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Word Freak: Heartbreak, Triumph, Genius, and Obsession in the World of Competitive Scrabble Players

stefan fatsis

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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.

400 pages, Paperback

First published July 30,2002

This edition

Format
400 pages, Paperback
Published
July 30, 2002 by Penguin Books
ISBN
9780142002261
ASIN
0142002267
Language
English

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About the author

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stefan fatsis

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Rating(4 / 5.0, 100 votes)
5 stars
35(35%)
4 stars
28(28%)
3 stars
37(37%)
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0(0%)
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0(0%)
100 reviews All reviews
Profile Image for Kimberly .
amin-nii
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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This reminded me of the spelling bee at the start, but quickly turned into a look at some of the "personalities" in the game, and Fatsis' attempt not to become one (while still achieving expert status). I get the appeal of focusing on the characters - in a descriptive sense - but I would have liked to see more balance. The women were barely there and it seems like there were high achievers who also held down day jobs and who I would have liked to hear more from, even if they weren't as quirky. The book was interesting overall and I definitely didn't know the inner workings of competition. Enjoyable as a whole, with some annoyances.
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BootyWarrior12
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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This book went on and on and on. I enjoyed the portions that covered the history of Scrabble and its ongoing evolution, some of the memoir portion, and occasionally the character studies. But when Fatsis word-geeked out and painstakingly detailed the play by play of all those tournaments, my eyes glazed over. It took me 8 months to finish this book! But I still enjoy the game and may make an effort to study some word lists.
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nosfertauman
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Original review written February 9, 2004
I found this book a fascinating example of how diverse and quirky people can be. I love Scrabble, and am a fairly decent "living room" player. Stepping into the world of competitive playing was an eye opener. I am a literate, well educated, articulate person. I was totally stumped by so many of the words that players came up with in the stress of competition. It was a bit frustrating for me, as each time I came across a new word I had to reach for the dictionary to look it up. (Which meant that my reading was somewhat halted- having to make such frequent stops- one page I had to stop 24 times- after that, I refused to keep count- which is good, because I can no longer remember what all the new vocabulary meant!)

I loved reading the history of the game. We have one of the early sets from the 50's and it is a prized possession. No matter how I may lust after the fancy ones that spin and turn, I won't give up my childhood set.

There were things I found distracting when reading the book- because I had to read it in short bursts and hops, I had to constantly refresh myself what some of the shorthand and symbols meant.

I am slightly familiar with the world of competitive chess and the regulars of bingo- of competitive sports as well. This was a glimpse into another type of competitive gaming- and made me itch to get my hands on the scrabble tiles again.

But ultimately, this was so far removed from my scrabble experiences, that I had a hard time relating.

This is an additional comment I made when I read Maggie's review February 10, 2009

I am a total scrabble-holic (finally had to go cold turkey for online scrabble (which was fun because you had all the time you needed to mull over the tiles), because it was eating my life. ) I read this before the invention of online scrabble, where people cheat like the dickens (I'm convinced they have to -- there must be lists of 7 letter words and programs for figuring out combinations etc. That's another reason I quit on-line scrabble. It was too tempting and too easy to potentially cheat, and I don't need that black mark on my soul. I have quite enough already, thank-you-very-much.)
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Otaku365
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Fascinating story of a world I knew nothing about- competitive Scrabble. The best chapters are, as usual, the stories of the premier players. There's a cultish aspect of Fatsis' work; with a board and tiles as the charismatic leader. The history of the game is fairly interesting, but I found the chapters of word lists and memorization techniques and dictionaries increasingly tiring. The strategy discussions are intriguing, with one disturbing exception. Fatsis describes intentionally playing a phony word against a lesser opponenet, who does not challenge it. But when the opponent adds an "s" to the phony, in order to build from it, Fatsis challenges successfully challenges. And he is congratulated for this. But the most startling aspect remains this- we are told that words mean something, are important in our lives, that words convey emotion and knowledge, expertise and ignorance and hatred and love and everything in between. And Scrabble is a word game. But it's not, really. At best Scrabble is a half-word game. It is a game of a collection of letters devoid of meaning.
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catlaxlao
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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I lingered over this book
for days. I didn't want
to stop reading about
Scrabble and Scrabble
crazed fanatics.
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Pdev0797
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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a fascinating read about a niche (more like a lifestyle) i had no idea was out there (competitive scrabble players with a vocabulary of hundreds of thousands of words and even more tricks up their sleeves)
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AM_Woody
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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I feel a bit guilty listing this as "read," because I really only read the first third or so. I just couldn't get into it...I don't know if I'm just too distracted by life at the moment since I had a very similar criticism about another book that I was just reading, but I almost had to keep forcing myself to give this a try. Maybe I expected the real-life characters to be more likeable, kind-of like the documentary version of competitive Scrabble, Word Play. Anyhoo, I would love to know if I'm the only one who had this impression, or if I'm in the minority.
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