Lawson Kilpatrick

Dr. Lucas

Eng 1103-23

07 October 2022

Scrabble, A Fun Game or Hard work?

Upon reading, Scrabble is a Lousy Game, by Johnathon Kay, I cannot help but agree. Scrabble is a game of wit, having primarily vastly intelligent participants. The essence of this game revolves around an immense knowledge of dictionary terms and the recognition of how to play these words to score the most amount of points. One point of view that Kay mentioned is this game is more work than fun. Kay described how this game is one of memory, a game requiring one to study to succeed. Although, it is the luck of the draw when it comes to obtaining the letters, playing against someone with a higher intelligence almost always ends in defeat. Yet, there are many cases where cheating does take place. This would have to be the third reason behind my beliefs. Cheating is a common occurrence in this game, it’s known to happen quite often. Since this game revolves around pulling letters out of a bag, one can take a peek inside the bag.

Jonathan Kay mentions how he believes scrabble resembles a math test. Kay proceeds to compare playing this game to reciting pi, however not knowing that it expresses the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter. I believe this is an excellent analogy about one playing a word, yet not knowing the definition of said word, or where it originates. Another reference Kay made was how he and his friend, John Chew, went out to teach a class of elementary students in hopes of teaching them the art of scrabble. The text states, “One of his handouts listed the four-dozen-odd words that contain Q but not U, such as qi. This was a total turnoff. Memorizing lists isn’t fun. It’s work”. It is obvious how Kay feels about this game, that this game is not fun, but undesirable work. 

  In my limited experience playing scrabble, I have been able to play, and in certain scenarios, succeed. However, there have been multiple instances, in which, I haven’t a clue what the word truly means. Keep in mind, the other participants are in the same boat, but what if I were to play someone truly experienced with this game? Someone with an extensive understanding of vocabulary terms? This would more than likely end in utter defeat. Studying can be the deciding factor between a win and a loss. However, many players do not always know what the words mean. What I mean by this is that one can place a word down without knowing its definition or where the word originated. An example of this would have to be when, Kay mentions, “In 2015, the New Zealand Scrabble legend Nigel Richards got so bored by demolishing opponents in English that he memorized a French Diary and won the French-language Scrabble Championships”. This is proof, the evidence behind this theory, that scrabble is an intelligence-based game. 

Cheating occurs in a vast amount of classic video games, I mean who likes to lose? However, the way scrabble is set up makes cheating very easy and taunting. In the game, one has to start by pulling seven small wooden letters out of a bag. These letters will determine the word you can play for the following round. This is where things get complicated, upon pulling a letter out of the bag, one can glance inside, initially enhancing their ability to play a word in mind. An excellent example of this would have to be Jonathan Kay’s experience behind the Canadian National Scrabble Championships. In the eighth paragraph, Kay states, “Last year, Allen Simmons, a former British champion, was banned from competition after he was caught peeking at tiles before drawing at tiles before drawing them from the bag”. This exemplifies how cheating is very common in this game, even from the best. Jonathan Kay then stated, “An insider once told me an unsettling story of a contestant who tried to score an illegal word by taking advantage of his opponent’s difficulty in accessing the computer used to determine which words are admissible”. As seen, it is clear that cheating is apparent in the game of scrabble, whether it be with the scorecard or the letters themselves. 

Scrabble is a lousy game. Simple as that, there is no other game that requires such studying. Jonathan Kay expresses his opinion of this game beautifully. The only way to succeed in this game is to dedicate oneself to studying vocabulary. Kay believes that scrabble is not a game, yet hard work. Following this Kay would provide examples referring to professional players getting caught cheating and even his own experiences playing the game. It is clear, Jonathan Kay intensely disliked this game, and frankly, I completely agree. Can you say otherwise?

Work Cited

Kay, Jonathan. “Scrabble is a Lousy Game.” The Wall Street Journal, 4 Oct. 2018. ProQuest, https://libproxy.highpoint.edu/login?url=https://.proquest.vom/newspapers/scrabble-is-lousy-game-why-would-anyone-play/docview/2116081655/se-2?accountid=11411