In a perfect word: National Scrabble competition coming to Albuquerque

Jul. 18—Michael Baron made the jump from casual to competitive Scrabble competition almost 40 years ago.

He enjoyed the game and figured competitive Scrabble would be a great way to test his skills, and he was hoping to find a few friends and a new hobby.

Baron found both, and a wife.

He bumped into Pamina Deutsch, an avid Scrabble competitor as well, at a competition.

A few years later, after the pair rampaged through the competitive Scrabble world, Baron proposed to Deutsch with a Scrabble board that spelled out "Will you marry me?" Pamina didn't challenge his Scrabble play, and the two were happily wed.

"The game has been extremely good to me — not simply the intellectual stimulation it provides, but primarily due to the people I have gotten to meet, befriend ... and marry," Baron said.

The couple continue their reign in the competitive Scrabble world today and will be among those competing in the Word Cup later this month in Albuquerque.

The National Scrabble Championship will be contested from July 27-31 at the Sheraton Albuquerque Airport Hotel. It's the first time in the 52-year history of organized Scrabble that its national championship will be in the Duke City. Roughly 200 players from around the world will fly in to test themselves and their skills against others for as much as $10,000 and the title of National Scrabble Champion.

Each contestant will play 31 games .

According to event organizers, Albuquerque was chosen because it is a cost-effective location and fairly easy for players to get to.

Six groups will play at the same time with all players being divided based on their preexisting ratings, with the highest-ranking group battling for the $10,000 prize. Subdivisions within the competition play for smaller cash prizes.

Tournament co-director John Karris is a 30-year player who has played all forms of Scrabble and has gone all over the country to show his skills. This year, he felt his expertise would be better suited to be an organizer since the competition is "in his backyard."

"We have all kinds of people coming," Karris said. "We have players in their 80s. We have players who are teenagers. Scrabble is something everyone can do."

Though players will be ranked to place them in the appropriate skill level groups, Karris said there are no requirements to have previously played in order to compete. However, he does recommend having participated in a club of sorts so players are familiar with keeping time and score.

"There's a lot of variation and in playing ability, and there are players who just want to play for fun, and so maybe their rating isn't that high, and that's OK," he said. "On the other end, there are players who are very serious and they study one or two hours every day. And they invest a lot of time because they are super competitive."

A Scrabble competition might look different than a game of Scrabble played between family members on a holiday. You might scream at your younger sister as she creates words that don't exist or roll your eyes as your dad takes more than five minutes for his turn.

At a Scrabble competition, there is a lot of silence.

"The players are not supposed to really talk to each other during the game, other than to announce their scores or sometimes to verify scores or to challenge a play. So talking is going to be kept to a minimum," Karris said.

Karris also said tournament players visualize the board in a different way.

"If you're not a regular tournament player, you might not see the kinds of plays that higher level players will see," he said. "Higher level players will probably see all the bingos, all the plays with seven, all the plays that use all of the letters, because when you play a bingo, you get a 50-point bonus."

Baron, who authored the "Scrabble Workbook," said the use of a clock to limit time spent on moves is another big difference between competitive and casual Scrabble.

In Scrabble competitions, players get a total of 25 minutes for a game. According to Baron, it typically takes about 13 moves to use all the letters a player has received, so the average move takes roughly two minutes. If a player goes over his or her allotted time, 10 points per overtime minute is knocked off of the final score. Baron said each turn feels like a game within the game, so players should have fun in every turn.

Said Baron, "Each turn is a game in itself, and even if I lose by 100 points, I can enjoy each of the 13 turns where I can gain satisfaction if I believe I've chosen the best play."

Following a competition day filled with games, the Word Game Players Organization also put together some events for competitors to attend, including an Isotopes game, a trivia contest, a Sandia Tramway trip and a dinner at a local restaurant.

"There's really quite a lot of genius in its invention, but the camaraderie and the opportunity to make connections with people ... there have been friendships that have evolved over the years that are decades old," Baron said.