Scrabble player caught cheating at championship tournament
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — One of the top young Scrabble players in the country has been kicked out of the game's national championship tournament in Florida after he was caught hiding blank letter tiles, organizers said Tuesday.
John D. Williams, Jr., executive director of the National Scrabble Association, said that a male player was ejected from the 350-player event in Round 24 of the 28-round event.
The cheating was spotted by a player at a nearby table, who noticed the ejected player conceal a pair of blank tiles by dropping them on the floor, organizers said. Blank tiles can be used as wild card letters. When confronted by the tournament director, he admitted to it, organizers said.
Williams, who has served as executive director for 25 years and co-authored a book on the popular Hasbro board game in 1993, said this was the first incident of cheating at a national tournament. However, he said it's been known to occur at smaller, regional events.
"It does happen no matter what. People will try to do this," he said. "It's the first time it's happened in a venue this big though. It's unfortunate. The Scrabble world is abuzz. The Internet is abuzz."
Williams would not identify the player by name or age because he's a minor. There are four divisions and he was competing in Division 3.
He said Division 3 is equal to "any great living-room player out there."
In Scrabble matches, players accumulate points during one-on-one matches by pulling random letter tiles from a bag of 100 and trying to create words.
A total of 98 tiles have letters on them and two are blank. Blank tiles can be used as wild card letters to complete words.
The ejected player had concluded a previous game and never reinserted the blank tiles into his bag in an attempt to use them at his discretion in the next game, organizers said.
Players in the national tournament format play multiple matches over the five-day event. The winner is determined by a combination of their overall record against other players and the cumulative point spread over the entire tournament.
The ejected player forfeited all of his wins.
Williams said there is usually "good self-policing in the Scrabble world" as players try to protect the integrity of statistics on the competitive circuit.
That's because national events draw young players to seniors. The leader entering Wednesday's final day of competition is National and Scrabble All-Star Champion David Gibson, a 61-year-old math teacher from Spartanburg, S.C.
Jason Keller, 30, and nine-time Jeopardy champion from New Jersey, is in fourth place.
The winner receives the $10,000 top prize.
"It gets pretty deep. We're one step away from drug testing," Williams joked.
While Williams said this was the first time the national tournament has dealt with scandal, the incident could shine a brighter light on other advantages players have been known to employ.
Even before Tuesday's cheating ejection it was well-known that some players take minerals known as "alleged brain boosters."
"But no steroids so far," Williams quipped.
John D. Williams, Jr., executive director of the National Scrabble Association, said that a male player was ejected from the 350-player event in Round 24 of the 28-round event.
The cheating was spotted by a player at a nearby table, who noticed the ejected player conceal a pair of blank tiles by dropping them on the floor, organizers said. Blank tiles can be used as wild card letters. When confronted by the tournament director, he admitted to it, organizers said.
Williams, who has served as executive director for 25 years and co-authored a book on the popular Hasbro board game in 1993, said this was the first incident of cheating at a national tournament. However, he said it's been known to occur at smaller, regional events.
"It does happen no matter what. People will try to do this," he said. "It's the first time it's happened in a venue this big though. It's unfortunate. The Scrabble world is abuzz. The Internet is abuzz."
Williams would not identify the player by name or age because he's a minor. There are four divisions and he was competing in Division 3.
He said Division 3 is equal to "any great living-room player out there."
In Scrabble matches, players accumulate points during one-on-one matches by pulling random letter tiles from a bag of 100 and trying to create words.
A total of 98 tiles have letters on them and two are blank. Blank tiles can be used as wild card letters to complete words.
The ejected player had concluded a previous game and never reinserted the blank tiles into his bag in an attempt to use them at his discretion in the next game, organizers said.
Players in the national tournament format play multiple matches over the five-day event. The winner is determined by a combination of their overall record against other players and the cumulative point spread over the entire tournament.
The ejected player forfeited all of his wins.
Williams said there is usually "good self-policing in the Scrabble world" as players try to protect the integrity of statistics on the competitive circuit.
That's because national events draw young players to seniors. The leader entering Wednesday's final day of competition is National and Scrabble All-Star Champion David Gibson, a 61-year-old math teacher from Spartanburg, S.C.
Jason Keller, 30, and nine-time Jeopardy champion from New Jersey, is in fourth place.
The winner receives the $10,000 top prize.
"It gets pretty deep. We're one step away from drug testing," Williams joked.
While Williams said this was the first time the national tournament has dealt with scandal, the incident could shine a brighter light on other advantages players have been known to employ.
Even before Tuesday's cheating ejection it was well-known that some players take minerals known as "alleged brain boosters."
"But no steroids so far," Williams quipped.
The photo they used for the story seems to have a misspelled word in it. I could not readily find a definition for the word spelled "biten". anyone?
 @farmerbear Actually, it is a real word.  Creole origin.  Of course, Webster's didn't want to make an appearance or I'd copy and paste the definition. Â
 @farmerbear I noticed the misspelling right away...I am hoping this wasn't a picture from the tournament!!!
'"It gets pretty deep. We're one step away from drug testing," Williams joked."Â If only....
Scrabble makes people do desperate things.
 If one of the "alleged brain boosters" is beer, then I'm a juicer too. Guilty as charged.
Can you spell "Busted!"
How could this gambit possibly work? The game doesn't end until all 100 tiles have been played, and surely an opponent would notice if more than two blanks had been played at the end of the game.
Â
I'm surprised the journalist who wrote this article didn't mention this astoundingly obvious fact.
 @PilonidalCyst the article states "The ejected player had concluded a previous game and never reinserted the blank tiles into his bag in an attempt to use them at his discretion in the next game, organizers said"
You're right...I see now that it's possible...if he didn't leave the table and had control over the bag of tiles and his next opponent arrived ready to play, he could hide the blanks in his hand and simply switch out one of his tiles
 @PilonidalCyst go ahead and explain it to DMT now
...when he wanted to (twice.)Â He would need his opponent to not keep close track at the end of the game when those last two tiles "magically" appear.
Â
I can see all of his opponents in the same bar saying, "Ya know, I never got a blank either!"
 @8thNotch  @PilonidalCyst I think what PilonidalCyst meant was that it would be noticed if the blanks were used DURING a game, and if so, I am wondering about that, too...