SCRABBLE - The Last Word Newsletter

W O R D G A M E N E W SThe Last WordThe Independent Tournament SCRABBLE® NewsletterA Monthly Newsletter Issue 40 - August 2013DweebovisionAlbany 4th of July TournamentNationals in VegasCONGRATULATIONS TO 5-TIME NSC WINNER NIGEL RICHARDS!The Last Word is an independent publication for tournament SCRABBLE® players. It is notaffiliated with Hasbro, Mattel, the North American SCRABBLE® Players Association (NASPA),the Word Game Players’ Organization (WGPO), or the National SCRABBLE® Association (NSA).Our mission is to provide content of interest to all SCRABBLE® players, so please let us know ifthere are topics you would like us to add. We welcome contributions: stories, artwork, etc.For the time being, we are hoping to provide this Newsletter at no charge; however, since it is a100% volunteer effort, we would appreciate any donations. Advertisers are encouraged, too. Ifyou would like to have The Last Word emailed to you, please send a request with your emailaddress to CorneliaSGuest at gmail dot com and we will add you to our mailing listEditor-in-Chief: Cornelia GuestColumnists: Joe Bihlmeyer, Jan Cardia, Timothy Cataldo, Judy Cole, JoeEdley, Stu Goldman, Adam Henderson, Jeff Kastner, Daiva Markelis, JoanMocine, Tony Rasch, Lester Schonbrun, Larry Sherman, Chris Sinacola, SiriTillekeratne, Linda WancelEditors-at-large: Robin Pollock Daniel, Joe Edley, Stefan Fatsis, Ted GestPhotographer-at-large: Betsey WoodContributors: Connie Breitbeil, Travis Chaney, Evans Clinchy, SupriyaDevnani, John Fultz, Marty Gabriel, Brian Galebach, Whitney Gould, AndyHoang, Patricia Hocker, Nicki Huitson, Carl Johnson, Michal Josko, DavidKoenig, Yukiko Loritz, Daniel Moglen, Judy Newhouse, Daniel Novinson, JohnO’Laughlin, Linda Oliva, Mark Rosenberg, Fred Schneider, Will Scott, JoshuaSokol, Kirk Troutman, Noah Walton, David Webb, Ginger WhiteThe Last Word is a volunteereffort. We appreciate yourdonations.(PayPal or snail mail--contactCorneliaSGuest@gmail.com)For advertising rates,please emailCorneliaSGuest@gmail.comCopyright © 2013 GuessWhat! Some data copyright ©1999-2013 NSA; copyright © 2010-2013 NASPA; and copyright © 2005-2013 Seth Lipkin and Keith Smith.SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark of Hasbro, Inc. in the USA and Canada. Elsewhere it is the trademark of J.W. Spear & Sons, Ltd.

Table of ContentsT A B L E O F C O N T E N T SFrom the Editor 3Advertising Section: Equipment, Tournaments, Organizations, Books 4Tournament News 12Albany Fourth of July Tournament with photos by Betsey Wood 12Omaha’s River City Wrangle by Kirk Troutman 152013 National SCRABBLE® Championship by Ted Gest with photos by Patricia Hocker, NASPA 16Division 1 Winner: Nigel Richards by Evans Clinchy 19Collins Division Winner: John O’Laughlin by Marty Gabriel 22Division 2 Winner: Mark Rosenberg by Linda Oliva 24Division 3 Winner: Andy Hoang by Whitney Gould 25Division 4 Winner: Daniel Moglen by Daniel Novinson 26Scenes from Nationals: photos by Patricia Hocker, NASPA 282013 Rose Award Winner: Conchita Deproso by Ginger White 30Tag-Team SCRABBLE® at Nationals by Brian Galebach 31Music at Nationals 32Tournament Results 36Scrab-doku by Jeff Kastner 37Letter from America from an Englishwoman Abroad by Nicki Huitson 40The Nervous Rack: My Life in SCRABBLE® by Daiva Markelis 45Dweebovision by David Webb 48Word Star by Jeff Kastner 57Know the Rules by Jan Cardia 50SCRABBLE® and Scrabblers in the News edited by Judy Cole 55The Wordsmith: Good Old English, crafty all along by Chris Sinacola 65Online SCRABBLE® Games 67Fill in the Blanks by Jeff Kastner 68Poland’s English-language SCRABBLE® Championship by Michal Josko 702013 NSC Town Hall Minutes recorded by John Fultz 71Word Trivia Quiz by Siri Tillekeratne 42New NASPA Advisory Board Members 79Historic Moments: SCRABBLE® Through the Years by Stu Goldman 80Real or Phony? by Adam Henderson 81Tournament Talk 83Linda’s Library by Linda Wancel 85SCRABBLE®: Thoreau & Thoreau by Frank Lee 87SCRABBLE® Resources 88Tournament Calendar 92Archives 1012

F R O M T H E E D I T O RFrom the EditorAfter two poorly attended Nationals (327 players in 2011 and 341 in 2011), this year’s NationalSCRABBLE® Championship in Las Vegas attracted 521 NASPA members for five days of excitinggames. Undoubtedly the choice of venue made a big difference, as players were able to enjoy themany entertainment (and gambling) choices in this city that never sleeps. The rooms at the hosthotel, the Riviera Hotel and Casino, were reasonably priced, too, showing that players’ commentsabout expensive hotel costs in Dallas and Orlando had found an ear.The $10,000 first prize went for an unprecedented fifth time to SCRABBLE superstar NigelRichards, a New Zealander living in Malaysia, who finished with a 24-7 +1934 record. Second wentto Komol Panyasophonlert from Bankok, Thailand, who won the final game to finish just 66 spreadpoints behind Nigel. The top American player was third-place finisher Will Anderson, from Croton,NY, with a record of 23-8 +1623.This was the second year a Collins division was offered at Nationals, and entrants rose from 37 to40. The Gibsonized winner was John O’Laughlin, from Cambridge, MA, who finished with a 24-7+1883 record over three players closely bunched with 21 wins apiece: Evan Berofsky, GeoffThevenot, and David Eldar. Last year’s winner, Sam Kantimathi, withdrew after an accusation ofcheating by Mark Kenas. NASPA has suspended Kantimathi; however, an appeal is expected.Other division winners--Mark Rosenberg, Andy Hoang, and Daniel Moglen--took home big checksand earned great respect for topping their large divisions.Next year’s Nationals will be in Buffalo, NY, August 8-13, and it will be interesting to see if the strongsupport continues. While Buffalo does not offer the glitz of Vegas, it will likely get good attendancefrom the many East Coast and Canadian players. The 2015 Nationals, it was announced in Vegas,will be in Reno, NV. The appeal of a casino city appears to have trumped NASPA’s previouslystated goal of rotating the NSC among various parts of the country.Editor-at-large Ted Gest took charge of this year’s Nationals coverage, bringing in writers EvansChinchy, Marty Gabriel, Linda Oliva, Whitney Gould, and Daniel Novinson to write profiles of thewinners. Photographer-at-large Betsey Wood and Patty Hocker contributed photographs for thestories, and other writers provided additional material. I cannot express my gratitude enough to Tedfor taking charge--he is one of the most professional journalists I’ve ever met, and I think readerswill enjoy the Nationals stories and profiles.On a less positive note, incidents at Nationals and at the Albany Fourth of July tournament havecreated tension in the SCRABBLE world as players watch to see NASPA’s response to cheatingaccusations and Code of Conduct violations. As the world has grown more litigious, so it seemsthat players have become more willing to file incident reports and speak up when they see apparentrules violations. Meanwhile, the WGPO must consider whether to allow players in their tournamentswho are under suspension from NASPA. It’s a tough situation. We seem to have come a long, longway from a group of players who like to play a game together.With the extensive Nationals coverage in this issue, I’ll be saving the year-end award profiles for thenext issue, which will also cover the WGPO Word Cup and the Canadian World Championship teamprofiles. Good luck to the many players in the upcoming August tournaments!Cornelia Guest 3

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A D V E R T I S E M E N TAsheville Dancing Bear ToysSCRABBLE TOURNAMENT8 TH ANNUAL EVENT DURING OURBEAUTIFUL AUTUMN LEAF SEASONNOVEMBER 9-10, 2013ASHEVILLE, NCTourney Flyer PLAYERSClub Website Dancing Bear Toys WebsiteNon-Stop flights from Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, Ft. Lauderdale, New York, Orlando, Tampa* * *8

A D V E R T I S E M E N T!SCRABBLE in CABO!Dec. 7-14, 2013The Wyndham Cabo San Lucas ResortCabo San Lucas, Baha California Sur, MexicoRooms from $95/night (plus taxes)A WGPO tournament: John Aitken, Director6 mornings/24 games/$90 ($US cash only please)(entry fee includes a voluntary $5 donation to WGPO)Contact: John Aitken, overdonejsa@yahoo.com or +52 (624) 126 7554SCHEDULESat, Dec. 7 -- check-inSun., Dec. 8 -- 1-day 4-game Early Bird, 9 AMMon-Thurs, Dec. 9-12 -- 4-day 16-game Main EventFri., Dec. 13 -- 1-day 4-game Late BirdSat., Dec. 14 -- check-outHOTEL RESERVATIONSPhone: 1-877-674-6706Email: sjdts-reservations@wyndham.comBe sure to mention the SCRABBLEtournament, please and thank you!ADVERTISE HERE!With more than 1,500 subscribers and over 4,000 hits perissue, The Last Word is a great way to reach Scrabblersaround the world. For information on our reasonablerates contact CorneliaSGuest@gmail.com. 9

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: $29.95 incl. shipping.Send orders to Cornelia Guest,135 Codfish Hill Rd.,Bethel, CT06840Or by PayPal to CorneliaSGuest@gmail.com

A L B A N YAlbany Fourth of July TournamentPhotos by Betsey WoodMatthew O’Connor receivescongratulations--and a check--fromAnnette Tedesco. Matthew’s firsttournament was Annette’s SaratogaSprings Early Bird in 2007, when he was 8years old.This year’s Albany Fourth of July Tournament, organized byAnnette Tedesco and codirected by Kieran O’Connor andMichael Kapernaros, offered seven tournaments over six days,for a total of 87 games! With Nationals just two weeks away (inrecent years it had been in August), numbers were down, withentries under 100 for the first time in seven years. Those whocompeted, however, enjoyed an exciting tournament andAnnette’s traditional Fourth of July cookout at her house on theHudson.For Matthew O’Connor, a rising 10th grader, the tournament wasone for the record books. Coming in with a rating of 1727, Mattwon the first tournament, an 8-game Early Bird on July 2, with a7-1 +254 record over Jason Broersma (5-3 +379) and MarlonHill (5-3 +363) to bring his rating to 1776. He next won thesecond Early Bird, on July 3, with a 6-1 +271 record over KarlHigby (4-2 +8) and Terry Kang Rau (3-3 +10) to cross into the1800s for the first time to an 1814 rating. In the 29-game MainEvent, Matthew finished second to Will Anderson (21-8 +1859),to climb to 1879 (Matt’s record was 19-10 +385; Stefan Rau wasthird with18-11+1383). Matt then won the Late Bird on July 7 with a 5-1 +777 to close thetournament with an 1887 record, winning 37 of 50 games!Will Anderson, the winner of the Main Event, hashad a meteoric rise in SCRABBLE® since he firststarted tournament play five years ago. He haswon 11 tournaments, including the January2011-12 Albany New Year’s Tournament; the 2012Old Greenwich Tournament; and the 2013Stamford Memorial Day Tournament. With hisrecent third place finish at the 2013 NationalSCRABBLE Championship, Will is rated at 2093,making him the 2nd highest-ranked player in theUnited States after David Gibson.Collins double-winner Chris LipeCollins players were giventhree playing options thisDivision 1 winner, Will Andersonyear: a 6-game Early Birdon July 3; an 18-game Main Event July 3-5; and a 14-game Main Event July5-7. Eight players competed, with Richard Buck winning the Early Bird (6-0+510) over Daniel Milton (3-3 -27); and Chris Lipe winning the two MainEvents--the first with a 16-2 +1321 record over Jason Keller, and the secondwith an 11-3 +477 record, also over Jason.12

A L B A N YDivision 2 in the Main Event was a fight to the finish, with John Scalzo,Joshua Sokol, and Vicki Kahn all in contention at the end. John beat Joshin the final round to finish first with a 21-8 +1047 record, ahead of Joshua(19.5-9.5 +1686) and Vicki (19-10 +251).Lindsey Dimmick dominated Division 3, Gibsonized with a 24-5 +1601record over Zach Dang (19-10 +1188) and Olivia Durant (17.5-11.5 +1028).Annette Tedesco commented: “I thought it was impossible with the newrating system that someone could actually gain 259 pts in a division of 14players. Lindsey Dimmick accomplshed that. Congratulations, Lindsey!”D2 winner John ScalzoD4 winner Marichelle Roque-Lutz with codirector Kieren O’ConnorGibsonized D3 winner Lindsey DimmickIn Division 4 Marichelle Roque-Lutz, playing in only her third tournament, finished first with a20.5-8.5 +1445 record over Sharmaine Farinia (19-10 +1743) and Les Hipenbecker (19-10 +953).Youth Player Evan McCarthy, a former National School SCRABBLE Champion (with partner BradRobbins), was fourth.The other July 3 Early Bird winners were: Sue Trembley (Division 2); Nathaniel Sandalow-Ash(Division 3); Sam Rothbart (Division 4); and Selena Johnson (Division 5).Next year’s Albany tournament will be July 3-6. With the 2014 Nationals a month later, a highturnout is expected. Look forward to celebrating the Fourth of July--and Canada Day--with Annettenext year!Thanks to Annette, Kieran, and Mike for another great Fourth of July in Albany! 13

Annette’s Barbecue on the HudsonA L B A N Y14

Omaha’s River City WrangleBy Kirk Troutman, DirectorO M A H AOmaha's River City Wrangle was held on July 5-7 at theCourtyard by Marriott located in beautiful AksarbenVillage. We hosted 27 players over the three days and17-game tournament.Friday night was a four-game early bird tournamentusing groups of four. Winning Division A was AveryMojica with four wins and a spread of 254. Eric Millertook top honors in Division B with three wins and aspread of 144. Raina Gulbrandson with three wins anda spread of 75 won Division C. Joni Shaw with threewins and a spread of 232 won Division D.The main event included 13 games on Saturday andSunday.Winning Division A was Kevin Gauthier with nine winsand a spread of 256. Kevin outlasted Matthew Ridout359-337 in the final king-of-the hill-round. Matthewfinished second with 8 wins.Nick Purifoy claimed top honors in Division B with ninewins and a spread of 486. Meredith Leigh finishedsecond with nine wins and a spread of 188. Kay Adamwas third with 8 wins.Winning Division C was Cindy Zimmerman with 10 winsand a spread of 781. Michael Park finished in secondplace with 9 wins and a spread of 273. This wasMichael's first time playing tournament scrabble! Thirdplace went to Raina Gulbrandson with 8 wins and aspread of 723.Click here for complete tournament results.George Asaka and Kevin Gauthier Candy Wagner and Mike Wagner Director Kirk Troutman 15

2 0 1 3 N A T I O N A L S2013 National SCRABBLE® ChampionshipBy Ted Gest; photos courtesy of Patricia Hocker, NASPAWhat was different about the 2013 National SCRABBLEChampionship? A lot more players than at any other nationalevent in recent years. And the absence of the NationalSCRABBLE Association’s goods and staff.What was the same? Nigel Richards of Malaysia as Division 1champion and another cheating-accusation incident.The big news of NSC 2013 was the big crowd: 481 players in themain tournament and another 40 in the Collins Word Division.The Las Vegas location was credited with attracting the largenumbers, which dwarfed last year’s 341 in Orlando, 327 and 407in two consecutive Dallas tournaments and the 495 who turnedout in Dayton in 2009 for the first national event under the NorthAmerican SCRABBLE Players Association’s auspices.National tournaments before 2009 were run by the NSA, supported by the game manufacturerHasbro. First, Hasbro withdrew much of its support for tournaments and clubs, and this year cutback on backing the NSA to run School SCRABBLE, prompting the organization to close its doorson June 30.Tournament SCRABBLE still is thriving, the Las Vegas gathering showed.The first two days of the July 20-24 event were crammed into a large room at the aging RivieraHotel and Casino as SCRABBLE had to share convention space with the Jazzy Cat Show. Thisprovoked its share of jokes, as tournament MC Alan Stern of Los Angeles lamented that he hadbeen outplayed by two Abyssinians.The cats departed on Sunday evening, allowingScrabblers to spread out in expanded space.Richards had a bit more breathing room to winthe $10,000 prize this year, compiling a 24-7record and beating Komol Panyasophonlert ofThailand by 66 spread points. Last year inOrlando, Richards at 22-9 exceeded DavidGibson of South Carolina by a mere 16 spreadpoints. Gibson did not compete in Las Vegas.Will Anderson of Croton, N.Y. finished third witha 23-8 mark.2013 NSC Champion Nigel Richards with NASPA Co-Presidents John Chew and Chris Cree. (Photo courtesy ofPatricia Hocker, NASPA)Richards won his 24 th game in the 30 th round,beating Kenji Masumoto of Berkeley, Ca.,428-385. The champion lost to Panyasophonlertin the final game, but only by 442-421,preserving his victory.16

2 0 1 3 N A T I O N A L SDivision 1 runner-up KomolPanyasophonlert from Thailand finishedwith a 24-7 +1868 record, just 66 spreadpoints behind Nigel Richards. (Photocourtesy of Patricia Hocker, NASPA)13-year-old Mack Meller, theyoungest player in Division 1,finished 7th. (Photo courtesyof Patricia Hocker, NASPA)Division 3 winner Andy Hoang with Katya Lezin,who finished third, and Division Leader Dan Stock.(Photo courtesy of Patricia Hocker, NASPA)In Division 2, Mark Rosenberg of AtlanticCity prevailed, with a 22-9 record. GlennDunlop of Brantford, On., and SiddharthMurali of Collierville, Tn., finished 21-10to take second and third.Collins Division winner John O’Laughlin with Chris Cree and DallasJohnson. (Photo courtesy of Patricia Hocker, NASPA)The Division 3 winner was Andy Hoangof Cary, N.C., playing in only his 14 thtournament. Hoang was 23-8, edgingGary Skowronski of Silver Spring, Md.,22-9. Katya Lezin of Charlotte, N.C.,was third with a 21.5-9.5 record.Division 4 featured a battle between Daniel Moglen of Davis., Ca.,and Phil Seitzer, also of Davis,who played five times in the tournament, with Moglen winning four out of five and taking the divisionwith a 24-7 record. Seitzer finished 22-9. Third was rising 9th grader Kevin Bowerman, this year’sNational School SCRABBLE® Champion (with his partner, Raymond Gao), with a 21-10 +2083score, the largest spread in the tournament.The Collins Word Division was won by John O’Laughlin of Cambridge, Ma., with a 24-7 record. Hewon 11 consecutive games near the end before being Gibsonized and drawing a bye. His nearestcompetitors were all 21-10, Evan Berofsky of Oxford, Mi., Geoff Thevenot of Austin, Tx., and DavidEldar of Australia. 17

2 0 1 3 N A T I O N A L SAfter Collins’ Round 20, contestant Sam Kantimathi of Sacramento, Ca., withdrew from the eventafter an accusation of cheating by opponent Mark Kenas. NASPA has suspended Kantimathi;however, an appeal is expected.Kantimathi has been a well-known vendor of SCRABBLE products as well as a tournament director.He has played in more than 5,500 tournament games going back to 1982, according to crosstables.com,and was the winner of the Collins division at the 2012 NSC. He had entered the Collinsdivision this year seeded third, with a CSW rating of 2030.It was the second major incident in the national tournament in two years. Last year, a 13-year-oldcontestant was ejected for cheating.There were several special awards at the event.NASPA named journalist Stefan Fatsis, author of WordFreak, as the NASPA Person of the Year. Fatsisaddressed the tournament, acknowledging that he iscredited for recruiting many SCRABBLE players tocompetitive play because of his book and that he wantsto “give something back” to the game.Stefan Fatsis, NASPA’s “Person of theYear.” (Photo courtesy of Patricia Hocker, NASPA)Fatsis is an active supporter of School SCRABBLE andthe week before the tournament wrote a commentary inthe New York Times chiding Hasbro for its withdrawal ofsupport for NSA’s School SCRABBLE work. (Themanufacturer has said it will continue backing SchoolSCRABBLE.)Michael Baker of Portland, Or., won a lifetimeachievement award for playing more than5,000 tojurnament games.Each year the “Rose Award,” sponsored byBob Schoenman’s Protiles and honoring thelate Rose Kreiswirth, is presented to theplayer best exemplifying Rose’s fiercecompetitiveness and compassion. Thisyear’s receipient was 84-year-old ConchitaDeprospo of Palm Coast, Fl., who finished25th of 95 players in Division 4 with an 18-13-182 record.Studio Remy’s display of original SCRABBLE art by J&K Kieffer.Winners received limited-edition framed prints. (Photo courtesyof Patricia Hocker, NASPA)For complete results of the 2013 NSC, with commentary, photos, and annotated games, go to http://event.scrabbleplayers.org/2013/nsc/build/index.html18

2 0 1 3 N S C D I V I S I O N 1 W I N N E RDivision 1 Winner: Nigel RichardsBy Evans Clinchy; photos courtesy of Patricia Hocker, NASPANigel Richards won the NationalSCRABBLE® Championship again this year,besting 126 other players in the top divisionto take home the glory, the winner's plaqueand the oversized check for $10,000.Unlike many of the other top contenders towin Nationals, Richards hails from far beyondthe United States -- there are approximately9,000 miles separating the NSC site in LasVegas from his hometown of Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia. Yet, undaunted, Richards bravedthe distance and the jetlag (not to mentionthe challenge of unlearning tens of thousandsof Collins words not playable in TWL) todemolish all of us pathetic Americans for thefifth time in six years.What keeps him coming back? It's a difficult question to answer. He lives a modest lifestyle by allaccounts and likely doesn't need much money, and unless he takes pride in collecting plaques andoversized checks in his living room (unlikely), that isn't the reason either. So what, then? Whatbrings him here? Richards himself declined to comment on that (or any other questions, for thatmatter) when asked."It's the money and the legacy, maybe?" guessed Dave Wiegand, the only person not named Nigelto win a Nationals since 2007. "I don't know if that matters to him. It would matter to me... but whoknows what goes on in his mind? He's not human."No one really knows what goes on in the brain of the great Nigel. What motivates him, what fuelshim, what makes him the great player that he is... it's all largely a mystery. Some say his brain iswired like a computer, unlike any other human; some say there's no real magic to it, he's just really,really good. Still others dismiss his dominance as a stroke of fortuitous luck, a statistical fluke.Casual observers of top-level SCRABBLE might callRichards' reign "boring," bemoaning the monotony ofseeing the New Zealander win Nationals after Nationalson American soil. A closer examination of hissuccesses, though, reveals that they've been anythingbut monotonous. Each win has been different.In 2008, he had to beat Brian Cappelletto, arguablyAmerica's best at the time, in three consecutive games.He amazingly did it, including an impressive challengeof Cappelletto's disconnected nine of SULPHITIC# inthe penultimate game. In 2010, he annihilated the field,going 25-6 and clinching the victory before the final day 19

2 0 1 3 N S C D I V I S I O N 1 W I N N E Reven began. In 2011, he emerged from a five-way tie in the final round to winthe title on spread. In 2012, he shocked the SCRABBLE world by coming frombehind to steal the championship from David Gibson by 16 points, beating himby 177 in the final game.Then came this year. Again, he won by mere spread points, holding off KomolPanyasophonlert in the final game. A loss by 55 points or more would havedashed his title hopes, but Richards lost by just 21. Panyasophonlert finished24-7 +1868; Richards finished with the same record and a spread of +1934.The champion's name may not change often at Nationals, but his route tovictory is always different.This year's win was especially interesting, as there were a few in-game positions where Richards'unorthodox style of play reared its head -- perhaps winning him a few games.One such position came up in round 16 against Ben Schoenbrun. Down by 56 late in the game,Richards held GOITER plus a blank with six tiles left in the bag. Most players -- perhaps even topexperts -- would have played an obvious bingo such as GOITERs or GOuTIER or one of severalothers playable. Richards did something a little different."He has a bazillion bingos that he could play, but instead of playing any of them, he plays TRIGO fornine points," Schoenbrun mused. "I didn't know what to think of it. Looking back on the game, I'mthinking, how did he know to play TRIGO?"It was one of the more bizarre plays ever seen at Table 1, but sure enough, it worked. The followingturn, Richards bingoed out with THrEAPER into the R in TRIGO, scoring 82 and catchingSchoenbrun with the X on his final rack. He ended up winning by 49."I'm wondering how he knew to play that -- and if there's any hope for anyone to be as good as him,ever," Schoenbrun said. "I can understand what most players are doing, but with Nigel, that's not thecase. I just don't understand his logic."Another crazy situation arose the previous round in a close game between Richards and TripPayne. Payne pulled ahead late in the game and looked poised to win, and Richards, down by 53,made a funny-looking play of ZIN for 12 from a rack of CEJNRZ?. It was a trap -- ZIN was in front ofa triple-word line, and Richards was baiting Payne to make ZINE so he could respond with a big,juicy play hooking AZINE. When Payne didn't bite, Richards burned his blank to make JIBe for 37,forming ZINE and making the setup himself. It looked desperate, but it ended up winning him thegame in unlikely fashion."With the dreck I'd just drawn, I was unable to block without using my I," Payne said. "And I couldn'tuse my I, because then I'm Q-stuck and I lose, so either way I'm screwed."It was a gorgeous setup on his part. He took a chance that the right stuff was in the bag, and it was.He looked ahead, saw that this was his only chance, and it worked out. I think very, very few expertswould have seen it. That's why he's Nigel."Because Nigel keeps on being Nigel, no one knows when another American (or Canadian, or Thai,or anyone else) will win this championship again. For some, it might be considered discouraging. Onthe other hand, it's pretty exciting just to witness it.20

2 0 1 3 N S C D I V I S I O N 1 W I N N E R"It's hard to argue against him being the greatest SCRABBLE player of all time at this point," Paynesaid. "Seeing somebody like that at the height of what he's doing, that's amazing. It's like watchingMichael Jordan or somebody like that at the height of his career. It's amazing."That said, was I rooting for Kenji [Matsumoto]? Was I rooting for Komol? Yes, I was."Payne's not alone. There are plenty of players itching for the chance to dethrone Richards. Thegood news is that the challenge of taking him down isn't likely to get any harder than it already is --Richards has basically reached SCRABBLE perfection, having maxed out his potential. There areno words left to learn, no strategy left to master.The only thing left is for everyone else to catch up."I feel like the level of play must be rising somewhat to meet him," said Will Anderson, who finishedthird behind Richards this year. "That's the way it is in most games, right? Somebody's really good,and then he encourages people to do better."Hopefully that's happening. Certainly I feel like it challenges me to play better, knowing there'ssomeone out there who's just so good. It's a little disheartening, but in a way it feels good, becauseit shows you that SCRABBLE is a skill game. The best player is winning."He's been winning for a decade now, more or less. Richards has now played our Nationals ninetimes, and he's been near the top in every single one of them: second, third, seventh, first, second,first, first, first and first. We've never seen a run of dominance quite like this. We might never again."Maybe it's a setup play," joked Rafi Stern, who's finished eighth the last two years. "It's his setup fortaking over the world."At this point, it's hard to doubt him. 21

2 0 1 3 N S C C O L L I N S D I V I S I O N W I N N E RCollins Division Winner: John O’LaughlinBy Marty Gabriel; photo courtesy of Patricia Hocker, NSAJohn O’Laughlin, a software engineer who is one ofthe creators of Quackle, won his final 11 games andwas Gibsonized after 30 rounds in the CSWDivision, where he was the top seeded player.Although he felt he had “a pretty good chance to wingoing in,” he added, “I would have predicted thirdplace for myself behind David Eldar and GeoffThevenot; we were all pretty closely matched.” Johnnoted that he got off to a slow start in the tourney,making some costly mistakes and losing one gameby 7 points and another by a single point.“I certainly didn’t expect to win the last 11 gamesand for some of the other games at the top to falljust right such that I’d be up two games on the fieldon the last day, so that, of course, was a huge thrill.I didn’t record my racks for most of the games--latelyI’ve tended not to do that in tournametns justbecause it takes too much time off my clock....but Ifelt like overall I must have played pretty well,definitely better than in the previous NSC, but withplenty of room for improvement.”John felt confident he’d win the championship while playing Quinn James in round 29, “knowing thatif I won that [game], with two games and a good amount of spread on David or Geoff, I’d nearlyhave it locked up, so that was probably the most exciting game.” John finished with a record of 24-7+ 1883 and a new NASPA rating of exactly 2100!SCRABBLE® has been John’s favorite game since he started playing with his dad and grandmotherat the age of six. While at the University of Wisconsin in 2000, he began playing Yahoo Literati anddid so well he eventually switched to Marldoom in search of stiffer competition, which he soon foundfrom the likes of tourney players Kenji Matsumoto and Joey Mallick and which caused him to doubthis readiness for club and tourney play. John waited until September of 2001 to play at the MadisonSCRABBLE club. In October of 2001 he played at the Wisconsin Dells tourney and finished in themiddle of the field in Division 2.Since then John has won 29 tournaments, and he is now the top ranked Collins player in the UnitedStates. This December he will traveling to Prague to represent the U.S. at the SCRABBLEChampions Tournament (the new name this year for the World SCRABBLE Championship) for thesixth time..John reported that he’s studied more than usual this year. “Starting in February I made an effort toreview all of the Collins sevens and eights really well. I solved all of the sevens at least twice onZyzzyva, twice on Aerolith, and once in Anki, which I use for flash cards on my phone. I probablyneglected the short words somewhat, so that’s something I’ll have to spend more time on between22

2 0 1 3 N S C C O L L I N S D I V I S I O N W I N N E Rnow and December: I saw too many five-letter words played in Las Vegas that were unfamiliar tome.”John and his wife, Cecilia Le, are moving in September from Cambridge, MA to San Francisco,where John will continue his employment at Google. Nonetheless, he plans to “keep working hardon SCRABBLE” through the fall; “I definitely want to give myself a good chance to make the finals atthe SCRABBLE Champions Tournament in Prague.” John and Cecilia are foodies and John alsostarted running seriously two years ago “to the point where it rivals SCRABBLE as a hobby.” He ranhis first marathon in March. Noting that it will be hard to maintain his rigorous SCRABBLE training“forever,” he opined that next year he may “want to spend more time on running or something elseinstead.”Collins Division winner John O’Laughlin with Chris Cree and Dallas Johnson. (Photo courtesy ofPatricia Hocker, NASPA) 23

2 0 1 3 N S C D I V I S I O N 2 W I N N E RDivision 2 Winner: Mark RosenbergBy Linda OlivaDivision 2 winner Mark Rosenberg with NSC Director DallasJohnson and NASPA Co-President Chris Cree. (Photo courtesy ofPatricia Hocker, NASPA)Mark Rosenberg, from Atlantic City, NJ, beatout a field of 122 other players to earn firstplace in Division 2. Mark won 22 gamesand scored an impressive 1,206 pointsabove his competitors. Mark gives 100% tohis game. He says, “I don't really enjoyanything, or even see the point in doinganything, unless it can be performed to thebest of my ability.”Mark downplays his second division win inthe nationals (He won Division 3 in 2010). “Ifeel like I'm getting credit for doingsomething great or extraordinary, when inreality I didn't really accomplish much,” hesays.Mark is clearly focused every time he sits infront of a SCRABBLE® board. He states “Iplay to win every game, so each game is interesting to me. One play that sticks in my mind is theonly triple-triple I played in the tournament. It came at an opportune time -- final round, needing awin to clinch first place, in a close game I was fortunate to find T(R)AnGAMS to seal the deal withan exclamation mark”.He had a little slump where he lost three games in a row, including a 432-508 loss to Stefan Fatsis.Mark captured a win from Dave Engelhardt by playing six-voweled EULOGIAE in round 9. He losta close game to Siddharth Murali in round 16 by getting in some time trouble and not being able tooptimize a “q” play late in the game. A strong finish secured his division win over second-placeGlenn Dunlop.Mark kept his “brain fresh and active” by studying and using Aerolith WordWalls and Zyzzyva. Hegives a shout-out to Cesar Del Solar and Michael Thelen for making these tools available. Markbelieves that the secret of doing well in SCRABBLE is learning and continuing to improve.While Mark was in Vegas he played some poker and enjoyed the sights with his girlfriend, Dasha.He credits her for keeping him “cool and motivated.” They did some touring in Southern Californiaafter the tournament.24

2 0 1 3 N S C D I V I S I O N 3 W I N N E RDivision 3 Winner: Andy HoangBy Whitney Gould; photo courtesy of Patricia Hocker, NASPAHe’s only 15, but Andy Hoang already has animpressive history of big wins at NationalSCRABBLE® tournaments. Andy is one of onlythree players to have twice won the National SchoolSCRABBLE Championship (with partner ErikSalgado in 2009 and 2012). Two years ago, at hisfirst National SCRABBLE Championship, in Dallas,the then 13-year-old came in 5 th in Division 4. Thissummer in Las Vegas, the soon-to-be 10 th graderplaced first in Division 3.But Hoang’s performance as a player wasn’t theonly thing that got attention in Las Vegas. The Cary,North Carolina native was also noticed for hisgracious remarks at the award ceremony in which he thanked everyone for coming, and paid tributeto those who support School SCRABBLE. Among those he singled out was Katya Lezin, Hoang’sopponent in his final game of the tournament and a SCRABBLE mentor. SCRABBLE bloggerSherrie St. John called it "one of the most touching moments" of the tournament.Afterwards, Lezin paid back the compliment, saying "I knew I was in trouble against him in the finalgame because I was busy eating a muffin and schmoozing with other players before the game whilehe was sitting at the table, studying long lists of words."Hoang didn’t expect to take home the $2000 prize. He came in seeded #44 with the goal of finishingin the top ten. "I never thought I could truly win the entire tournament," he said. But early successespropelled him forward. "After every day I’d get more motivated, and I’d go back to the hotel andstudy for a few hours." He ended with a record of 23-8 and a spread of +1519.Hoang’s most memorable plays of the 5-day contest included ABAMPERE, which he rememberedfrom the first page of the SCRABBLE dictionary. After putting down his letters through a B that wasalready on the board, "I put on my best neutral face," the teen recalled. The play wasn’t challengedand Hoang racked up 64 points. Another profitable play was DIESTER in his game against Lezin,which "hooked to a lot of words."Hoang hones his SCRABBLE skills by reading the SCRABBLE dictionary at least 15 minutes a dayon most days. He increases his study time to one hour a day before a tournament. He also studieslists of words that can’t be pluralized by adding an S. "You win more challenges that way," heexplained. The teen doesn’t play on-line, saying the majority of his games are face-to-face contestsagainst his brother 14-year-old Kenny "whenever we’re free." The family competitions paid off:Kenny Hoang finished seventh in Division 4 in this year’s Nationals.So, what’s ahead for the SCRABBLE prodigy? Hoang hopes to be either a physician or musicprofessor someday. And he plans to keep playing SCRABBLE. "Before I’m 18, my goal is to playDivision 1." 25

2 0 1 3 N S C D I V I S I O N 4 W I N N E RDivision 4 Winner: Daniel MoglenBy Daniel Novinson; photos courtesy of Patricia Hocker, NASPADaniel Moglen, a graduate student in linguistics at UC-Davis,and Phil Seitzer are good friends who play regularly at theirhometown club in Davis, CA. They probably didn’t expect tohave to face each other in five high-pressure matches at the2013 NSC Division 4 Championships.Moglen (24-7 +2077) won four of those games against Seitzer(22-9 +1020), including all three on the tournament’s final day, tocome from behind to take the division and a $1,500 first-placeprize.“I couldn’t be happier with the outcome, playing against a reallygood friend in the championship game,” Moglen said of Seitzer.“I’m so proud of him, so to face him was a really great outcome,and then to play three games [against him on the final day]means we both had a phenomenal tournament. He prepared mefor a lot of fierce competition.”Entering Wednesday’s final three contests, Moglen’s 21-7 record put him alone in second, twogames clear of the field, but still one win behind Seitzer. Moglen quickly took matters into his ownhands, however, winning a pivotal game 29 over Seitzer that was closer than the 479-373 scorewould suggest. Seitzer would have won had he found the out bingo of MI(T)OGEnS.From there, Moglen didn’t look back, playing three bingos to soundly beat Seitzer in the clinchinggame 30, 476-271.“In the second game [Game 30], I drew pretty well," Moglen said. “But after 31 games, the luck kindof evened out. I had my fair share of tough games. Some I won, some I lost.”Moglen would pad his margin with a 431-289 win in a cosmetic game 31. As Moglen and Seitzerwere locked into the gold and silver positions before that opening draw, final-game excitementwould come instead at other top tables. In table 2’s third-place match, Kevin Bowerman (Chapel Hill,NC) avenged two earlier narrow defeats and clobbered yours truly, 458-316. Bowerman (21-10+2083), who earlier this year won the National School SCRABBLE championship [with partnerRaymond Gao] and appeared on the Jimmy Kimmel Live! show, finished with the highest spread inthe entire tournament, regardless of division, while I (San Francisco’s Daniel Novinson, 20-11+1486) claimed fifth.Cleveland Heights, Ohio’s Greg Feldkamp (21-10 +560) and Chris Autio (20-11 +129), of Missoula,MT, each won nine of their last twelve and five of their last six games to place fourth and sixthrespectively. In table 3’s final game, Feldkamp was a 409-344 winner over seventh-place KennyHoang (20-11 +961) of Cary, NC, the final member of Division 4 to finish in the money. (Kenny’solder brother is Division 3 champion Andy Hoang, so it was a good tournament for the Hoangs’college fund.)Still, over 31 games, Moglen clearly demonstrated himself as the class of the Division 4 field, nomatter how you slice the results. He went 7-2 against his fellow top-10 finishers. Only once all26

2 0 1 3 N S C D I V I S I O N 4 W I N N E Rtournament did he not rebound from a loss with a victory. Thirteen of his 24 wins came by tripledigits, while three of his seven losses were by ten points or fewer, so if anything, his 24-7 mark (.774winning percentage) may have been a bit unlucky.“Day three, I went 4-3 with some really tough games, where I lost by 3 and 8,” he said. “I figured thecompetition would get stiffer at top, playing the top people again and again and again.”A 12-2 start gave Moglen the space to weather those close losses, as he stood alone in first after a7-0 first day, and would rank no lower than third the rest of the way. Moglen credits the computerprogram Zyzzyva and his Davis clubmates – including Seitzer, Nikhil Joshi, Heidi Hugli, and JackNorman – for preparing him well, enabling him to hit the ground running and build a critical lead.“I thought I would be top ten maybe, but I didn’t have any expectations,” Moglen said of his mindsetheading into the event. “I’d played in the Berkeley and Reno [Western States] tournaments, but thiswas my first Nationals and I didn’t know what the competition would be like.”Moglen mentioned two plays of which he was especially proud. In an early game, his OVERLATEscored major points as a double-double, and drew an unsuccessful challenge to boot. Later on, withthe majority-vowel rack of ADEELNO, Moglen found a free M and played LEMONADE.“I learned a lot of words and I learned a lot about SCRABBLE,” Moglen said. “I learned the endgame is so crucial. Regardless of what happens during the game, the decisions you make in theend game are going to decide the outcome.”For his 31-match run of success in the end game – not to mention the pre-endgame, the midgameand the early going -- The Last Word congratulates Daniel Moglen, your 2013 Division 4 champion.L-R: Phil Seitzer faces Daniel Moglen at Table 1 in one of their five matches. (Photocourtesy of Patricia Hocker, NASPA) 27

S C E N E S F R O M N A T I O N A L SScenes from NationalsPhotos courtesy of Patricia Hocker, NASPAThe Tournament Committee (minus John Chew and Chris Cree)Nationals webmaster John ChewMerriam-Webster gave players capswith Noah Webster’s monogram.Kathy Hooper has “The LastWord” at NationalsDan Stock “tableau”Division 1’s top U.S. finisher, WillAnderson (3rd) with Chris Cree28

Young Players at NationalsS C E N E S F R O M N A T I O N A L SThe “Under 21” playersThree National School SCRABBLE® Champions,Kevin Bowerman (2013), Andy Hoang (2009, 2012),and Jackson Smylie (2011), with Amalan Iyengar,2012 NSC Division 4 Champion.Andy Hoang, 2013 NSC Division 3 winnerFive players under 21 competed in Division 1: (L-R) Noah Walton (CA); Mack Meller (NY); Adam Ginzberg (PA);Avery Mojica (KS); and Joey Krafchick (GA). 29

2 0 1 3 R O S E A W A R D W I N N E R2013 Rose Award Winner: Conchita DeprosoBy Ginger White; photo courtesy of Patricia Hocker, NASPACONGRATS TO CONCHITA DEPROSPO FOR WINNING THE "ROSE" AWARD!In case you are not familiar with the "Rose" award, it's given every year at the NSC. The femaleplayer who best exemplifies Rose Kreiswirth's competitiveness, compassion and congenialityreceives this prestigious prize.I first met Conchita in March, 2010 in St. Augustine, FL. This is where we had our original 15-gameweekend SCRABBLE® tournament. Who knew that this delightful soft-spoken lady would be a tigerat the SCRABBLE® board? I next saw her at the 2012 NSC, located in Orlando, FL, her homestate. But where she would pleasantly surprise everyone was at our 2013 annual St. Augustinetournament, March 22/24th. This 84-year old dynamo would calmly win 14 out of 15 games to takethe top prize in her division. I inquired whether or not she would attend 2014's event and shehappily replied "If I'm alive.” So, Stefan Fatsis of Word Freak fame, talk softly about those bluehairedladies--you never know!!Make sure you come to our March 28/30th, 2014 tournament in St. Augustine, FL to meet the lovelyConchita yourself.BINGOS TO ALL!!!2013 Rose Award winner Conchita Deproso with Division 4 Leader Art Moore and his wife and Division 4assistant, Diane Moore.30

T A G - T E A M S C R A B B L E A T N A T I O N A L STag-Team SCRABBLE® at NationalsBy Brian GalebachOn Tuesday, July 23, a total of 24 players took part in our 5thannual NSC Tag-Team Scrabble tournament. With the greatturnout for the NSC, I was expecting a larger Tag-Teamparticipation, but I hadn't considered that we were in Las Vegas,where there might perhaps be some other activities to do in theevening.Here are the complete results of this year's tournament:Division 1:Brad Whitmarsh & Judy Cole: 2-1 +114. $50Michael Kapernaros & Jeanmarie Youngblood: 2-1 +94. $30Chris Williams & Judy Romann: 1-2 +49.Brian Galebach & Curran Eggertson: 1-2 -257.Division 2:Miriam Gregory & Ryan Burgess: 3-0 +287. $50Tom Bond & Supriya Devnani: 2-1 -19. $30Heather Steffy & Gerianne Abriano, 1-2 +17.Linda Wancel & Tim Weiss, 0-3 -285.Team “Brudy”--Judy Cole and BradWhitmarsh--won Division 1 at the 5thAnnual Tag-Team SCRABBLE®Tournament, organized by Brian Galebach.Division 3:Ruchi Gupta & Trish Harrop: 3-0 +253. $50Amalan Iyengar & Kevin Bowerman: 2-1 +207. $30Mike Gincel & Daniel Novinson: 1-2 -230.Will Scott & Bruce Shuman: 0-3 -230.Miriam Gregory and Ryan Burgess,Division 2 winners with a 3-0 +287 record.Ruchi Gupta and Trish Harrop, Division 3winners with a 3-0 +253 record. 31

Music at NationalsM U S I C A T N A T I O N A L SNSC Activities Director Alice Ching-Chew organized the “SCRABBLE® Musicale,” a wonderful nightof music during Nationals. Here are links to some of the night’s performances, including CarlJohnson’s “Crossword Game Authority,” a Gilbert & Sullivan spoof.Here are the lyrics of the “Crossword Game Authority,” the geeky little song I wrote for the Scrabblemusicale this weekend, to the tune of Gilbert & Sullivan's "Modern Major General" -- Carl JohnsonI am the very model of a crossword game authorityAnd if you disagree with me, you’d be in the minorityTo illustrate my point, I shall relate to you this tabularAccount of my illustrious accomplishments vocabularFirstly, I know all the words acceptable at tournamentsAnd secondly, I play them with unusual discernmentIf ATE is on the board then I will often hook an S thereonPerchance to draw a challenge when I lay down DIATESSARONAnd thus I beat most everyone, while others just concede to meAnd in defeat I’m graceful, though I hardly ever need to beI radiate a certain self-assured superiorityBecause I am the model of a crossword game authority.~~I’ve mastered every language from Venetian to VietnameseWhen I play Words with Friends with friends, I turn them into enemiesAsk sometime, and I’ll recite, with memory eideticalFrom MARATHON to WATERLOO in order alphabeticalI know that MISCREATION has three Collins-only anagramsI know when I have drawn a blank (they’re lighter by three nanograms!)My countless crushing victories determine lotsa roto picksAnd I’m prone to flooding cyberspace with Lerman-Matsumoto pics*Though memorizing words all day has rendered me unsociableSo long as I remain the best, the rest is non-negotiableThough bathing is important, playing SCRABBLE takes priorityBecause I am the model of a crossword game authority~~I’m well-equipped to pulverize each novice and enthusiastWhose lexicons are lacking and whose choices aren’t the choosiestPity if they think that they can beat me realisticallyThe simulator shows that I’m infallible statisticallyAnd would-be world champions embarrass me when they commenceTo curl up like babies when they learn it’s me they play against32

M U S I C A T N A T I O N A L SI’ve taken all their rating points, especially Geoff Thevenot'sBecause I triple-tripled him while he was stuck with seven OsDespite my proud achievements, I am single and I’m celibateThe ladies won’t return my calls, which makes me want to yell a bitA bona fide endorsement from the worldwide sororityConfirming I’m the model of a crossword game authority*This refers to the WGPO game where Jerry had 8 bingos to Kenji's 4. Itwas more relevant in 2011 when I penned that lyric.SCRABBLE Musicale links:Alice Ching-Chew sings “Tiny Fish forJapan”; Rafi Stern and Noah Walton “Stuckwith the Q” rap; Noah Walton with Mike EarlyMaria plays J.S.BachJoel Sherman plays Billy JoelRobert Felman plays the clarinetChris Cree plays “Leaving on a Jet Plane”and “Vincent”Mike Early plays two epic piano songs;Supriya Devnani performs a Bollywood songaccompanied by Josh SokolJosh Sokol plays “Yellow” and “Hey Jude” 33

M U S I C A T N A T I O N A L SSupriya and Alice perform fusion music: Western and BollywoodCarl Johnson piano performanceKay Patterson’s plays accordianPablo Moreno performs Bach’sPartita for oboe in G minorAndy Hoang plays pianoVideos courtesy of Joshua Sokol and Supriya Devnani34

TournamentResultsJULY 1-31RENO NV EARLY BIRD(WGPO) 7/11. Kenji MatsumotoALBANY NY EARLY BIRD7/21. Matthew O’Connor2. Wilma Pitzer3. Russell McKinstry4. Bridget McGrewRENO NV EARLY BIRD(WGPO) 7/21. WinterALBANY NY EARLY BIRD7/31. Matthew O’Connor2. Sue Tremblay3. Nathaniel Sandalow-Ash4. Sam Rothbart5. Selena JohnsonALBANY NY EARLY BIRD(COLLINS) 7/31. Richard BuckALBANY NY 7/3-71. Will Anderson2. John Scalzo3. Lindsey Dimmick4. Marichelle Roque-LutzALBANY NY (COLLINS)7/3-51. Chris LipeRENO NV EARLY BIRD(WGPO) 7/31. Kenji Matsumoto2. Bennett JacobsteinT O U R N A M E N T R E S U L T SLAS VEGAS NV EARLYBIRD 7/41. Gerry GreensideLAS VEGAS NV EARLYBIRD (COLLINS) 7/41. David EldarRENO NV (WGPO) 7/4-71. Kenji MatsumotoLAS VEGAS NV 7/5-61. Rafi Stern2. Michael WierLAS VEGAS NV (COLLINS)7/5-61. David EldarOMAHA NE EARLY BIRD7/51. Avery Mojica2. Eric Miller3. Raina Gulbrandson4. Joni ShawOMAHA NE 7/6-71. Kevin Gauthier2. Nick Purifoy3. Cindy ZimmermanROCKY RIVER OH 7/61. Daniel Stock2. Dallas JohnsonALBANY NY LATE BIRD 7/71. Matthew O’ConnorALBANY NY LATE BIRD(CSW) 7/71. Chris LipeINDEPENDENCE OH (LCT)7/91. Daniel StockLOVELAND CO (WGPO)7/131. Roy Gavin2. Ron LipkaWHITESBORO NY 7/131. Matthew O’ConnorWHITESBORO NY(COLLINS) 7/131. John O’LaughlinBERKELEY CA 7/131. Conrad Bassett-Bouchard2. Edward De Guzman3. John Wiley4. Daniel NovinsonDETROIT MI 7/141. Matt Robin2. Elaine Glowniak3. Dave Krook4. Mark SienkowskiNATIONAL SCRABBLECHAMPIONSHIP EARLYBIRD, LAS VEGAS NV 7/191. Jackson SmylieNATIONAL SCRABBLECHAMPIONSHIP EARLYBIRD (COLLINS), LASVEGAS NV 7/191. Jean McArthurNATIONAL SCRABBLECHAMPIONSHIP, LASVEGAS NV 7/20-241. Nigel Richards2. Mark Rosenberg3. Andy Hoang4. Daniel MoglenNATIONAL SCRABBLECHAMPIONSHIP(COLLINS), LAS VEGAS NV7/20-241. John O’Laughlin 35

MOUNTAIN VIEW CA(WGPO) 7/211. Pat DienerAUSTIN TX 7/271. Geoff Thevenot2. Craig SjostromMISSISSAUGA ON CANEARLY BIRD 7/27-281. Tim AnglinMISSISSAUGA ON CAN7/27-281. Allen Pengelly2. Bryan Lewis3. Sean Baizana4. Carol RobbinsT O U R N A M E N T R E S U L T S_____________________________________________________________________________Welcome to the following new faces!RENO NV EARLY BIRD 7/1: Marian CherubinALBANY NY EARLY BIRD 7/2: Donathan DedolphRENO NV EARLY BIRD 7/3: Benjamin SeelbinderRENO NV 7/4-7: Smitty Smith, Willow WalkerLAS VEGAS NV (COLLINS) 7/5-6: Paul SpiesOMAHA NE EARLY BIRD 7/5: Jim GoekenOMAHA NE 7/6-7: Michael Park (2nd)ROCKY RIVER OH 7/6: Joe Morales, Sr. (2nd)BERKELEY CA 7/14: Kyle Brown, Ricky McCauleyDETROIT MI 7/14: Tammy Jackson, Norma Jane Miller, Paul McKuneAUSTIN TX 7/27: Robert Blackwell36

S C R A B - D O K UScrab-dokuBy Jeff KastnerIn a standard Sudoku, your object is to fill in every square of the grid so that all nine rows across, all ninecolumns down, and all nine 3-by-3 boxes contain the numbers 1 through 9, with no repeats.Same rules apply to this Scrab-doku, but I’ve added a few twists to help you solve it. First of all, I use lettersto replace the numbers. These letters are part of a “Keyword,” which I’ve scrambled below. I’ve alsoprovided a clue to help you find the correct anagram. Once you’ve unscrambled the Keyword, one of therows or columns will contain all of its 9 letters in the proper order.This month’s “Scrambled” Keyword: YET LOVINGClue: After six decades, it is more popular than ever; so, it can certainly be said that SCRABBLE® has thisgoing for it...SOLUTION on the page after next. 37

Word-Finder Challenge:S C R A B - D O K UHere’s an additional test of your anagramming ability. Your object is to find all the words you cancontaining 5 or more letters and using only the 9 letters of this month’s (Scrambled) Keyword: YETLOVING.Words can be 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9 letters long, and must be OWL2 acceptable. Each letter of the Keyword may beused only once within any word you find. So, for instance, TOYING is acceptable, but not TOTING.Par Scores for this month’s Word-Finder Challenge:28 Words (Novice); 40 Words (Intermediate); 50 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.38

SOLUTIONS C R A B - D O K UKeyword (Unscrambled): LONGEVITY (66 Words Total)ELINTELOIGNELOINENTOILENVOIENVOYEYINGGENTILGENTLYGIVENGLINTGLINTYGLOVEINGLEINGOTINLETLEGIONLEGITLENITYLENTIGOLENTOLEVINLEVITYLEVYINGLINEYLINGOLINGYLINTYLIVENLOGINLONGELONGEVITYLOVINGLYINGNOILYNOVELNOVELTYOGIVEOLEINOLIVEOVINETELOITIGLONTIGONTINGETINGLETINGLYTOEINGTOILETOLINGTONEYTOYINGTYINGVEINYVETOINGVINYLVIOLENTVIOLETVOGIEVOILEVOLINGVOLTEVOLTIVOTINGVYINGYOGIN 39

L E T T E R F R O M A M E R I C ALetter from America from an Englishwoman AbroadBy Nicki HuitsonNicki Huitson competed in the Collins division at the 2013 NationalSCRABBLE® Championship.Well, what a week this has been! The first time I've been to America (thoughdefinitely not the last!). I have been overwhelmed by the niceness andhelpfulness of the American people -- most of the Americans I have met priorto this have been quite stereotypical versions that tend to dwell on cruiseships.... So it was refreshing to see that they are in the minority!Las Vegas, although glitzy and brashy beyond belief, has also got some fascinating places to go to,and the vision of the architects, etc. is given free rein.... It's like a whole Disneyworld city, with tinypockets of culture -- I love it! And as a photographer, it has given me so many opportunities for greatshots.The Grand Canyon was A-MAZ-ING.... It really puts things intoperspective -- little motes of dust are we on this planet, comparedto this phenomenon that will outlive each of us, our children, andour chldren's children.... I am so glad we went to look, althoughat that point the temperature hit 118 degrees over here, and as itwas our first full day, I don't think we had fully acclimatised to theheat, but the wall-to-wall air conditioning here is a boon...Iwonder if there's any way they could extend it to the Canyon?!Friday we mooched around some of the hotels, and tried outescalators, travelators and fried potaters! Coming acrossSt.Mark's Square in the middle of the Venetian Hotel was aWOW moment! The only thing missing was millions ofscavenging pigeons.... It is a strange thing to be walking aroundindoors with no idea if it's day or night, sunny or raining, hot or cold (though I think you could havestab in the dark on that one easily enough!) The whole city seems designed to permanentlyengender a timelessness....Sunday night, Nuala and I ventured out to the Stratosphere and dinedat the Top of the World Restaurant -- terrific views of the city, onlypunctuated by the mad fools who periodically bungee jumped off thetop of the building, and flew past our window with alarming speed --very unnerving to observe, let alone to contemplate doing! We didventure up top to watch even madder fools do the Roller Coaster thatflings you out over the edge of the building, suspending one above LasVegas' finest..... I sincerely hope someone there knows how to work adefibrillator! We didn't consider that it was worth the risk that our veryexpensive but extremely delicious dinner would make a quick returntrip, so we just watched....40

L E T T E R F R O M A M E R I C ASaturday through Wednesday was the 31 game tournament, which most of you will have seenpictures of, so I won't bang on too much about it, except to say that it was an exceptionally well-runand friendly tournament to be a part of.... Everybody was so nice and fun to be with, and our littleCollins group was cosy and friendly. Big thanks to all the organisers, and I'm definitely consideringBuffalo for next year -- to play, not to eat!The players in our division were of high calibre, and I was surprised to even get into double figures-- I think when your original dictionary was TWL, and you have to unlearn, as well as learn, it mustfocus the mind wonderfully. I was pleased to end up on a double-figure win, and it has highlightedhow much work I need to do before Prague. I narrowly missed out on 3 prizes (highest-scoring wordcontaining SUN... I played SANGUINE for 76, and on the last morning someone pipped me with a78 pointer; highest-scoring word of the tournament in our division -- mine was FRONTMAN for172... someone pipped me again on the last morning with one that made 176(?); and, (anignominious one here), lowest win... I won with a score of 331, and someone snuck in with a 313win.... ) Bah.... Interestingly here, which I quite liked, was that if someone won more than oneprize, they were not automatically excluded from winning a second or third prize...which seemed fairto me.... Though as Awards go, I think the Americans outdo us 100%!!! (Was waiting for the awardfor the nicest English player.... In a field of one, I stood a good chance!)Saturday night we went to the Riviera Comedy Club. What a mistake that was! Whether it's just adifferent sense of humour, I don't know, but Nuala and I were the only ones that didn't seem to laughfrom the moment we walked in until the moment we left. And I guess the usher that placed us inrow 2 didn't know how unnerving that was going to be for the two comedians involved, who bothkept glancing over as if to say, "Why are you not finding this funny?!" I'm afraid to our minds it wasdated humour of the least pleasant kind. It seemed racist, sexist, and ageist. And every time one ofthem swore, everyone went into hysterics.... I don't know...maybe it was us.... And we couldn't leavebecause we were right at the front!!!Anyhow, equilibrium was restored by aswift pint or two in the Queen Vic, ourlovely English pub within the hotel -- thishas become our bolt hole once we escapethe unremitting heat of the outside. Afascinating place with its 99 beers, whichmostly are British, and appropriatelyplaced artefacts to remind us that we're inan English pub, innit geezer?! Loved theIrish flag that welcomes you in.... Thatmade us giggle... The staff in there arelovely, and have been following ourprogress with interest and someamusement. We had a couple of nights ofthe Duelling Pianos, (how brilliant arethey?!!) and a really funny Karaoke nightrun by twin sisters, who not only hosted,but also sang along and danced to everyone's tracks.... 41

Tuesday night we were taken out to dinnerat the Kung Fu restaurant by Chris Creeand John Chew, and although we were firstdropped at the Kung Fu School, I think itbecame quickly apparent to our taxi driverthat we weren't really dressed for martialarts, and he had the common sense toreorganise our journey! Nuala and I sat withThe Great Bearded One, aka NigelRichards, and as always, he was good andfun company.Wednesday we did a bit more moochingand then hit Caesar's Palace for a night ofRod Stewart.... Ageing he may be, wrinklyhe may be, but my goodness,he's growninto that voice! Fantastic night and a sell outat the theatre. Deservedly so.42L E T T E R F R O M A M E R I C AOn our last full day we visited the Luxor, the Mandalay,The V Variety show at The Miracle Mile in PlanetHollywood and NYNY. NYNY and The Venetian woulddefinitely be two other hotels I would consider staying at --both had character and charm. The V Variety show wasAMAZING! We bought tickets off Vegas.com which did50% off VIP seating when we went -- you couldn't sit muchcloser if you were part of the act! A small intimate theatreand seven fantastic true "variety" acts.... I'd recommend itto anyone visiting Vegas!The Riviera Hotel itself is great -- not too busy, but cosy....Staff get to know you and everyone is very helpful...wehave had the feeling that at some of the other hotels wewould be lost in the crowd, but this has a homely feel to it,and a sense of history. The upgraded room that waspromised if we tweeted or FBed our reservation wasindeed forthcoming, and I ended up in a room that wouldcomfortably have put up half of the Collins division....However, as my little leprechaun friend Nuala hascommented, ON MORE THAN ONE OCCASION, what Igained in size,I lost in view.... I however, LIKE overlookinga car lot!For what we paid, I think this was an excellent venue. Ihave just measured the mattress on my bed (sad but true)and it is 18" deep!!! No wonder "certain" people have toclimb up onto it! Clean hotel too, and the nonsmokingMonaco Tower was a definite bonus.

L E T T E R F R O M A M E R I C ACan't actually conclude this without some mention of theDeuce buses that run every 15 minutes up and down theStrip -- aside from being a welcome respite from theunremitting heat, they are an entertainment system all ontheir own! It seems that just about everybody talks toeverybody on there -- every journey was a mini capsule ofamusement. Two bus drivers joined in the fun -- one byshouting, "Let my people be free" every time anyone wantedto get off the bus, and then saying thank you in about 8different languages every time he asked people to move upthe bus. Everyone was in stitches. The other driver worthy ofmention was a lady with attiTUDE! At one point someonewas panicking that she hadn't stopped the bus at her stop....Over the microphone came, "Stop your damn hollering...I'vebeen driving this bus for 28 years and I sure as hell knowwhere the stops are by now...if you don't shut up, I'll justcarry on driving...." So funny the way she said it -- some ofthose drivers should be on the stage!!Can't do this report without mentioning the Irish one... ( she'dbe apoplectic if I called her " British" right now, as she's flyingthe flag for Iron -- Ireland to those who don't know!) We havehad a great week together, and I consider that as her unpaidtranslator I have done a sterling job! Although I’m the onewith the language problem apparently.... How was Isupposed to know that Mocha is pronounced "Moka" and not"Mock-ah" and that what I consider to be a "seeded bagel" isin fact called an "everything bagel"! I mean,c'mon!!!! Thanksto our new friends Shelley and Jason Ubeika for clearing thatone up! Great craic on Wednesday night with those two, andMark Kenas...what an entertaining man he is!! We havelaughed so much this week; I'm glad we shared theexperience, Nuala.... It's been a giggle.... Finally, on to theSCRABBLE...58 bonuses played over the tourney, asfollows:OVEREATS CONIFERS WAILERS DIARISE SNORTINGSMARTEN CONTESTS SANGUINE DILUTION TOERAGSFAINTER VERBATIM RESINING ASTRIDE OUTGAZEVARIATED SNAILIER CARTONED WAIVERS DOCTRINESALIENT SARDINE FREQUENT UNSNARL DECIDERSGRANNIES SINGLED ASTRIDE CAROUSEL PORTABLEBARONIES SALTIRES SPACIER ENTICES ARGUERSTINGLES FRONTMAN ANTIRED ROSIEST SOCIATESNAÏVETÉ PLEATED SERIALS RATIONS ABJECTSTIDINGS POSTERS OUTRANGE ATRESIA LOOTINGCISSIES ADMIRES RETAPING ARIETTES ADONISED and OSSETRAS... 43

L E T T E R F R O M A M E R I C ARandom other words from games of "if only" played withNuala; OUTWEARS REFORGED UNDOCKS ALOPECIAHARICOT SPATTED OVERARMS EULOGIAE ABOITEAUUNPOTTED FOREPLAY BEACHIER ABOULIA andDIORAMA.Finally, a few words played against me that I've never seenbefore: SALICET LUDIC GORA LINTOLS CUNEATICPETERMAN DEOXY OSTREGER HERDIC EWHOWREARGUED COEXERT EVULGATE HORNBEAM CURIUMCELESTE MURALIST LEATHERN TIGROID DEDALIANATOCS, and my personal favourite, COTQUEAN!My personal fervent wish would be that Merriam-Webster andCollins could find a way of combining their resources,dictionaries and distribution rights, so that more Americansand Canadians would play in "Rest of the World" tourneys,and more of us would play in yours....Wouldn't be a win-winsituation all round eventually?In conclusion,I've had an amazing 9-day introduction to thisfantastic continent and I will definitely be back soon (if you letme in the country!) Thank you all for your hospitality andfriendliness -- it's been a blast!!!That's all folks!Nicki Huitson arrived in the United States on July 17 andreturned to her home in Kent on July 27. She won 12 gamesat Nationals, 6 more than expected. For the last twenty yearsshe has helped teach adults with learning disabilities,specialising in helping adults with Autism and Asperger’sSyndrome. Recently she has spent more time with hobbiesshe enjoys -- particularly SCRABBLE! She runs a Facebookgroup called Scrabble Snippetz for people to chat about allthings SCRABBLE- related. Nicki notes: “I’m all for promotingthe non-argumentative, non-political, fun side of SCRABBLE,hence the Snippetz site. Please feel free to join -- it would begreat to have more overseas players!”44

T H E N E R V O U S R A C KThe Nervous Rack: My Life in SCRABBLE®By Daiva MarkelisDaiva Markelis is a professor of English at Eastern Illinois University and theauthor of White Field, Black Sheep: A Lithuanian-American Life. She andher husband, expert Marty Gabriel, both play tournament SCRABBLE._____________________________________________________________Vegas(7/26/13) It seems odd to be in Las Vegas and not playing in the Nationals, to sleep in as myhusband rushes out the door for Day 1, to read a pleasurable novel about New Yorkers and theirdogs instead of studying my high probability six-to-make-eights.It feels strange to feel relaxedinstead of anxious.I made the decision not to play several months ago. I knew I had to write a paper for the BalticStudies conference in Estonia in June and that I wanted to spend time in Helsinki sightseeing aswell. I knew that my autumn semester would be busy: new classes, new committees, paper andessay deadlines. In between the conference and the beginning of school in mid-August, I washoping to accomplish the following: finish my memoir about love and SCRABBLE, continue walkingthree to five miles a day, get over my fear of flying through the process of systematicdesensitization, prepare for classes, clean out my closets, and learn Finnish.And because I take SCRABBLE seriously—last year I studied for the Nationals and did quite well—Idid not want to be put in the position of wondering whether OUTGNAW is valid (it is), whether HICtakes an s (it doesn’t), and what my mnemonic is for ORGIES (HOT MONOGLOT PORN.)I could have just stayed home in Charleston, but I get lonely without someone to argue with.Also, I haven’t been to Vegas since I was in sixth grade; I wanted to see how much it had changed. Iwas twelve when my parents decided to take a cross-country trip from Chicago to California. Mymemories of Sin City are vivid and glamorous. My parents chose to spring for a hotel room insteadof camping in our flimsy tent. The hotel room had a color television. My parents left my sister andme in the hotel room with the color television while they went out gambling. I remember jumping upand down on the big hotel bed the minute they left and then watching some forbidden show on thewonderful TV.I can visualize the Las Vegas of my sixth-grade trip: a long street with brightly colored lights formingpictures of palm trees, flamingos, and an Aladdin’s lamp. I see my father driving past the long streetwith brightly colored lights, my sister asking, “Dad, are you and mom going to see some strippers?”My father ignored the question.I walked down Las Vegas Boulevard yesterday. It seems the city has shifted in the past forty-fiveyears or so, though the hotel concierge reassured me that the “old town” still exists just a few milesaway. This “new” Las Vegas was frightening: monolithic buildings connected by walkways, peoplewalking around looking dazed or anxious or sad, huge billboards of Donnie and Marie. There weresmaller, sadder billboards for entertainers I thought were dead, such as Rich Little and Dion. 45

T H E N E R V O U S R A C KCigarette smoke mingling with gasoline fumes was the prevailing smell on the streets. The 110-degree temperature didn’t do much to enhance the quality of the Las Vegas air.I don’t belong here, I said to myself. I don’t drink and I don’t gamble. I’ve seen the Eiffel Tower inParis and the Arc de Triumphe, the real one, not the one with Gordon Ramsay’s larger-than-life facesuperimposed on it. I’ve been to Venice and even to Luxor, Egypt.Maybe I should gamble. Maybe I’d like Vegas more. But I just don’t think Vegas is a good place toBEGIN gambling. I couldn’t even get in through the door of one of the casinos. It was one of thoserevolving doors and was revolving too slowly for my taste, so I gave it a little push, which stopped itfrom going anywhere. A girl who couldn’t have been more than seven informed me sternly that Ididn’t need to DO anything, that it revolved on its OWN. Once inside I was confused by all of themachines. I wasn’t sure whether I could just put money in or whether I had to get special coins. Iwas too embarrassed to ask.I did get some good writing done today, but it was slow going at first. I sat around the hotel room ofour very elegant hotel, drinking coffee, looking at the planes landing, amazed at their grace andprecision and the fact that not one of them crashed. I got up to sharpen some pencils but thenrealized that I write on a computer. I spent an hour reworking two sentences.What made me think that putting words down on paper in a coherent and interesting manner waseasier than playing SCRABBLE?_________________________________________Leaving Las Vegas(7/26/13) Leaving Las Vegas with not a whole lot of writing done, but with fresh insights (can therebe stale insights?), four books read, and a new pair of shoes—pink satin Ralph Lauren sandalsbought on sale at Macy’s in the Fashion Show Mall. One insight—SCRABBLE fulfills a social aswell as an intellectual function. Duh. I felt lonely in the hotel with Marty playing and my friends faraway. I could have gone to the Riviera to chat, but that was across town and, besides, I would havehad to explain why I’m in Vegas and not playing SCRABBLE.The social function of SCRABBLE was made clear yet again in the Facebook comments during andfollowing the Nationals. Women wrote about how great it was seeing old friends and making newones; men mainly kvetched about how poorly they were doing or bragged about how well thetournament was going for them. Very often they bragged one day then kvetched the other. Ofcourse, women kvetch, but on FB at least they do it in a genteel and pleasing manner. And menrarely post things like “So many new friends! I ‘heart’ SCRABBLE.”Another insight: not playing in the Nationals yet following the Nationals is kind of a Rorschach testthat reinforces the fact that there are people you (or at least I) dislike. There were people I wasrooting for, especially in the division I would have been playing in—I’m glad they both finished in thetop six. (The fact that I wasn’t playing did make it easier to be generous of spirit.) There were peopleI was rooting against. These included anyone under thirty; people who had previously whomped me(why does spell-checker not accept “whomped”? F*ck you, spell-checker) by getting all of the goodtiles and then walked away smugly and silently; individuals who say things like “Whew. Almost lostthat one” at the end of a game; and players who berate their bad luck during a game by muttering“unbelievable.” (I’ve been guilty of the last one, so I guess I must not like myself.)46

T H E N E R V O U S R A C KAs for the books I read…. One was a novel called The New Yorkers by Cathleen Schine that has todo with dogs, romance, and urban living. (Though not about romance among dogs.) It’s veryreadable in terms of plot, but the point of view is all over the place. I reread Milan Kundera’s TheBook of Laughter and Forgetting, which wasn’t quite as dazzling the second time around. Also—avery depressing but well written book of short stories with the great title The Beautiful Wishes ofUgly Men by Adam Prince. And, finally, Stealing Buddha’s Dinner, by an author whose first name isBich but is pronounced Bic and whose last name I don’t remember and am too lazy to look up. It’san engaging memoir about growing up Vietnamese-American in Michigan.Speaking of books, I’m waiting for someone to write a novel about SCRABBLE. I haven’t read DawnTripp’s Game of Secrets (not to be confused with Game of Thrones), but I have it on my nightstand.I don’t think it has much to do with tournaments, though. I would love to see a novel aboutSCRABBLE tournaments, especially the Nationals. So many interesting things happen—people fallin love, make friends, make enemies, learn important truths about themselves. All this in addition towinning and losing and making great plays and blundering and cheating and swearing.The novel could then be turned into a movie, kind of like Qwerty but with more realistic SCRABBLEdepictions. I liked Qwerty, once I got over the fact that it’s not so much a movie about SCRABBLE,but rather a film that uses SCRABBLE to reveal character and provide a mechanism to move alongthe plot. The characters are likeable, the actors don’t overact, and it’s refreshing to see a woman(even though she is under thirty) do so well in the SCRABBLE world.Yes, I’m aware of the film’s flaws. The finalists in the big SCRABBLE tournament play obviousphonies, including three- and four-letter phonies. They rarely bingo. And, most egregiously, they usethe blank for no extra points. Also, the television “commentators” who are analyzing the game makea big deal of the importance of defense in SCRABBLE. Moments later we are shown very openboards with ample triple-triples opportunities.Maybe I’ll write a novel about SCRABBLE—about competition, the complex nature of humaninteractions, and the perplexity and wonderfulness of words. If I’m offered enough money, I’ll do thescreenplay as well. The movie would star Bette Midler as me—the way I am now. The younger mewould be played by Ellen Barkin. The character based on Marty would be played by Harrison Ford.The younger Marty would be played by Harrison Ford with youth-enhancing make-up.Players who don’t follow the rules or who beat me too often in real life would be played by thefollowing: Steve Buscemi, Camilla Parker-Bowles, Danny DeVito, Snooki, Rosie O’Donnell, the guywho played the Russian villain on the television drama 24, and the shark on Jaws.In the movie I would win most of my games. Closeups would reveal a pair of youthful, perfectlymanicured hands putting down bingo after fabulous bingo: outbitch, bagworm, quetzal, reradiate. Ofcourse, Marty would bingo as well: atonies, retinas, banters.Hey, it’s my movie. 47

DweebovisionBy David WebbD W E E B O V I S I O NDavid Webb, a U.K. SCRABBLE®grandmaster, has launched a YouTubechannel called Dweebovision, where heuploads videos in which he providescommentary on games he plays on ISC.There is a lot to learn from David’scommentary, whether you play Collins orTWL.Comments U.S. expert Joe Edley: “Bravo toDavid for his annotations! For anyone whowants to learn strategy, word-findingchallenges and how an expert thinks, theseare great videos! I like his style, histhoroughness and the redo using a computerprogram to help him analyze afterwards.”My history in SCRABBLE®My name is David Webb. I live in England and have played tournament SCRABBLE at the highestlevel for over 20 years. I have been the highest rated player in the UK on three occasions. I havealso represented England at five world championships and co-authored, with Andrew Fisher, thewell-regarded book How to Win at Scrabble.DweebovisionDweebovision is a YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/zapateo99) with videos ofSCRABBLE games featuring live ingame commentary by me. There are currently over 100 videosand all are viewable in high definition with good quality audio. Most games are played to the Collinswordlist, with 20 minutes for each player and 5 point penalty challenges.48

D W E E B O V I S I O NHow I started DweebovisionI was inspired to create Dweebovision after watching poker tutorial videos. The poker videos were areally effective learning tool which consolidated my book learning and were great fun to watch. Thepoker videos I enjoyed most were those that featured commentary during live play.No such videos existed for SCRABBLE so I decided to make some. My first videos were created in2007 but I could not find a website to host them. (YouTube had a 10-minute limit on videos until2011). In 2012 I revisited the idea of SCRABBLE tutorial videos and Dweebovision was born.Content of Dweebovision videosMy main aim in Dweebovision videos is to articulate my thought processes when consideringmoves. This really emphasises the importance of score and rack leave in move evaluation anddemonstrates how these factors are used in practice to select the best move.Another major feature of live ingame commentary is that it captures the emotion and drama of thegame which makes it so compelling for us as players. Since the games are only 20 minutes foreach player, many games feature moves made under time pressure. This is exciting to watch andalso instructive in how to play under these conditions.Every game I play on the Internet Scrabble Club is videoed and put out on Dweebovision regardlessof whether I win or lose or how well I play. I think this makes the videos more exciting for the viewerbecause they know I have not simply cherrypicked games where I do well.One further feature of my videos is that most of them include an immediate postgame analysis usingISC’s “history” feature. This instantly identifies missed bingos and also enables me to highlightsuboptimal moves. I think this is really useful because it shows how hard it is to play a perfect gameand encourages you to learn from your mistakes rather than be discouraged by them.SCRABBLE on the InternetSCRABBLE currently has a low profile on the Internet. This presents a huge opportunity whichshould be developed by the SCRABBLE community. The two areas most noticeable by their nearabsence are tutorial videos, like Dweebovision, and live coverage, with commentary, of SCRABBLEtournaments.The importance of SCRABBLE raising its Internet profile is that the Internet is the first place manypeople go for information. If people are interested in tournament SCRABBLE they want to see whatit’s like (videos of SCRABBLE tournaments with commentary) and what it takes to compete(SCRABBLE tutorial videos). 49

D W E E B O V I S I O NAlthough there is information on the Internet about SCRABBLE tournaments and other SCRABBLEresources, there is little video content available, and video is important because it is the mostcompelling medium. SCRABBLE is ideally suited for video coverage because the board is colorfuland fills the screen, and move choice factors are readily explainable to a layman.In addition to attracting new players to tournament Scrabble, good video tournament coverage hasthe potential to grow an audience of armchair fans, a key element of successful sports.ConclusionI hope you enjoy the Dweebovision channel on YouTube. Two new videos are added each week sothere is plenty to watch. Subscribe to Dweebovision and don’t miss a minute of this hot SCRABBLEaction.Click here to watch a the 100th Dweebovision game, between BrettSmitheram and David Webb.ISC TOURNAMENTS ON DWEEBOVISIONI included six games from the 2007 US vs. UK Internet tournament on Dweebovision, advertisingthem in advance on cgp and uks. They attracted an audience of several hundred on ISC, any ofwhom could comment (comments on ISC are only visible if you are not one of the players). Anexample is this game between Jason Katz-Brown (US) and Ed Martin (UK): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lM5jQQtqA7gI plan to run another US vs UK tournament later this year. I will advertise the games in advanceon cgp and uks so people can watch live on ISC. I will also be recording each game forDweebovision. The games in which I am not playing will show comments from observers.If this tournament draws more video views than my regular videos I will probably run moretournaments or set up a mini-league.I would also like additional commentators. The Dweebovision channel was always intended tofeature a variety of commentators. The name Dweebovision was chosen to avoid reference toSCRABBLE in case this upset Mattel or Hasbro, not as a vehicle for videos only by me. Somepeople have expressed an interest in commentary which I hope can be progressed.50

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)___________________________________________________________New rules are scheduled to take effect on Sept. 5 of this year. Many wording changes. Some majorchanges, which shouldn't drastically change the game, but people should take note of them. Thewebsite has the changes(*), which are still in a draft phase. The biggest change is that we'rechanging the time limit for the courtesy draw to 15 seconds. The overdraw rule is also changed, sothat the person decided which tiles to throw back has 15 seconds to decide. If they take longer,that's okay, but their clock will be started and it will be on their time. The current rule says that averbal challenge is not binding (e.g., "Challenge! I mean hold!"). I've not liked the rule becausemany people don't know about it and it is vague. It's now changed so the challenge is not bindinguntil the clock is stopped. We're suggesting in the rule that when you say "Hold,” you takepossession of the bag, and that when you hand your opponent the bag, that indicates acceptance ofthe play. Not mandatory. As a general principle, we're trying to go in the direction of fewer thingsthat depend upon speaking…the less that's said, the less that can be misunderstood.Q: How do we determine whether 15 seconds have passed if the clock hasn't been running?Jan Cardia: It's much easier to reckon 15 seconds than a minute. There's noway to be 100% sure,but it's a guideline.Q: If you're trying to take out the variability of it, why not just leave the clock running?Jan Cardia: Most people decide within 15 seconds. We don't want to penalize the person makingthe decision when it was that person's opponent who made the mistake.Q: What about a situation I observed, where somebody tried to draw tiles without hitting the clock,and the opponent was wanting to challenge?Jan Cardia: This is handled by the rules.Q: Why does the verbal challenge need to be changed? People should know the rules.Jan Cardia: Every other situation in the game is triggered by stopping the clock. We're trying to getaway from "he said/she said" situations. It also exposes the ability for the opponent beingchallenged to choose whether or not a challenge would proceed in certain conditions.(*) http://www.scrabbleplayers.org/w/Rules 51

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 GIN andRAIL are acceptable, but not AIRY, because the “R” and the “Y” 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, GIG andALLY are both acceptable. But GALL would not be acceptable because the “G” and the “A” 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 “I.”52

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:425 points (Novice); 675 points (Intermediate); 800 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. 53

W O R D S T A RWord Star Solution for: The Last Word August 2013AALAALIIAILAILINGAINAIRAIRILYAIRINGALAALARALIGNALIGNINGALININGALLALLYALLYINGALLYLARGILARIAARILARRAIGNARRAIGNINGGIGGIGGINGGILLGILLINGGILLYGILLYINGGINGINGILIGINGILLIGINNINGGINNYGIRNGRAALGRAILGRIGGRIGRIGRILLGRILLINGGRINGRINNINGIGGIGGINGILIAILIALILLILLYINGRAININGRAININGINIAINNINNINGIRINGLAARILAINLAIRLAIRINGLALLLALLINGLARLARILIARLIGNINLILYLINLINGLININLININGLINNLINYLIRALIRILYINGNILNILLNILLINGNINNYRAIRAIARAILRAILINGRAINRAINILYRAININGRAINYRALLYRALLYINGRARINGRIARIALRIGRIGGINGRILINGRILLRILLINGRINRINGRINGINGRINNINGYILLYINYIRRYIRRINGPAR SCORES: 425 points (Novice); 675 points (Intermediate);800 points (Advanced)BEST SCORE:2 Points for each WORD found:104 Words = 208 points.5 Bonus Points for each BINGO found:27 Bingos = 135 points.1 Point for each LETTER of every word found:527 Letters = 527 points.1 Bonus Point for each CENTER STAR of every word found:136 I’s = 136 points.TOTAL = 1006 Points54

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® ora SCRABBLE® player in the news? Letus know! Send your stories to JudyCole (judithcole@msn.com)._______________________________Tourney TalkSCRABBLE clubs and tournaments arein the news:• National SCRABBLEChampionship – While whathappens in Vegas may stay inVegas, the National SCRABBLEChampionship, which took placefrom July 20 to July 24, 2013, was inthe news.The official press release included aquote from Billy Lagor, Senior VicePresident, U.S. Marketing, Hasbro:“The National SCRABBLEChampionship continues to bringtogether some of the most skilledcompetitive SCRABBLE players. Weare thrilled to see such excitementand passion for the game andcongratulate Nigel Richards on hisfourth consecutive victory, as well asall participants in this year'stournament.”http://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-20130724-915234.htmlThe Las Vegas Review-Journalprovided ample coverage in printand online where a video includesinterviews with NASPA co-presidentChris Cree and New York (NY)SCRABBLE player Ida Shapiro aswell as sweeping views of theplaying room.JULY MILESTONESJOHN O'LAUGHLIN reached 2100 (Collins) for the first time atthe National SCRABBLE Championship in Las Vegas (NV).EVAN BEROFSKY reached 2000 (Collins) for the first time at theNational SCRABBLE Championship in Las Vegas (NV).CESAR DEL SOLAR reached 2000 for the first time at theNational SCRABBLE Championship in Las Vegas (NV).CHRIS LIPE reached 2000 (Collins) for the first time at theNational SCRABBLE Championship in Las Vegas (NV).EDWARD DE GUZMAN reached 1900 for the first time at theBerkeley (CA) tournament.ERICKSON SMITH reached 1800 for the first time at the NationalSCRABBLE Championship in Las Vegas (NV).TIMOTHY BOTTORFF reached 1800 for the first time at theNational SCRABBLE Championship in Las Vegas (NV).CHARLES REINKE reached 1800 for the first time at the NationalSCRABBLE Championship in Las Vegas (NV).MATTHEW O'CONNOR reached 1800 for the first time at theAlbany (NY) tournament.TED BARRETT reached 1700 for the first time at the Austin (TX)tournament.SIDDHARTH MURALI reached 1700 for the first time at theNational SCRABBLE Championship in Las Vegas (NV).MARK ROSENBERG reached 1700 for the first time at theNational SCRABBLE Championship in Las Vegas (NV).PAUL YANDISHA KALUMBA reached 1700 (Collins) for the firsttime at the Las Vegas (NV) tournament.SAM TOWNE reached 1600 for the first time at the NationalSCRABBLE Championship in Las Vegas (NV).JOSHUA SOKOL reached 1600 for the first time at the NationalSCRABBLE Championship in Las Vegas (NV) after reaching 1500at the Albany (NY) tournament.AVERY MOJICA reached 1600 for the first time at the NationalSCRABBLE Championship in Las Vegas (NV).JACK OVERBY reached 1600 for the first time at the St. LouisPark (MN) tournament.GARY SKOWRONSKI reached 1500 for the first time at thePhiladelphia (PA) tournament. 55

S C R A B B L E I N T H E N E W S•Cary (NC) SCRABBLE player, AndyHoang, who won Division 3 in Las Vegas,played a local reporter upon his return.While Andy won handily, hecomplimented his new SCRABBLE friendfor his affable personality and good wordknowledge.News & Observer (08/05/2013) http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/08/05/3083305/shaffer-crushed-bythe-teenage.html• University of California Davis graduate students Daniel Moglen and Phillip Seitzer, whoplaced 1 st and 2 nd in Division 4, were joined in Las Vegas by other members of the UnofficialDavis SCRABBLE Club – 3 as players and 3 as observers.Charlotte Observer (08/09/2013) http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/08/09/4223003/charlotte-writer-goes-to-vegas.html• Word Cup – Players at the WGPO Word Cup in Denver (CO) were askedfor their reaction to the recent controversy over an incorrectly spelledFinal Jeopardy! answer duringthe Kids Jeopardy! tournament.The Davis Enterprise (08/11/2013) http://www.davisenterprise.com/local-news/ucdgraduate-students-triumph-at-thenational-scrabble-competition/The Sacramento Bee (08/12/2013) http://www.sacbee.com/2013/08/12/5644365/davis-friends-compete-at-scrabbles.html•Charlotte (NC) SCRABBLE player KatyaLezin, who placed 3 rd in Division 3, writesabout her finalgame for thechampionship withAndy Hoang.Approximately 100 “speed spellers” attended theWord Cup, which took place from August 3 to August7, 2013.9 News (08/05/2013) http://www.9news.com/news/article/348820/188/Scrabble-players-react-to-Jeopardy-loss 57

S C R A B B L E I N T H E N E W SBlue plays for the loveof the game: “Whenyou're playingSCRABBLE, the billsdon't matter, quakes don't matter, nothing matters.Funnily enough, I do it to relax. It chills me out.There's no stress because my mind is on the game.”The Press (06/30/2013) http://www.stuff.co.nz/thepress/news/8857283/The-man-who-swallowed-adictionary•Canadian National SCRABBLE Championship – The CalgarySun (06/17/2013) profiled Eric Tran who attended the championshipin June with 4 other members of the Calgary SCRABBLE Club.http://www.calgarysun.com/2013/06/17/five-calgarians-torontobound-this-weekend-for-canadian-national-scrabble-championship•Christchurch (NZ) – 51-year old truck driver Blue Thorogood wonDivision 1 at the New Zealand National SCRABBLE Championshipin early June.•Clarksville (TN) – After moving from San Francisco(CA), Clay Sanders founded the Clarksville club in 2005and plans to organize a local tournament this fall.The club meets on the 1 st and 3 rd Tuesdays of the monthat the local Books-a-Million.The Leaf Chronicle (06/30/2013) http://www.theleafchronicle.com/article/20130630/NEWS01/306300040/Local-group-enjoys-SOcrabblechallenge?nclick_check=1•Omaha (NE) – On July 5 and 6, 2013, overtwo dozen players competed in the annualOmaha tournament where according to theKETV reporter, the shaking of tilesrepresented opportunity.KETV (07/07/2013) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oI1rIABB61g•Old Greenwich (CT) – The 3 rd Annual OldGreenwich SCRABBLE tournament will takeplace on August 16 to 18, 2013, at the HyattRegency. Tournament co-director Cornelia58

S C R A B B L E I N T H E N E W SGuest invites local players to sample the scene: “The Newcomers Tournament is a perfectopportunity for a home SCRABBLE player to try tournament play. We will help players with therules, and there will be prizes for everyone.”Rye Patch (07/20/2013) http://rye.patch.com/groups/editors-picks/p/scrabble-tournament-in-oldgreenwich-set-for-midaugust_814f1d28•World Senior SCRABBLE Championship –Bunbury (Australia) SCRABBLE player DianneWard defeated 14 other players to win theinaugural World Senior SCRABBLEChampionship recently in Bangkok (Thailand).Dianne, who has been playing competitivelysince 1989, played PAEONIC# in the final gameto clinch the title.Bunbury Mail (07/24/2013) http://www.bunburymail.com.au/story/1658749/bunbury-scrabble-enthusiast-takes-on-the-world-in-bangkok/?cs=279Just the FatsisWord Freak author Stefan Fatsis wrote an op-ed piece on the demise of theNational SCRABBLE Association for the New York Times (07/14/2013) inwhich he reminds Hasbro that “with ownership comes responsibility, andsometimes even a little altruism.”Greenwich Post (08/12/2013) http://www.greenwich-post.com/16894/score-big-at-annualscrabble-tournament/http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/14/opinion/sunday/scrabbling-overscrabble.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0Ask Diane AnotherForest Hills (NY) SCRABBLE player Diane Firstman appeared on theAugust 3, 2013, episode of Ask Me Another, NPR’s show featuringpuzzles, word games, and trivia played in front of a live audience.In a special math and science-themed episode recorded at the 2013World Science Festival, Diane played in 2 segments – “AlgebraicMath” and “I’m No Doctor” (the championship round for the episode).You can play along at http://www.npr.org/2013/07/30/206963290/solving-for-x-live-from-the-2013-world-science-festival 59

S C R A B B L E I N T H E N E W SSchool DaysStudents playing SCRABBLE are in the news:•Pequot SCRABBLE Club – The Pequot Library inSouthport (CT) is hosting a weekly SCRABBLE club forstudents in 4 th through 8 th grades on Thursdayafternoons [Wednesdays in the fall].Coach Cornelia Guest comments: “While parents mayappreciate that their children are learning vocabulary andpracticing math, the kids are just having a great timegetting together with friends and playing SCRABBLE.”Fairfield Sun (07/11/2013) http://www.fairfield-sun.com/14471/pequot-scrabble-club-taught-bynationally-ranked-coach/• Delhi (India) – Through the efforts of the SCRABBLE Association of Delhi (SADeL), hundreds ofhundreds of youngsters in Delhi are now playing SCRABBLE at homes, in schools, and hobbyclubs.Over 200 kids compete in the annual Delhi SCRABBLE Championshipand hope to advance to the Mumbai national tournament. Studentswho do well in Mumbai will attend the World Youth SCRABBLEChampionship in Dubai in December.Some students, such as Deeksha Goel, have even greater aspirations:“I hope to become like Nigel Richards one day – the Rafael Nadal ofSCRABBLE. I wish that day comes soon.”Deccan Herald (07/31/2013) http://www.deccanherald.com/content/348062/schooledscrabble.htmlI’d Like A U, PatWould you try to buy a U at this point in Wheel of Fortune as the contestant did on August, 5, 2013?60

Arctic SCRABBLES C R A B B L E I N T H E N E W SWhile on a Lindblad expedition to the island of Grimsey inIceland, Andrew Evans and Annie Griffiths of NationalGeographic Traveler played a game of SCRABBLE right on theArctic Circle (66° 33′ 44″ N) in the broad daylight of the Arcticnight.National Geographic (07/17/2013) http://digitalnomad.nationalgeographic.com/2013/07/17/playingscrabble-on-the-arctic-circle/Mind BogglingJulia Turner of Slate makes the case that BOGGLEis a better game than SCRABBLE against BOGGLEand contends that BOGGLE is the better game – justas challenging and much more fun.Expert SCRABBLE player Will Anderson, whorecently placed 3 rd in Division A in Las Vegas, is alsothe top-ranked player on Prolific, the leadingFacebook community for serious BOGGLE fans. Willsees the advantages of both games: “SCRABBLE ismore complicated,” but “Boggle is much faster paced.BOGGLE is definitely the livelier of the two games.BOGGLE is definitely a great, interesting game withmillions of permutations. It’s quite shocking that thereis no competitive scene.”Slate (08/01/2013) http://www.slate.com/articles/life/gaming/2013/08/boggle_vs_scrabble_or_why_there_should_be_a_boggle_national_championship.html15 More Minutes of FameDuring what must have been a slow news week, theConcord Journal (07/11/2013) devoted its entire Page 2to Judy Cole’s recent appearance on Jeopardy!http://www.wickedlocal.com/concord/thisjustin/x1651961470/Concord-woman-takes-second-place-on-Jeopardy 61

S C R A B B L E I N T H E N E W SScrabbling for a CauseSCRABBLE tournaments as fundraisers are in the news:••Portland (OR) – More than a year after vandals damaged oneof Portland's most photographed tombstones, SCRABBLEplayers teamed up to give it a facelift with a tournamentfundraiser on August 3, 2013.Fox 12 Oregon (08/05/2013) http://www.kptv.com/story/23048342/scrabble-board-tombstone-gets-some-love-fromportland-scrabble-playersGame TimeHasbro has extended for an additional four years its agreement with Electronic Arts tocontinue developing mobile versions of SCRABBLE and other games on a global level.The Motley Fool (07/03/2013) http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2013/07/03/hasbrosays-game-on-for-mobile-gaming.aspxMeanwhile, more than 170 protest parties took placein 10 countries on July 13, 2013, in opposition toMattel’s choice of Electronic Arts for FacebookSCRABBLE outside of North America.The Argus (07/16/2013) http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/10550150.Brighton_Scrabble_protest_over_changes_to_popular_word_game/Hebden Bridge Times (7/27/2013) http://www.hebdenbridgetimes.co.uk/lifestyle/lifestyle-leisure-andentertainment/v-for-victory-scrabble-fans-playing-to-win-1-588511862

The Write StuffS C R A B B L E I N T H E N E W SToronto (ON) geological statistician Mohan Srivastava haswon the 2013 2013 CBC Creative Nonfiction Prize for his shortstory, The Gods of Scrabble, about an impromptu game ofSCRABBLE with three Eastern European women learningEnglish.Mohan, who will receive $6,000 and a 2-week residency at theBanff Centre’s Leighton Artists’ Colony, was previously in thenews for cracking the code to winning lottery tickets.The jury awarding the prize commented: ““Like the clacking tiles shifting on each player’s rack, theauthor sorts through languages and racial, gender and age stereotypes. Self-deprecating,surprising and told with great humour, this entry lands the triple word score.”CBC News (07/22/2013) http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2013/07/19/arts-canada-writes-winnermohan-srivastava.htmlToronto Star (07/22/2013) http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2013/07/22/lottery_sleuth_mohan_srivastava_wins_cbc_literary_award.htmlNational Post (07/22/2013) http://arts.nationalpost.com/2013/07/22/mo-srivastava-wins-cbccreative-nonfiction-prize/SCRABBLE CelebritiesCelebrities share our love of the game.•Conservative political analyst and industrialmagnate Charles Koch was asked why he,at age 77, continues to work: “I try toexercise my mind and have things to lookforward to, opportunities, and I like to feelthat I’m making a contribution. All that keepsme going.”Koch asked the reporter, James Hagerty, tosuggest something that he would enjoymore, and Hagerty suggested hisSCRABBLE club to which Koch replied,“That’d be something!”Wall Street Journal (07/03/2013) http://stream.wsj.com/story/latest-headlines/SS-2-63399/SS-2-268732/• British comedian Richard Herring, who once scored over 200 points for EQUATORS, loaned hisGame Boy SCRABBLE with some trepidation to a friend hospitalized for a few weeks. 63

S C R A B B L E I N T H E N E W SMetro (07/05/2013) http://metro.co.uk/2013/07/05/richard-herring-is-there-anything-i-can-do-aslong-its-not-lend-you-my-scrabble-game-3869337/• Barenaked Ladies frontman Ed Robertson has read Word Freak and narrated Word Slingers, adocumentary about the 2001 World SCRABBLE Championship in Las Vegas (NV).With those credentials, Ed imagines that he would be among the last standing in a SCRABBLEcompetition between the Barenaked Ladies and their touring partner this summer, Ben FoldsFive.Boston Globe (07/13/2013) http://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/music/2013/07/13/barenakedladies-and-ben-folds-five-try-make-last-summer-count/89vwQznG2tkULhjGAwSFVO/story.html___________________________________________________________________________Judy Cole is co-director of the Lexington MA NASPA SCRABBLE® Club #108 and solves crosswordpuzzles when not playing SCRABBLE®.•64

The WordsmithGood Old English, crafty all alongBy Chris SinacolaT H E W O R D S M I T HThere’s always room on my bookshelves for another book about language, and particularly a book about thehistory of English. In the last few years, my shelves have been the fortunate recipients of any number ofcollege texts and reading list selections as my younger daughters work their way toward that covetedbachelor’s degree.One of these, David Crystal’s The Stories of English declares its intention to part from the usual approach tothe development of modern English, a storyline which Crystal – in brief – reduces to: German tribes arrive inBritain, West Saxon dialect becomes dominant, Chaucer arrives on the scene, then Shakespeare, spellingand pronunciation become more standardized, and finally the BBC spreads “proper English” around theglobe.Crystal’s view is rather different. He points out that English, the world’s first truly global language, hasalways been a language of tremendous variations, with thousands of dialects, local usages, specializedvocabulary, idioms, turns of phrase, etc.He points out that “If only 5 per cent or so of the population of India, for example, speak English, then we aretalking about as many people speaking English in that country as speak English in the whole of Britain. (Thereal figure is certainly much greater.) This can come as something of a shock to people who have notthought beyond the ‘Standard British English’ perspective.”Or, I would hasten to add, the Standard American English perspective.And this tremendous variation, the stories of English or, if you prefer, the history of Englishes, is not a recentor exclusively modern phenomenon.In his early chapter on the development of the Old English dialects, Crystal refers to the Parker Chronicle,which is the oldest of the nine manuscripts known as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, and dates to the 9 thcentury and the time of King Alfred.The chronicles were updated over time, with various scribes continuing the tales. Crystal notes that in 837, ascribe recorded that “Wulfheard aldormon” fought at Southampton. But an entry from 893, dealing with acertain Aldorman Aethelm, lists him as an “ealdorman.”“The scribe,” Crystal writes, “spells the first vowel of this word with ea, which is a typically West Saxonspelling for an a-type vowel when it is followed by l and another consonant…” while the later spelling of“aldormon” is “a typically Mercian spelling for the vowel in the same context.”Mercia was one of the major kingdoms in Britain during that era, although these kingdoms were hardly thevast realms that we associate with the British royals in later centuries, when the sun literally never set uponthe empire.But the point is clear enough: Clear differences in spelling, pronunciation and other aspects of “English”existed at that time, just as they do today, over very modest distances.Now, if you look in the SCRABBLE® lexicons, you will find that EALDORMAN and EALDORMEN are bothacceptable in both OWL2 and CSW12. Moreover, they are the only spelling variations on ALDERMAN,ALDERMEN, and the only words in either lexicon that begin with EALD-, which we now recognize as a 65

T H E W O R D S M I T Hdistinctively West Saxon remnant that has survived more than 1,100 years to appear in our SCRABBLEdictionaries.West Saxon, by the way, did go on to become the first standardized English, but gradually fell out of favorafter the Norman Conquest, when Latin became the dominant written language. The stories of spokenEnglish, of course, are far more complicated, and Late West Saxon evolved in time into the West CountryDialects of southwest England, which are still very much alive there, and make occasional cameos inliterature and film, as, for example, with the accent sported by Hagrid in the Harry Potter movies, and amongsome of the characters in the movie “Hot Fuzz.”But Crystal is just getting warmed up. By the next couple of chapters, we are deep into such things asdoublets, the term for what happens when two languages collide in the same geographical space, and eachbrings its own terms along for the same objects.That happened with English, and more than once, but never more dramatically, perhaps, then after theViking incursions into Britain, which brought an influx of Scandinavian/Danish/Old Norse words up againstthe entrenched Old English words.Crystal notes that the usual result is that one language’s term will oust the corresponding term entirely. Thus,the Danish “egg” beat out the English “ey,” and Danish “sister” pushed the English “sweostor” into oblivion.But English won its share of the battles, with “path” leaving “reike” behind and “swell” pushing out “bolnen.”If the competing words acquired somewhat different meanings, both would survive. Thus we use thefollowing pairs (in each set, the first is Old Norse, the second Old English): DIKE and DITCH, HALE andWHOLE, RAISE and RISE, SCRUB and SHRUB, SICK and ILL, SKILL and CRAFT, SKIN and HIDE,SKIRT and SHIRT.Crystal also offers a corresponding list when “the Old English form has become part of Standard Englishwhile the Old Norse form has remained in a regional dialect. The examples he offers, again Norse first andEnglish second: ALMOUS# and ALMS, EWER and UDDER, GARTH and YARD, KIRK and CHURCH,LAUP* and LEAP, NAY and NO, SCRIVE and WRITE, TRIGG* and TRUE, WILL and WILD.SCRABBLE-wise, it’s interesting to note ALMOUS is Collins-only (the variant AWMOUS is good in OWL2),TRIGG is unacceptable in either (but TRIG is fine in both), and while LAUP doesn’t make the cut, LOUP isOK in OWL2 and LOWP# in Collins.A brief detour here to point out that KIRK and CHURCH both being OK in OWL2, one would expect both totake –YARD. But, alas, it’s CHURCHYARD and KIRKYARD#. I trust none of you OWL devotees will have thetemerity to pass away while on holiday in Scotland!Such are a few of the pleasures uncovered in less than 100 of the more than 500 pages of Crystal’s book.While a fairly heavy “academic” work with much annotation and many footnotes, it’s also pleasantlyreadable, with a lively style and enjoyable anecdotes.Until next time, enjoy your games, and if, sometime soon, you happen to put down ALDERMAN – or, bysome miracle, EALDORMAN or EALDORMEN, spare a thought for those West Saxons, and do let me know.I’d love to hear the details.Chris Sinacola is director of the Worcester (MA) NASPA SCRABBLE Club #600. He can be reached atcgsinacola@gmail.com66

O N L I N E S C R A B B L E G A M E SOnline SCRABBLE® GamesThis 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 toCornelia Guest at CorneliaSGuest@gmail.com.____________________________________________________________From Dave Koenig:On July 27 scored 700 points for the first time in a SCRABBLE® game, on ISC. Nicki Deco (NickiHuitson) was very gracious in defeat.________________________________________________________________________________________From Noah Walton:On July 3rd played an excellent SCRABBLE game against Carl Johnson on ISC. As he said,it's one for the ages. I had to post it!http://cross-tables.com/annotated.php?u=14858#0# 67

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

F I L L I N T H E B L A N K SANSWERSLOUNGY ? = UNGODLYAZOTHS ? = MATZOHSNOTIFY ? = INTROFYAUXINS ? = ANXIOUSCHERRY ? = ARCHERYBEHELD ? = BELCHEDBOWISH ? = SHOWBIZSecret Word: DMROACZ = CZARDOM 69

P O L A N D C H A M P I O N S H I PPoland’s English-language SCRABBLE® ChampionshipBy Michal JoskoL-R: Zbigniew Wieckowski, Rafal Dominiczak, andEwa KownackaAaah, what an amazing time of the year for Scrabblers.Starting in the second half of June, we had severaloccasions to participate in tournaments leading to theupcoming SCRABBLE® Champions Tournament inPrague: the WSCQT in Princeton, NJ; the annual 4th ofthe July Tournment in Albany; and Nationals in Vegas.During this time I competed in a small one daytournament in Utica, NY and few ISC tournaments (seeMay issue of The Last Word). There was also aqualification tournament in Poland to determine whichplayer would represent Poland in the SCRABBLE®Champions Tournament.The English-language SCRABBLE® championships in Poland have never been crowded. This year,this 6th annual event was the smallest yet, with only three participants. I doubt anyone would run atournament with that amount of participants in North America. The participants were RafalDominiczak, Zbigniew Wieckowski and Ewa Kownacka. After the 15 games of the 2-daychampionship, Rafal was announced the winner, to nobody’s surprise. Second place is unknown....because the director didn't have a printer!Even though the tournament was small, the participants told me that it was still interesting.Zbigniew, who competed one week earlier in Las Vegas, pointed out that Ewa is very talented(indeed, a year ago she beat several top players, including Tony Leah, in the Prague Tournament).Rafal has a similar opinion of Ewa, pointing out she made an outstanding play of PUCELAGE. Thewinner himself averaged of 447 points per game. The game of the tournament was Zbigniew's winover Rafal: 475-444. Zbigniew played CONTENDS, KERNELED (90+5), and TRUNNELS, whileRafal played TAENIAS, VAULTING and TUITIONS.The next Polish championships will probably be in two years. It shouldn't be difficult to beat theturnout. This year, there were several reasons for the poor number of players. The championshipswere announced very late, about a month before they started; there were changes in the WorldSCRABBLE® Championship; and a number of players had conflicts. The English-language playerssometimes feel like the "unwanted kids" of the Polish SCRABBLE® Federations.Good luck to Rafal in Prague. We hope you can earn Poland an extra spot in 2015!70

2 0 1 3 N S C T O W N H A L L M I N U T E S2013 NSC Town Hall MinutesRecorded by John FultzThese minutes are from the NSC Town Hall meeting held at the NSC Monday, July 22. If you werethere and see any mistakes, please let me know. In a couple of places, I reorganized the sequenceof the discussion to make more sense in the notes.The format of the meeting was committee reports given by various committee heads (or theirdelegates), followed by a general Q&A.July 22, 2012Convened 8:37pm-------International Committee - Tony LeahIn the past year, the committee has prepared the qualifications for CanAm. This year, CanAm willbe in Vancouver hosted by club #545. Sam and Tony also sit on WESPA committee. The mostimportant issue of the year was the sudden announcement that Mattel wouldn't contribute to theprize fund as in past years. After negotiations, Mattel agreed to put up $25K which was less thanlast year. And it's now clear that the sponsorship has a shaky future. Relationships betweenWESPA, MSI (Mind Sports International, another major sponsor), and Mattel were seriouslystrained. MSI held tournaments in many international locations, and we're excited about MSIsponsorship. Along with the SCRABBLE Championship Tourney in Prague, there's going to be aconcurrent Open which anybody can enter. There's a qualifying tournament December 3, an 8-game tournament. The top 4 finishers will gain entry in the SCRABBLE Championship Tourney.------Canadian Committee - John RobertsonEvery year, the committee of 6 members replaces 2 with an election. We replaced Tony Leah andRandall Thomas with Mad Palazzo and Siri Tillekeratne. We had to clarify the qualifying rules fromCNSC from 2011, which had some vague rules. Happily, that seems to have been resolved. TheCanadian qualifying tournament for world championship will be in Toronto August 10-11.-------Membership Committee - Mad Palazzo2501 active members. We have 45 lifetime members. Anybody who is 80 years old can pay $20 fora lifetime membership. Lifetime membership includes VIP check-in at NSC. We have reciprocalmembership with Britain, Australia, and Nigeria, where players can play in those countries' tourneyswithout being in the national organization, and we're working on reciprocal membership with India.We have a referral bonus. Katya Lezin has signed up 13 new members since the last NSC, so shegets 1 year free membership. At Toronto club, we increased our membership from $3 to $4 to play.If you come to 20 sessions, we automatically sign you up for NASPA for a year. In a lot of cases,we've got people playing in tourneys who might not have been willing to pay the $30 membershipfee up front to play. If you have suggestions for recruitment, we'd love to hear.------ 71

2 0 1 3 N S C T O W N H A L L M I N U T E SClub & Director committee - Mary RhoadesWe had 10 new apprentices in the last year. 7 promoted to new directors. We'll implementrefresher tests for directors who took the test before NASPA. We had volunteers, but we went onhiatus in anticipation of rules changes. We will not start refresher tests until perhaps the first ofOctober. I downloaded a list of people with director status who have expired memberships, and Idiscovered a number of people who aren't interested in being directors anymore, and a few who haddied. Should a director fail the refresher test, they'll continue to be a director, but they'll need toretake the test within a certain time. There's no cost for a refresher test. New rules are coming outSept. 5, and we have decided as a committee that during Oct. and Nov., the director test fee for newdirectors will be waived.Q: How many directors do you have who actually want to be directors?Mary Rhoades: I don't know. We'll try to find out.Chris Cree: We have 443 directors on the books.---------------Tournament Committee - Dallas JohnsonThe TC was quite active in the last year. We received and processed several hundred tournamentrequests. We also processed many incident reports and were surprised to find an increase in thenumber. That may be because of more diligent enforcement of the Code of Conduct. We alsoworked on an online form (*) to streamline the process of entering information for tourneys to besanction. An important change we made after the last NSC was a policy of first right of refusal.That policy is in place on a trial basis and will be reviewed in December. One thing we've stressedis that the if an opponent is behaving suspiciously, you should absolutely call the director.(*) The form is linked to from here: http://www.scrabbleplayers.org/w/Directors#Tournament-related------------Rules Committee - Jan CardiaNew rules are scheduled to take effect on Sept. 5 of this year. Many wording changes. Some majorchanges, which shouldn't drastically change the game, but people should take note of them. Thewebsite has the changes(*), which are still in a draft phase. The biggest change is that we'rechanging the time limit for the courtesy draw to 15 seconds. The overdraw rule is also changed, sothat the person deciding which tiles to throw back has 15 seconds to decide. If they take longer,that's okay, but their clock will be started and it will be on their time. The current rule says that averbal challenge is not binding (e.g., "Challenge! I mean hold!"). I've not liked the rule becausemany people don't know about it and it is vague. It's now changed so the challenge is not bindinguntil the clock is stopped. We're suggesting in the rule that when you say "Hold,” you takepossession of the bag, and that when you hand your opponent the bag, that indicates acceptance ofthe play. Not mandatory. As a general principle, we're trying to go in the direction of fewer thingswhich depend upon speaking…the less that's said, the less that can be misunderstood.Q: How do we determine whether 15 seconds have passed if the clock hasn't been running?72

2 0 1 3 N S C T O W N H A L L M I N U T E SJan Cardia: It's much easier to reckon 15 seconds than a minute. There's no way to be 100% sure,but it's a guideline.Q: If you're trying to take out the variability of it, why not just leave the clock running?Jan Cardia: Most people decide within 15 seconds. We don't want to penalize the person makingthe decision when it was that person's opponent who made the mistake.Q: What about a situation I observed, where somebody tried to draw tiles without hitting the clock,and the opponent was wanting to challenge?Jan Cardia: This is handled by the rules.Q: Why does the verbal challenge need to be changed? People should know the rules.Jan Cardia: Every other situation in the game is triggered by stopping the clock. We're trying to getaway from "he said/she said" situations. It also exposes the ability for the opponent beingchallenged to choose whether or not a challenge would proceed in certain conditions.(*) http://www.scrabbleplayers.org/w/Rules---------Dictionary Committee - Jim PateOur best-case scenario has a new OSPD published by the early part of next year. There are somefactors which might affect that. On the safe side, I would say sometime in 2014. The only new 2-letter words we've identified up to this point are GI and PO. I have a short list of some of the threesif you're interested, and I'd be glad to share. For those who are concerned about popular "missing"words, we're focusing on those. I can say that we have identified SLAYINGS in one of the sourcedictionaries. We're still trying to find FEEDINGS. The two new source dictionaries that we've gonethrough on a first run (gone through every single page) are the Oxford College Dictionary, 2nd ed.,and the Canadian Oxford Dictionary, 2nd ed. One added aspect of the dictionary search is a likelyconsolidation of the OWL as it now exists and the Long List. In print form, you have two separatebooks, but the suggestion has been made to expand the book to be a letter-sized page. It wouldn'tbe many more pages than what we have right now, and it would include every single 2-15 letterword, 6 columns per page, in alphabetical order. As for how many new words, I don't have anumber, but my sense is that it'll be comparable to the last update. Past source dictionaries haveincluded Funk & Wagnall's College Standard, American Heritage College, Webster New WorldCollege, Random House Webster, Merriam-Webster Collegiate. The added thing that we're doingnow is that we're not stopping with the 9-letter words. We're getting all of the words from all of thedictionaries that we can find, including the old dictionaries. Previously, we had just used theMerriam-Webster for the 10-15 letter words.Q: Could you say something about the process that happens when the list is handed off to Merriam-Webster, and I believe there is a lexicographer involved?Jim Pate: We don't make rulings about words. We just find words. But there are iffy words, like forexample, missing pluralizations. We do consult with Merriam-Webster on such things. 73

2 0 1 3 N S C T O W N H A L L M I N U T E SQ: Thank you for having both Collins and TWL to play in this country.Jim Pate: I will comment that our focus doesn't involve searching for Collins words, but Chris Lipe ison our committee and is a liaison for WESPA matters. Bob Lipton also maintains contacts withWESPA.Q: I spoke last year to Peter Sokolowski from M-W about source dictionaries which were no longerbeing used, but what's your view?Jim Pate: Many dictionaries did go out of print. I had already identified the Oxford Dictionary as agood source dictionary, and M-W helpfully suggested the Canadian Oxford Dictionary.Q: When you said we were adding about the same number of words as last time, are you countingonly the 2-8s?A: Yes, that is true.Q: In the last updates, did the new nines only come from M-W?A: I don't think that's true. I think that the only "M-W only" words were 10-15 letter words.Q: I was curious to know if you knew how many new nines there would be?A: I'll look into it.----------Pairings Committee - John ChewIn the last year, we've been asked to begin looking at what pairing systems ought to be allowed atregular tourneys in addition to the NSC, as a result of player complaints about unusual pairingsystems at tournaments. We'll work with that and liaise with the Director's Manual committee tomake sure that gets documented.------------Web Committee - John ChewWe're in the process of moving the web server to a new host. For committee members, you cantest it by changing everything that begins with “www” to “www2”. The problem with the existingserver is that it's shared with users who sometimes get very busy, which causes slow load times. Itis the server that we're using for coverage of this event. We're redesigning the look and feel of thewebsite. We're working with Michael Thelen to produce a NASPA app initially for the iPhone, whichwe hope will be done by the end of the year. We handle communications issues, including email,Twitter, and website. Recently, Shelly Ubeika has taken over some of these duties. We'veimplemented a ratings submissions system which works by member number rather than membername. We've taken over running the “NSA Word of the Day” web page, which is now the “NASPAWord of the Day.”Q (John Green): I'd like to thank John Chew for the work allowing me to play under my own name.-------------74

2 0 1 3 N S C T O W N H A L L M I N U T E SPublications Committee - John ChewWe've been working on the Director's Manual, but we have not been able to do regular Bulletinreleases. I apologize for that, and we're looking for assistance to try to make this happen. A bigobstacle is getting interesting content for it. We're looking for ways to scale it to match our ability topublish it and finding interesting material for it. Please talk to Alice Ching-Chew if you're interested.-----------Executive Committee - John ChewFosters business relationships with our partner organizations, which used to include NSA andWordGear. You can order the Official TWL by phone from M-W, and I believe that Peter Sokolowskibrought copies. We're also in regular contact with Hasbro, and we have a contact who's actuallyhappy to talk to us and sometimes initiates contacts with us. It's the best contact we've had for awhile. And we have good contacts with M-W. And we have Hasbro Television, Winning Moves,Mind Sports International, Michael Thelen (concerning development of NASPA app). We also getcalled when there is a big media story about SCRABBLE®.-------------Ratings & Recognition Committee - Chris CreeWe're going to add another category. Ratings system seems to be working well.-------------Technology Committee - Chris CreeWe have requests from people wanting to make equipment. We're going to start setting standardsfor equipment to make reviewing easier.-----------Director's Manual Committee - Chris CreeThis is now available. It will be updated online as needed.----------Finance Committee - Chris CreeWe were at $240K by the end of the year. The goal was to have $250K in the bank, so I'd say we'rethere.------------Advisory Board - Chris CreeVery active over the past year. Worked through issues surrounding Mattel's deciding to no longerrespond to WSC. Determined that NASPA will not get involved in financial matters of anytournament other than NSC. Determined that members can put together a regional tournament butNASPA will not endorse particular regional tournaments. We've looked worldwide at tourneypatterns, and discovered that much like in the U.S., there are more tourneys but fewer attendeesper tourney, which works out to about the same number of players. About 1 in 100,000 people whowant to play SCRABBLE at this level in every country we looked at. Reviewed and offeredguidance to various other committees. Selected NASPA Person of the Year, who is Stefan Fatsis.------------NSC 75

2 0 1 3 N S C T O W N H A L L M I N U T E SJohn Chew: 2014 NSC is going to be in Buffalo. It's the Northeast's turn to host, and it's a greathotel. When I visited the hotel, the hotel staff dressed up in SCRABBLE wear and literally rolled ared carpet out.Chris Cree: We decided that we wanted to move the NSC around, and that 2014 should be in theNortheast. John did a great job getting Buffalo after I failed in Philadelphia, Springfield, elsewhere.2015 is west of the Rockies, north of the Mason-Dixon line. We chose Reno. $69 room nights, Ibelieve.-------------QuestionsQ: I miss the player reception events, giving players a chance to get to know one another.Chris Cree: That'd be fine by me. I can't just say yes, because there are ramifications, but we'll putthat on our list to do.Q: Thanks for the personal efforts and risks taken by Chris and others to make the NSC happen.Chris Cree: I had to personally guarantee the first two NASPA NSCs because NASPA had no creditrating. I'm happy to say that NASPA now has a good credit rating and I don't have to do that.Q: Is NASPA going to be doing anything about the smartphone technologies, equivalent to what theFranklin does? Will there be apps with the new word list, for example?A: Right now, you can get free apps for Zyzzyva, Zarf, others. These things are working well.Q: What are we doing about social media?A: Talk to Mad Palazzo.Meeting adjourned, 10:20pm.------------------------------------76

Word Trivia QuizBy Siri TillekeratneW O R D T R I V I A Q U I ZThe following words whose unique meanings are given were added to the OSPD in 2006. What arethose words?1. The condition of having late or gradual seed dispersal2. A group of microorganisms having a characteristic set of antigens3. Islamic law based on the Koran4. Use to signify a magical occurrence5. A plaque with a Hebrew verse6. One who takes advantage of the generosity of others7. A Japanese game like chess8. A hole drilled in rock to hold explosives9. A time at which an entertainment is to start10. A hill inhabited by supernatural beings in Irish folkloreANSWERS on next page.Siri Tillekeratne is a director of the Calgary NASPA SCRABBLE® Club #374 and a former Directorof the Year. 77

W O R D T R I V I A Q U I ZANSWERS1. The condition of having late or gradual seed dispersal SEROTINY/NIES2. A group of microorganisms having a characteristic set of antigens SEROVAR/S3. Islamic law based on the Koran SHARIA/S, SHARIAH/S4. Use to signify a magical occurrence SHAZAM only5. A plaque with a Hebrew verse SHIVITI/S6. One who takes advantage of the generosity of others SHNORRER/S7. A Japanese game like chess SHOGI/S8. A hole drilled in rock to hold explosives SHOTHOLE/S9. A time at which an entertainment is to start SHOWTIME/S10. A hill inhabited by supernatural beings in Irish folklore SIDH/SIDHE78

N E W N A S P A A D V I S O R Y B O A R D M E M B E R SNew NASPA Advisory Board MembersCongratulations to Judy Cole and Chris Lipe, who won the recently concluded election to theNASPA Advisory Board. And thank you to Art, Jan, Siri and Gary for their willingness to serve andparticipate in the democratic process.Following are the results of the election:27.9% Cole, Judy26.3% Lipe, Chris20.1% Moore, Arthur14.0% Cardia, Jan7.3% Tillekeratne, Siri4.5% Moss, GaryCongratulations also to Arthur Moore, who has been appointed to the Advisory Board by theExecutive Committee, and to Jan Cardia and Kate Fukawa-Connelly, who have been reappointed tothe Advisory Board by the Executive Committee.The Advisory Board thanks all of its members for their service to the organization, and especiallythanks Siri Tillekeratne and Shelley Ubeika, whose terms are expiring without reappointmenteffective August 3, 2013, and Joe Edley, who will be moved to emeritus member status at therequest of the Executive Committee effective August 3, 2013.Dallas Johnson 79

H I S T O R I C M O M E N T SHistoric Moments: SCRABBLE® Through the YearsBending the Rules on Hold CallsBy Stu Goldman"Rules are made to be broken." This cliche is anathema to some who control our tournament rules.Yet there are some cases when the proper thing to do is either not known or not to follow the ruleliterally.According to the minutes of the players' meeting at the last Nationals, a question about how to knowwhen 15 seconds is up when a challenge is being considered was answered: that it is impossible totell, but easier than a minute. I have been in several situations when this was in play. My favoritewas when an unplayable Q was laid down to form a phony, and when I challenged my opponentsaid more than 15 seconds had passed, to which I dissented. Before the director arrived, thisgentleman said, "I don't want to win a game that way," and took his tiles off the board.Another situation when a hold is involved occurs when the opponent has not heard the hold anddraws tiles. The first time I heard that one, I was playing the director at a nearby table. After I heardhis ruling that the challenge was not allowed, he came back and told me, "I want to know what theplayer who called 'Hold' was doing while the other guy was drawing tiles."The same ruling was given when I played a 2-letter phony and drew tiles; obviously I was unawareof the phony. But when a phony was made with ADEILNU and I challenged, my challenge wasallowed when my opponent drew tiles after a hold call. The director, an expert player, realized that Iwas searching the board to see where to block ALIUNDE or UNIDEAL, and obviously had not seenthe player draw tiles.As a director I was once called to a table where the player who called me had two or three tiles nextto the rack. The opponent, a relatively new club player who had rarely played in a tournamentbefore, said, “I challenged,” and the opponent said, "She didn't call hold." The challenger said, "Isaid, 'I'll have to think about that.'"The play challenged was COXIC, for a TLS score. Maybe the challenge should not have beenallowed if I followed the letter of the rule. But I ruled that we could assume that a minute hadpassed, so the opponent was entitled to draw tiles and not mix them. The challenge was upheld,and I think I made the right call.Stu Goldman lives in California and has been playing tournament SCRABBLE® for 40 years.80

Real or Phony?By Adam HendersonR E A L O R P H O N Y ?Play "Real or Phony?" a simple new game for The Last Word. The rules are simple: You are given10 words, any of which may be real or phony. Your goal is to guess which are which. Each set willhave a theme. This month's theme is words that end in -FISH. Can you get them all right?1. HAWKFISH2. HEADFISH3. BIRDFISH4. DRUMFISH5. OILFISH6. SNOWFISH7. SNAKEFISH8. JEWELFISH9. FROSTFISH10. ZEBRAFISHANSWERS on the next pageAdam Henderson is a 31-year-old from the Seattle area. He is currently ranked 1266 (NASPA).Besides SCRABBLE®, Adam enjoys playing video games and following politics. 81

R E A L O R P H O N Y ?ANSWERSReal: HEADFISH, DRUMFISH, SNAKEFISH, JEWELFISH, FROSTFISH, ZEBRAFISHPhony: HAWKFISH, BIRDFISH, OILFISH, SNOWFISH82

Tournament TalkT O U R N A M E N T T A L KSometimes there’s more news from or about a tournament than simply who won. If you’d like toshare good news with our readers, please send it to CorneliaSGuest@gmail.com._____________________________________________________________________________Bingo Record at Nationals?Will Scott had a pretty crazy game to start the morning at Nationals on Sunday.He opened with three straight bingoes -- DOLEFUL, GLIMPSER andDRAINERS -- to take a 230-0 lead. Says Will, “A friend watching from longdistance said that ranks high on the list for best start in a tournament, but wecouldn't find the list anywhere online. Can anyone enlighten me?”Will’s crazy morning continued: He had 14 bingoes in four games (Division 2)._____________________________________________________________________________Travis Chaney has 6-bingo gameTravis Chaney had a 6-bingo game on July 22, winning 659-367 (hisopponent had two additional bingos).______________________________________________________________________________Yukiko Loritz has 6-bingo gameJuly 24 Yukiko Loritz had a fantastic game against Judy Newhouse. Shestarted out with SPITZ for 50, followed by 4 bingos in a row (CODEIN(A)S,(O)UtFLOWS, FLASHI(E)R, and DAEMONIC), and 2 more later in thegame (NOVENAE and OVERHAND). Final score - Yuki, 634; Judy, 307. 83

T O U R N A M E N T T A L KFrivolity with FredFred Schneider engaged in some FRIVOL(IT)y in this game at Nationals!84

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 you mayfind your interest piqued by some of these books.____________________________________________________________Fiction:The Magic CottageBy James HerbertAn attractive young couple is looking for a perfect little house. Anattractive little house is looking for the perfect young couple. WhenMidge and Mike find “Gramarye,” a darling, quaint little cottage inthe English countryside, it is as if a spell has been cast upon them.They purchase this little cottage in the middle of nowhere, after arather unusual negotiation.Warm and cozy, with an inviting air, Gramarye is everything of whichthe couple ever dreamed, and they thrive in its salubriousatmosphere. The days never seemed brighter, nor the nights moreromantic. The local flower and fauna around the cottage seem toblossom right before their very eyes. The small animals in thewoods seem especially friendly, as do its birds, and they all seem towant to pay a call at the cottage. It is as if the house has a positivepsychic energy of its own. It is a fairytale come true.Midge and Mike discover that Gramarye's former owner, an elderly woman, had a reputation as ahealer. They also discover that a local cult lives not far from them and that its members are reviledby the nearby townspeople. They meet a few of these so-called cult members, and they do seem atad peculiar. They also appear to be quite nervous when visiting Midge and Mike. The cult's leader,however, seems to want to visit very badly. Though Midge does not mind, Mike has certainreservations, as there is something about that cult that just does not sit right with him.Slowly, a shift in the atmosphere in the cottage takes place. As the tension in the book increases,strange and creepy things begin to occur in the cottage. A change in its psychic energy is beginningto take place. Slowly but surely, Midge's and Mike's paradise on earth starts to become a living hell.Spooky, mysterious, and, alternately charming and chilling, this is one of author's best books.The Magic Cottage is available at Amazon.com. 85

Nonfiction:L I N D A ’ S L I B R A R YMary Queen of Scots: A Spiritual BiographyBy Carol SchaeferThis is a beautifully written biography that is positively riveting. Drawingfrom the annals of history, as well as Mary's own writings, the authorbrings to life a flesh-and-blood woman very different from the one ofnovels and films.The intimate portrait painted by the author of this tragic queen resonatesand is sure to keep a reader spellbound. With none of the dryness ofmany historical biographies, the story of Mary, Queen of Scots, as told bythis author, will most certainly captivate readers, keeping them turningthe pages until the very last. This is, without a doubt, one of the bestbiographies on this subject.Mary Queen of Scots 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.86

S C R A B B L E : T H O R E A U & T H O R E A USCRABBLE®: Thoreau & ThoreauBy Frank Lee MoodyExcerpt from “Tales from the Personal Journal of a Truly Good Scrabble® Player,” 1994, byThoreau Maskin:Pulled by the blinding flash in the eastern sky, the three top-rated followers of King E. LeeTiist grabbed their Sunday best Scrabble® sets and hitchhiked their way across the country,guided by the blinding flash which appeared sporadically. Days later they stumbled on asmall but humble cabin in the woods of Maine. Their instincts had been right. Inside sattheir king playing Scrabble® with a dragon. It was a symbiotic lesson. King Tiist wasteaching the dragon to play Scrabble® beyond the 1800 level; in return the dragon wasteaching the king how to breathe flames (and destroy any evidence of faltering in the face ofmediocrity). Suddenly the Scrabble® set between the two had evaporated in a blinding flashof dragonian rage. The trio left quickly and quietly.Excerpts from “Scrabble® Tales from the Crypt,” 1972, by Thoreau Maskin:*“See that tombstone over there down in that hollow? That woman was my dearest friend.We’d known each other since we first broke into the Scrabble® ranks. We’d laughed andloved and cried together. We comforted each other when we lost. Then one day shedecided to desert and join King E. Lee Tiist. Now I couldn’t let her do that, could I? It was forher own good. Still, I miss her like hell.“Most of the good Scrabble® players are dead,” he said, sadness filling his voice. “I’ve seen‘em come and I’ve seen ‘em go, but mostly I’ve seen ‘em get too big fer their britches andmake fools outa theyselves. Except for the dead ones. They all seem to quiet down and bestill for a bit. Even quit worrying ‘bout being attacked by Mighty M’s minions.*Excerpts copyright ©1972, 1994, 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

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/PracticeTools88

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 CHROMES 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- 89

tile 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.S C R A B B L E R E S O U R C E STOURNEYMANJeff 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.90

SCRABBLE®TOURNAMENT & CLUBWORD LIST (COLLINS)The official word list forinternational tournament play.(Available at SamTimer.com.)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 S 91

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 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 or WGPO for the most up-to-date calendars. Links to NASPA andsome unrated 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/LocationAUGUST8/2-7 WGPO WGPO WORD CUP8/3 NASPA WINDHAM NH8/4 NASPA BRATTLEBORO VT (TWL & COLLINS)8/4 NASPA GUELPH ON CAN (TWL & COLLINS)8/4 NASPA PHILADELPHIA PA8/10-11 NASPA TCC -- NORTH CAROLINA STATECHAMPIONSHIP, DURHAM, NC8/10-11 NASPA TCC -- CANADIAN WSC QUALIFYINGTOURNAMENT, TORONTO ON CAN8/10-11 NASPA TCC -- MICHIGAN VS. OHIO, FINDLAY OH8/11 NASPA BERKELEY CA8/11 NASPA NEWARK DE8/16-18 NASPA LINDEN MI8/16-18 NASPA OLD GREENWICH CT (TWL, COLLINS &NEWCOMERS)8/17 NASPA DALLAS TX8/17 WGPO MADISON WI8/17 WGPO PORTLAND OR92

T O U R N A M E N T C A L E N D A R8/17 NASPA STRATFORD ON CAN8/18 WGPO MILL VALLEY CA8/24 NASPA AUSTIN TX8/24 NASPA BAYSIDE NY8/24 NASPA INDEPENDENCE OH8/24 NASPA INDIANAPOLIS IN (TWL & COLLINS)8/24-25 NASPA TCC -- BC PROVINCIAL SCRABBLECHAMPIONSHIP, VANCOUVER BC CAN8/24 NASPA ST. LOUIS PARK MN8/25 NASPA EDMONTON AB CAN8/25 NASPA LCT -- FLORENCE MA8/25 NASPA GUELPH ON CAN (TWL & COLLINS)8/25 NASPA MOUNT LAUREL NJ8/30-9/2 NASPA PORTLAND ME (TWL & COLLINS)8/30-9/2 NASPA WILMINGTON DE8/31-9/2 NASPA ALPHARETTA GA8/31 NASPA AUSTIN TX8/31-9/2 NASPA OTTOWA ON CAN (TWL & COLLINS)8/31-9/2 WGPO PORTLAND OR8/31-9/1 NASPA SCHERTZ TXSEPTEMBER9/5 NASPA OKLAHOMA CITY OK9/7 NASPA DURHAM NC9/7 WGPO TEMPE AZ9/8 NASPA BERKELEY CA9/9 NASPA PORTLAND OR9/10 NASPA LCT - INDEPENDENCE OH 93

T O U R N A M E N T C A L E N D A R9/14 NASPA CALGARY AB CAN9/14 NASPA HUDSON OH9/14-15 NASPA METARIE LA9/15 NASPA GLENDALE CA9/15 NASPA PHILADELPHIA PA9/15 WGPO MOUNTAIN VIEW CA9/21-22 NASPA TCC -- CAN-AM, VANCOUVER BC CAN9/21 NASPA DALLAS TX9/21 NASPA GRAND FORKS ND9/21 NASPA SYRACUSE NY (TWL & COLLINS)9/22 NASPA GUELPH ON CAN (TWL & COLLINS)9/22 NAPSA NEWTOWN BENEFIT, NEWTOWN CT (TWL,COLLINS & NEWCOMERS)9/23-28 WGPO GRITS IV, SURFSIDE BEACH SC9/27-29 NASPA TORONTO ON CAN (TWL & COLLINS)9/28 NASPA AUSTIN TX9/28 NASPA BAYSIDE NY9/28 NASPA TCC -- PORTLAND-SEATTLE INTERCLUBCHALLENGE, CHEHALIS WA9/28-29 NASPA FORT LAUDERDALE FL9/28 WGPO PHOENIX AZ9/28-29 NASPA REGINA SK CANOCTOBER10/2-6 NASPA CALGARY AB CAN10/5 NASPA LUBBOCK TX10/4-12 NASPA PERU TOUR AND SCRABBLETOURNAMENT (TWL & COLLINS)10/6 NASPA BERKELEY CA94

T O U R N A M E N T C A L E N D A R10/11-13 NASPA CHARLESTON WV (TWL & COLLINS)10/11-13 WGPO WISCONSIN DELLS WI10/12 NASPA ASBURY PARK NJ10/12-13 NASPA TUCSON AZ (TWL & COLLINS)10/13 NASPA GUELPH ON CAN (TWL & COLLINS)10/13 NASPA PHILADELPHIA PA10/17-20 NASPA LAKE GEORGE NY (TWL & COLLINS)10/19 NASPA DALLAS TX10/19 NASPA CHICAGO IL10/19-20 NASPA BATON ROUGE LA10/20 NASPA ELK HORN IA10/20 WGPO MOUNTAIN VIEW CA10/26-27 NASPA ARCATA CA10/26 NASPA AUSTIN TX10/26-27 NASPA BRANDON MB CAN10/26-27 WGPO DURANGO CO10/26 NASPA KATONAH NY (TWL, COLLINS & YOUTHDIVISIONS)10/26 NASPA SOUTH LYON MI10/27 NASPA BAYSIDE NY10/27 NASPA WILMINGTON DENOVEMBER11/1-3 NASPA CAMBRIDGE MD11/1 NASPA WACO TX11/2 NASPA BRANTFORD ON CAN11/1-3 NASPA TCC--WACO TX (TEXAS RESIDENTS ONLY)11/3 NASPA BERKELEY CA 95

T O U R N A M E N T C A L E N D A R11/9-10 NASPA ASHEVILLE NC11/9-10 NASPA ORLANDO FL11/9 NASPA PITTSBURGH PA11/10 NASPA GUELPH ON CAN (TWL & COLLINS)11/10 NASPA ROCKY RIVER OH11/12 NASPA LCT - INDEPENDENCE OH11/15-17 NASPA ESSEX VT (TWL & COLLINS)11/16-30 WGPO SOUTH CARIBBEAN ISLANDS CRUISE11/16 NASPA DALLAS TX11/16-17 NASPA OSHAWA ON CAN11/16 NASPA MADISON WI11/17 WGPO MOUNTAIN VIEW CA11/22-24 NASPA SAN FRANCISCO CA11/23 NASPA BAYSIDE NY11/23-24 NASPA TCC -- TORONTO VS. MONTREAL,KINGSTON (GANANOQUE) ON CAN (TWL &COLLINS11/24 NASPA WILMINGTON DE11/29-12/1 NASPA STAMFORD CTDECEMBER12/1 NASPA BERKELEY CA12/7 NASPA CALGARY AB CA12/7-8 NASPA FORT LAUDERDALE FL12/7-8 NASPA KNOXVILLE TN12/8-13 WGPO CABO SAN LUCAS MEXICO12/8 NASPA PHILADELPHIA PA12/8 NASPA STRONGSVILLE OH96

T O U R N A M E N T C A L E N D A R12/15 NASPA GUELPH ON CAN (TWL & COLLINS)12/15 WGPO MOUNTAIN VIEW CA12/21 NASPA DALLAS TX12/21, 22, 23 NASPA WILMINGTON DE12/23-25 NASPA WILMINGTON DE12/27-1/1/14 NASPA ALBANY NY (TWL & COLLINS)12/28 WGPO CHANDLER AZJANUARY ’141/11 NASPA KATONAH NY (TWL, COLLINS & YOUTHDIVISIONS1/17-20 NASPA DURHAM NC1/18 NASPA BAYSIDE NY1/18-20 NASPA AKRON OH1/18-20 NASPA NEW ORLEANS LA (TWL & COLLINS)1/25-27 NASPA ATLANTIC CITY NJFEBRUARY ’142/1 NASPA KATONAH NY (TWL, COLLINS & YOUTHDIVISIONS2/8 NASPA SAINT LOUIS MO2/13-17 NASPA ALBANY NY (TWL & COLLINS)2/13-18 NASPA LAS VEGAS NV2/14-17 WGPO PHOENIX AZ (TWL & COLLINS)2/14-17 NASPA EASTERN CHAMPIONSHIP, CHARLOTTE NC2/28-3/2 WGPO INDIATLANTIC, FLMARCH ’143/15 NASPA BAYSIDE NY3/21-23 NASPA POUGHKEEPSIE NY3/28-30 NASPA PRINCETON NJ 97

T O U R N A M E N T C A L E N D A R3/28-30 NASPA ST. AUGUSTINE FLAPRIL ’144/11-27 WGPO TRANSPACIFIC CRUISE4/12 NASPA ATCO NJ4/19 NASPA BAYSIDE NY4/26 NASPA KATONAH NY (TWL, COLLINS & YOUTHDIVISIONS)MAY ’145/3-4 NASPA EDMONTON AB CAN5/9-16 NASPA QUEEN MARY 2 WESTBOUNDTRANSATLANTIC5/17 NASPA KATONAH NY (TWL, COLLINS & YOUTHDIVISIONS)5/17-18 NASPA SASKATOON SK CAN5/18 NASPA BAYSIDE NY5/23-26 NASPA TARRYTOWN NY5/24-26 NASPA IRVING TX5/25-27 NASPA SACRAMENTO CAJUNE ’146/4-18 NASPA TCC -- TORONTO ON CAN6/7 NASPA BETHEL CT (TWL, COLLINS & YOUTHDIVISIONS)6/8 NASPA BETHEL CT (TWL & COLLINS)6/14, 15 NASPA KANSAS CITY MO6/20-22 NASPA PRINCETON NJ (TWL & COLLINS)6/27-7/7 NASPA LAS VEGAS NV (TWL & COLLINS)JULY ’147/3-6 NASPA ALBANY NY7/18-20 NASPA OLD GREENWICH CT (TWL & COLLINS)98

T O U R N A M E N T C A L E N D A RAUGUST ’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)SEPTEMBER’149/19-21 NASPA WEBSTER NY (TWL & COLLINS)OCTOBER ’1410/16-19 NASPA LAKE GEORGE NY (TWL & COLLINS)10/25 NASPA BETHEL CT (TWL & COLLINS)10/27-11/10 WGPO SPANISH TRANSATLANTIC CRUISENOVEMBER ’1411/10 NASPA ROCKY RIVER OH11/15 NASPA KATONAH NY (TWL, COLLINS & YOUTHDIVISIONS)11/20 NASPA BAYSIDE NY11/28-30 NASPA TARRYTOWN NYDECEMBER ’1412/23-28NASPAWILMINGTON DE12/30-1/4/2015 NASPA ALBANY NY (TWL & COLLINS)MARCH ’153/20-22 NASPA POUGHKEEPSIE NY (TWL, COLLINS &NEWCOMERS)3/27-29 NASPA PRINCETON NJMAY ’155/22-25 NASPA STAMFORD CT 99

T O U R N A M E N T C A L E N D A RJULY ’157/24-26 NASPA OLD GREENWICH CT (TWL & COLLINS &NEWCOMERS)AUGUST ’158/1-5 NASPA NATIONAL SCRABBLE CHAMPIONSHIP,RENO NV (TWL & COLLINS)NOVEMBER ’1511/15 NASPA ROCKY RIVER OHMARCH ’163/18-20 NASPA POUGHKEEPSIE NY (TWL, COLLINS &NEWCOMERS)4/1-3 NASPA PRINCETON NJJULY ’167/22-24 NASPA OLD GREENWICH CT (TWL, COLLINS &NEWCOMERS)100

ArchivesA R C H I V E STo download previous issues of The Last Word click here. 101