From the official scrabble website: http://www.scrabbleplayers.org/w/2011_National_SCRABBLE_Championship
The 2011 National SCRABBLE Championship (NSC) will take place on August 6–10, 2011 at the Hotel InterContinental Dallas at 15201 Dallas Parkway in Addison, TX.
This page will be updated frequently before the championship. You can see what has changed recently by clicking on the “history” tab above. Very important notices will be posted to the player bulletin.
Online registration is now available, as is a list of registered players.
If you decide to move up from the division in which you are placed, please email the organizing committee at nsc@scrabbleplayers.org.
To play in the NSC, you must (1) be a NASPA member, and (2) have played in an officially sanctioned SCRABBLE tournament to earn an official tournament rating. If you live in the United States or Canada, that rating should be a NASPA rating; if you live elsewhere it may be a WESPA rating or other comparable national rating.
Early registration closes on June 30th, 2011. After that date:
a late registration fee of $50 will apply.
Registration closes on July 20th, 2011. After that date:
registrations will be accepted after that date only in order to make divisions even, and will incur an additional $75 surcharge;
no requests for division changes will be accepted, except to make divisions even; and
no refunds will be issued.
By registering for the NSC, you agree to abide by the NASPA Tournament Rules and Code of Conduct. In particular, some games at this tournament, probably the highest Division 1 board without a Gibsonized player, will be annotated live. If you refuse to play a designated game with annotation, you will forfeit it, and may at the director’s discretion be assigned a spread penalty of −200 points.
A Minor Release and Consent form can be downloaded for players who have not reached the legal age of majority. It can be mailed with your registration or alone if you have paid online to Chris Cree. Alternatively, it can be signed by the accompanying parent or guardian at the NSC in Addison (Dallas).
Before you register, please read our player bulletin, and check it again for last-minute updates before you travel to the event.
This year’s Championship has four divisions, split at (OWL) ratings of 1700, 1400 and 1100. Entry fees are $175 for Division 1 and $150 for Divisions 2–4. Unlimited play up will be permitted: anyone can play in Division 1, but for example only players rated below 1100 can play in Division 4. As in past years, a peak rating system will be used to calculate the qualifying rating (QR) that determines the lowest division in which you can play. If your current rating at time of registration would place you in a lower division than your QR, then you may register in either your QR division or the next lower division. Ratings earned at any segment of a split-rated tournament count toward the QR, as does your rating at the beginning of the qualification period (QP). The QP began with the 2010 National SCRABBLE Championship and ends on July 13th, 2011 (after the results from the past weekend are tabulated). You may change your division after you register, as long as you do so before July 21st; to do so, contact John Chew. If your QR rises above the limit for your division, you will automatically be moved to the lowest division for which you qualify.
In the unlikely event that a player’s first rated tournament takes place between the end of the QP and the beginning of the NSC, the rating that they earn at their first tournament will be considered their QR should they be accepted for late entry into the NSC.
The Championship Committee reserves the right to modify the above to account for unforeseen special circumstances.
Check-In
To play in the first round on Saturday morning, you must check in between 10:00 A.M. and 10:00 P.M. on Friday at the NSC check-in desks in the Crystal Ballroom lobby. You may ask a friend to check in for you by proxy, if you cannot check in in person. If possible, please email us at nsc@scrabbleplayers.org to warn us in advance of proxy arrangements. If you check in by proxy, but do not show up to play, then neither you nor your proxy will be permitted to check in by proxy at future events. If you do not check in before the desks close at 10:00 P.M., you may join the championship in progress as soon as it is convenient for the pairings staff to add you back in; this may not take place before Sunday morning. No refund will be issued to latecomers.
When you check in, you will be given an announcement sheet. This is to reduce the number of announcements that have to be made on Saturday morning, so that the event can get underway quickly. You are responsible for reading the announcements and schedule!
Schedule
Here is an overview of events at the championship. For full details, please consult the 2011 NSC Schedule.
Friday, August 5, 2011
Registration, Staff/Director Early Bird Tournament, Lunch Bird Tournament, Staff Committee Meeting, Staff/Committee Dinner
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Rounds 1–7, Canadian Committee and Tournament Committee Luncheon, Lunch Bird Tournament, Advisory Board Dinner Meeting, Trivia Contest
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Rounds 8–14, Luncheon, Lunch Bird Tournament, Director Meeting, Director Reception
Monday, August 8, 2011
Rounds 15–21, Membership Committee and International Committee Luncheon, Lunch Bird Tournament, Town Hall meeting
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Rounds 22–28, Club/Director Committee Luncheon, Lunch Bird Tournament, Tag Team Tourney
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Rounds 29–31, Lunch Bird Tournament, Prize Ceremony
Friday, July 29, 2011
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Word warriors: Greenwich the scene of Scrabble battle
GreenwichTime.com: Word warriors: Greenwich the scene of Scrabble battle
The Hyatt Regency's Riverside Ballroom, normally the setting for festive gatherings, was as quiet as a tomb on Saturday morning. The only sounds in the large Old Greenwich hotel space were the soft murmur of voices announcing scores and the seemingly constant jingling of tiles.
At one point, someone broke the near-silence with a loud "Great game!" but was immediately shushed by half the room.
And you thought your family's Scrabble matches were intense.
This weekend, the family-friendly word game was almost unrecognizable as the Hyatt hosted the Old Greenwich Scrabble tournament, a first-time Greenwich event that drew 64 competitors from all over the Northeast playing for cash prizes. They were joined by 10 separate competitors for the simultaneous Newcomers tournament, which was intended to introduce amateur players to the world of tournament Scrabble.
How pressure-packed is the competition between the veteran players? Let's just say organizers probably could have used a few of the hotel's "Do not disturb" signs to shield laser-focused players.
"The one thing about spectating is that it's a privilege," tournament organizer Cornelia Guest said of non-players getting close to view matches. "Sometimes they'll shoo you away -- it bothers them."
Unlike regular play, tournament Scrabble is a one-on-one game in which opponents play with a timer that allots 25 minutes of play to both players. This tournament features 16 rounds of play, meaning more than 500 separate games of Scrabble will be played over the course of the three-day event that concludes Sunday. With the recent end of two annual tournaments held in nearby Stamford, Guest hoped the Greenwich event would pull in those participants in lower Fairfield County who would have normally competed in Stamford. Participation was high Saturday, and was certainly not limited to Fairfield County residents; competitors came from all over the Northeast, from Boston to Philadelphia, and one player even traveled from Texas.
Elena Abrahams, of Old Greenwich, was the lone Greenwich resident competing in the main tournament. Not yet a seasoned player, the tournament is her first competitive Scrabble experience. Despite her amateur status, Abrahams was holding up pretty well against her opposition.
"The people here are pretty much at my level," Abrahams said.
While new to tournament Scrabble, she is no stranger to the game; for many years, she has played fairly competitive games of Scrabble with a group of friends.
But while Abrahams has the experience and practice to become a decent tournament player, she does not plan to take the next step in the typical Scrabble regimen: study.
"A lot of it is practice," Guest said of becoming an expert Scrabble player. But studying is also necessary, she explained. "You need to know your two- and three-letter words."
Other tournament players like Adam Ginzberg, of Philadelphia, echoed that advice, also citing the importance of memorizing not only two- and three-letter words -- like "xu," an aluminum coin and monetary unit of Vietnam, and "myc," a gene that transforms a normal cell into a cancerous cell, and "eek," the sound of a squeak of fear -- but also four- and five-letter words if one wishes to become a better player.
When Ginzberg started playing tournaments with a friend a few years ago, he was unsatisfied with his poor results, but knew that there were steps that could be taken to improve his game.
"We started getting motivated to do better," he said. Ginzberg's study regimen has since expanded from shorter words to the longer, so-called "bingo" words of seven or eight letters, which allow players to clear their slate and add an extra 50 points to the word score. These longer words are often the key to a tournament player's success.
"But more than half the words I play I don't know," he said, acknowledging one of tournament Scrabble's great curiosities. At a certain point, the meaning of Scrabble words no longer matters for good Scrabble players; the mere fact of their existence is enough.
"It really is irrelevant," said Joe Edley, of Port Jefferson, N.Y., on players knowing the meanings of longer words. "I don't want to clutter my brain."
Edley's advice is not be taken lightly by other players; in Scrabble circles, he is something of a legend.
Currently, Edley is the only three-time National Scrabble champion, having won in 1980, 1992 and 2000. He is also one of few people to achieve the unique feat of memorizing the Scrabble dictionary.
"I was always good at games," Edley said. "So when the Scrabble dictionary came out, I thought I could be the best."
The Hyatt Regency's Riverside Ballroom, normally the setting for festive gatherings, was as quiet as a tomb on Saturday morning. The only sounds in the large Old Greenwich hotel space were the soft murmur of voices announcing scores and the seemingly constant jingling of tiles.
At one point, someone broke the near-silence with a loud "Great game!" but was immediately shushed by half the room.
And you thought your family's Scrabble matches were intense.
This weekend, the family-friendly word game was almost unrecognizable as the Hyatt hosted the Old Greenwich Scrabble tournament, a first-time Greenwich event that drew 64 competitors from all over the Northeast playing for cash prizes. They were joined by 10 separate competitors for the simultaneous Newcomers tournament, which was intended to introduce amateur players to the world of tournament Scrabble.
How pressure-packed is the competition between the veteran players? Let's just say organizers probably could have used a few of the hotel's "Do not disturb" signs to shield laser-focused players.
"The one thing about spectating is that it's a privilege," tournament organizer Cornelia Guest said of non-players getting close to view matches. "Sometimes they'll shoo you away -- it bothers them."
Unlike regular play, tournament Scrabble is a one-on-one game in which opponents play with a timer that allots 25 minutes of play to both players. This tournament features 16 rounds of play, meaning more than 500 separate games of Scrabble will be played over the course of the three-day event that concludes Sunday. With the recent end of two annual tournaments held in nearby Stamford, Guest hoped the Greenwich event would pull in those participants in lower Fairfield County who would have normally competed in Stamford. Participation was high Saturday, and was certainly not limited to Fairfield County residents; competitors came from all over the Northeast, from Boston to Philadelphia, and one player even traveled from Texas.
Elena Abrahams, of Old Greenwich, was the lone Greenwich resident competing in the main tournament. Not yet a seasoned player, the tournament is her first competitive Scrabble experience. Despite her amateur status, Abrahams was holding up pretty well against her opposition.
"The people here are pretty much at my level," Abrahams said.
While new to tournament Scrabble, she is no stranger to the game; for many years, she has played fairly competitive games of Scrabble with a group of friends.
But while Abrahams has the experience and practice to become a decent tournament player, she does not plan to take the next step in the typical Scrabble regimen: study.
"A lot of it is practice," Guest said of becoming an expert Scrabble player. But studying is also necessary, she explained. "You need to know your two- and three-letter words."
Other tournament players like Adam Ginzberg, of Philadelphia, echoed that advice, also citing the importance of memorizing not only two- and three-letter words -- like "xu," an aluminum coin and monetary unit of Vietnam, and "myc," a gene that transforms a normal cell into a cancerous cell, and "eek," the sound of a squeak of fear -- but also four- and five-letter words if one wishes to become a better player.
When Ginzberg started playing tournaments with a friend a few years ago, he was unsatisfied with his poor results, but knew that there were steps that could be taken to improve his game.
"We started getting motivated to do better," he said. Ginzberg's study regimen has since expanded from shorter words to the longer, so-called "bingo" words of seven or eight letters, which allow players to clear their slate and add an extra 50 points to the word score. These longer words are often the key to a tournament player's success.
"But more than half the words I play I don't know," he said, acknowledging one of tournament Scrabble's great curiosities. At a certain point, the meaning of Scrabble words no longer matters for good Scrabble players; the mere fact of their existence is enough.
"It really is irrelevant," said Joe Edley, of Port Jefferson, N.Y., on players knowing the meanings of longer words. "I don't want to clutter my brain."
Edley's advice is not be taken lightly by other players; in Scrabble circles, he is something of a legend.
Currently, Edley is the only three-time National Scrabble champion, having won in 1980, 1992 and 2000. He is also one of few people to achieve the unique feat of memorizing the Scrabble dictionary.
"I was always good at games," Edley said. "So when the Scrabble dictionary came out, I thought I could be the best."
Monday, July 25, 2011
Scrabble Street Sign Coming Back To Queens
From Gothamist: Scrabble Street Sign Coming Back To Queens
Jackson Heights, the birthplace of Scrabble, is finally getting the recognition it deserves—for the second time—with the triumphant return of a beloved Scrabble-themed street sign.
The original sign, at the intersection of 35th Ave and 81st St, outside of a church where architect Alfred Mosher Butts invented the game in 1938, was put up in 1995. In 2008, it mysteriously disappeared, much to the chargrin of local residents. But a new sign will be re-erected this fall, a move dictionary-lovers and history buffs are heralding as "wonderful" and "long overdue."
"The city is a really seminal place in terms of Scrabble history," National Scrabble Association president John D. Williams told us. "Us New Yorkers like to think of ourselves as the center of everything, and Scrabble is no exception." Williams said he's "extremely happy" to hear of the new sign, which will be designed by Massimo Vignelli—though he did have one suggestion: "I wouldn't mind seeing it in tiles."
Scrabble talent in Pakistan impresses foreign player
From Dawn.com: Scrabble talent in Pakistan impresses foreign player
KARACHI: Pakistan Scrabble Association (PSA) held the first Ranking Scrabble Tournament of the season at the Beach Luxury Hotel here on Sunday.
Held in two categories — Masters’ and Recreational — this year’s event was also graced by an international participant, Mrs Rohaina Tanveer, who has twice represented Kuwait in the World Scrabble Championship (WSC).
“I have featured in the 2005 (London) and 2009 (Malaysia) world championships and it was at the second one that I first met Pakistan’s three-time champion young Waseem Khatri. We also featured in the five-day Causeway Scrabble Challenge there and I was very impressed by the lad,” she informed Dawn at the championship.
“And playing in my first scrabble competition in Pakistan now has left me even more impressed by the word wizards here. I have lost quite a few games already and just now I was playing with another young 14-year-old boy, Inshal, about whom I am told that he will be going to the World Youth Scrabble Championship this year. And he beat me by eight points,” she said.
“Still I’m enjoying the games, trying to play with full spirit,” she grinned.
“Although I am originally from Hyderabad, India, I have only represented Kuwait in international scrabble competitions as I am settled there with my Pakistani husband and our family,” she added.
Meanwhile, showing satisfaction at the successful holding of yet another major event after last month’s grand 23rd Pakistan Scrabble Championship, PSA Secretary General Maria Soares informed that they were currently looking for sponsors for their players to be able to participate in this year’s WSC to be held in Warsaw, Poland.
“Due to lack of funds, two of our very best — Waseem Khatri and Wajid Iqbal — may not be able to play in the world championships in October even though they qualified for the event during the 23rd Pakistan Scrabble Championship,” she said.
“PSA is trying its best to find them sponsors as we really want them to go there, compete and make Pakistan proud but we are also worried as our failing to do so will result in their missing the WSC,” she explained.
The results at the conclusion of the day-long event saw Waseem Khatri as the winner of the Masters’ category, winning six out of seven games with a spread of 1,043 points.
Yasir Jamshed was second with an equal number of wins but a spread of 570 points while Nauman Siddique coming third with five wins and a spread of 493 points.
In the Recreational category, Hamza Sheikh attained the first position with six wins and a spread of 443 points while Tayyab Mahmood finished second with as many wins but a spread of 158 points.
Marium Sana ended up third with five wins and a 349-point spread.
KARACHI: Pakistan Scrabble Association (PSA) held the first Ranking Scrabble Tournament of the season at the Beach Luxury Hotel here on Sunday.
Held in two categories — Masters’ and Recreational — this year’s event was also graced by an international participant, Mrs Rohaina Tanveer, who has twice represented Kuwait in the World Scrabble Championship (WSC).
“I have featured in the 2005 (London) and 2009 (Malaysia) world championships and it was at the second one that I first met Pakistan’s three-time champion young Waseem Khatri. We also featured in the five-day Causeway Scrabble Challenge there and I was very impressed by the lad,” she informed Dawn at the championship.
“And playing in my first scrabble competition in Pakistan now has left me even more impressed by the word wizards here. I have lost quite a few games already and just now I was playing with another young 14-year-old boy, Inshal, about whom I am told that he will be going to the World Youth Scrabble Championship this year. And he beat me by eight points,” she said.
“Still I’m enjoying the games, trying to play with full spirit,” she grinned.
“Although I am originally from Hyderabad, India, I have only represented Kuwait in international scrabble competitions as I am settled there with my Pakistani husband and our family,” she added.
Meanwhile, showing satisfaction at the successful holding of yet another major event after last month’s grand 23rd Pakistan Scrabble Championship, PSA Secretary General Maria Soares informed that they were currently looking for sponsors for their players to be able to participate in this year’s WSC to be held in Warsaw, Poland.
“Due to lack of funds, two of our very best — Waseem Khatri and Wajid Iqbal — may not be able to play in the world championships in October even though they qualified for the event during the 23rd Pakistan Scrabble Championship,” she said.
“PSA is trying its best to find them sponsors as we really want them to go there, compete and make Pakistan proud but we are also worried as our failing to do so will result in their missing the WSC,” she explained.
The results at the conclusion of the day-long event saw Waseem Khatri as the winner of the Masters’ category, winning six out of seven games with a spread of 1,043 points.
Yasir Jamshed was second with an equal number of wins but a spread of 570 points while Nauman Siddique coming third with five wins and a spread of 493 points.
In the Recreational category, Hamza Sheikh attained the first position with six wins and a spread of 443 points while Tayyab Mahmood finished second with as many wins but a spread of 158 points.
Marium Sana ended up third with five wins and a 349-point spread.
Friday, July 22, 2011
6 letter word: I P T S D U
6 letter word
Stupid
4 letter word
Tips
Suit
Stud
Spud
Spit
Puts
Pits
Dust
Dips
3 letter word
Ups
Tip
Sup
Sit
Sip
Put
Pus
Psi
Pit
Pis - plural of pi (the number)
Its
Ids - the id, psychological term
Dis
Dip
Stupid
4 letter word
Tips
Suit
Stud
Spud
Spit
Puts
Pits
Dust
Dips
3 letter word
Ups
Tip
Sup
Sit
Sip
Put
Pus
Psi
Pit
Pis - plural of pi (the number)
Its
Ids - the id, psychological term
Dis
Dip
Thursday, July 21, 2011
6 letter word: Y A L W A S
6 letter word
Always
5 letter word
Yawls - plural of a type of sailboat
4 letter word
Yaws - sailboat term, pitch and yaw
Yawl
Ways
Sway
Slay
Slaw
Lays
Laws
Awls - tool to punch hole in metal
Away
Alas
3 letter word
Yaw
Way
Was
Sly
Say
Saw
Lay
Law
Awl
Always
5 letter word
Yawls - plural of a type of sailboat
4 letter word
Yaws - sailboat term, pitch and yaw
Yawl
Ways
Sway
Slay
Slaw
Lays
Laws
Awls - tool to punch hole in metal
Away
Alas
3 letter word
Yaw
Way
Was
Sly
Say
Saw
Lay
Law
Awl
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
6 letter word: S B U E B D
6 letter word
Subbed
5 letter word
Bused
4 letter word
Used
Sued
Ebbs
Dues
Dubs
Debs
Buds
Bubs
Beds
3 letter word
Use
Sue
Subb
Ebb
Due
Dub
Deb
Bus
Bud
Bub
Bed
Subbed
5 letter word
Bused
4 letter word
Used
Sued
Ebbs
Dues
Dubs
Debs
Buds
Bubs
Beds
3 letter word
Use
Sue
Subb
Ebb
Due
Dub
Deb
Bus
Bud
Bub
Bed
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
6 letter word: F E D O O L
6 letter word
Fooled
5 letter word
Flood
4 letter word
Oleo - margarine
Lode
Fool
Food
Fold
Floe
Fled
Dole
3 letter word
Ole
Old
Ode
Loo - British for bathroom
Led
Foe
Fed
Elf
Doe
Dee - a metal loop attached to tack, for fastening gear: to hang wire cutters from a dee on a saddle.
-Physics - a hollow electrode for accelerating particles in a cyclotron.
Fooled
5 letter word
Flood
4 letter word
Oleo - margarine
Lode
Fool
Food
Fold
Floe
Fled
Dole
3 letter word
Ole
Old
Ode
Loo - British for bathroom
Led
Foe
Fed
Elf
Doe
Dee - a metal loop attached to tack, for fastening gear: to hang wire cutters from a dee on a saddle.
-Physics - a hollow electrode for accelerating particles in a cyclotron.
Monday, July 18, 2011
6 letter word: E B D K C A
6 letter word
Backed
5 letter word
Caked
Baked
4 letter word
Deck
Dace - small, freshwater cyprinoid fish, Leuciscus leuciscus, of Europe, having a stout, fusiform body.
Cake
Beck - a bow or curtsy of greeting. (Also beckon)
Beak
Bead
Bake
Bade
Back
Aced
3 letter word
Deb - debutante
Dab
Cad
Cab
Bed
Bad
Ace
Backed
5 letter word
Caked
Baked
4 letter word
Deck
Dace - small, freshwater cyprinoid fish, Leuciscus leuciscus, of Europe, having a stout, fusiform body.
Cake
Beck - a bow or curtsy of greeting. (Also beckon)
Beak
Bead
Bake
Bade
Back
Aced
3 letter word
Deb - debutante
Dab
Cad
Cab
Bed
Bad
Ace
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Youngest Scrabble Expert Ever Emerges from Norwalk Tournament
Norwalk Patch: Youngest Scrabble Expert Ever Emerges from Norwalk Tournament
Scrabble is not just another board game in the family room for 11-year-old Mack Meller of Bedford, NY.
It’s a competitive challenge and an arena for him to test his vast knowledge of words. And at the most recent NASPA Scrabble tournament (North American Scrabble Players Association), played in Norwalk on June 25, Meller placed second in Division I, bumping his official Scrabble rating by 53 points to 1638.
He won $75 and the distinction of being the youngest player in Scrabble tournament history to achieve "expert" status, or over 1600 points, said Katie Schulz, marketing director for the National Scrabble Association. He played eight games and scored three games over 500 points. A typical expert averages 365-400 points a game against other experts, according to the NSA.
What is it about the game that appeals to this tween so much?
“I like strategy games that test skill, rather than luck,” said Meller. “I really like everything about Scrabble.”
Though he started playing the game when he was four years old, he played in his first tournament just seven months ago and has averaged about one per month since then, traveling as far as Orlando, FL, and Philadelphia for the chance to best his record.
The official Scrabble tournaments are almost exclusively attended by adults, especially in the higher divisions, said his mother, Jessica Meller, who said it “was a matter of time” before he reached expert levels.
“We knew his game was steadily improving due to all his study and practice. At the tournament when he found out his new “expert” rating we were indescribably happy for him, and thrilled for his life lesson that his hard work paid off,” she said of her son, who is home-schooled.
As for what helped him develop his affinity for words, Jessica Meller said Mack has always loved games, words and math. “It’s hard work, fueled by his interest,” she said.
And his favorite words?
“That's a tough one to decide,” said Mack. “Some top ones are: teocalli, which is an Aztec temple, conferva, an algae, babassu, which is a palm tree and bombyx, a silkworm."
The family celebrated his achievement by “playing a lot of ping pong—a favorite of Mack’s,” said Jessica Meller. He's not all about the tiles on the board though—his interests include math, tennis, film-making and African Drumming, making it tough to predict whether he’ll follow the likes of wordsmith and puzzlemaker Will Shortz.
But what is in his future is more Scrabble. He’s already set his sites on reaching a 1,700 rating. Meller also donates a portion of his winnings to St. Jude's Children's Hospital.
Scrabble is not just another board game in the family room for 11-year-old Mack Meller of Bedford, NY.
It’s a competitive challenge and an arena for him to test his vast knowledge of words. And at the most recent NASPA Scrabble tournament (North American Scrabble Players Association), played in Norwalk on June 25, Meller placed second in Division I, bumping his official Scrabble rating by 53 points to 1638.
He won $75 and the distinction of being the youngest player in Scrabble tournament history to achieve "expert" status, or over 1600 points, said Katie Schulz, marketing director for the National Scrabble Association. He played eight games and scored three games over 500 points. A typical expert averages 365-400 points a game against other experts, according to the NSA.
What is it about the game that appeals to this tween so much?
“I like strategy games that test skill, rather than luck,” said Meller. “I really like everything about Scrabble.”
Though he started playing the game when he was four years old, he played in his first tournament just seven months ago and has averaged about one per month since then, traveling as far as Orlando, FL, and Philadelphia for the chance to best his record.
The official Scrabble tournaments are almost exclusively attended by adults, especially in the higher divisions, said his mother, Jessica Meller, who said it “was a matter of time” before he reached expert levels.
“We knew his game was steadily improving due to all his study and practice. At the tournament when he found out his new “expert” rating we were indescribably happy for him, and thrilled for his life lesson that his hard work paid off,” she said of her son, who is home-schooled.
As for what helped him develop his affinity for words, Jessica Meller said Mack has always loved games, words and math. “It’s hard work, fueled by his interest,” she said.
And his favorite words?
“That's a tough one to decide,” said Mack. “Some top ones are: teocalli, which is an Aztec temple, conferva, an algae, babassu, which is a palm tree and bombyx, a silkworm."
The family celebrated his achievement by “playing a lot of ping pong—a favorite of Mack’s,” said Jessica Meller. He's not all about the tiles on the board though—his interests include math, tennis, film-making and African Drumming, making it tough to predict whether he’ll follow the likes of wordsmith and puzzlemaker Will Shortz.
But what is in his future is more Scrabble. He’s already set his sites on reaching a 1,700 rating. Meller also donates a portion of his winnings to St. Jude's Children's Hospital.
6 letter anagram: B S S Y A P
6 letter word
Bypass
5 letter words
Spays
Abyss
4 letter words
Yaps
Spay
Spas
Says
Saps
Pays
Pass
Bays
Bass
Asps
3 letter words
Yap
Spy
Spa
Say
Sap
Pay
Pas (more than one "pa" - dad)
Bay
Ass
Asp
Abs
Bypass
5 letter words
Spays
Abyss
4 letter words
Yaps
Spay
Spas
Says
Saps
Pays
Pass
Bays
Bass
Asps
3 letter words
Yap
Spy
Spa
Say
Sap
Pay
Pas (more than one "pa" - dad)
Bay
Ass
Asp
Abs
Monday, July 11, 2011
6 letter anagrams: A T R O C R
6 letter word
Carrot
5 letter word
Actor
4 letter words
Taro - a type of root
Taco
Rota
Roar
Coat
Cart
3 letter words
Tor - a rock formation in England
Tar
Rot
Rat
Orc - a goblin
Oat
Oar
Cot
Cor - a British exclamation of amazement
Cat
Car
Art
Arc
Act
Carrot
5 letter word
Actor
4 letter words
Taro - a type of root
Taco
Rota
Roar
Coat
Cart
3 letter words
Tor - a rock formation in England
Tar
Rot
Rat
Orc - a goblin
Oat
Oar
Cot
Cor - a British exclamation of amazement
Cat
Car
Art
Arc
Act
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Scrabble jandal scandal
I don't think any words that aren't proper English should be allowed! "tik" indeed!
Scrabble jandal scandal
Scrabble will reconsider its controversial banning of the word "jandal" after a wave of protest from New Zealand players, the editor of the game's official word list says.
But New Zealand's champion player says our local term for the ubiquitous rubber footwear should never have been removed and the decision was made against the advice of a Kiwi Scrabble expert and dictionary compiler.
While the latest edition of Scrabble Official Words, released last Friday, includes slang (thang, innit), colloquial drug terms (tik, gak), technospeak (wiki, blog) and words derived from Indian cuisine (keema, aloo) among 2810 new inclusions in the 270,000-word list, the word jandal was excised.
The list's English-based editor Robert Groves explains jandal was removed due to a Scrabble rule preventing words requiring a capital letter, and the evidence he had seen referred to Jandal as a "proprietary" term, like Hoover. When the decision was announced last month, it shocked local players.
Groves says the weight of subsequent complaints means he is ready to reconsider for the book's next edition, due in about 18 months' time.
And he will be searching New Zealand media, blogs and messageboards for evidence of the word's usage.
"It [the decision] got some currency in New Zealand," Groves says. "A lot of New Zealanders were questioning that, and we have a note to revisit it for the next update and search for evidence of it being used in print with a lower case `j' and make a decision based on that."
New Zealand No1 Howard Warner says the stoush only arose because Groves ignored advice from Scrabble's International Players' Association, whose dictionary committee – including Jeff Grant of Hastings – compiled a definitive word list before Collins intervened.
"They shouldn't be taking out words unless they are definite mistakes," he says. "Someone in Britain stuck their oar in and believed the only possible New Zealand words we could have would be Maori words. They assume if we have any English words, we would borrow Australian ones.
"Jeff discovered dozens of usage of it with a lower-case j. It's a generic term: every time a Samoan woman says `I'll take a jandal to you', she's not referring to a brand, she's talking about a piece of footwear that's very good for smacking."
Warner says the bias of publishers HarperCollins is apparent in the inclusion of multiple examples of British, American and Australian proprietary terms, and fears it will be another three years before the missing jandal returns. He says this edition corrects its predecessor, "an absolute abomination".
Ad Feedback HarperCollins relies on a constantly updated database of 4.5 billion words, drawn from newspapers, magazines, websites and blogs worldwide to validate words, but Groves pledges to spread the net wider.
"With the sensitivity of this one, we would want to talk to some New Zealand experts and see if there were any other sources beyond our corpus in case it doesn't have the evidence we need, although it is pretty vast."
Scrabble jandal scandal
Scrabble will reconsider its controversial banning of the word "jandal" after a wave of protest from New Zealand players, the editor of the game's official word list says.
But New Zealand's champion player says our local term for the ubiquitous rubber footwear should never have been removed and the decision was made against the advice of a Kiwi Scrabble expert and dictionary compiler.
While the latest edition of Scrabble Official Words, released last Friday, includes slang (thang, innit), colloquial drug terms (tik, gak), technospeak (wiki, blog) and words derived from Indian cuisine (keema, aloo) among 2810 new inclusions in the 270,000-word list, the word jandal was excised.
The list's English-based editor Robert Groves explains jandal was removed due to a Scrabble rule preventing words requiring a capital letter, and the evidence he had seen referred to Jandal as a "proprietary" term, like Hoover. When the decision was announced last month, it shocked local players.
Groves says the weight of subsequent complaints means he is ready to reconsider for the book's next edition, due in about 18 months' time.
And he will be searching New Zealand media, blogs and messageboards for evidence of the word's usage.
"It [the decision] got some currency in New Zealand," Groves says. "A lot of New Zealanders were questioning that, and we have a note to revisit it for the next update and search for evidence of it being used in print with a lower case `j' and make a decision based on that."
New Zealand No1 Howard Warner says the stoush only arose because Groves ignored advice from Scrabble's International Players' Association, whose dictionary committee – including Jeff Grant of Hastings – compiled a definitive word list before Collins intervened.
"They shouldn't be taking out words unless they are definite mistakes," he says. "Someone in Britain stuck their oar in and believed the only possible New Zealand words we could have would be Maori words. They assume if we have any English words, we would borrow Australian ones.
"Jeff discovered dozens of usage of it with a lower-case j. It's a generic term: every time a Samoan woman says `I'll take a jandal to you', she's not referring to a brand, she's talking about a piece of footwear that's very good for smacking."
Warner says the bias of publishers HarperCollins is apparent in the inclusion of multiple examples of British, American and Australian proprietary terms, and fears it will be another three years before the missing jandal returns. He says this edition corrects its predecessor, "an absolute abomination".
Ad Feedback HarperCollins relies on a constantly updated database of 4.5 billion words, drawn from newspapers, magazines, websites and blogs worldwide to validate words, but Groves pledges to spread the net wider.
"With the sensitivity of this one, we would want to talk to some New Zealand experts and see if there were any other sources beyond our corpus in case it doesn't have the evidence we need, although it is pretty vast."
6 letter word: S G E E N R
6 letter words
Greens
Genres
5 letter words
Sneer
Serge
Green
Genre
Genes
4 letter words
Sere
Seer
Seen
Gens
Gene
Gees
Ergs
3 letter words
See
Nee
Gen
Gee
Erg
Ere
Ens
Greens
Genres
5 letter words
Sneer
Serge
Green
Genre
Genes
4 letter words
Sere
Seer
Seen
Gens
Gene
Gees
Ergs
3 letter words
See
Nee
Gen
Gee
Erg
Ere
Ens
Thursday, July 7, 2011
6 letter anagram: N E S L S O
6 letter word:
Lesson
5 letter words:
Soles
Sloes
Noses
Loses
4 letter words:
Sons
Sols
Sole
Sloe
Ones
Nose
Noes
Loss
Lose
Lone
Less
Lens
Eons
3 letter words:
Son
Sol
One
Ole
Nos
Eon
Ens
Lesson
5 letter words:
Soles
Sloes
Noses
Loses
4 letter words:
Sons
Sols
Sole
Sloe
Ones
Nose
Noes
Loss
Lose
Lone
Less
Lens
Eons
3 letter words:
Son
Sol
One
Ole
Nos
Eon
Ens
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
6 letter word: I T S A T C
6 letter words
Static
Attics
5 letter words
Tacit
Attic
4 letter words
Tits
Tics
Tats
Tact
Stat
Scat
Cats
Cast
Acts
3 letter words
Tit
Tic
Tat
Sit
Sic
Sat
Sac
Its
Cat
Act
Static
Attics
5 letter words
Tacit
Attic
4 letter words
Tits
Tics
Tats
Tact
Stat
Scat
Cats
Cast
Acts
3 letter words
Tit
Tic
Tat
Sit
Sic
Sat
Sac
Its
Cat
Act
Monday, July 4, 2011
Top of the Scrabble pack
The Star Online (Malaysia): Top of the Scrabble pack
Penang lad wins national junior title.
THE CIMB-MSA Scrabble Junior Circuit 2011 came to an outstanding finish as we crowned a new national champion, Cheong Yi Wei, 16, from Penang. The team of talented young Scrabble players who made it through the nationwide state-level competitions, showed a higher standard and quality in their game power as well as word knowledge.
In the past year alone, we have seen up and coming players who outshone their seniors who started playing earlier than them.
Some of the outstanding talents are Choo Zi Wei from SMK Jit Sin, Penang; Prema Maniam from SMK Sg Pelek, Selangor; and Ignatius Wong from SMK Tinggi Melaka.
I first noticed Zi Wei in the Astar Scrabble Challenge International 2011 in February. It was his first tourney. In less than six months, he made clear his ambition to represent the country in the world youth championship by finishing in the top 5 in the Penang and Perak legs.
Prema Maniam, a shy timid girl, became the heroine of her school by being the best female finisher in the pack.
If there is an award for the most enthusiastic school, it has to be SMK Sg Pelek. Besides having tremendous support and guidance from their teachers, the players from SMK Sg Pelek were a dedicated lot. Despite the distance, they were there for almost every tournament, driven by their love for Scrabble.
Ignatius, who started playing competitive Scrabble a year ago, managed to qualify for the WYSC 2011. His hard work and determination earned him 5th place in this year’s CIMB-MSA Scrabble Junior Circuit.
Throughout the competition, reigning champion Yi Wei was riding at the top, unfazed. He only broke a sweat when he was beaten by Vinnith Ramamurti from SMK Seafield, Subang Jaya, twice in round 11 and 12.
In round 13, Vinnith almost managed another upset but a last minute bingo by Yi Wei clinched it.
And so the rest of the top 5 spots were filled by Vinnith, William Kang, Jagan Narayanan and Ignatius Wong.
Tournament fiesta
Up north, one of the most anticipated tournaments of the year welcomed more than 100 local and international Scrabble players to City Bayview Hotel, Penang, to compete in the annual affair.
New Zealand-born Nigel Richards, official world No.1 player, stamped his mark as champ of this year’s ICT Penang Open Scrabble Championship.
There were many new faces, such as Singapore’s top 10 players, Liew Kian Boon and Toh Wei Bin (WYSC 2007 champion); Heather Long, Peter Bauer, Rocky Sharma and Rod Talbot from Australia; Christian Oktavius and Hendy Yohanes from Indonesia; and Leonora Labog from the Philippines.
Another first-timer in the ICT Penang Open was Liz Fagerlund from New Zealand. Despite some rerouting due to the Chilean ash that had drifted to New Zealand, Fagerlund made her way to Singapore and hopped on a bus to Penang. The cheerful Fagerlund came in high spirits to finish a commendable 17th place.
Throughout the entire competition, several players managed to reach the top spot. Martin Teo (Malaysia) held the top seat after the first two games before being overtaken by Shim Yen Nee (Singapore) who was immediately cut by Richards by the end of Game 4.
Singaporean Liew Kian Boon, 21, managed to carve a win out of the game with Richards in the 5th round to lead the pack, but was beaten in the next game by Shim who then took over as leader.
A fat spread put Shim at a comfortable lead over the other players until Round 10 when Richards moved into fifth gear and led the pack all the way until the end.
Richards retained his coveted title with the US$2,000 (RM6,000) prize money. Sam Kantimathi (United States), Yeo Kien Hung (Malaysia), Shim and Liew completed the top 5 winners list.
Richards showed his form when he won another major title the week after, in Bangkok. He climbed from mid-pack to finish 2nd after 27 gruelling rounds, edging runaway leader Komol Panyasophonlert (Thailand) in the best of 3 finals of the 26th Brands Crossword Game King’s Cup 2011.
Komol and Cheah Siu Hean, the president of the Singapore Scrabble Association, were leading the participants throughout the championship with Komol having a 3-point advantage over Cheah when the Gibson Rules were played. The Gibson Rules apply when a player has sufficient points ahead of the runners-up to win a competition or in this case, qualify for the finals.
However, from the electronic scoreboard, Richards was seen climbing the ladder one step at a time before he overtook Cheah to finish as a finalist. Cheah’s gargantuan efforts put him in 3rd place ahead of Alastair Richards (Australia) and Thacha Koowirat (Thailand). Malaysia’s best finisher was Yeo Kien Hung, who came in 18th place.
In the final game, Richards made it looked easy when he played a nine-timer with the floating D on the board and with 2 blanks at hand to play PLODDING for 131 points to stay ahead before extending his lead by playing RETHINKS to seal the title along with the US$10,000 (RM30,000) prize money. Richards won 528-352 against Komol.
Richards became an immediate megastar, inspiring many with his cool manner, word power and techniques. He has taken Scrabble to a new level, challenging other players to stretch themselves and aim for the stars.
Up next
> The Subang Jaya Scrabble Challenge will be held from July 9 to 10 at the Majlis Perbandaran Subang Jaya. There will be three categories: Open, Under-18 and Beginners, with attractive prizes to be won.
For details, contact K. Sundraraj (012-366 1555/ ksraj@gmail.com) or P. Chitra (016-621 4065 / pchitra65@gmail.com).
> The MSA National Scrabble Championship 2011 will be held at City Bayview Hotel, Penang, from July 23 to 24. This is the final call for all Scrabble players who want to qualify for the World Scrabble Championship. The national champion will be given a ticket to this year’s competition which will be held in Warsaw, Poland.
To register, please contact Dr Adele Tan (adele.ong@gmail.com) or Martin Teo (loslyfs@gmail.com). For more information, visit penster.com.my.
Penang lad wins national junior title.
THE CIMB-MSA Scrabble Junior Circuit 2011 came to an outstanding finish as we crowned a new national champion, Cheong Yi Wei, 16, from Penang. The team of talented young Scrabble players who made it through the nationwide state-level competitions, showed a higher standard and quality in their game power as well as word knowledge.
In the past year alone, we have seen up and coming players who outshone their seniors who started playing earlier than them.
Some of the outstanding talents are Choo Zi Wei from SMK Jit Sin, Penang; Prema Maniam from SMK Sg Pelek, Selangor; and Ignatius Wong from SMK Tinggi Melaka.
I first noticed Zi Wei in the Astar Scrabble Challenge International 2011 in February. It was his first tourney. In less than six months, he made clear his ambition to represent the country in the world youth championship by finishing in the top 5 in the Penang and Perak legs.
Prema Maniam, a shy timid girl, became the heroine of her school by being the best female finisher in the pack.
If there is an award for the most enthusiastic school, it has to be SMK Sg Pelek. Besides having tremendous support and guidance from their teachers, the players from SMK Sg Pelek were a dedicated lot. Despite the distance, they were there for almost every tournament, driven by their love for Scrabble.
Ignatius, who started playing competitive Scrabble a year ago, managed to qualify for the WYSC 2011. His hard work and determination earned him 5th place in this year’s CIMB-MSA Scrabble Junior Circuit.
Throughout the competition, reigning champion Yi Wei was riding at the top, unfazed. He only broke a sweat when he was beaten by Vinnith Ramamurti from SMK Seafield, Subang Jaya, twice in round 11 and 12.
In round 13, Vinnith almost managed another upset but a last minute bingo by Yi Wei clinched it.
And so the rest of the top 5 spots were filled by Vinnith, William Kang, Jagan Narayanan and Ignatius Wong.
Tournament fiesta
Up north, one of the most anticipated tournaments of the year welcomed more than 100 local and international Scrabble players to City Bayview Hotel, Penang, to compete in the annual affair.
New Zealand-born Nigel Richards, official world No.1 player, stamped his mark as champ of this year’s ICT Penang Open Scrabble Championship.
There were many new faces, such as Singapore’s top 10 players, Liew Kian Boon and Toh Wei Bin (WYSC 2007 champion); Heather Long, Peter Bauer, Rocky Sharma and Rod Talbot from Australia; Christian Oktavius and Hendy Yohanes from Indonesia; and Leonora Labog from the Philippines.
Another first-timer in the ICT Penang Open was Liz Fagerlund from New Zealand. Despite some rerouting due to the Chilean ash that had drifted to New Zealand, Fagerlund made her way to Singapore and hopped on a bus to Penang. The cheerful Fagerlund came in high spirits to finish a commendable 17th place.
Throughout the entire competition, several players managed to reach the top spot. Martin Teo (Malaysia) held the top seat after the first two games before being overtaken by Shim Yen Nee (Singapore) who was immediately cut by Richards by the end of Game 4.
Singaporean Liew Kian Boon, 21, managed to carve a win out of the game with Richards in the 5th round to lead the pack, but was beaten in the next game by Shim who then took over as leader.
A fat spread put Shim at a comfortable lead over the other players until Round 10 when Richards moved into fifth gear and led the pack all the way until the end.
Richards retained his coveted title with the US$2,000 (RM6,000) prize money. Sam Kantimathi (United States), Yeo Kien Hung (Malaysia), Shim and Liew completed the top 5 winners list.
Richards showed his form when he won another major title the week after, in Bangkok. He climbed from mid-pack to finish 2nd after 27 gruelling rounds, edging runaway leader Komol Panyasophonlert (Thailand) in the best of 3 finals of the 26th Brands Crossword Game King’s Cup 2011.
Komol and Cheah Siu Hean, the president of the Singapore Scrabble Association, were leading the participants throughout the championship with Komol having a 3-point advantage over Cheah when the Gibson Rules were played. The Gibson Rules apply when a player has sufficient points ahead of the runners-up to win a competition or in this case, qualify for the finals.
However, from the electronic scoreboard, Richards was seen climbing the ladder one step at a time before he overtook Cheah to finish as a finalist. Cheah’s gargantuan efforts put him in 3rd place ahead of Alastair Richards (Australia) and Thacha Koowirat (Thailand). Malaysia’s best finisher was Yeo Kien Hung, who came in 18th place.
In the final game, Richards made it looked easy when he played a nine-timer with the floating D on the board and with 2 blanks at hand to play PLODDING for 131 points to stay ahead before extending his lead by playing RETHINKS to seal the title along with the US$10,000 (RM30,000) prize money. Richards won 528-352 against Komol.
Richards became an immediate megastar, inspiring many with his cool manner, word power and techniques. He has taken Scrabble to a new level, challenging other players to stretch themselves and aim for the stars.
Up next
> The Subang Jaya Scrabble Challenge will be held from July 9 to 10 at the Majlis Perbandaran Subang Jaya. There will be three categories: Open, Under-18 and Beginners, with attractive prizes to be won.
For details, contact K. Sundraraj (012-366 1555/ ksraj@gmail.com) or P. Chitra (016-621 4065 / pchitra65@gmail.com).
> The MSA National Scrabble Championship 2011 will be held at City Bayview Hotel, Penang, from July 23 to 24. This is the final call for all Scrabble players who want to qualify for the World Scrabble Championship. The national champion will be given a ticket to this year’s competition which will be held in Warsaw, Poland.
To register, please contact Dr Adele Tan (adele.ong@gmail.com) or Martin Teo (loslyfs@gmail.com). For more information, visit penster.com.my.
Scrabble News: Ewruje wins Oyo Scrabble Open
Nigerian Tribune: Ewruje wins Oyo Scrabble Open
JAMES Ewruje of Lagos State has won the 2011 Ibadan Open Scrabble tournament organised by Oyo State Scrabble Association held yesterday at the indoor Sports hall of Obafemi Awolowo, Ibadan.
''I'm just fortunate to win ,there are better players here than me so I can't just say I'm the best but I note that this tournament is one of the best I've ever attended,'' Ewruje, a member of Surulere Scrabble Club, told Tribunesports.
He advised the younger generation to embrace Scrabble as a way of boosting their intellect.
Chairman, Oyo State Scrabble Association, Akinola Oladeji noted that the mass participation at the three- days event had to do with the fact that scrabble has been scrapped at the National Sports Festival ongoing in Port Harcourt, adding that the best players played in the tournament.
''Though we are not in Port-Harcourt but we are all here in Ibadan Scrabble Open because all the players that would have be in River are here in Ibadan''
JAMES Ewruje of Lagos State has won the 2011 Ibadan Open Scrabble tournament organised by Oyo State Scrabble Association held yesterday at the indoor Sports hall of Obafemi Awolowo, Ibadan.
''I'm just fortunate to win ,there are better players here than me so I can't just say I'm the best but I note that this tournament is one of the best I've ever attended,'' Ewruje, a member of Surulere Scrabble Club, told Tribunesports.
He advised the younger generation to embrace Scrabble as a way of boosting their intellect.
Chairman, Oyo State Scrabble Association, Akinola Oladeji noted that the mass participation at the three- days event had to do with the fact that scrabble has been scrapped at the National Sports Festival ongoing in Port Harcourt, adding that the best players played in the tournament.
''Though we are not in Port-Harcourt but we are all here in Ibadan Scrabble Open because all the players that would have be in River are here in Ibadan''
What’s Scrabble When You Can Play Novelist?
The New York Times: What’s Scrabble When You Can Play Novelist?
The best after-dinner games need no special equipment to play: no dice, cards, tiles or machines that bleat at wrong answers. Classics like charades and the dictionary game — sometimes called Fictionary, and tweaked for the unimaginative under the brand name Balderdash — call at most for paper and pencils. They’re D.I.Y. and lo-fi.
As Christopher Hitchens reminded us in his memoir “Hitch-22,” even paper and pencil are sometimes superfluous. He described a game, played with Salman Rushdie and other friends, that involved replacing the word “love” in famous book titles with the phrase “hysterical sex.” (They played dirtier versions of this game too.) Thus you’d get titles like “Hysterical Sex in the Time of Cholera.”
In my extended family, over the past decade, we’ve looked forward to playing something we call the book game, which I am going to retitle, for the purposes of this article, the paperback game. Introduced to us by friends, it’s been kicking around forever, handed along by word of mouth. (A narrow version of it was packaged in 1991 under the brand name Ex Libris.) Some of you may have played the paperback game; I’m guessing many of you haven’t. It’s time to plug this small but vital gap in your education.
I think of the paperback game as a summertime entertainment, best played in beach and lake houses and old inns, all of which tend to collect visitors’ random and abandoned books. So the weekend of the Fourth of July seems like a good time to share, review and/or clarify the rules. From here you can bend them to your will and make the game your own.
Here’s what you’ll need to play: slips of paper (index cards work well), a handful of pencils or pens and a pile of paperback books. Any sort of book will do, from a Dostoyevsky to a Jennifer Egan, and from diet guides to the Kama Sutra. But we’ve found it’s especially rewarding to use genre books: mysteries, romance novels, science fiction, pulp thrillers, westerns, the cheesier the better. If you don’t have well-thumbed mass-market paperbacks in your house, you can usually buy a pile from your library, or from a used-book store, for roughly 50 cents a pop.
Many people flee from games they fear will be public I.Q. tests or will expose gaps in their literary knowledge — their inability to differentiate between, say, Lily Bart and Isabel Archer, or between John Barth, Roland Barthes and Donald Barthelme. This is not that kind of game. A little learning helps. But I’ve seen precocious preteenagers wipe the floor with fairly elite published writers. Which is another way of saying that even nonmandarins can play the paperback game and sometimes win.
Once you’ve gathered your loved ones at the table — 4 to 10 is optimal — and opened fresh bottles of wine and perhaps put on an old Ry Cooder record, here is how the game unfolds. One player, the “picker” for this turn, selects a book from the pile and shows its cover around. Then he or she flips it over and reads aloud the often overwrought publisher-supplied copy on the back cover.
Hearing these descriptions read aloud is among the game’s distinct joys. Here is one example, from the back cover of a paperback titled “Paradise Wild” (1981), by Johanna Lindsey. Try to imagine the following recited in the voice of the fellow who does the husky voice-overs for coming attractions in theaters, or by your slightly tipsy best friend:
“A well-born Boston beauty, Corinne Barrows has traveled halfway around the world in search of Jared Burkett — a dashing rouge and a devil; a honey-tongued charmer who seduced and despoiled her ... and then abandoned the impetuous lady after awakening a need that only he could satisfy. She has found him on the lush and lovely island of Hawaii.” This goes on, but you get the idea.
One reason it’s less fun to play with serious rather than genre novels is that their back covers tend to contain phrases like “sweeping meditation on mortality and loss” rather than “a need that only he could satisfy.”
The other players absorb these words, and then write on their slips of paper what they imagine to be a credible first sentence for Ms. Lindsey’s novel. Essentially, they need to come up with something good — or bad — enough to fool the other players into thinking that this might be the book’s actual first sentence. Players initial their slips of paper and place them upside down in a pile at the center of the table.
Meanwhile the picker — the person who read the back cover aloud — writes the book’s actual first sentence on another slip of paper. He or she collects all the slips, mixing the real first sentence with the fakes, and commences to read each one aloud. Each person votes on what he or she thinks is the real first sentence.
Here’s how score is kept: If someone votes for your bogus sentence, you get a point. If you pick the real first sentence, you get two points. (The picker doesn’t vote in this round.) Now go around the table clockwise. Someone else picks a book, and you repeat the process until a round ends – that is, until each person has had a turn at being the picker. Or you can play until the wine bottles are drained, and it’s time to go outside to gawk at the stars.
There are variations of the paperback game. In his “Journals: 1952-2000” Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. described playing, with Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton, a version based on Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations. The Clintons had first played, Schlesinger reported, with Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis on Martha’s Vineyard.
In that game one player picks a quotation from Bartlett’s and gives the other players the author’s name and the years he or she was born and died. “Then each player,” Schlesinger said, “must invent a quotation to be plausibly ascribed to the author.”
Schlesinger had a fine time. “The game gives ample scope to individual creativity and turned out to be considerable fun,” he wrote. “We all made up plausible quotes from Strindberg and Peter Ustinov, as well as from some of Bartlett’s unknowns.”
Another excellent variant of the paperback game involves obtaining a poetry anthology and reading, say, the first three lines of a rhyming quatrain out loud. Players then compete to write a fake fourth line.
These games evoke for me a kind of perpetual summertime. They call for the free play of minds, young and old, entirely unplugged.
What, by the way, is the actual first sentence of Johanna Lindsey’s “Paradise Wild”? Here goes: “The tall, slender, golden-haired young woman fidgeting by the hall table fastened her startling green eyes on the closed door at the left of the hall.”
It’s the kind of stuff you can’t make up. Or can you?
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