SHANIANUTS!
03-02-2002, 8:34pm
Winston-Salem Journal (NC)
January 3, 2002
FIGHTING WORDS
IT'S JUST A GAME, BUT THE PRESSURE IS ON AT SCRABBLE CLUB'S YEARLY HOLIDAY
PARTY
Brian Bedsworth
JOURNAL REPORTER
At a house in Clemmons, a party is raging. Pairs of partygoers sit across
from each other intently staring at the rotating wooden game boards in front
of them. Jazz music hangs lightly in the air, but nobody is listening.
One woman hovers around the room toting a dog-eared book, checking the
tabletops for irregularities. "This is my dream come true," she says.
This is the Winston-Salem Scrabble Club's 10th annual holiday party.
More than 10 years ago, a small group of local Scrabble lovers got together
under the leadership of Millicent King to share their hobby with a group of
similarly skilled enthusiasts.
They formed the Winston-Salem Scrabble Club with the blessings of the
National Scrabble Association and have been playing ever since.
Having been through a series of venues over the years, the club now meets
every Tuesday at Barnes & Noble Booksellers on Hanes Mall Boulevard. Its
annual tournament is Jan. 12.
King, the president and founder of the club, described the object of her
passion as something more than a game.
"Scrabble is like a miniprofession," she said. "You have to study, but it's
studying something you enjoy because you have to stay sharp."
Serious players study word lists to stay in top verbal condition. They work
on perfecting their strategies and improving their national rankings. One
woman at the party said she studied word lists while on the treadmill at the
gym. Scores for top players exceed 400 points.
King, who has taught at Wiley Middle School for more than 30 years, has had
plenty of time to study her favorite game. A neighbor introduced her to the
game when she was 14.
She was hooked from the first game.
King continued nurturing her passion through college and into the working
world. As a teacher at North Davidson High School, she unexpectedly received
a newsletter from the National Scrabble Association. It featured a story
about an inmate in a Texas prison who played Scrabble. King said she was
intrigued, and with her class began playing the inmate by mail.
"It takes forever," she said. "For several years we played."
Even now, years after the inmate's release, King said that they are still in
touch. The inmate once told her that he was still alive because King took an
interest in him. He had been planning to commit suicide, she said. It was an
experience that taught King about Scrabble's value as something more than a
game.
King began using Scrabble in the classroom with her special-education
students. She would incorporate vocabulary from social studies, science and
their other subjects into the games.
"They caught the fire of my excitement for the game," she said of her
students. "They didn't realize they were learning strategy. They were
learning math. They were learning dictionary skills. They loved it."
At the club's holiday party, King verified challenges from players. If one
player accused his opponent of using a questionable word, it was King's job
to look it up in the Official Tournament and Club Word List.
When asked about the validity of one player's use of the word "qat," she said
she knew for a fact that the word was good.
But what does it mean?
"I have to look that one up," she said.
Webster's defines it as "a plant of the staff-tree family, found in Africa
and Arabia," but that's beside the point. In tournament play, Scrabble
players do not have to know the meanings of the words, just the proper
spellings.
Tournament rules were in effect for the party, but the games did not affect
rankings.
"This is just for fun," King explained.
Four trophies sat on the mantle, one each for the highest score, the
highest-scoring two-letter word, the highest-scoring "q" word and the
highest-scoring "bingo," a seven-letter word.
"And we will have a prize for the lowest score, because I like for everybody
to win," King said.
Real tournament play is not so forgiving.
Kevin Glenn, a highway-guardrail contractor from Brevard, said that
tournaments could be nerve-wracking. He competed in the national finals last
year in Las Vegas, a tournament that included 700 players playing 31 games
each over the course of a week. He placed 81st in his division of 150 players.
"There's a lot of pressure," he said. "A lot of brainwaves."
King admitted that competitive play was not for everyone.
"There's a difference between what we do and what most people see in
Scrabble," she said. "A lot of people are intimidated when they see the level
of Scrabble that we deal with."
But, she said, that shouldn't discourage people from coming to the club's
meetings and tournaments.
Will Cooper, who works for a mail-service company in Winston-Salem, said he
found out about the local club on the Internet a year-and-a-half ago. He went
to Barnes & Noble one night to see what the club was all about.
"I just got sucked into it," he said. "I really lucked out."
At the holiday party, some attendees jokingly described their love for
Scrabble as an obsession, but King said she liked to explain it in gentler
terms.
"I like to think that we are a passionate subculture."
January 3, 2002
FIGHTING WORDS
IT'S JUST A GAME, BUT THE PRESSURE IS ON AT SCRABBLE CLUB'S YEARLY HOLIDAY
PARTY
Brian Bedsworth
JOURNAL REPORTER
At a house in Clemmons, a party is raging. Pairs of partygoers sit across
from each other intently staring at the rotating wooden game boards in front
of them. Jazz music hangs lightly in the air, but nobody is listening.
One woman hovers around the room toting a dog-eared book, checking the
tabletops for irregularities. "This is my dream come true," she says.
This is the Winston-Salem Scrabble Club's 10th annual holiday party.
More than 10 years ago, a small group of local Scrabble lovers got together
under the leadership of Millicent King to share their hobby with a group of
similarly skilled enthusiasts.
They formed the Winston-Salem Scrabble Club with the blessings of the
National Scrabble Association and have been playing ever since.
Having been through a series of venues over the years, the club now meets
every Tuesday at Barnes & Noble Booksellers on Hanes Mall Boulevard. Its
annual tournament is Jan. 12.
King, the president and founder of the club, described the object of her
passion as something more than a game.
"Scrabble is like a miniprofession," she said. "You have to study, but it's
studying something you enjoy because you have to stay sharp."
Serious players study word lists to stay in top verbal condition. They work
on perfecting their strategies and improving their national rankings. One
woman at the party said she studied word lists while on the treadmill at the
gym. Scores for top players exceed 400 points.
King, who has taught at Wiley Middle School for more than 30 years, has had
plenty of time to study her favorite game. A neighbor introduced her to the
game when she was 14.
She was hooked from the first game.
King continued nurturing her passion through college and into the working
world. As a teacher at North Davidson High School, she unexpectedly received
a newsletter from the National Scrabble Association. It featured a story
about an inmate in a Texas prison who played Scrabble. King said she was
intrigued, and with her class began playing the inmate by mail.
"It takes forever," she said. "For several years we played."
Even now, years after the inmate's release, King said that they are still in
touch. The inmate once told her that he was still alive because King took an
interest in him. He had been planning to commit suicide, she said. It was an
experience that taught King about Scrabble's value as something more than a
game.
King began using Scrabble in the classroom with her special-education
students. She would incorporate vocabulary from social studies, science and
their other subjects into the games.
"They caught the fire of my excitement for the game," she said of her
students. "They didn't realize they were learning strategy. They were
learning math. They were learning dictionary skills. They loved it."
At the club's holiday party, King verified challenges from players. If one
player accused his opponent of using a questionable word, it was King's job
to look it up in the Official Tournament and Club Word List.
When asked about the validity of one player's use of the word "qat," she said
she knew for a fact that the word was good.
But what does it mean?
"I have to look that one up," she said.
Webster's defines it as "a plant of the staff-tree family, found in Africa
and Arabia," but that's beside the point. In tournament play, Scrabble
players do not have to know the meanings of the words, just the proper
spellings.
Tournament rules were in effect for the party, but the games did not affect
rankings.
"This is just for fun," King explained.
Four trophies sat on the mantle, one each for the highest score, the
highest-scoring two-letter word, the highest-scoring "q" word and the
highest-scoring "bingo," a seven-letter word.
"And we will have a prize for the lowest score, because I like for everybody
to win," King said.
Real tournament play is not so forgiving.
Kevin Glenn, a highway-guardrail contractor from Brevard, said that
tournaments could be nerve-wracking. He competed in the national finals last
year in Las Vegas, a tournament that included 700 players playing 31 games
each over the course of a week. He placed 81st in his division of 150 players.
"There's a lot of pressure," he said. "A lot of brainwaves."
King admitted that competitive play was not for everyone.
"There's a difference between what we do and what most people see in
Scrabble," she said. "A lot of people are intimidated when they see the level
of Scrabble that we deal with."
But, she said, that shouldn't discourage people from coming to the club's
meetings and tournaments.
Will Cooper, who works for a mail-service company in Winston-Salem, said he
found out about the local club on the Internet a year-and-a-half ago. He went
to Barnes & Noble one night to see what the club was all about.
"I just got sucked into it," he said. "I really lucked out."
At the holiday party, some attendees jokingly described their love for
Scrabble as an obsession, but King said she liked to explain it in gentler
terms.
"I like to think that we are a passionate subculture."