Word Freak: Heartbreak, Triumph, Genius, and Obsession in the World of Competitive SCRABBLE ® Players
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Overview
Stefan Fatsis, a Wall Street Journal reporter and National Public Radio regular, recounts his remarkable rise through the ranks of elite Scrabble players while exploring the game's strange, potent hold over them -- and him.Scrabble might truly be called America's game. More than two million sets are sold every year and at least thirty million American homes have one. But the game's most talented competitors inhabit a sphere far removed from the masses of "living room players." Theirs is a surprisingly diverse subculture whose stars include a vitamin-popping standup comic; a former bank teller whose intestinal troubles earn him the nickname "G.I. Joel"; a burly, unemployed African American from Baltimore's inner city; the three-time national champion who plays according to Zen principles; and Fatsis himself, whom we see transformed from a curious reporter to a confirmed Scrabble nut.
He begins by haunting the gritty corner of a Greenwich Village park where pickup Scrabble games can be found whenever weather permits. His curiosity soon morphs into compulsion, as he sets about memorizing thousands of obscure words and fills his evenings with solo Scrabble played on his living room floor. Before long he finds himself at tournaments socializing -- and competing -- with Scrabble's elite.
But this book is about more than hardcore Scrabblers, for the game yields insights into realms as disparate as linguistics, psychology, and mathematics. Word Freak extends its reach even further, pondering the light Scrabble throws on such notions as brilliance, memory, competition, failure, and hope. It is a geography of obsession that celebrates the uncanny powers locked in all of us.
Synopsis
Scrabble may be truly called America's game. But for every group of "living-room players" there is someone who is "at one with the board." In Word Freak, Stefan Fatsis introduces readers to those few, exploring the underground world of colorful characters for which the Scrabble game is life-playing competitively in tournaments across the country. It is also the story of how the Scrabble game was invented by an unemployed architect during the Great Depression and how it has grown into the hugely successful, challenging, and beloved game it is today. Along the way, Fatsis chronicles his own obsession with the game and his development as a player from novice to expert. More than a book about hardcore Scrabble players, Word Freak is also an examination of notions of brilliance, memory, language, competition, and the mind that celebrates the uncanny creative powers in us all.
"Fatsis . . . writes with affectionate zeal about the game and the fraternity of brilliant, lonely, and otherwise dysfunctional oddballs it attracts." (The New York Times)
"Word Freak has an impassioned subtitle, and it lives up to every word." (People)
Will Shortz
An engrossing, inside look at the strange and rarefied world of competitive Scrabble. It's a pleasure to experience vicariously a level of play that I'll never achieve!
Editorials
From Barnes & Noble
Ever since it was invented during the Great Depression, SCRABBLE has been captivating people. Most of us have stories of marathon living room word battles or college dorm vocabulary showdowns; but, for some players, SCRABBLE is far more than a board game or a social pastime. It is an obsession; a weird zone where words and mathematics intersect. These "word freaks" (as Fatsis affectionately calls them) are the subject of this intriguing book. Joining the tournament circuit, this Wall Street Journal reporter rubs elbows with the game's illuminati, searching for the source of their nerdy obsession. Instead of letters, Fatsis re-sorts ideas, finally make us accomplices in his own sweet mania.Will Shortz
An engrossing, inside look at the strange and rarefied world of competitive Scrabble. It's a pleasure to experience vicariously a level of play that I'll never achieve!Bob Costas
Drama, strategy, controversy, pathos. The rich panorama of emotion. Synchronized swimming? No. Scrabble. Who knew?From The Critics
Combining the intellectual rigor of chess with the luck-of-the-draw qualities of poker, Scrabble has, over the half-century of its existence, inspired a worldwide cult of obsessed savants. What begins as a bemused ethnography of America's Scrabble tournament circuit gradually metamorphoses into a personal memoir, as Fatsis finds himself, rather alarmingly, going native. The apprentice to a motley crew of dysfunctional Scrabble gurus, Fatsis skyrockets from being merely a good "living room player" up through the lower and intermediate echelons of tournament play, and into the testosterone-fueled expert ranks. With the Rocky theme resounding in his head, Fatsis the writer becomes Fatsis the contender. Succeeding, like its author, at everything it tries to be, this funny and engrossing book (it really is hard to put down) is as much about competition and the beauty of words as it is about the quirky and, the author readily admits, often pathetic subculture of word freaks.—Eric Wargo
(Excerpted Review)
Library Journal
In 1997, when Wall Street Journal reporter Fatsis was casting about for a story, he decided to challenge the head of the National Scrabble Association to a game--and won. Now he's a top-ranked Scrabble player. Here's the story of how he got there. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.Kirkus Reviews
From Wall Street Journal sports reporter and NPR commentator Fatsis (Wild and Outside, 1998), a comprehensive guide to the world of competitive Scrabble. Fatsis used to play a pretty mean game of Scrabble-or so he thought, until he began investigating the game for an article and found himself becoming nearly as obsessed as the hard-core players he interviewed: G.I. (as in gastrointestinal) Joel Sherman, the pill-popping comedian Matt Graham, and Marlon Hill, an ardent young black nationalist. They all spent their lives learning new words and playing in tournaments to win the prizes that were their only income. Some loved words for themselves, others merely as means to an ends-and Fatsis advises anyone thinking of playing competitive Scrabble to face the reality "that the game requires learning words that may not have any outside utility." Ultimately, competitive Scrabble is "about mastering the rules of the game, and the words are the rules." The author takes lessons from the champions, plays at competitions, and learns about bingos (using all seven tiles at once), alphagrams (rearranging the letters of words in alphabetical order), and coffeehousing (unnerving your competitor by talking during a tournament). While working on improving his ratings as he competes from Manhattan to Reno, he also researches the history of the game. Invented by an unemployed architect named Alfred Butts during the Depression, Scrabble did not catch on until the 1950s, when increased leisure led to sales of over three million sets in the US and abroad. Competitive Scrabble, Fatsis concludes, attracted him because it allowed him to deal with old issues straight off a therapist's couch (i.e., control,order, power), as well as giving him a new way to meet friends, pass time, and make a name for himself (i.e., a hobby). Despite an occasional overload of detail, this is a provocative look at the world of games and the way the mind works with words. Author tourFrom the Publisher
"Drama, strategy, controversy, pathos. The rich panorama of emotion.Synchronized swimming? No. Scrabble. Who knew?"—Bob Costas, NBC Sports broadcaster and author of FAIR BALL
"An engrossing, inside look at the strange and rarefied world of competitive Scrabble. It's a pleasure to experience vicariously a level of play that I'll never achieve!"—Will Shortz, New York Times Crossword Editor and Puzzle Master of NPR's "Weekend Edition Sunday"
"As they say in the Scrabble world, Fatsis got great tiles when he set out to write this book—a slew of memorable characters, and a competitive subculture as bizarre as any I've ever seen in sport. I really enjoyed WORD FREAK."—Frank DeFord
"'Word Freak' is a fascinating look into a thriving, cultish world that's best admired from an armchair." Christian Science Monitor
"Succeeding, like its author, at everything it tries to be, this funny and engrossing book (it really is hard to put down) is as much about competition and the beauty of words as it is about the quirky and...often pathetic subculture of word freaks." Book Magazine