Cheat at Scrabble!
Yes, yes, you heard me. But it's for a good cause. (And anyway, I've posted this too late for you to actually sign up to cheat at Scrabble; now you can just go watch other miscreants cheat at Scrabble. I meant to post this Monday ... but I suppose you can just consider this as me being over-protective.)
826NYC.org, a non-profit that encourages young writers, is having a fundraiser Scrabble tournament TOMORROW, January 19, at their offices at 372 Fifth Avenue in Brooklyn.
The tournament is a benefit for their writing programs, and it has a twist: teams sign up and raise sponsorship money. Each team is allowed a certain number of "cheats" that they buy with the money they raised. So the more money a team raises for 826NYC, the more likely they are to win. Genius!
Here's the price list:
1. Trade out a letter—$25
2. Wheel of Fortune: buy a vowel—$50
3. Flip a letter over and make it blank—$100
4. Add 10 to any letter’s value—$150
5. Add Q, Z, or X to any word, anywhere—$200
6. Passport: play a word in any language—$250
7. Consult the dictionary for one turn—$300
8. Consult the Scrabble word list for one turn—$400
9. Reject another team’s word—$450
10. Invent a word (must have a definition)—$500
Obviously, I'm most interested in #s 7 and 10. For #7, which dictionary are they going to use? A big dictionary is going to be much more valuable than a little one, and a dictionary of abbreviations would be excellent for humorous effect ... And for #10 -- I hope they record the new words and definitions!
I'm also very pleased that inventing a word is the priciest cheat. Just as it should be ...
If any of you gentle readers attend, would you leave a report in the comments? I'd go myself, save for the trifling inconvenience of living in Chicago ...
826NYC.org, a non-profit that encourages young writers, is having a fundraiser Scrabble tournament TOMORROW, January 19, at their offices at 372 Fifth Avenue in Brooklyn.
The tournament is a benefit for their writing programs, and it has a twist: teams sign up and raise sponsorship money. Each team is allowed a certain number of "cheats" that they buy with the money they raised. So the more money a team raises for 826NYC, the more likely they are to win. Genius!
Here's the price list:
1. Trade out a letter—$25
2. Wheel of Fortune: buy a vowel—$50
3. Flip a letter over and make it blank—$100
4. Add 10 to any letter’s value—$150
5. Add Q, Z, or X to any word, anywhere—$200
6. Passport: play a word in any language—$250
7. Consult the dictionary for one turn—$300
8. Consult the Scrabble word list for one turn—$400
9. Reject another team’s word—$450
10. Invent a word (must have a definition)—$500
Obviously, I'm most interested in #s 7 and 10. For #7, which dictionary are they going to use? A big dictionary is going to be much more valuable than a little one, and a dictionary of abbreviations would be excellent for humorous effect ... And for #10 -- I hope they record the new words and definitions!
I'm also very pleased that inventing a word is the priciest cheat. Just as it should be ...
If any of you gentle readers attend, would you leave a report in the comments? I'd go myself, save for the trifling inconvenience of living in Chicago ...
Labels: competitions, scrabble
This entry was posted by Erin, on
Friday, January 18, 2008.
You can leave your response.
8:05 PM
It could be fun if combination, or jabberwocky-style words could be included. I'm kind of fond of 'confuzzled', myself. Pricey, but you could get quite a score with the double 'z' in there...
10:58 AM
This is just too wonderful--the idea of an organized cheating at Scrabble.
I have to think of ways to use it--if the kids clean the bathroom, they get to add one letter. Every toy they're willing to donate, they can invent a word....
(though my DD has invented at least 2 words in her lifetime. One, we lost. I can't even remember what it was, but it was great. The other, we made sure to preserve: "fenifidy" (fe-NIF-ih-dee): stuff you have to do. In a sentence: "since you and daddy have a lot of fenifidy tomorrow and will be busy, can I watch TV?")
9:28 AM
I think there's actually a scrabble dictionary; it seems like that's the one they'd likely be required to use. but. how would that be different than the scrabble worrd list, I wonder?
1:17 PM
@Erin G
Actually, there are several "official" English scrabble "dictionaries" (which are clsoer to word lists): the SOWPODS, OSPD, OSW, and TWL. French (ODS), Spanish and Dutch (SWL) also do, amongst others, but they manage to have only one IIRC.