Scrabble Wars
Zomari Baker
ENG 121
Prof S
November 5, 2019
I am doing my response to my outline on Scrabble. I found this story very intriguing from the beginning unlike the other stories that did not catch my attention much. This story captures a girl who goes to Scrabble competiton and has many battles, she wins some and loses some. How can a simple board game be taken seriously ? This is a question that I can answer pretty easily. I have seen members of my family sit and play scrabble for hours on a competitive level. It can be a fun game but also a very serious and cut throat game.
It seems that people may not take this game seriously is because it just appears to be a simple word game. If someone were to see Scrabble in the store they would most likely think its just a regular board game sitting with all of the other ones. But this game takes much skill and knowledge. Knowing words and being able to combat someone else’s vocabulary isn’t the easiest thing to do. I’m sure competitors take plenty of time to study to be able to do that. Another element of Scrabble is learning the official words and plays, just because you think you have a word that you can play doesn’t meant that it is an official word for Scrabble. If you play a word that isn’t a official word you can be challenged.
The author told a story of a woman and her trials and triumphs with scrabble. An example of the game not being taken seriously comes from the story Gay : “ I told my mother I was going to the play Scrabble and she laughed, called me a geek, her accent wrapping around the world strangely.” Pg 30. That is pretty bad that her own mother laughed at the thought of her playing Scrabble, which is something I would take offense to if I was an avid player of the game.
I feel as if a person doesn’t take the game serious, a person who does should maybe challenge them and see how they would do. I’m sure that would it would do justice In showing that it is not just a silly game. I would be pretty upset if I got beat in something that I assumed was just a simple game. In August of 2019 two boys ages 8 and 11 won the world and European Scrabble championships. The father stated "Reuben is a very strong Scrabble player. It's been a year or so since I've been able to beat him. It is a challenge to keep up with my own children.". That is pretty amazing knowing that even younger children take the game seriously and can be competitive just like the adults.
I think everyone should take some time and try to play Scrabble just once. Try it with friends, family, or significant other. I feel as if people will take on a new perspective of the game and even learn something new about It. Even if you don’t like the game you will most likely have a good experience with it and maybe take it on as a hobby. If you want to learn more about scrabble there are a lot videos on YouTube, detailing how to play, competitions and more. I found a little history on the origin of Scrabble. It was created by American Architet Aflred Mosher Butts. I’m sure when he created this word game, that he did not expect it be what it is today.
I have no clue myself how to play Scrabble, my family has always played the game since I was younger. I never took the time to even try to learn about it being that I wasn’t interested in playing a word game. Now I would like to try just to challenge my brain and see where my vocabulary skills are at. I feel I would be shocked and most likely disappointed in myself because from what I have seen there are some pretty complex words in Scrabble. I want to test myself to see if I could handle the pressure that comes with the game. In conclusion I think Scrabble should be taken as serious as any other game. It can even be taken as serious as a sport, depending on the player. No one should feel like they’re able to judge this game with out ever playing or even trying to see what it is about.
References
Emily Lawford (2019) Young Scrabble champions keep it in the family.