND CLUBWORD LIST, 2ND EDITIONThe official word source forNASPA tournament and clubplay. 85

SCRABBLE® WORDBOOKA great word book forSCRABBLE® players by MikeBaron. OSPD4 words. (POOLists available with wordsexcluded from the OWL2.)WINNING WORDSA Scrabbler’s dictionary ofwords to four letters, by length,familiarity, hook status and partof speech, with definitions for allunusual words and shading toindicate non-TWL words. ByBob Jackman, author of EnglishLanguage Word Builder.S C R A B B L E R E S O U R C E S86

Tournament CalendarT O U R N A M E N T C A L E N D A ROur calendar format addresses two concerns: 1) Readers want as complete a list as possible oftournament dates; and 2) Readers want to know easily whether a tournament is sanctioned byNASPA, WGPO, or the NSA (or is unrated).However, because new tournaments are constantly being added to the schedule, it is difficult to beall-inclusive. Please be sure to refer to the Websites of the organization sanctioning the tournamentfor a complete list. Click NASPA, WGPO, or NSA for the most up-to-date calendars. Links toNASPA and some NSA tournaments are also posted at cross-tables.com.Thanks to Henry Leong, who permitted The Last Word to adapt his calendar from the WGPOWebsite.Dates Organization Tournament/LocationMAY5/2-11 NASPA BERMUDA & CARIBBEAN TREASURESCRUISE5/3-4 NSA NATIONAL SCHOOL SCRABBLECHAMPIONSHIP, WASHINGTON DC5/3-5 NASPA PORTLAND OR (TWL & COLLINS)5/4 NASPA CUYAHOGA FALLS OH5/4-5 WGPO MINNESOTA VS. WISCONSIN BORDERBATTLE, DECORAH IA5/4 NASPA ROME NY5/4 NASPA NEW YORK NY5/5 NASPA BERKELEY CA5/11 NASPA HUDSON NY5/11 NASPA ST. LOUIS PARK MN5/14 NASPA LCT -INDEPENDENCE OH5/18 NASPA BAYSIDE NY5/18 NASPA HUDSON OH5/18 NASPA DALLAS TX5/18-19 NASPA SASKATOON SK CAN 87

T O U R N A M E N T C A L E N D A R5/19 NASPA GUELPH ON CAN (TWL & COLLINS)5/19 WGPO MOUNTAIN VIEW CA5/19 NASPA WILMINGTON DE5/23-27 NASPA SACRAMENTO CA5/24-27 NASPA STAMFORD CT5/25-27 NASPA ARDENCUP XII, ELMHURST IL (TWL &COLLINS)5/25 NASPA AUSTIN TX5/25-27 WGPO SILICON VALLEY SHOWDOWN, CAMPBELLCA5/25-27 NASPA COLLEGE PARK GA5/25-26 NASPA COTE ST. LUC, MONTREAL QC CAN5/25-26 NASPA FORT LAUDERDALE FL5/25-27 NASPA IRVING TX5/25-27 NASPA SACRAMENTO CA5/31-6/1 NASPA BRANDON MSJUNE6/1 NASPA AUSTIN TX6/1-2 NASPA CALGARY AB CAN6/1 NASPA NEW YORK NY6/1 NASPA RICHMOND KY6/1, 2 NASPA TUCSON AZ6/1 NASPA WASHINGTON DC6/2 NASPA BERKELEY CA6/8, 9 NASPA BETHEL CT (TWL, COLLINS & YOUTHDIVISIONS)6/8-9 NASPA CHARLOTTE NC6/8 NASPA FORT LAUDERDALE FL88

T O U R N A M E N T C A L E N D A R6/8, 9 NASPA` KANSAS CITY MO6/8 NASPA MISSISSAUGA ON CAN6/8 NASPA PORTLAND OR6/9 NASPA BETHEL CT (TWL & COLLINS)6/9 NASPA GUELPH ON CAN (TWL & COLLINS)6/9 NASPA KANSAS CITY MO6/14-15 NASPA INDIANAPOLIS IN (TWL & COLLINS)6/14-16 NASPA TCC -- PRINCETON NJ (WSCQT) (COLLINS)6/14 NASPA PRINCETON NJ6/15 NASPA BAYSIDE NY6/15 NASPA DALLAS TX6/15 NASPA PRINCETON NJ (COLLINS)6/15-16 NASPA KNOXVILLE TN6/15-26 WGPO ITALY - CROATIA CRUISE (TWL & COLLINS)6/15-16 NASPA PITTSBURGH PA6/15 NASPA SEATTLE WA6/15-16 NASPA SWILLLNS NM6/16 NASPA PRINCETON NJ6/16 WGPO MOUNTAIN VIEW CA6/16 NASPA TORONTO ON CAN (TWL & COLLINS)6/21-24 NASPA TORONTO ON CAN6/22 NASPA BERLIN NJ6/22 NASPA DURHAM NC6/22 NASPA EDMONTON AB CAN6/22-23 NASPA GREATER DETROIT MI6/22 NASPA SYRACUSE NY (TWL & COLLINS)6/23 NASPA GLENDALE CA 89

T O U R N A M E N T C A L E N D A R6/28-7/4 NASPA LAS VEGAS NV (TWL & COLLINS)6/29 NASPA AUSTIN TX6/29 NASPA CHARLESTON WV6/29, 30 NASPA ST. LOUIS PARK MN6/30 NASPA NEW YORK NYJULY7/1-7 WGPO WEST COAST CHAMPIONSHIP, RENO NV7/2-7 NASPA ALBANY NY (TWL & COLLINS)7/5-6 NASPA LAS VEGAS NV (TWL & COLLINS)7/5-7 NASPA OMAHA NE7/6 NASPA ROCKY RIVER OH7/9 NASPA LCT - INDEPENDENCE OH7/13 NASPA BAYSIDE NY7/13 NASPA WHITESBORO NY7/14 NASPA DETROIT MI7/19-24 NASPA NATIONAL SCRABBLE CHAMPIONSHIP -LAS VEGAS NV (TWL & COLLINS)7/21 WGPO MOUNTAIN VIEW CA7/27 NASPA AUSTIN TX7/27-28 NASPA NORTHERN CHAMPIONSHIP, MISSISSAUGAON CAN7/28 NASPA GUELPH ON CAN (TWL & COLLINS)AUGUST8/1 NASPA LCT - AKRON OH8/3 NASPA NEW YORK NY8/2-7 WGPO WGPO WORD CUP8/4 NASPA BRATTLEBORO VT (TWL & COLLINS)8/4 NASPA GUELPH ON CAN (TWL & COLLINS)90

T O U R N A M E N T C A L E N D A R8/4 NASPA PHILADELPHIA PA8/10-11 NASPA TCC -- NORTH CAROLINA STATECHAMPIONSHIP, DURHAM, NC8/11 NASPA NEWARK DE8/16-18 NASPA LINDEN MI8/16-18 NASPA OLD GREENWICH CT (TWL & COLLINS)8/17 NASPA DALLAS TX8/17 NASPA STRATFORD ON CAN8/18 NASPA GUELPH ON CAN (TWL & COLLINS)8/18 WGPO MILL VALLEY CA8/24 NASPA BAYSIDE NY8/24-25 NASPA TENTATIVE -- INDEPENDENCE OH8/25 NASPA GUELPH ON CAN (TWL & COLLINS)8/31-9/2 NASPA ALPHARETTA GA8/31 NASPA AUSTIN TX8/31-9/2 NASPA OTTOWA ON CAN (TWL & COLLINS)8/31-9/2 NASPA PORTLAND ME (TWL & COLLINS)8/31-9/2 NASPA WILMINGTON DESEPTEMBER9/10 NASPA LCT - INDEPENDENCE OH9/14 NASPA CALGARY AB CAN9/14 NASPA HUDSON OH9/15 NASPA PHILADELPHIA PA9/15 WGPO MOUNTAIN VIEW CA9/20-21 NASPA TCC -- CAN-AM, VANCOUVER BC CAN9/21 NASPA DALLAS TX9/21 NASPA SYRACUSE NY (TWL & COLLINS) 91

T O U R N A M E N T C A L E N D A R9/22 NAPSA NEWTOWN BENEFIT, NEWTOWN CT (TWL,COLLINS & NEWCOMERS)9/23-28 WGPO GRITS IV, SURFSIDE BEACH SC9/27-29 NASPA TORONTO ON CAN (TWL & COLLINS)9/28 NASPA AUSTIN TX9/28 NASPA BAYSIDE NY9/28 NASPA FORT LAUDERDALE FL9/28 WGPO PHOENIX AZ9/28-29 NASPA REGINA SK CANOCTOBER10/2-6 NASPA CALGARY AB CAN10/4-12 NASPA PERU TOUR AND SCRABBLETOURNAMENT (TWL & COLLINS)10/12 NASPA ASBURY PARK NJ10/13 NASPA PHILADELPHIA PA10/17-20 NASPA LAKE GEORGE NY (TWL & COLLINS)10/19 NASPA DALLAS TX10/19 NASPA CHICAGO IL10/20 WGPO MOUNTAIN VIEW CA10/26 NASPA AUSTIN TX10/26 NASPA KATONAH NY (TWL, COLLINS & YOUTHDIVISIONS)10/26 NASPA SOUTH LYON MI10/27 NASPA BAYSIDE NYNOVEMBER11/1-3 NASPA CAMBRIDGE MD11/1 NASPA WACO TX11/1-3 NASPA TCC--WACO TX (TEXAS RESIDENTS ONLY)92

T O U R N A M E N T C A L E N D A R11/9-10 NASPA ASHEVILLE NC11/9 NASPA ATCO NJ11/9-10 NASPA ORLANDO FL11/9 NASPA PITTSBURGH PA11/12 NASPA LCT - INDEPENDENCE OH11/16-30 WGPO SOUTH CARIBBEAN ISLANDS CRUISE11/16 NASPA DALLAS TX11/16 NASPA MT. KISCO NY11/17 WGPO MOUNTAIN VIEW CA11/22-24 NASPA SAN FRANCISCO CA11/23 NASPA BAYSIDE NY11/23-24 NASPA TCC -- TORONTO VS. MONTREAL,KINGSTON (GANANOQUE) ON CAN (TWL &COLLINS11/29-12/1 NASPA STAMFORD CTDECEMBER12/7 NASPA CALGARY AB CA12/7-8 NASPA KNOXVILLE TN12/8-13 WGPO CABO SAN LUCAS MEXICO12/8 NASPA PHILADELPHIA PA12/8 NASPA STRONGSVILLE OH12/15 WGPO MOUNTAIN VIEW CA12/21 NASPA DALLAS TX12/21, 22, 23 NASPA WILMINGTON DE12/23-25 NASPA WILMINGTON DE12/27-1/1/14 NASPA ALBANY NY (TWL & COLLINS)12/28-1/1/14 NASPA NYE SCRABBLE BASH, GA 93

T O U R N A M E N T C A L E N D A RJANUARY ’141/11 NASPA KATONAH NY (TWL, COLLINS & YOUTHDIVISIONS1/17-20 NASPA DURHAM NC1/18 NASPA BAYSIDE NY1/18-20 NASPA TENTATIVE -- AKRON OH1/18-20 NASPA NEW ORLEANS LA (TWL & COLLINS)1/25-27 NASPA ATLANTIC CITY NJFEBRUARY ’142/1 NASPA KATONAH NY (TWL, COLLINS & YOUTHDIVISIONS2/8 NASPA SAINT LOUIS MO2/13-17 NASPA ALBANY NY (TWL & COLLINS)2/14-17 WGPO PHOENIX AZ (TWL & COLLINS)MARCH ’143/15 NASPA BAYSIDE NY3/21-23 NASPA POUGHKEEPSIE NY3/28-30 NASPA PRINCETON NJ3/28-30 NASPA ST. AUGUSTINE FLAPRIL ’144/11-27 WGPO TRANSPACIFIC CRUISE4/26 NASPA KATONAH NY4/28-5/8 WGPO HONOLULU TO VANCOUVER CRUISEMAY ’145/-4 NASPA EDMONTON AB CAN5/17 NASPA KATONAH NY (TWL, COLLINS & YOUTHDIVISIONS)5/23-26 NASPA TARRYTOWN NY5/25-27 NASPA SACRAMENTO CA94

T O U R N A M E N T C A L E N D A RJUNE ’146/7 NASPA BETHEL CT (TWL, COLLINS & YOUTHDIVISIONS)6/8 NASPA BETHEL CT (TWL & COLLINS)6/19-21 NASPA PRINCETON NJ (TWL & COLLINS)6/27-7/7 NASPA LAS VEGAS NV (TWL & COLLINS)JULY ’147/18-20 NASPA OLD GREENWICH CT (TWL & COLLINS)AUGUST ’148/9-13 NASPA NATIONAL SCRABBLE CHAMPIONSHIP,BUFFALO NY (TWL & COLLINS)8/15-17 NASPA WILMINGTON DE MADNESS/MILDNESS(TWL & COLLINS)8/30-9/1 NASPA NEW YORK NY (TWL & COLLINS)OCTOBER ’1410/25 NASPA BETHEL CT (TWL & COLLINS)10/27-11/10 WGPO SPANISH TRANSATLANTIC CRUISENOVEMBER ’1411/15 NASPA KATONAH NY (TWL, COLLINS & YOUTHDIVISIONS)11/20 NASPA BAYSIDE NY11/28-30 NASPA TARRYTOWN NYDECEMBER ’1412/23-28NASPAWILMINGTON DEMARCH ’153/20-22 NASPA POUGHKEEPSIE NY (TWL, COLLINS &NEWCOMERS)3/27-29 NASPA PRINCETON NJJULY ’157/24-26 NASPA OLD GREENWICH CT (TWL & COLLINS) 95

T O U R N A M E N T C A L E N D A RMARCH ’163/18-20 NASPA POUGHKEEPSIE NY (TWL, COLLINS &NEWCOMERS)4/1-3 NASPA PRINCETON NJ96

ArchivesA R C H I V E STo download previous issues of The Last Word click here. 97