February/March 2013 - The Last Word Newsletter

Table of ContentsT A B L E O F C O N T E N T SFrom the Editor 3Emails to the Editor 4Advertising Section: Equipment, Tournaments, Organizations, Books 5Tournament News 14Levittown (PA) - January 5, 2013 by Judy Cole 14PBMT Charity Tourament 2013 by David Klionsky 15Crescent City Cup 2013 by Lila Crotty and Kate Fukawa-Connelly 19New York City Tournament 1/19/13 24Redeye 2013 by Stephanie Steele; photos by Jonathan Li 25Presidents’ Weekend in Vegas by Sam Kantimathi 28Eastern SCRABBLE® Championship 2013; Charlotte, NC by Ryan Fischer 31WGPO Jim Wait Memorial Tournament: Phoenix 2013 by Larry Rand and Barbara Van Alen 35Saratoga Springs 2013 by Kieran O’Connor; photos by Roger Cullman 39Tournament Results 42New Faces 45Know the Rules by Jan Cardia 46Word Star by Jeff Kastner 47Historic Moments: SCRABBLE® Through the Years by Stu Goldman 50Club News edited by Larry Sherman 51SCRABBLE® Strategy Video Guide: Board Management by Curran Eggertson 56Baby Word Scramble by Dan Horowitz 57Book Sword by Kate Gavino 59The Wordsmith: Of lexica and alexic# Scrabblers by Chris Sinacola 60Scrab-doku by Jeff Kastner 63SCRABBLE® and Scrabblers in the News edited by Judy Cole 66Fill in the Blanks by Jeff Kastner 76The Nervous Rack: My Life in SCRABBLE® by Daiva Markelis 78Lights Out! Wine, Cheese & SCRABBLE® in Pound Ridge, NY 79Linda’s Library by Linda Wancel 80Five-Letter Dumps by Tony J. Rasch 82Online SCRABBLE® Talk 85One Up! Cup for March by Timothy Cataldo 86SCRABBLE®: Thoreau & Thoreau by Frank Lee 87Passages edited by Larry Sherman 88SCRABBLE® Resources 95Tournament Calendar 99Archives 1082

From the EditorF R O M T H E E D I T O RWinter, an expert player, proposed an interesting idea on the NASPA Facebook page: allownewer players to use “cheat sheets” for a certain number of tournaments. Many of those whoresponded said that they already have a similar policy at their clubs. I allow cheat sheets at myclubs and School SCRABBLE® classes. Interestingly, it’s the kids who let me know when theydon’t want cheat sheets any more. It’s a sign that they’re ready for real SCRABBLE games.Another proposal that frequently appears on the listservs is that North America adopt theCollins (CSW) lexicon used elsewhere in the world. Much as I enjoy playing Collins, I do notsupport standard tournament and club play using a dictionary other than the OfficialSCRABBLE Players Dictionary, 4th Edition. Huh? you may be thinking--but the OWL’s thetournament and club lexicon!Exactly. I am one of the dinosaurs who believes that the book most SCRABBLE players haveon their shelves, the OSPD4, should be the North American standard. I feel that the OWL,which includes a short list of offensive words not found in the OSPD4, does little to helptournament SCRABBLE grow. I’ve had new players come to club just once, leaving inannoyance by our inclusion of words not in the “official” book they’ve studied. I also pass outto my School SCRABBLE students Mike Baron’s “POO List,” a bookmark-sized list of all theoffensive words, so they will know which words not to play in their School SCRABBLE games.And if we want tournament SCRABBLE televised, as it has been in the past, words from the“POO List” are prohibited.Every other Thursday I run a “Meetup Group” at Cosi’s in Stamford, CT. We attract two typesof players: casual players, who use my School SCRABBLE® Cheat Sheets and the OSPD4,often looking up words as they play; and tournament players, who play with standardtournament rules (though we don’t use clocks, as the tables are small). We all get on fine,neither group imposing its preferences on the other. Most of the players use the OSPD4, but anumber have expressed an interest in trying a tournament. Attendance at this “unofficial” clubalways exceeds that of my weekly NASPA club, which is only advertised to existing members.Another way I attract new players to tournament SCRABBLE is by running casual events. Inlate January I brought my SCRABBLE equipment (and Cheat Sheets) with me to the PoundRidge Library, which was hosting an evening of wine, cheese, and SCRABBLE. Twenty-fourplayers enjoyed a relaxed evening playing a few games--and I sent a few home with flyers foran upcoming local tournament with a newcomers division.With the high cost of running a tournament these days, and the reduced attendance directorsare seeing, I think it’s paramount that we consider ways to make tournament SCRABBLE®more inviting. I’ve been offering newcomers, novice, and youth divisions at my tournaments--and also a Collins division. I offer shorter tournaments of three and four games. I want tomake my tournaments inviting to all players, not just the diehards. Kudos to Ryan Fischer andKatya Lezin for attracting 24 players to the 6-game Newcomers Tournament in Charlotte!I’m considering trying Winter’s idea of providing cheat sheets in my unrated novice divisions.Perhaps I’ll use the OSPD4 as the lexicon for that division, too. Baby steps toward the Collinsdivision, where winners have their eyes on the World SCRABBLE® Championship.Cornelia Guest 3

E M A I L S T O T H E E D I T O REmails to the EditorShould you wish to comment on any of the Newsletter articles—or make suggestions or corrections—please email Cornelia Guest at CorneliaSGuest@gmail.com. Snail mail is also welcome at 135Codfish Hill Road, Bethel, CT 06801. Emails chosen for publication may be edited at the editor’sdiscretion._______________________________________________________________________________A number of players commented on Kenji Matsumoto’s petition, which appeared in our last issue,both to me and on CGP. Joan Mocine’s response is reprinted here with her permission.Sheesh, talk about coming down like a ton of bricks! I guess I should have expected no less fromCGP posters on the topic. The motto of this group has sometimes been "Slam and Whine" orsomething similar. Not one "Good work Kenji" or "I don't agree with some of your ideas but here aremine." Nobody said, "I disagree with this or that, but I'm glad this is out in the open," or "This is awelcome opportunity for us to communicate with each other."This may be harsh, but I don't remember much of anything ever posted by NASPA asking forsuggestions, discussing future plans, etc. Shouldn't we expect some regular feedback on CGP (themain means of communications among players across the country) by the people who lead ourorganization? We're not employees waiting for the boss to tell us what happens next...not unlessone thinks of a boss as somebody paid by the people he employs. We all pay for the SCRABBLE®organization and fund most of the tournaments around the country throughout the year.Best, JKM4

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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) 309-1172.8

A D V E R T I S E M E N TPoughkeepsie, NYSCRABBLE® TOURNAMENTMarch 15-17, 201316-game fully rated NASPA tournament with TWL & Collins divisionsPlus 3-game unrated Newcomers Tournament on March 16thDirected by Cornelia Guest & Kieran O’ConnorLocation: Locust Grove, West Gallery, 2683 South Rd., Poughkeepsie, NY (845-454-4500)Format: Main Event: 16 games, Round Robin & KOH, Gibson rule in effect.Newcomers Tournament: 3 games, pairings by results.Schedule: Friday, 3/15: 7 pm Main Event registration; 8 pm Main Event games 1-3Saturday, 3/16: 9:00 Newcomers Event registration; 9:30 Main Event games 4-6 and !! Newcomers Event games 1-3; 12-1 pm light lunch and Newcomers awards ceremony;! 1-6 pm Main Event games 7-11.! Sunday, 3/17: 9:30 Main Event games 12-14; 12-1 pm light lunch; 1-4 pm Main Event! games 15-16 and awards ceremonyLodging: Courtyard Marriott (845-485-6336): “Advance Purchase” rates of $103/$119 plus tax.Holiday Inn Express (845-473-1151): “STP Group Rate” of $99/$109 plus tax.Hampton Inn (845-463-7500): “Cabin Fever” rate of $99 plus tax.Dining: Light lunch included with entry on Saturday and Sunday for Main Event players !! (additional lunches may be purchased in advance).There are many hotels and restaurants on South Rd. and the surrounding area. 9

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 #2DATE: 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 203-244-5324.10

A D V E R T I S E M E N TOLD GREENWICHAugust 16-18, 2013Come play SCRABBLE® this summer at the Old Greenwich, CT tournament August16-18 at the beautiful Hyatt Regency Greenwich. Five tournament options:NASPA TWL & Collins Main Events: 16 games Friday night-Sunday afternoonNASPA TWL & Collins Early Birds: 5 games Friday afternoonUnrated Newcomers Tournament: 3 games Saturday morningPLUS JEOPARDY! GAME SHOW SATURDAY NIGHT!Saturday buffet lunch included for all Main Event players. Free parking for all players.Gym, pool, shuttle bus to nearby shopping. Special nightly hotel rate for Scrabblersincluding Internet. Prizes galore!!! Directed by Jason Keller & Cornelia Guest.Sign up using our flyer at cross-tables.com. Contact: Cornelia Guest (914-772-6535).

A D V E R T I S E M E N TNEWTOWN, ctBENEFIT scrabble® tournamentSunday, September 22, 201310 a.m. to 6 p.mThe INN at NEWTOWN19 Main Street, Newtown, CTA multi-division benefit SCRABBLE® tournament including Sunday Brunch:1. Main Event, TWL: 7-game fully rated NASPA tournament with 2-3 divisions by rating. Entry fee:$70; $15 discount for first-time tournament players; no refunds after 9/7. Registration 9:30 am.2. Main Event, CSW: 7-game fully rated open NASPA tournament (if 4 entered). Entry fee: $70; $15discount for first-time tournament players; no refunds after 9/7. Registration 9:30 am.3. Newcomers Event: 3-game unrated tournament for new players and players rated under 1000.Youth and Adult divisions if 4 players entered in each. Entry fee: $45; no refunds after 9/7.Registration 9:30 am.BENEFIT RAFFLE DURING LUNCH BREAKSend entries with name, address, phone number, and entry fee to Cornelia Guest, 135 Codfish Hill Rd.,Bethel, CT 06801 (make checks payable to Cornelia Guest). For more information contact CorneliaGuest at CorneliaSGuest@gmail.com or at 203-244-5324.All profits from this event will be donated to the United Way of Western Connecticut’s Sandy HookSchool Support Fund (https://newtown.uwwesternct.org).

A D V E R T I S E M E N TSupport The Last Word* the ultimate e-newsletter for Scrabblers *with the last word in T-shirts!Available in 46 different colors, sizes YXS-3XL: $25 plus $5.15 shipping.Send orders to Cornelia Guest,135 Codfish Hill Rd.,Bethel, CT06840Or by PayPal to CorneliaSGuest@gmail.com

14L E V I T T O W NLevittown (PA) - January 5, 2013By Judy Cole32 Mid-Atlantic players converged on Levittown (PA) to welcome in the new year with 7 games ofSCRABBLE® at the Middletown Township Community / Senior Center.Director Judy Cole turned over data entry to her brother, Bill, so that she could help the random visitorsduring the tournament – the two guys wanting to recycle a Christmas tree, the weekday bingo player whothought SCRABBLE® might not be up her alley, the woman requesting a tax receipt for a roasting pandonated to the Flea Market, and the out-of-towner looking for a Senior Center in another township.Prizes were $100/$75/$25 for 1 st , 2 nd , and 3 rd in each division. Prizes of $10 and $5 (or a NASPA rack) wereawarded for High Win and High Play respectively.Division A• 1 st – Kurt Davies – 5-2 +82• 2 nd – Connie Creed – 5-2 +42• 3 rd – Jason Keller – 4-3 +118• High Win – Brian Galebach - 486• High Word – Jason Keller – ZONULES (100)Division B• 1 st – Linda Oliva – 5-2 +455• 2 nd – David Dlugosz – 5-2 +240• 3 rd – Marty Fialkow – 4-3 +135• High Win – Linda Oliva - 495• High Word – Linda Wancel – PRANKED (88) – Ed Mohoric, who played ZOOIEST for 96, hadalready left the building but can claim a $5 discount to the next Levittown tournament.Division C• 1 st – Sharon Downey – 5-2 +364• 2 nd – Lynda Woods Cleary – 4-3 +107• 3 rd – Gerianne Abriano – 4-3 +87• High Win – Samantha Orleans - 514• High Word – Margo Kuno – EPOXIED (90) and Lynda Woods Cleary– JEEZ (90). Lynda chose a NASPA rack instead of $5.Division D•1 st – Zachary Dang – 6-1 +970•2 nd – John Wright – 5-2 +462•3 rd – Randi Goldberg – 5-2 +428•High Win – Zachary Dang - 586DIrector Judy Cole with Jason Keller,who played ZONULES for 100 points!Division C winner Sharon Downeyalso won her division at the AugustLevittown tournament•High Word – Jeanne Gannon – REVOKING (98). Jeanne also chose aNASPA rack instead of $5.Princeton (NJ) NASPA Club #513 sponsored this local club tournament.Division D winner Zachary DangFull results are available at cross-tables (http://www.cross-tables.com/tourney.php?tourneyid=7882) and NASPA (http://www.scrabbleplayers.org/tourneys/2013/xt/01/005.shtml).Judy Cole is co-director of the Lexington (MA) NASPA SCRABBLE® Club #108 and solvescrossword puzzles when not playing SCRABBLE®.

P B M T C H A R I T Y T O U R N A M E N TPBMT Charity Tournament 2013By David KlionskyForty-four players came together in Durham, NC over Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend to participatein the Triangle SCRABBLE® Club’s 3rd Annual Charity Tournament. This year’s tournament raisedfunds for our designated charity, the Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplantation (PBMT) FamilySupport Program at the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center.Our tournament is unique in several respects. While most SCRABBLE tournaments return themajority of entry fees back to the players in cash payouts, our tournament donates 100% of theentry fees to our charity. To show appreciation for their generous contributions, we award ourplayers with loads of sponsor-donated prizes!After a warmup of an early-bird event on Fridayevening, in which Erickson Smith and HannahLieberman won their respective divisions, thetournament began in earnest on Saturday morning.Before the tournament began, SCRABBLE playerand PBMT patient Amalan Iyengar explained howhe conceived of the tournament as a tribute to theprogram which saves so many lives, including hisown. Scott Mofield, director of the PBMT FamilySupport Program, told participants how the PBMTprogram gives terminally ill children from all overthe world a second chance at life using state-ofthe-arttransplant therapies.Tournament Organizers David Klionsky & Amalan IyengarAmalan is doing well now and helped organize thisyear’s tournament along with his mom, Sumathi,and his SCRABBLE coach, David Klionsky. Asbusy as this made him, he also found time to playin the main event. 15

P B M T C H A R I T Y T O U R N A M E N TNewcomer’s TournamentBecause 16 games could be too much for the unseasoned SCRABBLE player, we also held anunrated mini-tourney for beginners on Sunday afternoon, during the Main Event lunch break. Thistourney, which only lasted 3 games, was a great way for newcomers to sample a little taste ofcompetitive play, while contributing to a great cause at the same time. After being schooled in basictournament rules by Katie Bernadina and Sharon Flicker, 7 adults and 4 youth players showed offtheir best moves. Division A player Stefan Fatsis, observing a few of these games, was heard tocomment, “From the words they’re playing, these are no newcomers!”School SCRABBLE player Javier Contrerassmartly challenged off oppponent TomMeehan’s attempted JOS, to win the finalmatch and the tournament’s top prize, anautographed basketball from Duke CoachMike Krzyzewski. Very appropriate, asJavier came to the tournament dressed in aDuke warm-up suit.Newcomer’s Tournament Winner, Javier ContrerasIn Main Event Division C, Sean Aery, whorecently returned to the SCRABBLE sceneafter becoming a proud papa for the firsttime, handily won the division with animpressive 14-2 +1127 record. Sean’sprizes included a trophy, an autographedposter of Olympic runner ShaleneFlanagan, a set of ProTiles, and other16

P B M T C H A R I T Y T O U R N A M E N Tassorted prizes. Eighth grader Kevin Bowerman wassecond with 12-4 +908, and won an autographed copyof Stefan Fatsis’ Word Freak, as well as severalrestaurant gift certificates.Division C Winner, Sean AeryDivision B Winner, Bruce ShumanDivision A Winner, Erickson SmithChloe wins the goodie jar!In Main Event Division B (the largest of the 3 divisions)veteran player Bruce Shuman fought off severalchallengers including youngsters Sam Masling, NoahLieberman, and Amalan Iyengar, to take top honors.Bruce’s prize package included a trophy, a basketballauthographed by UNC men’s basketball coach RoyWilliams, and several gift certificates. Amalan, Sam,and Noah clinched 2nd, 3rd, and 4th placesrespectively, and were each handsomely rewarded aswell. In a true class move, Bruce donated hisbasketball to UNC freshman Noah!In Main Event Division A, 8 expert players contendedfor top honors, but no one could hold back 2012 winnerErickson Smith, who won 8 of his first 9 games andrarely looked back. Erickson finished with a 13-3 recordand won the tournament’s most coveted prize, abeautiful, customized SCRABBLE board, donated byPete Manzolillo of customscrabbleboards.com.Finishing close behind was Ryan Fisher, whose 11-5+674 record earned him a basketball autographed byUNC great Eric Montross, a SamTimer, and several giftcertificates.Katya Lezin, who graciously agreed to play up toDivision A after a last-minute cancellation, donated aSCRABBLE-themed goodie jar to the event, which wasawarded to our youngest player, 5th grader ChloeFatsis! As if that weren’t enough, Katya also bakedsome of her world-famous desserts, which she sharedwith everyone!Speaking of Katya, since this busy lady had a booksigning of her fantastic memoir, But I Just Grew Out MyBangs: A Cancer Tale, slated for the very next day, shedecided to let her family stay and participate in the latebirdevent. Sixteen participants competed for one lasttaste of SCRABBLE glory, with Rahn McKeown bestingNoah Lieberman in Division A. Amalan Iyengar camefrom behind with the bingo outplay ANAEMIAS todefeat his SCRABBLE coach David Klionsky, to winDivision B. 17

P B M T C H A R I T Y T O U R N A M E N TWe want to acknowledge Christian Schwoerke and Andrea Fuller, both of whom played in their veryfirst NASPA events; and Mia Kang and Gary Thorn, who joined NASPA after playing in theNewcomer’s Event.At the close of the awards ceremony, we announced that this year’s tournament had raised over$5,300 for the PBMT program! An impressive number considering the relatively small turnout! Ifyou are a member of the SCRABBLE community who was unable to come, you may send adonation directly to Duke PBMT Family Support at the following address:Pediatric BMTAttn: SCRABBLE FundraiserDuke Comprehensive Cancer CenterDUMC PO Box 3350Durham, NC 27710Our youngest competitorsBetter still, come play with us at next year’s event (already posted on the NASPA calendar and oncross-tables.com). Thank you to all the players, sponsors, and volunteers who made the 2013PBMT Charity Tournament such a resounding success!David KlionskyTournament Directortrianglescrabble.com18

C R E S C E N T C I T Y C U P 2 0 1 3Crescent City Cup 2013By Lila Crotty and Kate Fukawa-Connolly2013 Crescent City Cup Champion Jesse Day with Kate Fukawa-Connolly and Lila CrottyA group of 97 players from 20 states and 3 Canadian provinces gathered in the heart of NewOrleans’ French Quarter to play 20 games of SCRABBLE® over Martin Luther King weekend.Players had the option to compete in an Open Division or a Lite Division that was available to anyplayer rated under 1300. Additionally, there was a Collins Division for any who wanted to vie for thetitle of Collins champion.People travelled to New Orleans as early as the Tuesday before the tourney and stayed as late asthe Saturday afterward, enjoying all the city has to offer. There were those who sampled thelibations of Bourbon Street, tasted the tempting creations of our local cuisine, gambled at ourcasinos, marveled at displays in our National WWII Museum, shopped for spices and othersouvenirs, rocked to the sounds of local jazz and zydeco music, took in the sights on our swamptours, reveled in the tranquility of Jackson Square, and savored the beignets and café au lait at Cafédu Monde. All enjoyed the moderate temperatures as a contrast to the bitter cold of more northernclimates.Oh, yes! And we all played Scrabble!In the Open Division, players took turns at the top, with Chris Patrick Morgan emerging as the DayOne leader. The free-for-all included Pat Barrett, Jesse Day, Conrad Bassett-Bouchard, MaddyKamen, Chris Cree and James Leong, among others. Robin Pollock Daniel made one of the biggestcomebacks of the tournament. In the end, Jesse Day prevailed and defended his 2012 title as theCrescent City Cup champion! 19

C R E S C E N T C I T Y C U P 2 0 1 3Donna Carruthers of Winnepeg, Lite Division ChampIn the Lite Division, while Noreen Kennymaintained the lead for most of the tournament,the always-present Donna Carruthers nicked thelead in the last round taking the top honors.Geoff Thevenot of Austin, Collins ChampTwelve players competed in our Collins Division, ably overseen by Director John O’Laughlin. Thecontest was a close one even by the end of the second day, with eight players still in contention forfirst place. Geoff Thevenot emerged as the winner with just spread points separating him from JohnO’Laughlin.The prizes were many with sizable cash awards, custom made Crescent City Cup tile bags, andfleur-de-lis imprinted tiles not to mention the Scrabble tile coasters made especially for the occasion.The 1st place trophy was a beautiful crystal cup donated by Frank’s Jewelry in Chicago (KateFukawa-Connelly’s mother’s business), engraved with the Crescent City Cup name and year.20

C R E S C E N T C I T Y C U P 2 0 1 3Our congratulations to the following winners:The Early Bird Prize winner was Debbie Scholz who received her entry fee back - $100.Open Division – 56 Players1st Place Jesse Day (O3) 15.5-4.5 +1878 $15002nd Place Patricia Barrett (O14) 15-5 +907 $8753rd Place Chris Patrick Morgan (O13) 15-5 +664 $5504th Place RobinPollock Daniel (O1) 13-7 +1595 $4255th Place Conrad Bassett Bouchard (O2) 13-7 +1075 $2506th Place Jason Idalski (O6) 13-7 +524 Tile Bag/Tiles7th Place James Leong (O4) 13-7 +409 Letterati donated by Paul McCarthy1st Place Class B Terry Kang Rau (O20) 12-8 +500 $1752nd Place Class B Roy Kamen (O22) 12-8 +106 $1601st Place Class C Alan Riechman (O41) 10-10 +643 $1502nd Place Class C William Giblin (O40) 10-10 -112 $125(L-R) Open Division runner-up Patricia Barrett; Class B Prize winner Terry Kang Rau; Class C Prize winner Alan ReichmanThese prizes were awarded to anyone in the Open Division not winning an earlier prize:Tuff Luck Award Jeffrey Nelson (O18) 68 = 1+2+3+6+24+32 $20High Play KC Frodyma (O21) EXTRUDES 203 Set of Scrabble CoastersHigh Win Chris Cree (O5) 609-374 vs Carolyn Easter $20High Loss Carolyn Easter (O24) 455-465 vs Debbie Scholz $20Lite Division - 27 Players1st Place Donna Carruthers (L8) 15-5 +347 $5752nd Place Noreen Kenny (L4) 14-6 +579 $3253rd Place Lindsey Dimmick (L3) 14-6 +220 $2254th Place William Snoddy (L5) 13-7 +893 $1505th Place Rhonda Roederer (L1) 13-7 +890 $1106th Place Broderick Larkins (L2) 12-8 +421 Tile Bag/Tiles7th Place Steve Derr (L7) 12-8 -116 Anagrammardonated by Joe Edley1st Place Class B Ross Davis (L16) 11-9 +478 $1002nd Place Class B Bruce Hamilton (L29) 11-9 +211 $90Lite Division runner-up Noreen KennyThis was local player Bruce Hamilton’s very first SCRABBLE tournament. We congratulate him onhis excellent performance! 21

C R E S C E N T C I T Y C U P 2 0 1 3These prizes were awarded to anyone in the Lite Division not winning an earlier prize:Tuff Luck Award Julia Scruggs (L10) 81=2+7+11+13+22+26 $15High Play Julie Kading (L19) EQUALIZE 106 Set of Scrabble CoastersHigh Win Peggy Altazan (L9) 567-248 vs Melody Ness $15High Loss Shirley Petrey (L18) 392-422 vs Elaine Livers $15Collins Division - 12 Players1st Place Geoff Thevenot (C4) 14-6 +910 $4252nd Place John O’Laughlin (C3) 14-6 +721 $2203rd Place Dave Wiegand (C1) 12-8 +559 $1104th Place Dave Koenig (C2) 11-9 +210 Tile Bag/Tiles5th Place Chris Lipe (C5) 11-9 +125 Letterati donated by Paul McCarthy1st Place Class B Phil Kretschman (C9) 11-9 +409 $100(L-R) Collins Division runner-up John O’Laughlin; Collins Division Class B Prize winner Phil KretschmanThese prizes were awarded to anyone in the Collins Division not winning an earlier prize:Tuff Luck Award Tony Claitor (C10) 109=3+7+7+26+31+35 $15High Play Thomas Stumpf (C11) TELEVISE 140 Set of Scrabble CoastersHigh Win Evans Clinchy (C6) 698-276 vs Shelley Ubeika $15High Loss Bradley Whitmarsh (C7) 505-579 vs David Koenig $15The prize for Biggest Upset was highly contested! While inCollins, Shelley Upbeika (1293) defeated Dave Wiegand (2019)– a 726 rating point difference, and in the Open, Bryan Pepper(1300) bested Robin Pollock Daniel (2074 – a 774 rating pointdifference), the prize went to Mike Gincel (287) who outscoredPeggy Altazan (1070) – a 783 rating point difference. Mike wona custom Tile Bag and a set of tourney tiles.Biggest Upset winner Mike GincelJeffrey Nelson also donated prizes for High Poo word for eachdivision. The prizes were strings of garlic and mild or hotpeppers. Winners were Jeff Fiszbein, Sarah Waits and JohnO’Laughlin.Many thanks go to all who assisted in making this a successful, well-run event. Special thanks toour husbands, Tim Fukawa-Connelly, who directed, and Tim Crotty, who recorded scores. TheTims were each given $100 and hugs and kisses for their assistance!22

C R E S C E N T C I T Y C U P 2 0 1 3We thank each player for supporting our tournament, some traveling very long distances.A contract has been signed for Crescent City Cup 2014 at the sleek new Hyatt Regency Superdomeon Martin Luther King weekend January 18-20, 2014. The hotel has provided larger conferencespace so that we can accommodate the growing number of players. Collins, Open and LiteDivisions will all fit in the larger room. We hope to see many of you in New Orleans in January!!Kate Fukawa-Connelly and Lila CrottyOur many winnersWhat happens at The Swamp stays at the Swamp!Dan Stock tableau 23

N E W Y O R K C I T YNew York City Tournament 1/19/13Andrew Friedman’s second New York City Tournament was relaxedcompared to his first, which was curtailed early as New York City closedpublic transportation in anticipation of Hurricane Sandy. The 37players, split into four divisions, played eight TWL games.At the end of the day Will Anderson was the big winner, taking Division1 with a commanding 7-1 +1080 record and bringing his rating backover 2000. Second in the division was Frank Tangredi (6-2 -46), withAldo Cardia fourth (5-3 +181).Director Andrew FriedmanVicki Kahn made it two straight in winning Divison2 (she’d also won Division 3 at the 10/28 NYCTournament). She finished with a 6-2 +541 record,besting three players with 5-3 records andextremely close spreads: Adam Townsend (+94),Mina Le (+84), and Jack Eichenbaum (+83). Atrue demonstration that every point counts!Division 1 winner, Will Anderson,counts his winnings. (In thebackground runner-up FrankTangredi does the same!)Division 3 was close to the finish, with DonnaEisenstadt taking the win with a 6-2 +388 recordover Fred Schneider (5-3 +421) and JeanmarieYoungblood (5-3 +67). This was Donna’s firsttournament win, particularly sweet since it was ather Club #56 venue.Another first win came to Doreen Fiorelli, inDivision 4, who finished with a 6-2 +490 record totake the division over Kristian Dietz (5-3 +203),Niki Matsoukas (5-3 +146), and Adam Kalai (5-3+120). Adam, who was playing in his firsttournament in 10 years, is the author of therecently published Aceil in addelnnorW: A Bkoo(click here to read the review from The Last Word.)Vicki Kahn, Division 2winnerDoreen Fiorelli,Division 4 winnerAndrew will be holding these tournaments on a monthly basis, with the next one scheduled for April6. Visit cross-tables.com for details.24

R E D E Y E 2 0 1 3Redeye 2013By Stephanie Steele; photos by Jonathan LiJanuary 19-20 36 SCRABBLE® players from 10 different states gathered at the Holiday Inn inBloomington, Minnesota to play 33 rated games of SCRABBLE in 2 days.As a deep freeze settled over most of Minnesota Saturday morning, things were warming up in thetournament room at 5:30AM, as players grabbed an item or two from the breakfast snacks andcame in to set up their boards. Best Pajamas award must be given to Gretchen Cowan, who woresock monkey PJ's with matching sock monkey slippers!All 36 players were accounted for and ready to play, so I took a quick minute to make a couple ofannouncements and games began around 6:15AM.We played 17 games on Saturday and 16 games on Sunday, taking two 45-minute meal breakseach day.With 36 players, we broke into 3 divisions, with 12 players each, and did a straight triple round robin,where everybody played everybody else in their division 3 games in a row. Some players enjoyedthis format, others did not. There are advantages and disadvantages, and depending on ournumbers, we will see what works best for next year.Most of the players enjoyed the communal meals, taken just outside the tournament room. The foodwas always ready on time, and hot, and the buffets allowed players to socialize for a while beforegetting back to the business of playing games.I think I made a total of two minutes worth of announcements for the entire weekend, because thisseasoned group of diehard players knew the drill and this tournament needs very little babysitting.There were only a few calls for a director, mostly for weird drawing situations, and for the most part,the tournament ran itself. Everybody seemed to take to heart the three most important rules whenplaying tournament SCRABBLE: Be nice, play fair, have fun!More than one player commented how they thought the games were moving faster this year, andhow they weren't as tired as they normally would be as we got further into the games. Still, therewere telling comments overheard late on Sunday, like when Janice Kaye informed Kathleen Murphy,"You drew all the blanks this game, except one."Or when I overheard Lynda Finn telling her opponent, "If we can't figure out who goes first in thisgame, how are we ever going to find our plays once we begin?"I know I was definitely playing a different game at 10:00PM on Sunday than I was at 10:00AM onSaturday.The tournament could be stressful with a different crowd, but I have to thank all the stellar playerswho held the spirit of the tournament close and played some amazing games. You all were the best!Thanks to the people who worked data entry shifts: Nate, Joyce, and Maria. Thanks to Liz Miller fororganizing the non-divisional prizes. Thanks to Peter, Wally, and Jon for donating books, a cheatsheet, and music CD's as prizes. And thanks to all of the players who came from far and wide forplaying great games, being good sports and sharing good cheer. 25

R E D E Y E 2 0 1 3Congrats to our division winners, Tim Adamson, Mike Johnson, and Jonathan Li, and congrats to allof our players for making it through another marathon tournament with grace, humor, and fortitude.Looking forward to Redeye IX in 2014!stephRedeye 2013StandingsDivision A - After Round 33 of 33Rank Name (seed)Wins Spread1. Adamson, Tim (A004) 24.0 18432. Robinsky, Rob (A001) 22.0 24213. Gaspard, Joseph (A003) 21.0 6994. Schwartzman, Peter (A005) 20.0 5545. Odom, Lisa (A002) 16.0 4776. Pellinen, Steve (A006) 16.0 -777. Schultz, Wally (A007) 15.5 -3238. Weiss, David (A008) 15.0 -7969. Finn, Lynda (A009) 14.0 -122410. Vaysberg, Jason (A011) 12.5 1011. Wieckowski, Zbigniew (A010) 12.0 -136412. Bliss, Daniel Jay (A012) 10.0 -2220Division A winners (l-r): Tim Adamson (1st) & RobRobinsky (2nd)Division B - After Round 33 of 33Rank Name (seed) Wins Spread1. Johnson, Mike (B001) 27.0 15512. Dustin, Carol (B005) 24.0 21313. Lockrem, Dave (B008) 18.0 4144. Dancho, Angela (B004) 17.5 -305. Krizan, Mary (B003) 16.0 346. Koselke, Phyllis (B010) 16.0 -1367. Jacobson, Nadine (B006) 14.0 -498. Steele, Stephanie (B002) 14.0 -4389. Kaye, Janice (B012) 14.0 -61010. Hoehn, Susan (B009) 13.5 -47111. Cowan, Gretchen (B007) 13.0 -60012. Murphy, Kathleen (B011) 11.0 -1796Division B winners (l-r): Mike Johnson (1st), CarolDustin (2nd), Dave Lockrem (3rd) & Angela Dancho(4th)Division C - After Round 33 of 33Rank Name (seed) Wins Spread1. Li, Jonathan (C009) 25.0 23892. Shea, Colleen (C003) 22.0 10953. Kurus, Doobie (C011) 19.0 -362Division C winners (l-r): Jonathan Li (1st), ColleenShea (2nd), Doobie Kurus (3rd) & Mary Becker (4th)26

4. Becker, Mary (C001) 17.0 1835. Swaney, Julia (C008) 17.0 -2866. Hendrickson, Bobbi (C002) 15.5 -537. Miller, Elizabeth (C005) 15.0 2858. Brown, Melissa (C006) 15.0 -1959. Kyllonen, Paul (C004) 15.0 -53910. Flores, Helen (C012) 14.0 -63711. Grant, Peggy (C007) 13.0 -64612. Besadny, Barbara (C010) 10.5 -1234R E D E Y E 2 0 1 3New ratings and prizes can be found athttp://www.wordgameplayers.org/ratings/texttable.php?tID=179Faces of the Redeye 27

L A S V E G A SPresidents’ Weekend in VegasReport and Photos by Sam KantimathiThe Las Vegas Tournament was a very enjoyable one. It was actually ten tournaments stringedtogether -- five TWL and five Collins WESPA word list.We had an unprecedented 24 players coming from all over the world to play in the Collins Division.Represented were players from the UK, Nigeria, the UAE, Canada, Australia, Japan, Thailand,India, New Zealand, and Kenya--and the guy who represented Poland in a WSC! I played the TWLinstead, which kept the divisions even and avoided byes.The room and the entire housing tower at the Riviera were 100% smoke-free. Many playersparticularly enjoyed the high ceiling in the TopoftheRiv ballroom, which resulted in a near-zero noiselevel. The TopoftheRiv also boasted remote-controlled drapes, large chandeliers, and other lighting.One of the memorable images for me was that of Lynn Wood from New Zealand enjoying thepanoramic view of the famous Las Vegas Strip many times a day from our top-floor ballroom.TWL and Collins games were broadcast live all around the world with sound and three cameras.This enabled the vicarious viewers to enjoy the drama as it unfolded, by looking at the racks andplays in realtime. I was fortunate to play a few broadcast games, including the one in which I startedwith a rack of ACCEHTU and found the bingo (answer at the end), got a challenge, and bingoed onthe second turn, too, to go up 158-0! Sweet.Jesse Day won the TWL Division 1 with the same level of dominance he displayed last yearfinishing second in our first annual Las Vegas Tournament. Dave Wiegand won the Collins Division.Jesse Day, TWL Division 1 winner for the second straight yearDave Wiegand, Collins Division winnerThe rankings in all the ten events in Las Vegas can be seen on the NASPA website, on crosstables.com,and in The Last Word newsletter.Talking about The Last Word, I announced a new prize, the “Best Last Word” prize in the MainEvent, for the last word a player played in the last game of the tournament (it didn't have to be theoutplay). Cornelia Guest had kindly donated 4 colorful T-shirts for this award. Willie Pitzer, LynnWood (NZ), and Lynda Woods Cleary were among the winners. It was nice to see my longtimefriend Lynda win many prizes that week!28

L A S V E G A SI also announced the “RG” prize, in honor of our late RandyGreenspan, which was awarded to the highest scoring word withcontiguous RG in that order. There were many submissions;Michelle Whitaker won it with JARGONS for 122 points.I have figured out how to win a specific prize in a tournament inwhich I'm playing: just announce SamBoard to be a prize for thatcategory! It happened to me at the Orlando Nationals where thefirst-prize winner in the Collins Division won a cash prize and aSamBoard. Here in Vegas, I had announced I would be awardinga SamBoard as a performance prize for each division. I ended upwinning it in Division--and promptly donated it toMark Przybyszewski. Glenda Short from Oklahoma, JoshMichelle Whitaker with her prize T-shirt.Greenway from Toronto, and Chelly Okoko from Nigeria were allhappy recipients of a SamBoard for the Most ImprovedPerformance. This also enabled Chris Lipe to move into the money circle in Collins.Awarding the “Best Las Vegas Themed Word” prize didn't quite match the boisterousness of lastyear's winner PASTIES, which was claimed in an unusual way by the winning woman from Calgary,Alberta. After receiving the prize from me she lingered, then demanded a second prize because,she claimed, PASTIES came in twos! This year I had to gothrough over FORTY (40) entries. The winning crowd favoritewas Jerry Lerman's CICISBEI [a married woman’s mailcompanion or lover, pl.] There were many humorous entries:Rachel Gillette (BROKE), Peter Ashurst (VIVA), Regina Hidalgo(SEIZERS -- she insisted it's pronounced CAESARS!), MikeStevens (CROUPIER), etc.The “Best SAM Word” winners were Luise Shafritz (SALMONS --my street name) and PIMAS (Lynda Woods Cleary -- I like silk).Eric Tran of Canada won the “UncleWiggily” prize for best U-W word forSUBDWARF (a type of star).I awarded a prize of Joe Edley's book Anagrammar for a wordthat anagrams to something interesting). Mike Thelen had someinteresting entries. Jesse Day won with SHOTGUN.“Best U-W Word’ (containing at least one U and at least one W)earned the famous “UW Uncle Wiggily Prize” fedexed to me byCarla Chase Cree. When I saw Eric Tran's entry on the wall,SUBDWARF, I didn't think it would be beaten by any other word. Itdidn't! It's a small star.Mike Baron had donated as a prize his Wordbook, which Idecided to award to the best POO word. Jennifer DeGlopper wonit for a word that has similar start and finish as the recently addedFiretrUCK. Mike also won a special prize from me. He hasattended all the TWL events I have conducted: two in Vegas thisyear and last year, and two from 30 years ago! Thank you, AmigoMike!Jennifer DeGlopper won the “POO” prize. 29

L A S V E G A SThe Sportsmanship Award went to Paul Rickhoff. Players were nominated for this award byreceiving a one-page tribute of praise from other players. Honorary mentions went to Eric Tran andMike Stevens.One of my personal fave moments was dining at the wonderful R Steak House at the Riviera afterthe tournament (They had vegetarian and seafood options too) with the Champ David Wiegand,Chris Lipe, and Jerry Lerman. This was followed by a CSW anagrams game in my executive suite. Iam proud to say I held my own against the mighty Dave.We had a blast this year. Many enjoyed a variety of Evening Shows ranging from Penn and Teller,music concerts, assorted Cirque du Soleil shows, and other extravaganzas ... not to mention pokerand a myriad of gambling options. Thank you, everyone, for coming from far and near! Mark Milandid a wonderful job directing all ten events. Thanks to John Chew for his help in rating the events forNASPA and WESPA. And thank you for the compliments regarding the playing room and thetournament itself. I have two events scheduled there for 2014: the first one during the samePresidents Day Weekend and the second one a Superevent with an optional 100-game tournamentconnecting the Fourth of July weekend with an adjacent weekend. Others can choose from one ormore of smaller tournaments 1-4 days long. I announced this in Vegas this year and gave a freehotel stay (for 11 nights) for the first person to hand me $100. Congratulations, Ben Withers! JuliaBogle was very, very close. We will take care of her. Email sam@samtimer.com for more info on theSuperTournament.John Barker from Australia:Collins Late Bird winnerMohammad Sulaiman from Dubai:One of 24 Collins contestants from 10 countries.The bingo from ACCEHTU Sam played was CATECHU, a resin used in tanning.30

C H A R L O T T EEastern SCRABBLE® Championship 2013: Charlotte, NCBy Ryan FischerCharlotte, North Carolina. Presidents Day Weekend. For the past five years, this has been thestage for the Eastern Scrabble Championship. This year, all told, 84 competitors played over 600games of SCRABBLE throughout this four-day weekend. Prior to the event, Bob Buckley of WGHPHigh Point wrote a story about the newcomers practice session and subsequent tournament, whichevolved into a piece about Katya and her daughters (http://myfox8.com/2013/02/11/buckley-reportthe-world-of-competitive-scrabble/).These stories have already been the talk of the community viaFacebook and NASPA's page, to much approval.The Early Bird kicked off the event 10 AMFriday morning, with 14 people competing.Taking top honors was John Luebkemann,with Winter second and Ian Weinstein third.The performance prize went to Janet Elliot.Luebkemann had the high play of the event,playing BODILESS for 149. Katya Lezin putup a 528 versus Eileen Johnson as the highgame.Early Bird winners (l-r): Winter (2nd); John Leubkemann (1st); IanWeinstein (3rd); Janet Elliott (Performance Prize)In Division 1 in the Main Event, returningchampion Ian Weinstein led for most of theway, until the afternoon of day 3, when all ofthe other top seeds took turns catching up tohim however briefly. Joel Sherman finallyovertook Ian in the first game of the final day,but Chris Cree was always there, just a stepbehind him. Chris won his last six games ina row to come back and overtake both Ianand Joel and win the Eastern SCRABBLEChampionship in his final game versus JoelSherman. So Chris, Joel, and Ian finishedone, two, three, and Winter rallied to finishfourth, restoring his 1800 rating back towhere it belongs and capturing theperformance prize as well.Division 1 winners (l-r): Winter (4th and Performance Prize); IanWeinstein (3rd); Chris Cree (1st); Joel Sherman (2nd)In Division 2, Heather Steffy camped out atTable 1 for most of the tournament, handilydismissing most comers, including favoredDavid Engelhardt in round 19 by only 12points. Engelhardt did, however, rally,winning his last four games to win thetournament, proving his skill to have finished in the top two in consecutive years. Joanne Cohenalso rallied, winning her last four games to finish fourth. Heather won two of five the final day, buther spread was sufficient enough to hold on to second. Cynthia Seales finished third; and at one 31

Division 2 winners. Above (l-r): Joanne Cohen (4th); David Englehardt (1st);Cynthia Seales (3rd); Eileen Johnson (Performance Prize). Below: HeatherSteffy (2nd).C H A R L O T T Epoint heading into the final stretch, she had wonseven games in a row! The performance prizewas awarded to Eileen Johnson, who startedseeded 16th and finished 6th, 10 spots over herseed, gaining 107 rating points. Eileen won ninegames in a row during the second half of thetournament!High-play and high-game skins were awardedevery round. In one round, Winter bingoed outwith the 167-point ENFILADE, but it wasn't evennear the highest play, as Cree had playedCROQUETS for 221 on his way to a tournamenthigh659 over Ian Weinstein. John Luebkemannrecounted a painful story of having playedwIGWAMS versus Robin LaPrelle, slotting a blankw in the top left quadrant in the sixth position of the triple-triplelane. Pretty safe, right? Robin said “Nice play” before sweetlylaying down UNTHA(w)ED for 176 and a 610 point game of herown! Looby was obviously "HAUNTED" by that.Other noteworthy high plays included Matthew Bernardina's careerhigh OUTSWEEP for 194 and CAPSICUM for 101, MarilynPomeroy's ZOSTERS for 144, and Matt P Hopkins' HALVAHS for110. One of my personal favorite plays of the tournament wasversus up-and-comer Youth Player Christian Seifert on the final day. I had played FEU one short ofthe triple line in the bottom left quadrant, and he played (FEU)D/DUCT to block. Holding EINOOST,I wrapped around DUCT to play E(DUCT)ION for 99, then drew ALTU to play OUTLAST for seventysomethingto seal the win. That game was quite the barn burner, with a final score of 539-478 -- arare 1000-point game!Scrolling down Katie's list of high plays during the tournament, other standouts include Weinstein'sSASHIMI for 80, Looby's CHANFRON for 81, Bill Snoddy's PREDEATH for 149, Sherman'sPLAYBOY for 94, Cree's VARLETRY for 84, and Linda Oliva's SUNFISH for 74. Some interestingnon-bingo high plays include Trish Harrop's 74-point TARZAN, Joanne Cohen's AMAZON for 78,and Liz Gottlin's BAIZE for 78, all proving the Z's flexibility. And somehow Chris Cree managed toget down PIXY for 83 and Trish Harrop had FLAX for 88. Both amazing overlaps, I imagine.At lunch after the tournament, with myself, John Luebkemann, and Matt and Katie Bernardina inattendance, Chris Cree recounted a game that led up to his victory, and upon returning home herelayed the story to his wife Carla as well."I was recounting one of my games and 2 plays I was particularly proud of and as we players do,was pointing my fingers to spots on an imaginary board. I could have played WEEN or WEEL for44, but there were only three Es left, so I played LOWE for 29. The next play, HIND keepingILE, then my draw was two more Ls, A and U...“In a nanosecond, Carla says, ‘ALLELUIA! I've played that before.’“I said, ‘You know, someone said you had.’32

C H A R L O T T E“‘Who?’“‘I can't remember.’”At lunch, I interjected that during my first year on the tourney scene, I was playing the sponsoredevent in Baltimore in September '07, and a few tables away a couple of women were yucking it up.I walked by to see ALLELUIA on the board. "Very nice," I said. It was Carla that looked up and said“Thank you.” Small world.Cree continued relaying his story to Carla. "Anyway, both blanks are still out but my PBD (postbingodraw) was BINOOTV. I was going to play BOON or BOOT parallel to the first 4 letters ofALLE--if opp. didn't bingo there now, but he played lower-middle right quadrant BRAND opening upa D on the triple. What a break, I got BOVID for 33. Now, I drew a blank with IMY.“Carla, in a nanosecond said: ‘AMYOTONIA!’“‘No, darling, that is a 9. I played MYoTONI(A) after struggling with it for a minute of opp's time and 2more of my own.’“‘Yeah, well, of course.’"Matthew Bernardina, also at lunch, recalled his own A(MYOTONIA) story. Once in club last springhe opened with MYOtONIA one short of the TWS but had to wait 8 turns before drawing an A, andby then could only manage LOAF/AMYOTONIA for 60 and then TEXAS/AMYOTONIAS for 42."SCRABBLE people remember so many things." said Cree.Newcomers Tournament winners (l-r): Eliza Lieberman(3rd); Jay Jacoby (1st); Jack Miklaucic (4th); Andrew Zerkle(2nd); Nicholas Miklaucic (5th).Day 2 of the main event was host to our fifth andmost successful--by far--Newcomers Tournament.Thanks in large part to the recruiting efforts ofKatya Lezin, mostly at her daughter ElizaLieberman's middle school, we wrangled 26people to play in the event. One last-minutedropout had us decrease the number playing to 24before the games started. This was the first timeour tourney broke 20 entrants, its previous recordbeing 16. All told, Katya was responsible for 17 ofthe 18 people playing for the first time thisweekend, and 21 of the 24 players came totourney SCRABBLE because of her. Talk about arecruiting machine!Leading the newcomers pack after the morningsession was Eliza Lieberman, who has made greatimprovements to her game over the past year. Sheand three other players were in the hunt at 3-0. The intense competition and slow nature of some ofthe games caused a bit of a backlog in thedivision, and as a result we lost 8 competitors after lunch,but the competition still pressed on with 16 strong remaining. Before the final round, three plyaersremained undefeated: Eliza, along with Jay Jacoby of Asheville and Andrew Zerkle of Charlotte. Inthe final game Zerkle beat Lieberman, but Jacoby beat 4-1 Jack Miklaucic by a skosh more to winthe event. Andrew was second and Eliza was third. 33

C H A R L O T T EHigh-play and high-game skins were awarded every round in this tournament. Andy Zerkle had thehigh play of the tournament with INDENTERS for 112. Eliza Lieberman posted the high game with a559. A special $10 sportsmanship prize was awarded by Katya Lezin to Lucy Cochran, who despitehaving only won one game constantly remained positive, and proved an example to everyone elsein attendance. With such a bright, healthy turnout, and dedicated, devoted people such as KatyaLezin, Katie Bernardina, and Randy Morrison, the future of competitive SCRABBLE in theSoutheastern United States is secure.Important to the tradition of the Eastern Championship is our Town Hall meeting held on the eveningof Day 2, where Chris Cree sits down and talks about the direction of NASPA and takes any burningquestions players have. Among the topics briefly discussed were Kenji Matsumoto's call-to-actionpetition; a possible deal in the works for SCRABBLE on television, and what would make TVSCRABBLE more appealing; causes for decline in tournament attendance, not just at home butabroad; the feasibility or lack thereof of "regional" events sanctioned by NASPA; and ways otherscan help make recruitment efforts such as Katya Lezin's, which are essential to growing the game.To get involved, one only needs the willingness to lend a hand, and the time to be able to do so.Those interested should tune in to NASPA's many outlets, including but not limited to its Facebookpage and monthly "state of NASPA" addresses.34

P H O E N I XWGPO Jim Wait Memorial Tournament: Phoenix 2013By Larry Rand and Barbara Van AlenThe 29th annual Phoenix SCRABBLE® tournament started off withan 8-game Early Bird on Friday, February 15. The entrants weredivided into four groups of eight and a final group of twelve. It wasa beautiful sunny day in the "Valley of the Sun.” Winners were JoeGaspard (Division 1, 7-1 +605); Naurlene Canterman (Division 2,5-3 +80); Barbara Van Alen (Division 3, 5-3 +280); Erik Anderson(Division 4, 6-2 +374); and Julia Swaney (Division 5, 6-2 +496).The first day of the Main Event, February 16, the weather wasgorgeous! During the announcements, we gave a short summaryof Jim Wait’s life and displayed the cherry plaques that his wifeDorrene provided for each of the winners in the four divisions.Stephanie Steele was the lucky winner in the Early Entry drawing.Stephanie’s entry fees for the Phoenix XXX tournament in 2014are paid for both the Early Bird (2/14) and Main Event (2/15-17).If players read their official confirmations as having paid their entryfees, and they replied, their names were placed into a drawing.Ruth Hamilton’s name was drawn from 32 players; she won a setof Bob Schoenman Protiles.Round 1: Two players were guaranteed to be the Upset winners intheir respective divisions. Monique Kornell, seeded 20 in Division1, defeated Joe Gaspard, 460-328. And in Division 2, Janice Kay,seeded 40, upset Paula Catanese, the 21st seed, 416-345. Bothwill claim their $70 prizes at the awards ceremony on Monday.Ruth Hamilton “may” have assured herself of the High Game prizein Division 1 ($20) with a 596-329 win over Susan Rhea. Acombined 925 point game. : )Round 2: Travis Carlson recorded a triple/triple, JOSTLERS for122 points. It just so happened that the fun prize for the morningwas for a word beginning with J, for “Jim!” Good timing.Round 3: David Biswell scored 101 points with JUICERS to takethe lead on the fun prize in Division 4. Travis Carlson, seeded 18thnarrowly squeaked by top seed, Joe Gaspard, 451-435.Saturday morning fun prize winners ($20) for highest scoring wordbeginning with J: Travis Carlson (JOSTLERS, 122); PhyllisKoselke (JUDAS, 122); Mary Parrish (JOINS, 58); and DavidBiswell (JUICER, 101).Round 5: Four players remain undefeated: Steve Pellinen, Janice(Top-bottom) Early Bird winners,Divisions 1-5 35

P H O E N I XKaye, Margie Gordon, and Julia Swaney. Keith Hagel arrived from ME! Not in time for Game 5, buthe will begin his tournament next round. : )Round 6: Darn! I must have jinxed them. Then there was only one. Margie Gordon stands alone at6-0 in Division 2.Saturday afternoon Fun prize winners ($20) for highest scoring word beginning with W: MichaelBradley (WINCERS, 88); Fran Galt (WHILE, 37); Erik Anderson (WALTZING, 90); and David Biswell(WACKERS*, 69).“Queen of Trivia” Barbara Van Alan presents prizes to the triviacontest winners: Peter Dolgenos, Champion; Steve Pellinen; andTC Houlgate-West.Over forty contestants participated in thesecond annual Trivia Party, catered byFirehouse Subs, and completely consumedfive large boxes of subs, salads, beverages,and cookies. Unfortunately, due to illness, ourhost, Bennett Jacobstein, was unable to makethe trip from CA. Doctors orders. Standing infor Bennett was the “Queen of Trivia,” havingjust returned from a triumphant trivia cruise inAustralia and New Zealand: Barbara Van Alen.Barbara was assisted by Dawn Doyle, whocame in from Fort Lauderdale, FL. Defendingchampion, Peter Dolgenos, was prepared tomatch wits with the best of them. In thepreliminary round there were four questions ineach of five groups, with each correct answerworth one point. The highest six scorers advanced to the final round. These finalists were AndreaDancho, Peter Dolgenos, Larry Houlgate, TC Houlgate-West, Steve Pellinen, and Gary Smart.In the final round, there were nine questions, and a tie breaker, which was not needed. Petersuccessfully defended his crown, with Steve finishing second, and TC garnering the bronze. A funtime was had by all.On day two of the Main event, we had another gorgeous day in Arizona. We opened the day with alarge chocolate sheet cake and a carrot cake for Stephanie Steele’s birthday. Happy Birthday!All of the directors who have upcoming tournaments made their announcements. The next majorWGPO event will be the Word Cup, and director Angela Dancho gave a short presentation on plansfor the event. The tournaments will be held in Denver, CO, and the dates are August 2-7. A flierand list of entrants is available at http://wordgameplayers.org “upcoming tournaments.” If you thinkyou will be attending, please email larryrand@cox.net and I will add your name to the entrants list.The co-director of Word Cup 2013 is Rick Wong.Round 9: After starting 1-3, Joe Gaspard moved to the top of Division 1, tied with seven players with6-3 records.Round 10: Linda Stephens and Jeff Kastner donated four One Up! games as prizes for the player ineach division who comes closest to winning by one point (in the event of a tie, the player who hadthe highest game score wins). Three players, Harriet Strasburg (Division 1), Naurlene Canterman36

P H O E N I X(Division 2), and Mem Morman (Division 4) had one-point victories. Louanne Saylors (Division 3)had a two-point victory. Information on the game may be found at http://www.uppityshirts.com/Round 12: Travis Carlson, a young player from Tucson, seta new WGPO Phoenix tournament record by playing sevenbingos and recording a 652-point game against his verygracious opponent, Sarah King.During the two-hour lunch break, the Executive Committeeand Board of Player Representatives had a meeting andinvited the committee from the Denver Word Cup 2013 togive us a progress report. From everything we heard,Denver in August (2-7) is going to be an outstanding eventand an excellent destination for families and vacationers.Travis Carlson’s 7-bingo, 652-point gameRound 13: Things are tightening up. In Division 1, JohnKarris is narrowly leading, with eight players within a game.In Divisions 2-4, Margie Gordon, Danny Kidd, and DavidBiswell all lead, in tight races, with 11-2 records.Round 14: In Division 2, Janice Kaye laid down five bingos in her game vs. Pat Diener, and won454-380.Round 16: In Division 1 John Karris had a 633-point game vs. Joe Gaspard and is one win behindthe leaders, Steve Pellinen and Jeff Kastner. John has a 300+ advantage on spread over hisnearest opponent. In Division 2, Margie Gordon has opened up a three-game lead and could begibsonized for the KOTH. Danny Kidd, Jacquie Stewart, Zana Anderson, and Paul Kyllonen all havea shot at winning Division 3. Julia Swaney, David Biswell, Melissa Brown, and Mem Morman arepossible champions in Division 4.The fun prize winners ($20) for a play is divisible by 10 (ties were broken by the players score in thegame that they made the play): Jeff Kastner (THIMBLE, 80); Stephanie Steele (TURNABLE, 80);Dawn Doyle (EASIEST, 80); and Melissa Brown (QIS, 50). The fun prize winners ($20) for a playwith W were Michael Bradley, Fran Galt, Eric Anderson, and David Biswell.On day three of the Main Event (Presidents’ Day) we were blessed with our fourth day of sunshineand clear skies.Jim Lamerand was unable to attend this year, but he made a $50 donation for the “Geezer Prize,”awarded to the player 65 or older with the best record at the end of the tournament. 24 of theentrants were eligible. After 16 rounds, Harriet Strasberg had 11 wins and was leading, with 16other seniors nipping at her heels. : )On the entry forms, players had the opportunity to make a donation to the WGPO. $120 was raisedthat way. At the tournament, the Friend of the Director money and donations, plus the net proceedsof the raffle, produced another $563. A check was presnted to Angela Dancho, the Word Cupdirector, for $683.Before play began, the members of the Executive Committee and Board of Player Representatives,and two committee members, were recognized for their service to the organization. Our tournament 37

P H O E N I Xrating chairman, Brian Galebach, was unable to attend, but he was recognized for his service, too.All of these volunteers accept no renumeration for their service. Subsequently, 94% of all entry feeswere returned as cash prizes.Round 17: Lynda Finn (Division 1) and Lynn Gunn (Division 3) both had 500+ wins and triple-digitvictories vs. their opponents. Joe Edley made a donation of two copies of his most recentypublished (2013) book, Anagrammar. In the introduction, Joe states that “...the reality is that if yousolve these puzzles, following the instructions, your brain will change. It will develop much moreadvanced anagramming skills than you now possess.” Worth a try!Round 18: Three games in Division 1 were decided by one or two points. Steve Pellinen, who is infirst place by one game, defeated Travis Carlson, 399-397. Keith Hagel won his game with RuthHamilton, 423-422, and Sarah King eked out a two-point win over Rich Moyer, 378-376.Round 19: What a neat idea! At the end of her game with Erik Anderson, Chora Eilertsen handedErik a “memory” book that she has been keeping. Players can sign their name, or write a shortmessage. Throughout the book, Chora has pictures of special events and players. Chora startedher book in October, 2002, at the Calgary tournament.KOTH round: Steve Pellinen was Gibsonized for the final round with a 15-4 record and a margin oftwo games ahead of John Karris. In Division 2, Margie Gordon and Bonnie Redland were tied with13 wins apiece. In Division 3, Jacquie Stewart and Danny Kidd were tied with 15 wins each. And,in Division 4, Julia Swaney and David Biswell were neck and neck with 14 wins.In the penultimate round, five seniors were battling for the Geezer Award: Bonnie Redland (13wins); and with 12 wins, Fran Galt, Mary Krizan, Rich Moyer, and Sue Hoehn.Final results follow:Champions in their respective divisions with their Jim Wait Memorial plaques: Steve Pellinen,Bonnie Redland, Danny Kidd, and David Biswell.38

P H O E N I XDivision 11st- Steve Pellinen (16-4 +943) $850 & Jim Wait Plaque2nd- John Karris (14-6 +1218) $4503rd- Laurie Cohen (12-8 +798) $250BOS- Sarah King (11-9 -447) $200Upset- Monique Kornell $70HG- Travis Carlton $20HL- John Karris $20Division 21st- Bonnie Redland (14-6 +273) $750 & Jim Wait Plaque2nd- Margie Gordon (13-7 +673) $4003rd- Mary Krizan (13-7 +516) $200BOS- Janice Kaye (12-8 +319) $150Upset- Janice Kaye $70HG- Allen Jacobson $20HL- Betty Cornelison $20One Up! awards contributed by Linda Stephens and JeffKastner to the winners with the lowest spread. (l-r): LyndaFinn, Naurlene Canterman, John Aitken, and Bob Readle.Division 31st- Danny Kidd (16-4 +1009) $650 & Jim Wait Plaque2nd- Jacquie Stewart (15-5 +1088) $3503rd- Paul Kyllonen (14-6 +452) $200BOS- Zana Anderson (13-7 +504) $150Upset- Paul Kyllonen $70HG- Jane Geary $20HL- Jacquie Stewart $20Division 41st- David Biswell (15-5 +992) $350 & Jim Wait Plaque2nd- Julia Swaney (14-6 +987) $2503rd- Robert Readle (12-8 +877) $150BOS- Mem Morman (12-8 +358) $50Upset- Martin Janowski $50HG- Robert Readle $20HL- Julia Swaney $20Consolation prize winners Kimberly Bocaz(Division 4) and John Aitken (Division 3).Each won a copy of Anagrammar and aMary Krizan tile bag.“Anagrammar” - Kim Bocaz and John Aitken (consolation prize)“Sad Sack Award,” homemade tile bags donated by Mary Krizan to the lowest finisher in each division:Michael Bradley, Gretchen Cowan, John Aitken and Kimberly Bocaz.“One UP!" For the win with the lowest spread: All four players won by one point, in their respectivedivisions. Lynda Finn, Naurlene Canterman, John Aitken, and Bob Readle.“Geezer Award” - best performance by a 65+ year old senior ($50): Bonnie Redland (14) (+273).Complete results are at the WGPO website, www.wordgameplayers.org under Past Tournaments, Results.The 2014 Phoenix tournament will be our 30th anniversary. The dates are February 14 (EB), and February15-17 (ME). If you are planning on entering, please send me an email: larryrand@cox.net Paid andtentative entrants are available at the WGPO website: http://wordgameplayers.org A flier will be available atthe website as soon as the hotel contract is signed. These entry fees will be good until January 6, 2014:Early Bird $40 and Main Event $100. 39

S A R A T O G A S P R I N G SSaratoga Springs 2013By Kieran O’Connor, Director; Photos by Roger CullmanIt is late February, so time for the Saratoga, NY tournament! The weather for February can bevariable—but we all lucked out in that it was quite moderate. Annette Tedesco certainly put togethera great group of players for this event.The tournament started with a 5-game early bird at noon on Friday. There were 20 players, in threedivisions, for TWL. In addition, we had a Collins division of four players.Matthew O’Connor won division 1 with a 4-1, +246 record.Division 2 was won by Daniel Blake, who finished 4-1 with a+144 spread. Division C was won by youth player NathanielSandalow-Ash with a perfect 5-0 +519. The Collins divisionwas won by Chris Lipe 3 ½-1 +333.There were a lot of good games played and it certainly was agood turnout for an early bird.Above: Early Bird Division 1 winner MatthewO’Connor.Below: Chris Lipe (shown in an after-hours game)was the Collins division winner (Photos ©RogerCullman Photography www.rogercullman.com)Before the Main Event players gathered to watch Jason Kelleron the “Jeopardy! Touranment of Champions.” Although Jasondid not win this round, he left the tournament with $10,000 formaking it into the semifinals. Having won a total of $223,900 onthe show, Jason is the SCRABBLE world’s Jeopardy! star.Friday evening, after Jeopardy!, play moved into the MainEvent. We had 76 players in three divisions for TWL and 6players in the Collins division. The play included 16 games overthe three days.Division A was won by Joel Sherman by 12-4 +817. It was aneck-and neck-contest among the top 5 players in Division Aright to the end. Second, also at 12-4 but with a slightly lowerspread than Joel (+657), was Robin Pollock Daniel, whose sonReese was the touranment’s Assistant Director. Seth Lipkinwas third with an 11-5 +824 record.Roger Cullman took the division B title witha 13-3 +854 record. Former SchoolSCRABBLE Champion Bradley Robbins,now in high school, finished second with an11-5 +719 record. Also finishing with 11-5records were Brenda Casey (third) andJoshua Sokol (fourth).Division A winner Joel ShermanDivision C was taken by longtime playerDon Drumm with a 12-4 +637 record.Linda Oliva finished second with an 11-5+988 record, and Susan Kirchhausen wasDivision B winner Roger Cullman40

S A R A T O G A S P R I N G Sthird with an 11-5 +945 record. Also with 11 wins was the fourthplacefinisher, Dianne Whitman (11-5 +264).Former World Champion Joel Wapnick won the 17-game Collinsdivision with a 14-3 +1010 record, the best of the tournament.Second went to Early Bird winner Chris Lipe, who finished 12-5+919 over Winter (10-7 +386).Division C winner Don Drumm(Photo ©Roger Cullman Photographywww.rogercullman.com)Complete game-by-game wins/loss information is on crosstables.com.(l-r): Reese Daniel (Assistant Director) and Kieran O’Connor (Director); Division A runner-up Robin Pollock Daniel(Photos ©Roger Cullman Photography www.rogercullman.com)In addition to the games, players enjoyed a trivia contest hosted by Dan Blake on Saturday night--and a number of after-hours games!The playing room was great—each game had its own table. Players seemed to like the venue andthere was food within easy walking distance of the hotel. Many players left looking forward to nextyear’s tourney in historic Saratoga!TournamSCRABBLE players in disguise(Photo by Kieran O’Connor) 41

TournamentResultsJANUARY 1-FEBRUARY 28ALBANY (COLONIE) NY12/29-1/11. Mack Meller2. Diane Firstman3. Jeanmarie YoungbloodALBANY (COLONIE) NY(COLLINS) 12/29-1/11. Brian BowmanALBANY (COLONIE) NY 1/11. Jason UbeikaT O U R N A M E N T R E S U L T SBERKELEY CA 1/61. Doug Brockmeier2. Jack Norman3. Dan Unger4. Daniel MoglenLINDEN MI 1/61. Paul EpsteinPORTLAND OR (COLLINS)1/61. Dave WiegandLCT - HUDSON OH 1/81. Daniel StockBAYSIDE NY 1/121. Paul Avrin2. Charlene WhiteRENO NV (WGPO) 1/181. Kenji MatsumotoDALLAS TX 1/191. Michael Early2. Fran Silver3. Barbara HildenbrandDURHAM NC 1/19-201. Erickson Smith2. Bruce Shuman3. Sean AeryHUDSON OH 1/191. Lisa BrownNEW ORLEANS LA 1/19-211. Jesse Day2. Donna CarruthersCOVINA CA 1/11. David WhitleyLINDEN MI 1/41. Melissa Routzahn2. Margaret SutherlandLEVITTOWN PA 1/51. Kurt Davies2. Linda Oliva3. Sharon Downey4. Zachary DangLINDEN MI 1/51. Paul Epstein2. Carolyn Easter3. Janet Gray4. Steve RobbinsTUCSON AZ 1/51. Richard Spence2. Steven BrownTUCSON AZ (COLLINS) 1/51. Nathan BenedictFORT LAUDERDALE FL1/121. Larry Gradus2. Sophie Marques3. Troy ThompsonORLANDO FL 1/12-131. Steve Glass2. Tacy Callies3. Michael KrafchickWINNIPEG MB CAN 1/121. Brian Williams2. Donna Carruthers3. Kristine BarrAUSTRALIA/NEWZEALAND CRUISE (WGPO)1/16-281. Larry Rand2. Barbara Van AlenDURHAM NC 1/181. Erickson Smith2. Hannah LiebermanNEW ORLEANS LA(COLLINS) 1/19-211. Geoff ThevenotNEW YORK NY 1/191. Will Anderson2. Vicki Kahn3. Donna Eisenstadt4. Doreen FiorelliRENO NV (WGPO) 1/19-211. Kenji MatsumotoSEATTLE WA 1/191. Rafi Stern2. Kolton Koehler3. Ted Bryde4. Norm GarvinTEMPE AZ (WGPO) 1/191. Laurie Cohen42

T O U R N A M E N T R E S U L T STWIN CITIES REDEYE,BLOOMINGTON MN(WGPO) 1/19-201. Tim Adamson2. Mike Johnson3. Jonathan LiDURHAM NC 1/211. Rahn McKeown2. Amalan IyengarAUSTIN TX 1/261. Tony Cook2. Edward GordonBERKELEY CA 1/261. Jesse DayCALGARY AB CAN 1/26-271. Eric Tran2. Troy MillingtonCORNWALL ON CAN 1/261. Bernard Gotlieb2. Philip WaldronCORNWALL ON CAN(COLLINS) 1/261. Adam LoganKNOXVILLE TN 1/26-271. David Gibson2. Cynthia Seales3. Phyllis CarterLAKE OSWEGO OR(WGPO) 1/261. Stephen AlexanderLOVELAND CO (WGPO)1/26)1. Dominick Mancine2. Daniel Fleishman3. Phyllis BaranwayBRATTLEBORO VT 1/271. Seth Lipkin2. Morris Greenberg3. Carol McDonald4. Brian Premore5. Marvin Kraus6. Megan McMahonBRATTLEBORO VT(COLLINS) 1/271. Carl DurdanMOUNTAIN VIEW CA(WGPO) 1/271. Adam GinzbergBRAMPTON ON CAN 2/21. Gabriel Gauthier-Shalom2. Sophia Ozorio3. Sharmaine Farini4. Peter HopkinsBRAMPTON ON CAN(COLLINS) 2/21. Geoffrey NewmanOLIVE HILL KY 2/21. Marc Broering2. Rita Guffy3. Victoria BledsoeUTICA NY 2/21. Daniel Citron2. Shubha KamathMISSISSAUGA ON CAN 2/31. Jim Nanavati2. Lynda Wise3. Don SinclairMISSISSAUGA ON CAN(COLLINS) 2/31. Geoffrey NewmanDES MOINES IA 2/9-101. Matthew Ridout2. Clay Koziol3. Kay AdamFORT LAUDERDALE FL2/9-101. Randy Greenspan2. Marla Riff3. Bennett SchwartzBERKELEY CA 2/101. Cesar Del Solar2. John Karris3. Maggie Morley4. Bruce BaginskiGUELPH ON CAN 2/101. Jim Nanavati2. Heather McCall3. Sharmaine FariniGUELPH ON CAN(COLLINS) 2/101. Sinna VijayakumarPHILADELPHIA PA 2/101. Mitchell Brook2. Jay Stieb3. Nancy HanleyLAS VEGAS NV EARLYBIRD 2/141. Michael Baker2. Wilma PitzerLAS VEGAS NV EARLYBIRD (COLLINS) 2/141. Steve PolatnickLAS VEGAS NV EARLYBIRD 2/151. Mark Przybyszewski2. Gerry Greenside3. Glenda Short 43

LAS VEGAS NV EARLYBIRD (COLLINS) 2/151. David WhitleyCHARLOTTE NC EARLYBIRD 2/151. John LuebkemannCHARLOTTE NC 2/15-171. Chris Cree2. David EnglehardtLAS VEGAS NV 2/16-171. Jesse Day2. Michael Stevens3. Julia BogleLAS VEGAS NV (COLLINS)2/16-181. Dave WiegandPHOENIX AZ EARLY BIRD(WGPO) 2/151. Joe Gaspard2. Naurlene Canterman3. Barbara Van Alen4. Erik Anderson5. Julia SwaneyPHOENIX AZ (WGPO)2/16-181. Steve Pellinen2. Yvonne Bonnie Redland3. Danny Kidd4. David BiswellCHARLOTTE NCNEWCOMERS 2/161. Jay JacobyDALLAS TX 2/161. Darrell Day2. Bryan Pepper3. Phyllis Owen44T O U R N A M E N T R E S U L T SNEW YORK NY 2/161. Jason Keller2. Nancy Konipol3. Joshua SokolPORT CLINTON OH 2/16-171. Brian BowmanLAS VEGAS LATE BIRD2/181. Dave Wiegand2. Darin True3. Bruce D’Ambrosio4. Lynda Woods ClearyLAS VEGAS LATE BIRD(COLLINS) 2/181. John BarkerPORT CLINTON OH 2/181. Brian BowmanLAS VEGAS LATE BIRD2/191. Kevin Rickhoff2. Wilma PitzerLAS VEGAS LATE BIRD(COLLINS) 2/191. Marty GabrielSARATOGA SPRINGSEARLY BIRD 2/221. Matthew O’Connor2. Daniel Blake3. Nathaniel Sandalow-AshSARATOGA SPRINGSEARLY BIRD (COLLINS)2/221. Chris LipeSARATOGA SPRINGS2/22-241. Joel Sherman2. Roger Cullman3. Don DrummSARATOGA SPRINGS(COLLINS) 2/22-241. Joel WapnickAUSTIN TX 2/231. Matt Canik2. Leslie MillardDADE CITY FL 2/231. Susan Blanchard2. Dennis LloydMOUNTAIN VIEW CA(WGPO) 2/231. Emely WeissmanPORTLAND OR 2/231. Nigel Peltier2. Alan Meyer3. Jesse Wornum

N E W F A C E SNew FacesSince our last issue, 66 new faces have competed at NASPA and WGPO tournaments, including animpressive 19 new players who debuted at the Eastern Championship Newcomers Tournament in Charlotte,NC, on 2/16 and 8 players who debuted at the Loveland Colorado Tournament on 1/26. Welcome to thesenew tournament players!_____________________________________________________________________________________HUDSON OH (LCT) 1/8: Greg FeldkampBAYSIDE NY 1/12: Randall BattermanFORT LAUDERDALE FL 1/12: David M. Dzamba (4th)WINNIPEG MB CAN 1/12: Iqbal Shahid (3rd)HUDSON OH 1/19: Gavin RoyDURHAM NC 1/19-20: Andrea FullerNEW ORLEANS LA 1/19-21: Bruce HamiltonSEATTLE WA 1/19: Charles Dupont, Ann StaffordDURHAM NC 1/21: Christian SchwoerkeAUSTIN TX 1/26: Deanne DorsaCORNWALL ON CAN 1/26: Amanda Asselin, Norma Forsyth, Carol Murdock, Vivianne Panizzon, SydneySmithKNOXVILLE TN 1/26: Barbara Harris, Burnell Thibodeaux (4th),LOVELAND CO 1/26: Steve Braun, Carol Coffey, Sheryl Lipka, Ethel Reiss, Karla Reiss, Shari Shields(2nd), Janice Whitaker, Jeff White,BRATTLEBORO VT 1/27: Mark Francillon (3rd)BRAMPTON ON CAN 2/2: Catherine Carreiro, Ted Graham, Kristina Romasco, Sasha Romasco, JalimaSimancasOLIVE HILL KY 2/2: Nate RiceUTICA NY 2/2: Hani KhouriBERKELEY CA 2/10: Laree Byrd, Todd Hosein, Victoria MartinPHILADELPHIA PA 2/10: Duane Mumma, Sam PricePHOENIX AZ EARLY BIRD 2/16: Evan Fishman, Tom HendlerCHARLOTTE NC NEWCOMERS 2/16: Brad Abeles, Lauren Abeles, Marisa Abeles, Max Abeles, LucyCochran, Sam Cochran, Marriana DiPirro, Diane Elder, Allison Fine, Doris Green, Adam Levy, Sophie Levy,Nathalie Malter, Elias Pentes, Amy Read, Colin Read, Piper Strzelecki, Stephanie Suster, Gary ThornPORT CLINTON OH 2/16-17: Chris GalvinPORT CLINTON OH 2/18: Chris Marcinko, Sarah WoodburnAUSTIN TX 2/23: Lisa Fox, Lukas FriedPORTLAND OR 2/23: Jon Baker 45

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: Is it still okay to verbally designate the blank?Answer: The rules DO NOT discourage verbalizing the blank. This was not an oversight! Ithas been the long-standing practice to announce the blank. That continues to be acceptable,but the written designation prevails.That said, your opponent is not required to state the blank. He is, however, required to putthe blank slip back in the middle where you can see it. If this is not done, you may stop theclock while retrieving the misplaced slip.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.46

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 GROW andGEM are acceptable, but not GROWL, because the “W” and the “L” 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, MERE andWOOL are acceptable. But GOO would not be acceptable because the “G” and the “O” 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 “R.” 47

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:160 points (Novice); 240 points (Intermediate); 300 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.48

W O R D S T A RWord Star Solution for: The Last Word January 2012EGEREGGEGGEREMEEMEEREMERGEEMMEREREERGERRERRORGEEGEMGERMGLOWGLOWWORMGREEGREEGREEGROWLOLLLOOLORELOWMEGMEMMEMEMEREMERERMERGEMERGEEMERGERMERLOREORMERREEREEMERGEREGREGLOWREGROWREMREMERGEREROLLROLLROWWOOWOOLWOREWORMWORMERWOWPAR SCORES: 160 points (Novice); 240 points (Intermediate); 300 points (Advanced)BEST SCORE:2 Points for each WORD found:50 Words = 100 points.5 Bonus Points for each BINGO found:4 Bingos = 20 points.1 Point for each LETTER of every word found:218 Letters = 218 points.1 Bonus Point for each CENTER STAR of every word found:48 R’s = 48 points.TOTAL = 386 Points 49

H I S T O R I C M O M E N T SHistoric Moments: SCRABBLE® Through the YearsTournament Director BluesBy Stu GoldmanDirecting SCRABBLE tournaments can sometimes pose unusual challenges. For openers, I onceplayed in a tournament in Southern California in which the proceedings were delayed one hour forall but the expert division because a horrific highway accident had delayed a considerable numberof the players. As a result they had just finished their fourth game at 2 pm when the hotel restaurantclosed. I asked the director the next morning why he didn't play only three games before lunch. "Ididn't think of it," he replied sheepishly.An error in awarding prizes can also produce a headache. The funniest I know of was an event inthe middle 1980s. The winner would be the player who won the last game with the late, beloved RitaProvost, known for most of her career as Rita Norr. When Rita looked at the printed results she wentto the director and told him she had lost the game, so could not possibly be the tournament winner,as stated. His reply was that the result was determined by computer and could not possibly bewrong. The prizes were awarded that way.Later, the director discovered that wrong information had been fed to the computer, and Rita'sopponent had indeed won the tournament. The director then sought out his co-director, who hadbooked the room and soothed players' ruffled feelings, etc., but played no part in running the event."You're public relations," he said. "You get the prize money away from Rita and give it to heropponent." Rita, being the class act she was, had no difficulty with that.Then there is the problem, before computer adjudication, of a wrong challenge decision. Among thehalf dozen or so I know of, one almost certainly determined the winner of a tournament. The formatwas round robin, with king-of-the-hill the last game. The late Bob Felt was playing a low-rankedexpert. He played LANITAL, which he was not sure of. It was challenged, and the director, looking atit upside down, read it as LATINAL. He ruled it unacceptable. Felt did not ask for a second opinion.Felt played in the king-of-the-hill round for the tournament. His opponent had the same number ofwins, but a much lower cumulative. The opponent won; if Felt had had one more win, he would havewon the tournament on cume. So, assuming that the wrong challenge decision cost Felt that game,it also cost him the tournament.Stu Goldman lives in California and has been playing tournament SCRABBLE® for 38 years.50

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.________________________________________________________________Rahn McKeown’s 500 GamesOn January 14, Rahn McKeown visited the Downingtown (PA) NASPA SCRABBLE® Club #333 forfive games. where he scored 500, 577, and 526 in the first three rounds. For the night his pointaverage was 498, his bingo average 3.2, and his average margin of victory 192. Every expert playereventually has an incredible night when his/her SCRABBLE stars are in perfect alignment and he/she is (finally!) bountifully rewarded for a lifetime of dedication and study. The kicker is that Rahn'sstars stayed in alignment, and exactly one week later at a five-game tournament in Durham, NC, heplayed three 500 games, averaged 477, and enjoyed a 157 average margin of victory. That's six500's in ten games. You don't want to be playing this guy anytime soon!DOWNINGTON (PA) NASPA SCRABBLE® Club #333 meets Monday nights at 6:00 pm at 983East Lancaster Ave., Downington, PA. Contact: Jay Strieb, 610-642-4133, j.strieb@comcast.net______________________________________________________________________________Ben Ritter’s Club 44 Debutby Alan SternOn February 6 at Club 44 Los Angeles a young guy walksin who is an ISC player, handle I didn't get, and hadprobably the best debut session of anyone in the 36-yearhistory of this club. He never had attended a club before orplayed in a tournament. His name is Ben Ritter and I hopehe returns. Please!Ben went 3-1 with scores of 434, 481, 505, 427. His losswas the 505! That's a new Club 44 record. He also made12 bingos!I would assume that's one of the better first-time efforts inclub history. Need to get this guy signed up if I can.Check out the board pic on the left of his 505, 4-bingo lossto Maddy Kamen's 552. Maddy had 3 bingos, includingthe TWS-TWS IdEATIVE.LOS ANGELES (CA) NASPA SCRABBLE® Club #44 meets Wednesday nights from 5:45-9:45 atPlummer Park Community Center, Room 4, 7377 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood, CA. Clubwebsite: http://www.thescrabbleclub.com. Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/LosAngelesScrabbleClub Contact: Alan Stern, 818-951-1745, alan@thescrabbleclub.com 51

C L U B N E W SPete Zeigler’s 722 game at Club #653Pete Zeigler booked a 722-240 win over Dan Stock at Akron, Ohio NASPA Club #653 on Thursday,January 31, 2012. A review of the game with Quackle showed an adjusted score of 725-238. Theplays in the game (racks were not recorded) can be viewed here. Congratulations, Pete!AKRON (OH) NASPA SCRABBLE® Club #653 meets Thursday nights at 6:00 pm at the Debacco-Zeigler Residence, 179 Goodhue Drive, Akron OH. Club website: http://www.neoscrabble.com/site.cfm/Clubs/Club653. Contacts: Dallas Johnson, 330-676-1723, dallas@neoscrabble.com; PeteZeigler, 330-321-7303, petezeigler@gmail.com_______________________________________________________________________________Ottawa Club wins ULU CupThe Ottawa and Montreal clubs contested the ULU Cup onSaturday, January 26, in an intercity match directed by SaryKaranofsky and Sue Tremblay at the Cornwall Public Library inCornwall, Ontario. For the second consecutive year, Ottawawon the event overall, thanks to CSW individual leader AdamLogan's 7-1 record (his one loss was to Joel Wapnick ). Thetournament was sponsored by the Cornwall SCRABBLE Club.CORNWALL (ON) SCRABBLE® Club meets Thursdays at1:30 p.m. at the Cornwall Public Library, 45 Second St. East,Cornwall, ON, CANADA. The Club adheres to rules andregulations of the National Scrabble Association (NSA) and isopen to new members who are up to a “friendly, lightlycompetitive challenge.” Contact: Club Director, ViviannePanizzon, 613-931-1792.OTTAWA (ON) NASPA SCRABBLE® Club #493 meets Wednesday nights from 7:00-10:15 p.m. atthe Gloucester Public Library, Meeting Room “A,” 2036 Ogilvie Rd., Ottawa, Ontario, CANADA.Club website: http://www.ottawascrabbleclub.com. Contacts: Emilie Henkelman, 613-723-1999,f_emilie_h@hotmail.com; Sue Tremblay, 613-822-0792, tremblay2000@rogers.com; MatthewTunnicliffe, oohntschte@hotmail.comMONTREAL (COTE ST. LUC) (QB) NASPA SCRABBLE® Club #83 meets Wednesday nights at7:00 p.m. at Trudeau Park Chalet #1, 6975 Mackle Rd., Cote St. Luc, Quebec, CANADA. Contacts:Bernard Gotlieb, 514-484-0824, bgotlieb@gmail.com; Sary Kananofsky, 514-481-7941,saryk@videotron.ca_______________________________________________________________________________Close Collins game at Cambridge ClubOn January 28, John O’Laughlin and Evans Clinchy had a 481-480 six-bingo Collins game at theCambridge club, which meets near Harvard on Monday nights. John founded the club last year.See the annotated game at http://cross-tables.com/annotated.php?u=13487#0#CAMBRIDGE (MA) NASPA SCRABBLE® Club #811 meets Monday nights at 6:00 p.m. at CloverHSQ, 7 Holyoke Street, Cambridge, MA. Contact: John O’Laughlin, 857-318-1894,olaughlin@gmail.com52

Happy 38th Birthday, Toronto Club!C L U B N E W SThe Toronto (ON) NASPA SCRABBLE® Club #3 celebrated its 38th anniversary on February 27th,2013, with cake, refreshments, balloons, special prizes, and three games of SCRABBLE. Exactly 38players attended.The night was filled with special festivities, including "Sadie Hawkins" pairings, where lower ratedplayers players faced higher-rated players; prizes for the first player in each division to make a 38-point play; prizes for the first player in each division to make a play using a 3-point tile and an 8-point tile; and prizes in the final round for the first play that began and ended with the same letter (as“thirty-eight” does).Club director John Chew thanked all who braved the weather to come to this party, especiallycatering coordinator Lynda Wise, codirector Lisa Kessler, and registrar Glenn Mosher.Toronto Club Champions for 2012-2013In January the Toronto Club announced its Club Champions forthe previous year. Division A Champion was Evan Berofsky, whotook the title for the 9th time. Division B Champion was JacksonSmylie, who won the Division C title the previous year. TheDivision C Champion was Josh Greenway. The trophies, whichdepicted players sitting at tiny SCRABBLE boards, were designedby retired club member Ron Manson.Toronto Club Champions (l-r): Evan Berofsky (A); Josh Greenway (C);Jackson Smylie (B).TORONTO (ON) NASPA SCRABBLE® Club #3 meets Wednesday nights at 6:30 p.m. at the EarlBales Community Centre, 4169 Bathurst St., Toronto, Ontario, CANADA. Club website:www.torontoscrabbleclub.com. Contacts: John Chew, 416-876-7675, jjchew@math.utoronto.ca;Lisa Kessler, 416-967-1997, likes@primus.ca 53

C L U B N E W SMinneapolis Club Annual AwardsMinneapolis Club 42 director Steve Pellinen conducted the club’s annualawards presentation on January 29. Rob Robinsky was the ClubChampion for the fifth consecutive year--a new club record. Rob also wonprizes for Longest Winning Streak, Highest Scoring Average, and LargestAverage Margin. Other winners were Dave Herfel (“Most Improved”); JoeGaspard (High Play; High Game; Best Defense); Carl Voss (High Non-Bingo); Greg Edwards (High 3-game series); Scott Jackson (High 4-gameseries--all-time club record); Greg Edwards & Vincent Van Dover (HighLoss). Jim Kramer also presented “Tournament Player of the Year”awards to Jack Overby (ratings gain ) and Lisa Odom (winningpercentage). For complete details click here.MINNEAPOLIS (MN) SCRABBLE® Club #42 meets Tuesday nights at 6:00 p.m. at the Twin CityBridge Center, 6020 Nicollet Avenue S., Minneapolis, MN. Website: www.bachster.com/scrabble (allthe information for both Twin Cities Clubs is here). Contacts: Steve Pellinan, 612-275-1240,steve@pellpro.com; Dawn Gewecke, mnmorningglory@q.com_______________________________________________________________________________Nick Fraher’s 712 game at Club #195At SCRABBLE Club #195, on Saturday, January 26, 2013,Nick Fraher (very underrated with a NASPA rating of 1427)beat David Poder (NASPA rated 1751) 712 to 285. There wasa phony played by David Poder, ANLAGENS, but no phoniesby Nick. I believe Nick let ANLAGENS go because he couldplay DEEPENER with the E in ANLAGENS as the last E inDEEPENER. Then David challenged DEEPENER and lost,allowing Nick to make the 203 point play READYING throughthe D of DEEPENER. The Y was on the double-letter score,and there were no blanks. It's the highest score ever at Club#195. Congratulations Nick on being one of the few people toscore over 700 points in an official club or tournament game.LOS ANGELES/WEST LOS ANGELES (CA) SCRABBLE® Club #195 meets Wednesdays from5:45-9:45 p.m. at the Felicia Mahood Senior Center, 11338 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles, CA.Website: http://www.scrabbleclub195.net. Contact: Bruce D’Ambrosio, 424-227-9412,scrabbleclub195@aol.com._______________________________________________________________________________500-point loss at Berkeley TournamentIn round 7 of the 1/26 Berkeley Tournament, Jesse Day scored 500 points and lost to ConradBassett-Bouchard, who scored 504. See the fascinating annotated game between these twoBerkeley Club members at http://www.cross-tables.com/annotated.php?u=13475#25BERKELEY (CA) SCRABBLE® Club #806 is on temporary hiatus and may resume meeting in thesummer.54

C L U B N E W SGeoff Newman’s 751 Collins game at the Mississauga Clubby Shan AbbasiOn December 13, 2012, Geoff Newman and I playeda game at the Mississauga Club using the Collinslexicon.Geoff triple-tripled twice leading to a final score of751-425. SOPRANI/REDEFEAT/AVENTRES#/SIGMOID/dISABUSE for him, NOTAIRES#/eRICOID/BEPAINT for me. He even missed a sixthbingo of URGENTLY. With my last rack, I triedLIONETTE* because I knew LIONET#, so that wasthe only challenge.Impressive, Geoff!MISSISSAUGA (ON) NASPA SCRABBLE® Club #422 meets Thursday nights at 7:30 p.m. at ErinMills Church Centre, 3535 South Common Court, Mississauga, Ontario, CANADA. Website: http://mississaugascrabble.com. Contacts: Craig Rowland, 905-272-6843, scrabblecraig@yahoo.com;Shan Abbasi, 416-305-4736, info@mississaugascrabble.com._______________________________________________________________________________Happy Birthday, Daiva!Charleston Club #601 member Daiva Markeliscelebrated her birthday on January 16 andcelebrated at a SCRABBLE® birthday party withhusband Marty Gabriel and friends.CHARLESTON (IL) NASPA SCRABBLE® Club #601 meets one Saturday per month from 10 am-5pm (contact director for information). Website: http://site.charlestonscrabbleclub.com. Contact:Marty Gabriel, 217-348-9230, daivamart@mchsi.com 55

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 GuideBoard ManagementBy Curran EggertsonThis is the ninth video in a my series of SCRABBLE strategy tutorials. Remembering the 4 attributesof a SCRABBLE play, this video covers the most important topic of BOARD MANAGEMENT, ormore descriptively, VOLATILITY.Click photo below to watch the video.XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX56

Baby Word ScrambleBy Dan HorowitzB A B Y W O R D S C R A M B L EMy wife's coworkers threw her a baby shower in mid-January, and one of the activities was a BabyWord Scramble. Here's the list of scrambled words/phrases for those who would like to try toanagram them.Two notes:1) The first word in #8 does not have a valid anagram in TWL or CSW, but it is in fairly commonusage (especially as an adjective to describe the second word in #8);2) #11 does have a valid anagram, but the baby-themed word that they are looking for is not valid;3) #21 does not have a valid anagram in TWL or CSW, but is a word in common usage by most newmothers.1. KLIM2. MYMMO3. AFRIEPIC4. STEIBNAS5. HICGGANN ADP6. BRIC BOLMIE7. ISTEOBO8. OYPPO* SIDRAPE9. LOBTET PINPEL10. LOSRLETR11. SEENOSI12. FITNAN ATES13. VIENGCERI KEBNALT14. NAMIRYETT EVALE15. GIHH HICAR16. PARDIE GBA17. BRURBE KICEUD18. YABB TROOMIN19. SNICAOVITCAN20. TREALT21. EIMTPAN*22. PBUR SUP23. NAICIRTAIDEP24. UYBLALLANSWERS on next page 57

B A B Y W O R D S C R A M B L EANSWERS1. KLIM = MILK2. MYMMO = MOMMY3. AFRIEPIC = PACIFIER4. STEIBNAS = BASSINET5. HICGGANN ADP = CHANGING PAD6. BRIC BOLMIE = CRIB MOBILE7. ISTEOBO = BOOTIES8. OYPPO* SIDRAPE = POOPY DIAPERS9. LOBTET PINPEL = BOTTLE NIPPLE10. LOSRLETR = STROLLER11. SEENOSI* = ONESIES12. FITNAN ATES = INFANT SEAT13. VIENGCERI KEBNALT = RECEIVING BLANKET14. NAMIRYETT EVALE = MATERNITY LEAVE15. GIHH HICAR = HIGH CHAIR16. PARDIE GBA = DIAPER BAG17. BRURBE KICEUD = RUBBER DUCKIE18. YABB TROOMIN = BABY MONITOR19. SNICAOVITCAN = VACCINATIONS20. TREALT = RATTLE21. EIMTPAN* = NAPTIME22. PBUR SUP = BURP UPS23. NAICIRTAIDEP = PEDIATRICIAN24. UYBLALL = LULLABY58

Book SwordBy Kate GavinoB O O K S W O R DScrabbler Kate Gavino has a regular column in the blog “The Airship,” where she plays around withfamous names to form their “perfect anagrams.” To see more, visit her column “Book Sword” athttp://airshipdaily.com/blog/. 59

The WordsmithOf lexica and alexic# ScrabblersBy Chris SinacolaT H E W O R D S M I T HThe debate over lexica in the SCRABBLE® world is unlikely to end anytime soon, no matter whatcommittees are convened and decisions made. As someone who has changed his mind a few timeson this score, perhaps I can offer some insight into why.Eight or so years ago, I had all I could do to learn the OWL word list, and had only made somemodest progress on that score when the OWL2 debuted on March 1, 2006.Collins, better known as SOWPODS at that point, was the furthest thing from my mind. If I was tohave any success at this game, I figured it made sense to succeed using the words common to mypart of the world. Learning thousands of obscure and distinctively foreign words seemed obsessiveand pointless.From time to time, however, I would find myself playing a word that I was confident was acceptable,only to learn that it was not. Sometimes, these plays proved to be acceptable in Collins, other timesnot good in any lexicon.And, of course, I soon realized what most every SCRABBLE player realizes: Many of the words inthe OWL2 are themselves foreign and obscure, having no real relation to North America.Conversely – and a point I did not fully appreciate at first - many words that do relate to NorthAmerica – its landscape, plants and animals, in particular – are excluded from the OWL2, but find aplace in Collins.Now, after a year or more of dabbling in Collins, I have found it impossible to limit myself to one orthe other. Certainly, OWL2 still feels more comfortable, offering a greater sense of control, but itslimitations are very apparent to me, and rather annoying. Collins makes for a much more opengame, with wonderful possibilities. To my mind, SCRABBLE should be a game about making words,not a game about making it impossible for you and your opponent to make words. If that meansgiving up a few wins along the way, what of it?OK, if I had to choose just one lexicon to play on my desert island, it would be Collins. I do think thatthose who refuse to consider it are demostrating a certain ALEXIC# quality. But realism, and adesire to enjoy the game with friends of all linguistic points of view, have persuaded me to simplyplay both, and try as best I can to keep the words straight.This much I know for certain: Either lexicon contains enough linguistic riches for a lifetime of studyand enjoyment. To demonstrate that point, I will use the balance of this month’s column to explore aselection of words I’ve come across in recent weeks. Whether they are OWL2 or Collins-only, I hopeyou’ll agree they are interesting.For starters, if you were faced with the eight-letter string AEINORRW, you might well recognize thatit contains an OWL2 word that ranks in the top 1,000 eights by probability: IRONWARE. Looking forthose –WARE words isn’t a bad idea. There are 59 words ending that way in OWL2, and Collinsadds another 23.60

T H E W O R D S M I T HNow let’s slightly alter the string, changing an R to an N, producing: AEINNORW. If you are limitedto OWL2, you will stare at this for a bit, and probably conclude, quite correctly, that it has no answer.Collins offers an answer: NANOWIRE#, which is a wire that is only about a nanometer wide. That’sone-billionth of a meter. Both NANOMETER and NANOMETRE are acceptable, along withNANOTUBE, NANOWATT and several others. NANOWIRE# certainly should be in that list, butwhile others can fight that out, I just enjoy the fact that the difference between IRONWARE andNANOWIRE#, two structures that suggest metal but could hardly be more different in scale, isexactly one letter. (One could surely find many similar examples to impress friends!)Another word one meets fairly early on in anagramming Collins is GOLIAS, a word meaning tobehave irreverently. It’s just fun to see that the promising string ADEGILOS, which needs N, R or Uto make nines in OWL2, produces GOLIASED# in Collins.But where does this word come from? Apparently from a medieval Latin poem, the Apocalypse ofGolias, which was written in the 12 th century, but by whom exactly and where exactly is not quiteclear.In the poem, according to Wikipedia, Pythagoras gives a tour “of the scholars and writers of theclassical world from Priscian to Hippocrates. An angel then appears to introduce the main theme, afierce criticism of pope, bishops, priests, archdeacons and deacons, who are successively likened todifferent animals. Monks are the worst of all, and their greed, gluttony and lust are described incolourful detail.”We go back a bit further into history for our next word, VENATOR#, which the Collins dictionarydefines as a huntsman. That is true, but incomplete. The original meaning was a Roman gladiatorwho battled animals. Such combatants were known as VENATORES* in Latin, and given the otherLatin words we find in SCRABBLE – AEDILES, PENATES, LARS, QUAESTOR and so forth – Iwould have expected that VENATORES* would make the cut.Alas, no. It’s VENATORS# only. Add that E and you have AEENORSTV, which is, of course,RENOVATES, leading us neatly back to OWL2 territory.Indeed, here are five words that I encountered in the Barnes & Noble Thesaurus of Biology that Ifound interesting and unusual.ANDROECIUM, -CIA, is the collective name for the male reproductive parts of a flower. It’s a verylong word, but ANDRO is acceptable, and one could build from there.FILOPLUMES are the “small, hairlike feathers of birds found between the contour feathers on thebody.” Again, a 10-letter word, but in this case both FILO and PLUME can stand alone. It is always agood idea to take a few moments during critical stages of a game to look for interesting wordextensions, front or back!A POTOMETER, -S is an instrument used to measure the rate of passage of water into a cut orintact plant. Here, as with so many scientific subjects, we find a word that is very specific in itsapplication and use. It is in OWL2, but so many other such words that have precise scientificapplications are not. (Scores of minerals come to mind, but of that another month.)And how about this pair of words: STENOHALINE, adj., describes plants that are unable to toleratevariations in osmotic pressure, or small variations in the salinity of water, whereas those that can 61

T H E W O R D S M I T Htolerate changes in either are known as EURYHALINE plants. At 11 and 10 letters, respectively,these are long-shots, but all the more glory is yours if you can play one.I might pause here to note that 10-letter and longer words are pretty rare at any club or tournamentvenue. Recently, at our Worcester SCRABBLE Club, in a game between Nicole Kazarian and SethLipkin, the word FROLICS was on the board and Seth extended it to FROLICSOME for some 40points. A few of us wondered aloud – once the possibility was out of play, of course – whether“FROLICSOMELY” would be acceptable. (You can determine that yourself.)That same evening, club member Megan McMahon played the word VOIDNESS, which, when I sawit on the results sheet, I had to think was a bit suspect. Isn’t a void, after all, sufficient to describenothing? After a bit of thought, I reasoned it might be good, but still guessed no, only to discover thatit’s about in the middle of all the eights by probability. So, not all that rare, but it fooled me.And that’s really the take-home lesson for this month. Whatever lexicon you choose to play – and Ihope you’ll play and enjoy both OWL2 and CSW12 – the only way to dazzle your friends and moveup is through diligent study, constant review, and dispassionate decision-making over the board.I think, too, that a healthy dose of humility helps. However much you know, there’s always more toknow. You didn’t create the language, after all, so it’s not your fault! And you can’t control where itgoes. Just try to enjoy the game, and please, never, ever mistake your SCRABBLE rating for ameasure of your self-worth.Chris Sinacola is director of the Worcester, Massachusetts NASPA SCRABBLE® Club #600.62

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 week’s “Scrambled” Keyword: CUTE RIVALClue: There are three anagrams here, but this one appears to be the most “valuable.”SOLUTION on the page after next. 63

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 as many bingos as possible,using only the 9 letters of this month’s (Scrambled) Keyword: CUTE RIVAL.Words can be 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, ARTICLE is acceptable, but not ARRIVAL.Par Scores for this month’s Word-Finder Challenge:7 Bingos (Novice); 12 Bingos (Intermediate); 17 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.64

SOLUTIONS C R A B - D O K U S O L U T I O NKeyword (Unscrambled): LUCRATIVE (23 Bingos Total)ACERVULIARTICLEAURICLECAVILERCLAVIERCULTIVARCULVERTCURATIVECURTAILLUCRATIVERECITALRETICULAREVICTUALRIVULETURALITEUTRICLEVALERICVAULTERVAULTIERVERTICALVICTUALVICTUALERVIRTUAL 65

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 the news:• Linden (MI) – The New Year's OutlookSCRABBLE® Tournament drew 40 playersto the Loose Senior Citizen Center inLinden for three 1-day tournaments onJanuary 4 to 6, 2013. The first twotournaments assigned players to divisionswhile the Sunday tournament was a “freefor-all”(otherwise known as an open).JANUARY/FEBRUARY MILESTONESMACK MELLER reached 1900 for the first time atthe Albany (NY) tournament.KEVIN RICKHOFF reached 1900 for the first timeat the Las Vegas (NV) tournament.AKINYI WENWA reached 1800 (Collins) for the firsttime at the Las Vegas (NV) tournament.MATTHEW O'CONNOR reached 1700 for the firsttime at the Saratoga Springs (NY) tournament.ROBINS MAGAKI reached 1700 (Collins) for thefirst time at the Las Vegas (NV) tournament.Among the words played were OUGUIYA,HELICOPT, and SEETHING (for 149points).mLIVE (01/05/2013) http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2013/01/lindens_new_years_outlook_scra.html•Cambridge (MA) –NASPA Club #811,which meets onMonday nights at therestaurant Clover,attracted the staff’sattention one evening:“Tonight Rachel ran upstairs and said‘Every table is covered with a SCRABBLE®board!’ the way you would say if aninfestation had happened.”http://www.cloverfoodlab.com/every-tableis-covered-with-a-scrabble-board/MPAKABOARI JACK reached 1700 (Collins) forthe first time at the Las Vegas (NV) tournament.CHRISTIAN SEIFERT reached 1700 for the firsttime at the Eastern Championship in Charlotte (NC).KURT DAVIES reached 1700 for the first time at theAtlantic City (NJ) tournament.DEAN PORPORO reached 1600 for the first time atthe Saratoga Springs (NY) tournament.OLOBATOKE AKA reached 1600 (Collins) for thefirst time at the Las Vegas (NV) tournament.MATT P. HOPKINS reached 1600 for the first timeat the Eastern Championship in Charlotte (NC).SULAIMAN GORA GARBA reached 1600 (Collins)for the first time at the Las Vegas (NV) tournament.CHELLY OKOKO reached 1500 (Collins) for thefirst time at the Las Vegas (NV) tournament.JACK NORMAN reached 1500 for the first time atthe Berkeley (CA) tournament.66

S C R A B B L E I N T H E N E W S• Greenport (NY) – John D. Williams, Jr., executive director ofthe National SCRABBLE® Association, counseled players at the7 th annual Family SCRABBLE® Festival at CongregationTifereth Israel in Greenport on January 6, 2013.Newsday (01/06/2013) http://www.newsday.com/long-island/towns/scrabble-players-face-off-in-greenport-1.4413707#2•Jackson (MS) – On January 18, 2013, more than 100students from the 4 th , 5 th , and 6 th grades participated inthe annual SCRABBLE® tournament for the Jacksonpublic school district.Each student played another student in the same gradefrom a different school. Trophies were awarded to the1 st , 2 nd , and 3 rd place finishers in each grade.WJTV Channel 12 http://www2.wjtv.com/news/2013/jan/18/jps-holds-student-scrabble-tournament-ar-5403299/• New Orleans (LA) – WGNO TV visited NASPA Club #541 at thelocal IHOP on the eve of the New Orleans Open.• Tulsa (OK) - Barbara Santee and Joan Hess,who play SCRABBLE® twice a week at the TulsaSCRABBLE Club, prefer the live competition toWords With Friends. As Barbara says, “You can'tsee the agony of your opponent's face whenyou're playing on a computer.”WGNO TV (01/20/2013) http://wgno.com/2013/01/20/scrabbleplayers-get-ready-for-their-big-day/#axzz2LwGCs9PThttp://www.thelistshow.tv/the-list/localist/tulsalocalist/scrabble-vs-words-with-friends-which-doyou-prefer•Coventry (UK) – In January, the UK Open SCRABBLE®tournament took place over 11 days in Coventry for a total of 94games.Coventry Telegraph (01/11/2013) http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/2013/01/11/photos-uk-scrabble-championships-in-coventry-92746-32584730/#ixzz2IVhyBWx7 67

S C R A B B L E I N T H E N E W S•Eastern Greene (IN) – Eastern Greene Middle School hopes to send 4teams to the National School SCRABBLE® Championship in Washington,DC, in May.The SCRABBLE® Club has won five Indiana State School SCRABBLE®Tournament titles and have participated in the past 10 nationals since 5 thgrade science and math teacher Dinah Fuller started the club in the late1990s.Tribune Star (01/27/2013) http://tribstar.com/features/x503833074/WORD-PLAY-Scrabble-Club-broadens-Greene-County-youngsters-vocabulariesand-experiences-in-a-fun-way• Charlotte (NC) – During a training session for the Eastern Championship in Charlotte, KatyaLezin and her daughters, Eliza and Hannah Lieberman, discuss their love of the game.It might even be termed an addiction. Hannahsays, ““My mom once said to my dad, ‘Youknow, a cocaine addiction would’ve beencheaper.’ And my dad said, ‘Yeah, and lessembarrassing.’”!Fox 8 WGHP (02/11/2013) http://myfox8.com/2013/02/11/buckley-report-the-world-ofcompetitive-scrabble/Double Jeopardy!Highland Park (NJ) SCRABBLE® player Jason Keller returned to the Jeopardy! stage in Februaryto compete in the Tournament of Champions.Jason, who won $213,900 in his initial appearance, qualified for the tournament as the topmoneymaker for the season (and 6 th top winner of all time).68

S C R A B B L E I N T H E N E W SBefore the tournament, Jason was interviewed by Guelph (ON) SCRABBLE® player and triviamaven Andy Saunders and Jeanie Kiekel on the Jeopardy! Fan blog.http://www.thejeopardyfan.com/2013/02/pre-tournament-of-champions-q-jason.htmlJason reflected on the experience in an interview with the Home News and Tribune: “Most of myfellow competitors were friendly and bright. The contestant crew is amazing and keeps things veryupbeat and everyone associated with the show was so nice to be around.”Home News and Tribune (01/30/2013) http://www.mycentraljersey.com/article/20130130/NJNEWS/301300017/You can find the show(s) at http://www.dailymotion.com by searching for Jeopardy Season 29.Master ClassThree-time national champion Joe Edley conducted a 2-hour workshopon January 9, 2013, at the Jewish Community Center (JCC) of Mid-Westchester (NY).During the workshop, the 25 SCRABBLE® and Words With Friendsenthusiasts learned how to use two-letter words more effectively, how tocraft bingos, and how to focus quickly on the best word plays.New Rochelle Daily Voice (01/10/2013) http://newrochelle.dailyvoice.com/neighbors/scrabble-master-teaches-class-scarsdale• Des Moines (IA) SCRABBLE® player Meredith Leigh offered tips to Des Moines Register readerslooking to beat their friends at SCRABBLE®Des Moines Register (02/05/2013) http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20130206/JUICE/302060019/-1/LIFE04/Be-Better-Everything-How-beat-your-friends-ScrabbleExcusez-Moi!French legislators took a break during a debate on gaymarriage in the National Assembly to play someSCRABBLE®.Deputy Thomas Thevenoud offers no apologies: “"Iconfirm that we were trying to keep our brain cellsworking at 3 in the morning. When we manage to get102 points at 3 in the morning, I wouldn't say we areproud of our achievements, but it does reassure ussomewhat.”Daily Mail (02/04/2013) http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2273405/Do-attention-ministers-Two-French-MPs-caught-playing-Scrabble-gaymarriage-debate.htmlSimon Says – NPR (02/09/2013) http://www.npr.org/2013/02/09/171497123/vive-la-scandale-frenchlawmakers-caught-in-the-act-of-playing-scrabble 69

S C R A B B L E I N T H E N E W STile TalkThe proposed revaluation of SCRABBLE® tiles by Joshua Lewis continued to draw attention fromworldwide media:• Global News (01/28/2013) - Joshua Lewis and NASPA co-president John Chew appear inseparate interviews, along with QI and ZA, in this segment on the evening news.http://www.globalnews.ca/video/scrabble+war+of+words/video.html?v=2330120012#top+stories• The Takeaway (01/23/2013) – Joshua Lewis and John Chew debate the issue for 8 minutes onthis radio program. - http://www.thetakeaway.org/2013/jan/23/rethinking-value-letter-scrabble/• CTV News (01/16/2013) – Mississauga (ON) SCRABBLE® player and director Shan Abbasiappeared on Direct With Sandie Rinaldo to discuss the proposal.http://www.ctvnews.ca - Search for SCRABBLE to find the interview.70

S C R A B B L E I N T H E N E W S• BBC News (01/14/2013) - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20984707• The Inquisitr (01/14/2013) - http://www.inquisitr.com/481366/should-scrabble-letters-valueschange/• Time News Feed (01/15/2013) - The article appeared in the Bizarre category. - http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/01/15/a-quixotic-proposal-researcher-suggests-new-scrabble-lettervalues/• Huffington Post (01/15/2013) – NASPA co-president Chris Cree reacts as follows: “People willnot accept the change. From tournament players to people who play at their kitchen tables, theyare passionate about this game and they just won’t do it.” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/15/scrabble-letter-values-wrong-researcher_n_2481067.html• Geekosystem (01/15/2013) – According to Philip Nelkon, the UK’s official SCRABBLE®representative: “Mattel has no plans to change SCRABBLE® tiles. It is not a game wherefairness is paramount, it is a game of luck and changing the tile values wouldn’t achieveanything.” http://www.geekosystem.com/change-to-scrabble-tile-values/• Fox 4 News Kansas City (01/15/2013) - http://fox4kc.com/2013/01/15/should-scrabble-tilevalues-be-changed/• The Telegraph (01/15/2013) – The bookmaker Ladbrokes said that there was just a 3/1 chancethat the values of the X and Z would be downgraded. - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/9803631/Call-for-controversial-word-score-changes-in-Scrabble.html• Daily Mail (01/16/2013) - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2262819/Scrabble-downgradehigh-scoring-letters-changes-English-language-making-game-easier.html• The Independent (01/15/2013) - http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/shouldscrabbles-75yearold-scoring-system-be-changed-researcher-says-modern-words-render-theboard-games-tile-values-out-of-date-8452360.html• ABC News (01/16/2013) – A change in tile valuations would be even less popular than thechange in board colors introduced in 2008. “There are still people who are reeling from that,”according to John Chew. - http://abcnews.go.com/US/scrabble-tile-points-system-challenged/story?id=18222635• Alaska Dispatch (01/15/2013) - http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/scientist-its-past-timeupdate-scrabble-letter-values• CBC News (01/15/2013) - http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2013/01/15/scrabble-pointsscoring-system.html• Boise Weekly (01/15/2013) - http://www.boiseweekly.com/boise/research-scrabble-letter-valuesneed-modern-update/Content?oid=2799637• 89.3 KPCC Southern California Public Radio - http://www.scpr.org/programs/take-two/2013/01/16/30107/proposal-to-change-scrabble-point-system/• Toronto Star (01/22/2013) http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/2013/01/22/scrabble_war_of_words_erupts_over_suggestion_to_change_letter_scores.html 71

S C R A B B L E I N T H E N E W S• Washington Post (01/25/2013) – The tile revaluation proposal is coupled with the change to theMonopoly tokens. In case you haven’t heard, a cat will replace the iron. - http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/kidspost/scrabble-monopoly-changes-proposed/2013/01/24/b3d83ed8-61b7-11e2-b05a-605528f6b712_story.htmlYou can view some games played by Joshua and John with the revalued tiles at http://www.scrabbleplayers.org/games/valett/.Physics graduate student and tournament SCRABBLE® player Daniel Citron conducted his ownanalysis, which suggests an increase in value for the L, U, and V tiles and a decrease in value forthe H and Z tiles.The Virtuosi (01/20/2013) http://thevirtuosi.blogspot.com/2013/01/re-evaluating-values-of-tilesin.htmlIn a similar vein, Sam Eifling had a friend, Kyle Rimkus, write a program to do a letter-frequencycount of words in the SCRABBLE® lexicon and then assess whether letters were overvalued orundervalued. Based on how difficult the letters are to play, the J and Q should be worth at least 14points while the Z should be worth only 8 points.Based on the analysis, Sam offers the following advice:• Unload the J and Q as soon as possible.• Cherish the H, Y, and Z, all of which pay off handsomely for the relative ease with which you canplay them.Deadspin (01/13/2013) http://deadspin.com/5975490/h-y-and-z-as-concealed-weapons-we-applygoogle+inspired-math-to-scrabbles-flawed-points-system?utm_campaign=socialflow_deadspin_facebook&utm_source=deadspin_facebook&utm_medium=socialflowPeter Norvig, whose analysis of Google Books inspired Eifling to look at the SCRABBLE® lexicon,found to his surprise that his intended audience of computational linguists had expanded toSCRABBLE® players and offered his own take on tile values.http://norvig.com/scrabble-letter-scores.htmlHail to the GuvWest Virginia SCRABBLE® player Christopher Ross took time outfrom the tiles to attend the inauguration ball for Governor Earl RayTomblin on January 14, 2013, at the Clay Center in Charleston(WV).The State Journal (01/14/2013) http://www.statejournal.com/story/20586576/nearly-people-2000-gather-for-gov-earl-ray-tomblinsinaugural-ball72

S C R A B B L E I N T H E N E W SOscar! Oscar!New York (NY) SCRABBLE® player Jim Piazza puts the Oscars in perspective in an op-ed piecefor the New York Times, “The Oscars Are Influential but Fallible.”Jim is the co-author of The Academy Awards®: The Complete Unofficial History.New York Times (02/07/2013) http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2013/02/07/are-awardsworth-the-hype/the-oscars-are-influential-but-fallibleScrabbling for a CauseSCRABBLE® tournaments as fundraisers are in the news:•Saskatoon (SK) – On February 6, 2013, CTV Morning Livepreviewed the Speed SCRABBLE® tournament being held onFebruary 13, 2013, to benefit READ Saskatoon and theSaskatchewan Intercultural Association.The University of Saskatchewan at Saskatoon Student Unionorganizes the tournament where 16 4-player teams willcompete. Last year’s event raised over $7,000.!http://www.ctvnews.ca - Search for SCRABBLE to find thecompetition.Heart DoctorNew Hampshire SCRABBLE® player Steve Penner appeared as the DatingDoctor on the February 11, 2013, Loren & Wally Morning Show on 105.7 FMWROR to discussing the basic blunders that singles make in creating an on-linedating profile.http://media.wror.com/Podcasts/1434/021113_podcast.mp3I’ll Have Fries with ThatSCRABBLE® players in Tempe (AZ) may want to head Handlebar on Monday evenings for theweekly SCRABBLE® party. Tables of 4 can earn the following rewards:•½ off the first round of drinks for the table•Free large fries if you bring your own board•Free beer if you play the beer’s name•$10 gift card to the top scorer at each table•$25 gift card to the top scorer each monthEast Valley Tribune (01/14/2013) http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/get_out/dining/article_f0115ed2-5b42-11e2-b512-001a4bcf887a.html 73

Crossing WordsS C R A B B L E I N T H E N E W SThe Saturday New York Times crossword puzzle is traditionally the hardestpuzzle of the week. SCRABBLE® players, however, had an easy clue at 16-Across in the January 19, 2013, puzzle: “It’s worth 8 points in English and 10points in French.”SCRABBLE® CelebritiesCelebrities share our love of the game.•ESPN profiled Barrett Jones, All-American center forthe Alabama Crimson Tide and former National SchoolSCRABBLE® Championship competitor, on CollegeGameday (01/07/2013) before the BCS NationalChampionship game with Notre Dame.Sports Grid (01/07/2013) http://www.sportsgrid.com/nfl/barrett-jones-uses-some-questionable-language-in-hisscrabble-game/• Joanne Nosuchinsky, who was crowned Miss New York USA on January 20, 2013, is thedaughter of Freehold (NJ) SCRABBLE® player Marianne Nosuchinsky.Joanne will represent New York in the Miss USA pageant later this year, and if crowned MissUSA, will compete in the Miss Universe pageant.http://missnewyorkusa.com/74

S C R A B B L E I N T H E N E W S•Electronic Arts placed words from PresidentObama’s inauguration speech on aSCRABBLE® board to score 238 points.Gamezebo (01/25/2013) http://www.gamezebo.com/news/2013/01/25/werepresident-obamas-inauguration-speech-onemassive-scrabble-move-hed-have-scored-238-pointsJudy Cole is co-director of the Lexington MA Scrabble® #108 and solves crossword puzzles whennot playing Scrabble®. 75

F I L L I N T H E B L A N K SANSWERSAFRAID ? = FARADICCROAKY ? = ROCKABYYOUTHS ? = TYPHOUSMYOPIC ? = MISCOPYCAVITY ? = VACUITYUNTOLD ? = OUTLANDEMBOSS ? = EMBOSKSSecret Word: CBPSUAK = BACKUPS 77

78T H E N E R V O U S R A C KThe Nervous Rack: My Life in SCRABBLE®Alienist LitaniesBy 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._________________________________________________________________________My husband’s obsession with anagramming became apparent early on in our relationship. We wereat Pier One, shopping for placemats. (I should say that I was shopping for placemats—Marty has nointerest in them one way or another.) As I fingered a thick silk burgundy dinner napkin, I noticedMarty leaning over a display of scented candles, intently reading the little promotional blurb.How romantic, I thought, envisioning Marty splurging on a trio of Ginger Peach pillars, or maybeIsland Orchard, or even Citrus Cilantro. My fantasies leapt into the realm of the truly improbable as Iimagined Marty cooking up a romantic dinner for two: cognac shrimp with beurre blanc sauce,orange fennel salad, and fresh strawberries with cream for dessert.“Hey Daiva,” he yelled across the store. “Look at this. Neroli candles! Neroli is a SCRABBLE highprobabilitysix-to-make-seven stem.”I wavered between pretending not to know who this person was and walking up to him and shouting“Stop this! Stop this right now.”Before I could do either, he continued: “Neroli with a blank has eight anagrams. Proline, alienor,aileron, loriner, retinol, loonier, nerolis, eloiner.”Soon after the neroli incident, Marty announced that he had a little romantic surprise for me. Iimagined a box of Godiva chocolates or a bouquet of bright pink tulips or maybe even some jewelry.“I’ve anagrammed your name!” Marty exclaimed with pride. “Your first and last name. There areseveral variants of Daiva Markelis, of course, but my favorite is Avid Sailmaker.”I don’t know what he expected from me—a huge kiss, a squeal of delight, a gold star—but all I saidwas “I’ve never gone sailing.”Occasionally Marty tells people my name anagrams into Avid Sailmaker. Sometimes these peopleare perfect strangers. One of my fears is that one day Marty will just skip the “This is Daiva” and goright to “This is my wife, Avid Sailmaker.”An even greater fear is that if I die first, my tombstone will read: “Here lies Avid Sailmaker. RIP.”I was thinking of anagrams today because of Justin Bieber, who posted on his Instagram accountthat he was lingse. Highly intelligent fans figured out that lingse anagrams into single. The brouhahabrought on by The Bieberizer’s announcement almost eclipsed coverage of Hurricane Sandy. Well,not really. I look at the Entertainment section of my MSN homepage once in a while in order to, well,you know, keep up with the young people.I wonder whether Selena Gomez feels a sense of ferlie?

L I G H T S O U T !Lights Out!Wine, Cheese & SCRABBLE® in Pound Ridge, NYOn January 31 the Pound Ridge (NY) Library held theirsecond “Twifties SCRABBLE® Night,” a night of wine,cheese, and SCRABBLE sponsored by the library,Twifties (the fun people around 50 and up), PlumPlums cheese shop, The Wine Connection, andAntiques & Tools of Business (a local antiques store).Cornelia Guest brought SCRABBLE equipment andMike Barron’s “Cheat Sheets.” What nobody expectedwas that the power would go out in the library 10minutes before the event began!Twifties founder Lauren Teton, who lives nearby, cameto the rescue with candles and mini-flashlights for allthe players, so the event was held almost as planned.The 24 players were able to see their boards and opponents, and a great time was held by all (whodoesn’t look better by candlelight!) Winners were able to choose prizes from a fascinating selectionof collectibles donated by Joan Silbersher of Antiques & Tools of Business. Delicious wine andcheese from local merchants The Wine Connection and Plum Plums made the evening a totalsuccess.Library Director Marilyn Tinter polled players after the event about holding these nights on a regularbasis, and the group gave an enthusiastic thumbs up to the plan (though one player did say she’dprefer lights were on next time). The next “Twifties SCRABBLE® Night” will be on Thursday, April25, from 7-9 pm at the Pound Ridge Library (271 Westchester Ave., Pound Ridge, NY).Call the Pound Ridge Libraryat (914) 764-5085 to reservea spot. Admission is $3 inadvance; $5 at the door. 79

Linda’s LibraryBy Linda WancelL I N D A ’ S L I B R A R YAs an avid reader and book lover, I have found that many other Scrabblers also share my passionfor books and for reading. So I am happy to have this opportunity to share some of my favoritebooks with you. These reviews, for the most part, were written for Amazon.com, where I have beenwriting reviews under a pseudonym for over ten years. I hope that the book lovers among youmay find your interest piqued by some of these books.______________________________________________________________________________Nonfiction:Voyage of the Damned: A Shocking TrueStory of Hope, Betrayal, and Nazi TerrorBy Gordon ThomasThis well-researched andsuperbly written work ofnonfiction details the story ofthe voyage to end allvoyages, that of the 1939sailing of the SS St. Louis.This ship, laden with 937German Jews, wasscheduled to go to Cuba.There, the passengersbelieved, they woulddisembark, finding surcease from the horror ofthe Nazi regime and its policies against Jews. Itwas to be their last-chance dance.Unfortunately, everyone, including the captainof the ship, had been sadly misinformed.What happened when the passengers arrivedin Cuba triggered an international crisis thatwould not reflect well on the world at large. Thepassengers were turned away, and the shipsailed for weeks more as the U.S. Congressdebated whether to admit the refugees to theUnited States. Captain Gustav Schroeder, inwhose veins ran the milk of human kindness,vowed not to return his passengers toGermany, where he surmised the fate thatwould await them. He did this even though itwas apparent to him that there were Gestapoagents aboard his ship.The voyage of the SS St. Louis was to capturethe attention of the world. Unfortunately, toolittle was done too late to forestall the eventualfinal solution that the Nazis had in mind. Thisbook, however, chronicles the triumph of thehuman spirit at a time when there was littleover which to rejoice. It is a book that should beread by all those interested in history, as wellas those who are interested in a remarkabletrue story that almost defies belief. Indeed,truth is sometimes stranger than fiction.Voyage of the Damned is available atAmazon.com._____________________________________Fiction:True SistersBy Sandra DallasThe author is a natural-bornstoryteller, who expertlyweaves fact with fiction,making for an engrossingstory. Based upon the trueMartin Handcart Companyjourney to Zion (Salt LakeCity in what is now Utah)made by European convertsto Mormonism, this is astory that fans of historicalfiction or those interested in the earlydevelopment of the Mormons will love.Well-written, with fully fleshed characters and astory line that is torn from the annals of history,80

L I N D A ’ S L I B R A R Ythe author recounts an incredibly harrowing journey through the eyes of a number of brave andhardy women. Outfitted with two-wheeled handcarts to tote all their possessions, these settlers wereexpected to make a 1,300-mile trek from Iowa City to Zion. Brigham Young himself guaranteed thatprovisions would be available along the way, but, unfortunately, this turned out to be nothing but anempty promise.Having left too late to make the journey safely through the mountains before winter weather set in,these would-be settlers found themselves short on food and supplies. Caught in brutal weather andfreezing temperatures that substantially diminished their starving numbers, very few survived theincredible suffering of their hardscrabble existence. This journey, as seen through the eyes of thesewomen, will keep the reader riveted to the pages of this well told story.True Sisters is available at Amazon.com.Linda Wancel loves reading, writing, watching films, traveling, and Scrabbling. She is the mother of28-year-old twins and has recently retired after having been a criminal prosecutor for nearly 25years. 81

Five-Letter DumpsBy Tony J. RaschF I V E - L E T T E R D U M P SEditor’s Note: Because of difficulty tranferring files, only the introduction to Tony Rasch’s tutorial onFive-Letter Dumps is printed here. To read the complete section, please click here.Dumps are words that allow us to get rid of awkward combinations of letters. In this chapter we’ll considerfive kinds of dumps: 1) Fives with four vowels; 2) Fives with two “I”s; 3) Fives with two “U”s; 4) Fiveswith both an I and a U; 5) Fives with no vowels (other than a possible Y).I start with two reference pages, which lists all of the dumps in alphabetical order. I follow this with pageswhere words are grouped in a way that facilitates memorization in bite-sized chunks.The number of words considered are:New Words Old Words (Four + S) Q-WordsVowel Dumps 21 0I-Dumps 106 16U-Dumps 28 14IU-Dumps 175 15 29Consonant Dumps 25 11Reference PageFour-Vowel FivesAALII AERIE AREAE AUREI LOOIE OIDIA QUEUEADIEU AIOLI AUDIO COOEE LOUIE OORIE URAEIAECIA AQUAE AURAE EERIE MIAOU OURIE ZOEAETwo-I Fives (Excluding Four + S)AALII CEILI FILMI ILIAD IODIC LIBRI MIMIC PILEI TORIIACINI CHILI FINIS ILIAL IODID LICHI MINIM PIPIT VIGIAAIOLI CILIA FIXIT ILIUM IODIN LICIT MIRIN PIXIE VIGILALIBI CIRRI GENII IMIDE IONIC LIMBI MITIS PRIMI VILLIAMICI CIVIC IAMBI IMIDO IRING LIMIT NIHIL RADII VINICANIMI CIVIE ICIER IMINE ISSEI LININ NIMBI RICIN VIRIDBIALI CIVIL ICILY IMINO IVIED LIPID NISEI RIGID VISITBIFID DIDIE ICING IMMIX JINNI LIPIN NITID RISHI VIVIDBIKIE DIGIT ICTIC INDIE KIBBI LITAI NIXIE SIGIL VIZIRBINDI DISCI IDIOM INDRI KIBEI LIVID OIDIA TEIID ZIZITBINIT DIXIT IDIOT INFIX KILIM MEDII ORIBI TIBIABLINI FICIN ILIAC INION KININ MILIA PIING TIMID82

F I V E - L E T T E R D U M P STwo-I Fives made by adding “S” to a FourBIDIS IMPIS IRIDS IXIAS MIDIS PIKIS TIKIS TITISIMIDS INTIS IVIES KIWIS MINIS PILIS TIPIS ZITISTwo-U Fives (Excluding Four + S)AUGUR DUFUS HUMUS LUSUS RUBUS UNCUT USURPAURUM DURUM JUGUM MUCUS SUNUP UNDUE USURYBUTUT FUCUS KUDZU QUEUE TUQUE USQUE UVULACUTUP FUGUE LUPUS QUIPU UNCUS USUAL WUSHUTwo-U Fives made by adding “S” to a FourBUBUS GURUS JUKUS KURUS LULUS PUPUS TUTUSFUGUS JUJUS KUDUS LUAUS MUMUS SULUS UNAUSIU-Fives (Excluding Four + S and words containing “Q”)ADIEU CUISH FUGIO ILEUS LUCID OCULI RUING UMIAC UNZIPAUDIO CULTI FUNDI ILIUM LUDIC ODIUM RUNIC UMIAK UPLITAUDIT CUMIN FUNGI IMAUM LUNGI ONIUM RUTIN UNBID URAEIAULIC CUPID FUSIL IMBUE LUPIN OPIUM SCUDI UNCIA URARIAUREI CURIA FUZIL INCUR LURID OURIE SIEUR UNDID URBIAAURIC CURIE GIGUE INCUS MIAOU PICUL SINUS UNFIT UREICAURIS CURIO GUIDE INDUE MIAUL PILAU SIRUP UNFIX URIALAUXIN CUTIE GUILD INPUT MINUS PILUS SITUP UNHIP URINEAZUKI CUTIN GUILE INRUN MIXUP PINUP SITUS UNIFY URSIDBIJOU CUTIS GUILT INURE MUCID PIOUS SUING UNION USINGBRUIN DHUTI GUIRO INURN MUCIN POILU SUINT UNITE UTERIBRUIT DRUID GUISE ISSUE MUFTI PUBIC SUITE UNITY UTILEBUFFI DULIA HAIKU JUICE MUJIK PUBIS SULCI UNLIT VIRTUBUILD DUOMI HILUM JUICY MURID PUDIC SUSHI UNMIX VIRUSBUILT ENNUI HILUS KAURI MUSIC PULIK TULIP UNPIN ZUZIMBURIN FICHU HOURI KRUBI NAIRU PUNJI TUMID UNRIGCHIRU FICUS HUMIC KUKRI NIDUS PUPIL TUNIC UNRIPCUBIC FILUM HUMID LINUM NISUS PURIN TUPIK UNTIECUBIT FLUID ICTUS LOUIE NUBIA PUTTI TUTTI UNTILCUING FRUIT ILEUM LOUIS NUDIE RISUS UMAMI UNWITIU-Fives made by adding “S” to a FourCUIFS ETUIS GUIDS KUFIS MUNIS PURIS SUITS UNITSDUITS FUJIS IGLUS LIEUS PULIS RUINS UNAISFive-Letter Q-Words containing an IUEQUID PIQUE QUBIT QUIFF QUINT QUIRK QUOIN UMIAQEQUIP QUAIL QUICK QUILL QUIPS QUIRT QUOITFIQUE QUAIS QUIDS QUILT QUIPU QUITE SQUIBMAQUI QUASI QUIET QUINS QUIRE QUITS SQUID 83

F I V E - L E T T E R D U M P SNo-Vowels (Excluding Four + S)CRWTH FLYBY GYPSY MYRRH PHPHT SHYLY SYLPH THYMY XYLYLCRYPT GHYLL LYMPH MYTHY PSYCH SLYLY SYNCH TRYSTDRYLY GLYPH LYNCH NYMPH PYGMY STYMY SYNTH WRYLYNo-Vowels made by adding “S” to a FourBYRLS HYMNS RYNDS SYPHS WYNDS XYSTSCYSTS MYTHS SYNCS TYPPS WYNNSFive-Letter Vowel DumpsThe 21 Four-Vowel Fives could be memorized and written out from memory fairly easily with the help of thefollowing chart.C: 2 L: 4 Q: 2 Z: 1D: 3 M: 1 R: 8The chart shows how many words contain the specified consonant.The words follow:C: COOEE AECIA L: LOOIE AALII R: AREAE AERIE AUREILOUIE AIOLIAURAE EERIE URAEIOORIEOURIED: ADIEU AUDIO M: MIAOU Z: ZOEAEOIDIAQ: QUEUE AQUAEClick here for the rest of the tutorial on Five-Letter Dumps.84

Online SCRABBLE® TalkO N L I N E S C R A B B L E T A L KThis column features online games and news about online SCRABBLE® play.If you have anonline game you’d like to share--or news related to online SCRABBLE, please send it to CorneliaGuest at CorneliaSGuest@gmail.com.______________________________________________________________________________From Sheldon Gartner:Here is an unusual play from an isc [Internet SCRABBLE Club] game. I played REOILING for atriple-triple, but it WAS NOT a bingo. “OI” was already on the board. It was 72 points. 85

One Up! Cup for MarchBy Timothy CataldoO N E U P ! C U PWelcome back, vocabularians! Just like last year, we'll post a One Up!® “game situation” everymonth so all you doubledomes out there can show everyone how brilliant and quick you are.Here's all you need to know now to play: Take one or more letters from the center and add them toan existing word to make a new word. Send your entry to johnnymustard@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.FEBRUARY WINNERThe February contest had many new players and serveral outstanding entries, but we have, onceagain, decided to go with an old friend:Hi Timothy,It’s your 2012 One-Up! Cup Champion, Linda Stephens, checking in with my February contest entryA tough puzzle this month, but I’m always up for a challenge! I start this time with MASH.A “schawm” is a woodwind musical instrument, popular in Europe during the Medieval andRenaissance periods. I’m hoping to “mash” all other contenders with the following example:“Awash in whims, the swami ‘Whams’ his ‘schawm’ on Mr. Shaw.”Hope it’s a “wham,” because if I don’t win a 6th monthly contest it would be a “shame.”--Linda “One-Up!-Girl” StephensCongrats to Linda, and thanks to everyone who entered. March on!(The Uppity) tile here is an “L”86

T H O R E A U & T H E O R E A USCRABBLE®: Thoreau & ThoreauBy Frank Lee MoodyExcerpts from “Relative Lust in SCRABBLE®: What Makes a SCRABBLE® Player Happy?,”1976, by Thoreau Maskin:“King E. Lee Tiist’s queen shivered with frustration as she peered through the smoked glasswindow. ‘Why is it,’ she wondered, ‘that Mighty M’s troops have such a lust for life while weare not allowed to look beyond the scoresheet?’”“The young man grinned at the queen as he picked up the tile he had dropped at the floor byher feet. ‘How come you’re not playing with us, ma’am?’ he asked with a twinkle in his voice.‘I’m sorry but I can’t although I’d love to; you seem to be having such a wonderful time,’ shesighed. ‘You see, my rating is 1901; I’m not allowed to play for fun.’”“King E. Lee Tiist leaned back, a widening smirk of satisfaction slashing his face like thegash in the hood covering a terrorist’s face. ‘We’ve won,’ he said. ‘We’ve beaten the bastardarmy of Mighty M. All we needed was one SOWPODS tournament to ring the death knell.And, by god, we’ve got it!’”“Major General Eifele Foryew, King E. Lee Tiist’s greatest player, had his woman on the run.497-228. When Mighty M’s minion Sharon Laughter drew the last four tiles from the bag,General Foryew realized she had drawn a coveted power tile, the ‘X.’ As Sharon reachedher right hand out to place the tiles on her rack, she felt a sudden burst of terrible pain in thepalm of her hand. A bayonet had pinned it to the table. ‘You will not get a thirty-point play aslong as I can prevent it,’ chortled the general. ‘ You will not spoil my pleasure.” With a savagerictus of delight he twisted the bayonet.”Excerpt from “SCRABBLE® As a Metaphor for Democracy?” 1985, by Thoreau Maskin:“‘Okay, folks,’ he announced. ‘We’re going to take a blind vote. Everybody close your eyesduring the vote. Everyone. Now, those in favor of introducing SOWPODS into NorthAmerican tournament play, please raise your hands. Okay. And those opposed? Fine.Because of your overwhelming support, SOWPODS will become the NSA’s official wordsource book effective April 1, 2001.‘ He opened his eyes in terror to find himself covered in acold sweat, his head pounding. What a nightmare!”From Felix Nivison, October 30, 1996: “Hey, you’ve got a very impressive rating; you mustskip a lot of tournaments!”______________Excerpts copyright ©1976, 1985, 1997 by Frank Lee. Reprinted here courtesy of ConnieBreitbeil.Players interested in free copies of SCRABBLE®: Thoreau & Thoreau should contact Connieat Conniebreitbeil@yahoo.com 87

PassagesEdited by Larry ShermanP A S S A G E SEach month we will be including information about SCRABBLE® players (births, deaths, marriages,etc.) Please send your news to Cornelia Guest at CorneliaSGuest@gmail.com.______________________________________________________________________________DEATHSRANDY GREENSPANOur friend Randy Greenpsan of Delray Beach, FL, a leading competitor since1988, died on February 11 of a massive coronary attack at the age of 59.According to cross-tables.com, Randy played in at least 257 tourneys, achievinga peak rating of 1997 and earning over $18,000 in prize money. He won his finaltournament in Fort Lauderdale on February 10, the day before he died. Tributespoured in on c-g-p; excerpts follow.From Sherrie Saint John: "The Randy I knew was easygoing, gentle, and kind. I remember somefun after-game meals and a weekend at the Daniel home in Toronto (Robin put up a few of us duringthe annual tournament before her boys came around--so long ago!). I was happy to see Randy atthe last NSC in Orlando. I couldn't believe how good he looked! He had lost the ponytail and both ofus weren't trying to be blondes despite our genes. When I said that Florida was agreeing with him,he gave me a hug and said something about how I had 'no idea how good.' I'll miss his uniqueperspective and gentle delivery."From Ron Tiekert: "An indelible SCRABBLE memory is Randy at the 1993 WSC shortly after heartsurgery, accompanied by his rolling IV pole--he was truly dedicated to the game and to competingwith the best. Randy was thriving in south Florida, looking at his best physically and playing greatSCRABBLE. Yesterday's news was truly shocking. We will all miss Randy."From Marty Marcus: Randy was "a mensch and one of my favorite opponents on ISC."From Mike Stevens: "Randy...knew the difficulty a lower-rated player has in playing highly ratedplayers, but he went out of the way to help me feel good about the rationale for making a poordecision.... As I read the posts I've learned this wasn't at all out of the ordinary for Randy. He was acomplete gentleman, and on that morning of January 19, 2008, in Reno, he made me feel grateful tohave the opportunity to have met him and played a game. Thanks, Randy, for being the gentlemanyou were."From Wilma Swank-Pitzer: "Randy stayed at my home for nationals in Dayton. Ember had tocancel at the last minute. They had been great hosts to me many times as I crossed from my Ohiohome to my Vermont home. Would make the timing so I could do the Buffalo club and even aspecial club in their small apartment. When Randy found out I used to compete in the NationalJigsaw Puzzle tournaments, I found out about another one of Randy's skills. He loved jigsaws."Of course I was no challenge in SCRABBLE to him. Although one game I thought I had him and heso graciously showed me how I could have won after it was over.88

P A S S A G E S"Randy always voiced his dislike of Buffalo and snow, so his moving to Florida didn't surprise me.Fortunately I got to spend some time with him at the Nationals in Florida last year.... No one hasmentioned his signature beige and also black hats. Randy was a unique character! He is up thereenjoying SCRABBLE with Frank Lee and many others of our unique family that have left us."From Verna Richards Berg: "Mark and I were so saddened to learn of Randy's sudden passing. Wehave so many memories of our friendship with him. One of my favorites was the time I rode with himfrom Oshawa to Buffalo following a tournament. We sang many songs that were being played butone in particular was 'Hotel California,' and to this day whenever I hear it I think of him; how happywe were even though he had missed the exit and went many miles out of the way. I alwaysreminded him that he, Bob Linn, Robin PD, and I started playing competitive SCRABBLE at thesame time but they have far surpassed me in the ratings. Our condolences to his family."From Lynn Cushman: "Randy was a generous and gracious person and player, fun to be around.Playing a game with him was like listening to the music of the spheres -- he played on such a highlevel and created a wonderful atmosphere and feeling, SCRABBLE as it was meant to be played.I'm saddened that he is no longer with us, and happy that his surgery gave him so many goodyears."From Scott Pianowski: "Like everyone else in the community, I'm stunned and saddened to learn thenews of Randy Greenspan's passing. He was one of my favorite opponents and in a lot of ways, hesymbolized an element of SCRABBLE that I enjoy so much: the creative, eccentric, and (often)brilliant people you can come across. Randy played to win, no question on that -- he left it all on theboard, fought for every point. But you always received a thoughtful post-mortem after a game withhim (no matter the result), and he was gracious in victory or defeat."...I asked him about his settling in south Florida. 'Best move I ever made,' he told me. It was easyto see how happy and content Randy was at that point in his life. I'm glad to read he was in muchthe same spirits in his final few days, and it's tremendous that he went out on top, winning his finalevent. I don't know anyone else like Randy, and I doubt you do, either. That's a wonderful thing. I'mgoing to miss you, my friend."From Mike Baron: "Why do I think of Randy as SCRABBLE's gentle pirate? Maybe because hewore a bandana on one or more occasions, and I could envision him saying, a la Saturday NightLive, 'Brrring me my drrrrool bucket, matey!' Yes, he was a swashbuckler 'round the SCRABBLEboard, and he could have easily said after beating me into submission, 'More punishment, Captain?'He was a friendly gentleman at and away from the board. He did the game and all of us proud."From Susi Tiekert: "R.I.P. Randy -- the competition is fierce there!"From Ian Weinstein: "I am...completely shocked at what has happened . . .since coming toFlorida...Randy has been my toughest (and closest) competitor at Scrabble club. . . in fact the entireyear 2011 was decided by less than one game . . . and he had way more bingos and high gamesthat year . . .in 2012 I was luckier and had a better year . . ."...it was Randy who stopped my 31-game winning streak at Club 276 a couple of years ago!Outside of SCRABBLE, he will be remembered as a great guy, fun, wonderful to be around, onewhose opinions on matters are sought, who knew how to laugh...I also recall playing him some tabletennis in the hot sun at the Orlando nationals (August, 2012) . . .may his memory be for a blessing." 89

P A S S A G E SFrom Annette Tedesco: "Randy has played in many tournaments in Albany. He also stayed at myhome many times. He was a one-of-a-kind personality and I will always remember him for hissportsmanship and friendship and his wit. When he told me he was moving to Florida I was sad.And tonight I am more saddened. Rest in peace, Randy."From Joel Sherman: "Friendly and fun guy; talented, determined, dangerous and graciousopponent. Will miss him."From Jan Cardia: "Aldo and I just visited with Randy a little over a week ago. We had dinner withhim and his ex-wife, Patty. He looked better than I had ever seen him look! He was full of life andLOVING Florida. Patty...said to tell everyone that 'he went out at the top of his game and that heloved the Scrabble community.'"I think that is how he would have chosen to leave us...with one final win! We will miss you, Randy."From Siri Tillekeratne: "I roomed with Randy during one of Luise Shafritz's Pittsburgh tournamentsin the mid-1990s and have met him at many a SCRABBLE event. He was always very friendly,greeting me with a truly genuine smile. The whole community has lost a great player and a truegentleman."From Robin Pollock Daniel: "I drove down to Buffalo to be with him while he recuperated and helphim practice up for the Worlds. We would sit at his mother's kitchen table when he was up to it,playing game after game (and he was always up for it) -- oh, did I mention he was hooked up to anIV the whole time?"This is just awful, awful news. There wasn't a mean bone in Randy's body, but there was a bumvalve and he got about 15 years more than we ever thought he would. How unbelievable that hewon his last tournament ever, and how ironic that he was taken from us just as he realized howawful that farkakte ponytail and dyed hair looked all those years (he told me so himself lastsummer). You know, Randy, that's said with the utmost love and a twinkle in my eye. He was alovely, lovely man with a great capacity to listen and empathize. We've lost a wonderful soul in ourcommunity today, and a helluva player, to boot."From Zana Anderson: Randy was "a sweetheart of a man! Lots of love to you, my friend! xoxo"From Diana Grosman: "Randy made many trips to Baltimore when he was dating Sherry Hoffman(also a player) many years ago. Some of us would get together for extra SCRABBLE sessions onthose occasions. Randy never balked at playing lower-rated players. He was a great teacher andseemed to take delight in playing everyone. Such a nice, funny and quirky guy. We will miss him!"From Roger Cullman: "One of my fondest memories of Randy Greenspan was when he sungkaraoke. Call him Mr. Mellow Yellow. Here's a few photos I took of Randy: http://www.flickr.com/search/?w=91764120@N00&q=randy%20greenspan Most of them are from around 2006. You'll bemissed, Randy."From Paul Avrin: "Randy was a fierce competitor, yet very gracious when he lost. I played 47tournament games with him, and as the better player he won more than I did. He was fun to bearound, jovial and bright. He always greeted me with lots of warmth. On several occasions when hedid poorly in a tournament he would proclaim that he was quitting the game, but I knew he neverwould. It was in his blood. I remember the 1993 Worlds when he played so soon after his operation.90

"Condolences to his family. I will miss him."P A S S A G E SFrom Robert Kahn: "A day after receiving the most unwelcome news and merely two days removedfrom having spent the better part of the weekend with him, playing SCRABBLE, analyzing the whatifs, the coulda/shouldas, etc., talking trivia, laughing and just having a good time, I remaIncompletely stunned and saddened by Randy's sudden death. Since relocating to south Floridaapproximately three years ago, Randy has been a significant part of the heart and soul of ourWednesday night club, always fun to be with, ever the fierce competitor and, importantly, a friend..."From Joe Edley: "He was a great competitor and always gave me a tough game -- and he was oneof the few who racked up more tourney wins against me than I against him. I too was amazed atthat 1993 WSC when he showed up to play after his just-finished heart surgery, and given hisresults that tourney, I always respected his will to win and sunny disposition at competitions,regardless of what other things were going on in his life. He was always fun to be around during andafter hours at tournaments. In the big scheme of things it's a sad day for our tourney and clubscene. But what a fitting way to go! Honestly, when I go I could hardly choose a better way than togo out on top like that! No extended frailty. Just giving his all until his heart said no more. Now hecan play a 10-googleplex game match with Rubinsky, Felt and Pfeiffer. Wonder who's winning? I'dlove to be a fly on the wall hearing the table talk and watching the words fly by in that scene! He willbe missed."From Audrey Tumbarello: "I found him to be a warm and generous guy and a SCRABBLE wonder. Itfelt like running into an old friend. I always...enjoyed our conversations and his warmth. What a guy!The SCRABBLE world is diminished by his passing, as it is by the passing of too many of ourgreats."From Dave Liefer: "My Randy story: At a big Reno Nationals in the 90s I was stumbling along inDivision 1 and Randy was tearing it up in Division 2. We met on an elevator and started chatting. Hesaid he would like to practice vs. a D1 player. I said that I was barely D1 material, but we agreed tomeet and play in one of our rooms. I used to keep my tiles in an old battered Philadelphia Eaglesstocking cap, and in subsequent years we would meet and still play practice games with that hat.We also developed a great friendship full of Yiddish jokes, music trivia and other foolishness. Thelast time we played was Game 2 of the 2012 NSC. It was the game before Nigel's HIERODULE. Wejoked about it the next few days. I loved the guy, he was sunshine on a cloudy day, true class,sportsmanship and a SCRABBLE Hall of Famer. RIP my wonderful buddy."From Joey Mallick: "Randy joins Bob Felt, Rose Kreiswirth and Mike Wise as those who went out ontop. I was at a dinner with Frank Tangredi and Marj Schoneboom discussing this, and one of them(Frank, I think) said 'I sure hope I don't win a tournament anytime soon.'"From Dan Stock: "I miss Randy, one of the great people in the game whose friendly nature, teachingmanner, and hospitality made me feel welcome when I started getting into the scene in themid-90s."From Mark Przybyszewski: "...I remembered Randy's incredible speed with solving the New YorkTimes Sunday crossword. Thirty minutes before a tournament, and he'd have it done before the firsttiles were drawn. Just another aspect of Randy that made him so memorable."Randy and I started months apart at the Buffalo Club, and from that point forward we were friendsand rivals, Randy getting the better of me most of the time during our numerous sessions at his 91

P A S S A G E Sapartment. Randy reached 1700 and 1800 before I did, while I reached 1900 before he did. Hewould often tell me he wished he had my ability at endgames, but I envied his word knowledge."...We had a history and a rivalry, and I didn't want it to end. How often did we end up having to playeach other at the end of local SCRABBLE party tournaments for bragging rights? We may haveplayed a thousand games or more over those years, and I know he won more than me, but he'dkvetch in his way, 'Ah, you're always beating me.' When he moved to Florida, I felt like a little pieceof me died. The rivalry was over, not because either of us gave up, but he wanted a fresh startelsewhere. I never stopped looking up his rating on cross-tables to see where he was or how manypoints he was ahead of me. But it wasn't the same."I'm very sad he's gone, but I'm so happy to have known him. I'll never forget his cackling laugh, hispoor singing and tendency to misunderstand lyrics (ask me about ‘Whispering Magic’), and hisunique hair don't (I told him the last man to make a bald top with long hair fashionable was BenFranklin...speaking of ladies' men)."It's finally hitting me as I'm writing this that I'm never going to see him again, and the tears arecoming down. I'm gonna miss you, Randy, more than I ever realized."From Gloria Ember Nelson: "Randy lived each day for the next moment, cherishing life and knowingbetter than anyone else how precious and fleeting it could really be. In his quest to live life to thefullest he was ever conscious of how to treat others as he would have wanted them to treat him andacted accordingly most of the time no matter how disappointed he might have been inside fromlosing a game."He loved to laugh, he loved to love, and he loved to live in the moment as so few people learn todo. His word knowledge was surpassed only by his love of crossword puzzles and SCRABBLE. Iloved his long and flowing locks of brown and gold hanging loosely around his shoulders draping hisboyish face."He had the time of his life those last two years in the Florida sun without me watching over hisevery move and smothering him with love and caretaking. He was footloose and fancy free and ableto frolic in the sand and soak in a hot tub without me timing his 15-minute heart-health deadline forthe 100-degree temperature. He took care of himself the very best he could take care of himself,and he had the love and admiration of an adoring family standing by and watching out for him."From Christine Economos: "So sad to hear that Randy is gone. Aside from being a greatSCRABBLE player, he was a joy to be with and a very funny guy. He had many serious healthproblems, but he never complained and never let them interfere with his life. I know he hated thecold and I am glad he had the chance to spend his last few years in warm and sunny Florida. I willremember the many afternoons playing SCRABBLE in Washington Square Park."From Amit Chakrabarti: “Randy (under the name ‘panchax’) was one of my more frequentopponents on MarlDoom back when I used to play mostly online. I still remember a session from myearly days on MarlDoom when I asked Randy if he would teach me how to play better and we wentthrough a few (untimed) games telling each other our racks and discussing every play. I think thatsession did wonders for my strategy.... Thank you, Randy, and RIP.”From Steve Glass: “Wow - this is unbelievable!! I just shook his hand yesterday afternooncongratulating him on his hard-earned victory. I even kidded him that he won't be quitting the game92

P A S S A G E Snow for awhile as he often threatened after a few losses during various tournaments. My deepestcondolences to his family and loved ones. We will miss him so much at SCRABBLE tournaments,especially those in Fort Lauderdale. He really was an expert at the game.”From Erica Moore: “Oh no! He was so much fun! Will always remember him singing Mellow Yellowat Scrabblers karaoke at Michigan Madness.”From Jerry Lerman: “Randy was a funny, smart guy -- a pleasure to be around. So sad to hear ofhis untimely death -- right after shingin so brightly in the tournament.”From Roger Wright: “Very sad to hear this news -- he was such a great player and great guy.”From Leesa Berahovich: “He was very kind to me when I met him in Albany. He showed me how touse the flashcard mode on Zyzzyva and hung out with me the rest of the tourney. I will miss him.”From David Koenig: “We had some awesome battles over the SCRABBLE board, RandyGreenspan. You were the first person to ever beat me in a game in which I played four bingos, andof course you did it by playing a brilliant endgame with seconds left on your clock. I will miss yourmoaning just about every time I saw you, about letting me get away with BOTHERER* in a crucialtournament game. Rest in peace.”Randy is survived by his children Reid and Noel; his sisters Joanne (Gerald) Goldin and Loren(Laura) Greenspan; and his mother Thelma Greenspan. The family asks that donations in hismemory be made to the American Heart Association._______________________________________________________________________________JANICE BECKby Florence SpanfelnerJanice Beck of Columbia, Maryland passed away Sept 9, 2012. She was 92.Janice ran a SCRABBLE® club from her home for over 30 years. Janice is the only director I knowwho held a handicap tournament every six weeks or so.If I remember correctly, directors were supposed to have handicap events. I don’t know how Janicestretched the two dollars she collected weekly from members. She always provided a beverage andcracker snack. All monies were returned to players at the handicap tournament--even the last-placeplayer would get something. In those early days George and I always received more than wecontributed in dues! The late Pat Cole joined us on occasion. Ron and Ann Lambert, parents ofRebecca were regular members . Janice was a very interesting, intelligent woman whotraveled the continents.Janice was the companion of the late Leonard Rogers; wife of the late Howard Beck; and formerwife of the late Raymond Crone. She is survived by a brother, William Gold of Northampton, MA; ason, Robert Crone of Honolulu, HI; a daughter, Betsy Crone of Washington, DC; and loving relativesand friends. Contributions in her memory may be sent to the charity of your choice. 93

P A S S A G E SJEWEL JENKINS EASLEYJewel Marie Jenkins Easley of Lavon, Texas, aLifetime Member of the North AmericanSCRABBLE Players Association and aSCRABBLE player for many years, passed awayin her sleep on Thursday, January 10 at BaylorHospital in Garland Texas. She was 93.Three generations ofSCRABBLE® players: JewelEasley with her daughter, NancyBratcher, and her granddaughter,Trina Hale (Nancy’s daughter).(Photo by Pat Sanchez)Jewel lived most of her life in Elkhart, Texas,moving to Lavon, Texas in 2004. An avid gameplayer who always enjoyed SCRABBLE,dominoes, and games of almost any kind, shewas an active member of the RichardsonSCRABBLE club and enjoyed tournamentSCRABBLE as well as games with family andfriends. She competed in 40 SCRABBLEtournaments in the past 13 years, mainly in theDallas area, often accompanied by her daughterNancy Bratcher, also a tournament player.Survivors include her son-in-law and daughter, Clinton and Nancy Bratcher of Lavon, Texas; hergrandchildren, Tim and Carrilee Dyck of Lynden Washington, and Brian and Trina Hale of Wylie,Texas; and her great-grandchildren, Henry Dyck, Jorja Dyck, Albert Dyck, and Brendan Hale. In lieuof flowers, donations in her memory can be made to your favorite charity._______________________________________________________________________________BIRTHSEMILY SAMANTHA HOROWITZScrabbler Dan Horowitz and his wife Danawelcomed their daughter Emily Samantha Horowitzinto the world on Saturday, February 9, at 5:36 am.Emily weighed in at 7 pounds, 11 ounces.Congratulations to Dan andDana on the birth of theirbeautiful baby girl!94

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 95

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 CHROME96S 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.SCRABBLE®TOURNAMENT & CLUBWORD LIST (COLLINS)The official word list forinternational tournament play.(Available at SamTimer.com.) 97

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 S98

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/LocationMARCH3/2 NSA INDIANA STATE SCHOL SCRABBLE®TOURNAMENT, INDIANA3/2 NASPA LA GRANGE PARK IL3/2 NASPA NEW YORK NY3/3 NASPA ARCATA CA3/3 NASPA BERKELEY CA3/7 NSA TORONTO SCHOOL SCRABBLE®CHAMPIONSHIP, TORONTO ON CAN3/8-10 WGPO INDIALANTIC FL3/8-10 NASPA VANCOUVER (RICHMOND) BC CAN3/9 NASPA CHARLESTON IL3/9 NSA NORTH CAROLINA SCHOOL SCRABBLECHAMPIONSHIP, CHAPEL HILL NC3/9 NASPA SAN ANTONIO TX3/9 NASPA SYRACUSE NY3/10 NASPA GUELPH ON CA (TWL & COLLINS)3/10 NASPA PHILADELPHIA PA (TWL & COLLINS)3/12 NASPA LCT - INDEPENDENCE OH 99

T O U R N A M E N T C A L E N D A R3/15-17 NASPA HOUSTON TX3/15-17 NASPA POUGHKEEPSIE NY (TWL & COLLINS)3/16-17 NASPA ELYRIA OH3/16 NASPA FORT LAUDERDALE FL3/17 WGPO MOUNTAIN VIEW CA3/17 WGPO LAKE OSWEGO OR3/17 NASPA GLENDALE CA3/22-24 NASPA MYRTLE BEACH SC3/22-24 NASPA PRINCETON NJ (TWL & COLLINS)3/22-24 NASPA ST. AUGUSTINE FL3/23 NASPA CAMBRIDGE ON CAN3/23 WGPO MINNEAPOLIS MN3/23 WGPO MINNEAPOLIS MN (UNRATED)3/30 NASPA AUSTIN TX3/30-31 NASPA CALGARY AB CAN3/30 NASPA CHARLESTON WV3/30 NASPA DADE CITY FL3/30 NASPA PORTLAND OR (COLLINS)APRIL4/4 NASPA LCT - AKRON OH4/5-7 GATLINBURG TN (TWL & COLLINS)4/5-7 NASPA LINDEN MI4/6 WGPO CHANDLER AZ4/6-7 NASPA DANVILLE IL (TWL & COLLINS)4/6 NASPA NEW YORK NY4/7 NASPA BERKELEY CA4/7 NASPA GUELPH ON CAN (TWL & COLLINS100

T O U R N A M E N T C A L E N D A R4/12-14 NASPA BOSTON AREA TOURNAMENT(WESTFORD) MA (TWL & COLLINS)4/13 NASPA BATON ROUGE LA4/13-14 NASPA EDMONTON AB CAN4/13 NASPA PITTSBURGH PA4/20-21 NASPA TCC -- COEUR D’ALENE ID4/20 NASPA DALLAS TX4/20 NSA NEW ENGLAND SCHOOL SCRABBLECHAMPIONSHIP, CT4/20 NASPA SOUTH LYON MI4/21 WGPO MOUNTAIN VIEW CA4/21 NASPA PHILADELPHIA PA4/27 NASPA AUSTIN TX4/27 NAPSA FORT LAUDERDALE FL4/27 NASPA KATONAH NY (TWL, COLLINS & YOUTHDIVISIONS)4/27 NASPA SEATTLE WA4/27-28 NASPA SIOUX FALLS SD4/27-28 NASPA WEBSTER NYMAY5/2-11 NASPA BERMUDA & CARIBBEAN TREASURESCRUISE5/3-4 NASPA 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 NEW YORK NY 101

T O U R N A M E N T C A L E N D A R5/4 NASPA ROME NY5/5 NASPA BERKELEY CA5/14 NASPA LCT -INDEPENDENCE OH5/18 NASPA BAYSIDE NY5/18 NASPA DALLAS TX5/18 NASPA HUDSON OH5/18-19 NASPA SASKATOON SK CAN5/19 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 CAMPBELL CA5/25-27 NASPA COLLEGE PARK GA5/25-26 NASPA COTE ST. LUC, MONTREAL QC CAN (TWL &COLLINS)5/25-26 NASPA FORT LAUDERDALE FL5/25-27 NASPA IRVING TX5/31-6/1 NASPA BRANDON MSJUNE6/1-2 NASPA CALGARY AB CAN6/1 NAPSA WASHINGTON DC6/2 NASPA BERKELEY CA6/6 NASPA LCT - AKRON OH102

T O U R N A M E N T C A L E N D A R6/8 NASPA BETHEL CT (TWL, COLLINS & YOUTHDIVISIONS)6/8-9 NASPA CHARLOTTE NC6/8 NASPA FORT LAUDERDALE FL6/8 NASPA` KANSAS CITY MO6/8 NASPA MISSISSAUGA ON CAN6/9 NASPA BETHEL CT (TWL & COLLINS)6/9 NASPA GUELPH ON CA (TWL & COLLINS)6/9 NASPA KANSAS CITY MO6/14, 15, 16 NASPA PRINCETON NJ (TWL & COLLINS)6/14-16 NASPA WORLD SCRABBLE CHAMPIONSHIPQUALIFYING TOURNAMENT PRINCETONNJ (COLLINS)6/15 NASPA BAYSIDE NY6/15 NASPA DALLAS TX6/15-16 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 WGPO MOUNTAIN VIEW CA6/21-24 NASPA TORONTO ON CAN6/22 NASPA BERLIN NJ6/22 NASPA EDMONTON AB CAN6/22-23 NASPA ROMULUS MI6/29 NASPA AUSTIN TX6/29 NASPA CHARLESTON WV 103

T O U R N A M E N T C A L E N D A RJULY7/2-7 NASPA ALBANY NY (TWL & COLLINS)7/5-7 NASPA OMAHA NE7/9 NASPA LCT - INDEPENDENCE OH7/13 NASPA BAYSIDE NY7/13 NASPA WHITESBORO NY (TWL & COLLINS)7/14 NASPA DETROIT MI7/19-24 NASPA NATIONAL SCRABBLE CHAMPIONSHIP -LAS VEGAS NV (TWL & COLLINS)7/27 NASPA AUSTIN TX7/28 NASPA GUELPH ON CAN (TWL & COLLINS)AUGUST8/1 NASPA LCT - AKRON OH8/4 NASPA PHILADELPHIA PA8/2-7 WGPO WGPO WORD CUP8/10-11 WGPO NORTH CAROLINA STATE CHAMPIONSHIP8/11 NASPA NEWARK DE8/16-18 NASPA OLD GREENWICH CT (TWL & COLLINS)8/17 NASPA DALLAS TX8/17 NASPA STRATFORD ON CAN8/18 NASPA GUELPH ON CAN (TWL & COLLINS)8/31 NASPA AUSTIN TX8/31-9/2 NASPA ALPHARETTA GA8/31-9/2 NASPA OTTAWA ON CAN (TWL & COLLINS)8/31-9/2 NASPA PORTLAND ME8/31-9/2 NASPA WILMINGTON DESEPTEMBER9/10 NASPA LCT - INDEPENDENCE OH104

T O U R N A M E N T C A L E N D A R9/15 NASPA PHILADELPHIA PA9/20-21 NASPA TCC - CAN-AM TOURNAMENT,VANCOUVER BC CAN9/21 NASPA DALLAS TX9/22 NAPSA NEWTOWN CT BENEFIT TOURNAMENT(TWL, COLLINS & YOUTH DIVISIONS)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 WGPO PHOENIX AZOCTOBER10/2-6 NASPA CALGARY AB CAN10/3 NASPA LCT - AKRON OH10/4-12 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 TX10/26 NASPA AUSTIN TX10/26 NASPA NORWALK CT (TWL, COLLINS & YOUTHDIVISIONS)NOVEMBER11/1-3 NASPA CAMBRIDGE MD11/9 NASPA ATCO NJ11/9-11 NASPA TENTATIVE - ALTAMONTE SPRINGS FL11/9 NASPA PITTSBURGH PA 105

T O U R N A M E N T C A L E N D A R11/12 NASPA LCT - INDEPENDENCE OH11/16-30 WGPO SOUTH CARIBBEAN ISLANDS CRUISE11/16 NASPA DALLAS TX11/16 NAPSA NORWALK CT (TWL, COLLINS & YOUTHDIVISIONS)11/23 NASPA BAYSIDE NY11/23-24 NASPA TCC - TORONTO VS. MONTREAL,KINGSTON (GANANOQUE) ON CAN (TWL &COLLINS)11/29-12/1 NASPA TARRYTOWN NYDECEMBER12/5 NASPA LCT - AKRON OH12/7 NASPA CALGARY AB CAN12/7-8 NASPA KNOXVILLE TN12/8-13 WGPO CABO SAN LUCAS MEXICO12/8 NASPA PHILADELPHIA PA12/8 NASPA STRONGSVILLE OH12/21 NASPA DALLAS TX12/21-25 NASPA WILMINGTON DE12/27-1/1 NASPA ALBANY NY (TWL & COLLINS)12/28-1/1 NASPA NYE SCRABBLE BASH GAJANUARY ’141/11 NASPA KATONAH NY (TWL, COLLINS & YOUTHDIVISIONS)1/17-20 NASPA DURHAM NC1/18 NASPA BAYSIDE NYFEBRUARY ’142/1 NASPA KATONAH NY (TWL, COLLINS & YOUTHDIVISIONS)106

T O U R N A M E N T C A L E N D A R2/8 NASPA SAINT LOUIS MO2/13-17 NASPA ALBANY NY (TWL & COLLINS)2/14-17 WGPO PHOENIX AZMARCH ’143/21-23 NASPA POUGHKEEPSIE NY (TWL & COLLINS)APRIL ’144/26 NASPA KATONAH NY (TWL, COLLINS & YOUTHDIVISIONS)MAY ’145/17 NASPA KATONAH NY (TWL, COLLINS & YOUTHDIVISIONS)5/22-26 NASPA SACRAMENTO CA5/23-26 NASPA TARRYTOWN NYJUNE ’146/7 NASPA BETHEL CT (TWL & COLLINS & YOUTHDIVISIONS)6/8 NASPA BETHEL CT (TWL & COLLINS)6/14 NASPA BAYSIDE NY6/27-7/7 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) 107

T O U R N A M E N T C A L E N D A RNOVEMBER ’1411/15 NASPA KATONAH NY (TWL, COLLINS & YOUTHDIVISIONS)11/20 NASPA BAYSIDE NY11/28-30 NASPA TARRYTOWN NYDECEMBER ’1412/23-28NASPAWILMINGTON DEMARCH ’153/27-29 NASPA POUGHKEEPSIE NY (TWL & COLLINS)JULY ’157/24-26 NASPA OLD GREENWICH CT (TWL & COLLINS)108

ArchivesA R C H I V E STo download previous issues of The Last Word click here. 109