Scrabble Junkie

 

My mom liked to read. She liked to read books and magazines and newspapers and letters and probably most anything that could be read. I remember her having my dad NOT stop the newspaper when we went on vacation because she wanted to read them when we returned. (Some neighbor gathered them up while we were away, though, so as not to have the house look uninhabited!) And she did read those newspapers, maybe not every word of every article, but I have a distinct visual in memory of her surrounded by a rather cumbrous accumulation of newspapers and one spread open across her lap. She also regularly checked out books from the library and luxuriated faithfully reading through her stack. On more than one occasion, I recall coming home from school and observing my mother, cozy on the couch with a book, while some mundane household chore or little project remained obviously undone...obviously unstarted. And my mom, would say, "Oh, is it that late already?! I got interested in this book." So, I learned early, through example, a love for words, especially the written word.

No surprise, maybe then, that my mom's favorite board games for us to play as a family were Scrabble, Boggle, and Trivial Pursuit. She launched us fairly early with Scrabble--once we could read and spell with an entry level aptitude--and nurtured our advancement, helping us to see words from our letters and how we could place them on the board, showing us how to add points and take advantage of scoring bonuses. As her children entered their teens, they evolved more cutthroat playing strategies--thanks largely to the competitive spirit of my brother Ken--and understood that if you yourself couldn't use that triple word score to full effect, then it was surely your duty to ruin that possibility for anyone else playing. In our early adulthood, when the family got together, the "grown-up" children inaugurated Champion of the World Scrabble games, where the winner held the title until the next time all of us came together for another round. Still, with some glee, I recollect taking that title with me one end of summer when I returned to my job in Germany.

And fun fact, I received a deluxe version of Scrabble for a wedding gift.

So I totally hold my mom responsible--and perhaps a little bit my family--that, in this digital age, I am devolving into a Scrabble junkie online. 

I prefer the original Scrabble game app that disappeared this past June because Hasbro/Mattel sold the rights to Scopely who then created quite the "sparkly abomination" version of the game--Scrabble Go. Although I refused to embrace Scrabble Go at first, in mid-July I succumbed. Because, yeah, I'm hooked.

Now, when I first started playing online Scrabble--the original one--I only played with FaceBook friends. (Yes, FaceBook and the app itself made that connection way easy.) This past spring, though, pandemic days triggered a dalliance with playing random players as well, and I have continued. When I began playing Scrabble Go, I had to convince my original Scrabble friends to try it--despite its messy graphic sense and annoying distractions--but none of them have stayed with me except Jamie. (And for this, Jamie, one more reason to adore you!) In fact, Jamie and I currently have three games in progress. 

Scrabble Go, from the get-go, automatically connects you with random player challenges...should you choose to accept them. And I accepted them from the get-go.

Here's the thing, though. Apparently, people play the game and chat. I do not play the game and chat. I only play the game. The chat option was automatically on in Scrabble Go--not so in the original online Scrabble--and, with the clashing clutter of a graphic catastrophe in this new app, I did not navigate options well.  So, these guys--generally of a certain age, like around my age--would challenge me to play and I would. Eventually, after many of them "resigned" from our games just several plays along (and I would tell myself it was because I was winning), I realized they were also attempting to chat with me while playing the game. I decided then to state up front, as soon as someone initiated a chat, that I didn't chat, I only played the game. They persisted; they all thought they could convince me to chat anyway, I guess, because they would continue chatting despite my statement and I would continue not responding ever again. And then they would resign the game. (I was still winning, by the way!)

Now I have the chat option off. (I figured it out--yay, me.) Yet I still have guys challenge me to play who ultimately "resign" or "abandon" the game, so I guess the no-chat icon doesn't show up on their screens until after I have accepted the challenge. What's interesting to me, too, is that I have never had a random female player challenge me and not finish the game, only guys. 

However, at this point, I am beginning to find "my people."  I have a group of random players I've never met and know only by their first names, who continue to play games with me. Never once have they indicated they want to chat although now they could because I have marked them as "favorites." (Here's looking at you Charlotte, Judah, Zion, Willow, Brooks, Doris, Eddie, Renee, Christopher, Ashley, Elizabeth, and Quinn...and always Jamie!) Apparently "favorites," FaceBook friends, and people from your contacts list can chat with you anytime. We don't chat, though, we play!