Epic Win

Dearest Bloggerford,

Today is a day of triumph. Today I have crossed the threshold from some time Scrabble aficionado to Master of the Scrabble Universe, and by universe I mean the people in my apartment. At the current moment that is my always charming roommate and my mother. I end this day a Scrabble hero. For the first time in my Scrabble playing history, I used all the letters on my rack to achieve what those in the know refer to as a ‘bingo,’ thereby earning myself an extra fifty points. The winning word was ‘mountain’ and on this mountain I climbed to a most glorious victory. Over my mom.

Sound ridiculous? Has Steinho finally lost her mind, rejoicing in frivolous board game conquests? Well, I won’t deny, we all had a good laugh about it. My mother and I have been playing Scrabble since I was about eight or nine, and I can actually track the course of when I no longer needed her help to make more than three letter words. Now, I’d say we’re pretty evenly matched. Still, I felt a sick joy rushing through my veins like sweet ambrosia when I slapped all seven tiles onto the board. Take that, Mom! I mean, I love you, make me some more dinner.

Yet, my wee moment of Scrabble genius is really quite pathetic compared to some of these competitive scrabble players. No, for realsies. They have tournaments across the country, some even internationally, and the stakes are much higher than you’d think.

My first, and only, source on the subject came from a non-fiction book by journalist and sports writer, Stefan Fatsis. Leave it to a Greek to find the dark, seedy underbelly of board games. The book, “Word Freak,” was an absolutely fascinating read, if you can stand to read 100 some pages about Scrabble. What really struck me was the various competitors Fatsis met along the way. They were the sort of extreme characters that if I came across them in a creative writing workshop, I’d tell the author to go back and make them more three dimensional. Some of these men (and women) come off as absolutely brilliant, but utterly unable to cope with any world or society outside their relatively small Scrabble sphere.

The most intriguing part of all was the transformation of Fatsis himself as he delved deeper into the competitive world. He goes from the level-headed outsider to a Scrabble obsessed maniac, forking over tons of his own cash and time to compete. It’s his desperation to succeed that really whacks you over the head. Here was a successful journalist, a man who walked into this story looking for just that, a story. Not a life altering experience. And of all the things to become insanely competitive about, Scrabble seems pretty high up on the nonsense hobby list.

All the same though, I can relate. There was definitely a burst of pride, that moment of ‘I am better than you because I can use more of my tiny lettered wooden squares.’ Not a big deal, but enough to make me want it to happen again.

Because I am the greatest Scrabble player in the universe. And by the universe, I mean my apartment.