By Dan FletcherContributing Writer
When people think of the Big Ten, a history full of storied football plays and down-to-the-wire basketball games spring to memory.
But Scrabble?
If Glenn Yancy has his way, the board game might find its own place in collegiate competition.
Yancy, a Weinberg junior, founded Northwestern Club Scrabble this fall with the goal of organizing competitive Scrabble matches.
“We want to have tournaments for players, and I really want to eventually have tournaments between dorms,” Yancy said, “eventually a Big Ten team, as well.”
Yancy has lofty ambitions, but the club remains small. Yancy recruited 23 members through a Facebook.com search for students who were interested in Scrabble or crossword puzzles. Only a few players have come to the last three meetings, but Yancy plans to put out flyers soon.
Scrabble is played by combining the seven letters each player draws from a community pile into words on a board. Each new word must build off of one already on the board, forcing the players to create a crossword of sorts. The letter tiles are assigned a point value based on the rarity of their use in the English language. Players keep score by totaling the value of each used tile.
While the club welcomes casual players, there are different rules for tournament play. Andrew SoloMonday, a McCormick junior, is a member of the National SCRABBLE Association and plays tournament-style.
“There’s a timer, obviously,” he said. “There are score sheets. The tiles are flat so you can’t feel around in the bag for certain letters..”
John Williams Jr., executive director of the National SCRABBLE Association, said colleges are a new area of focus for the organization. More than 100 college students compete, he said.
“We believe there are college clubs existing or just starting up at Hamilton College, MIT, Ohio University and a few others,” he said. “It is our hope to sanction intercollegiate matches soon.”
Williams said there are opportunities for students to participate in the organization’s U.S. SCRABBLE Open and play for the American team at the World SCRABBLE Championship.
Jason Katz-Brown, a sophomore at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has placed well in both national championships and at the World Scrabble Championship, Williams said.
Brown, like members of the NU Club Scrabble, only recently began competing in tournaments. Both Brown and Solomon read the book “Word Freak” by Stefan Fatsis and were inspired to take their Scrabble game to the next level.
“(The book) details the journalist Stefan Fatsis’s rise from Scrabble newbie to expert level over several years. It got me interested enough to look up the nearest club – turns out it was only five minutes from my house,” Solomon said.
Yancy is new to both tournament play and Scrabble itself.
“In early summer 2005, my friend from home taught me the game,” Yancy said. “The afternoon we played we were definitely hungover. Scrabble served as a break from drinking and showed our parents that the first year of college didn’t make us complete alcoholics.
“I lost that game, probably because he taught me the wrong rules. I quickly learned the official rules and I haven’t lost to him since.”
Both players said they have favorite words to use in the game.
“There are a few cool words which I’ve actually played in tournaments: repairers, bauhina, coniosis, ripieni, castrato, fireside (and) hoodiest,” Solomon said. “My highest scoring individual plays in tournament were “steepers” – someone who soaks things in liquid – for 167 (points) and “redheads” for 140.”
Yancy had simpler words as his favorites.
“It’s a close tie between ‘Beta’ and ‘NU,'” said Yancy, referring to his fraternity.
Northwestern Club Scrabble meets 1-6 p.m. every Sunday on the ground floor of Norris. Players of all abilities are welcomed.
Reach Dan Fletcher at [email protected].
