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Orleans, Jacob. The Scrabble Word Guide. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1953.
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Acknowledgments
Matt Graham, Marlon Hill, Joe Edley, Joel Sherman, Lester Schonbrun, Ron Tiekert, Jim Geary, Mike Baron, and Eric Chaikin let me into their lives, welcomed me into their world, and taught me how to play. I couldn’t have written this book without them.
I’m grateful to the members of Scrabble Club 56 in Manhattan, the Washington Square Parkies, and everyone else against whom I played a game of Scrabble, especially the losers. Space permits me to mention only a large handful of devotees by name, but I would like to recognize the following:
Scott Appel, Phil Appleby, Paul Avrin, David Boys, Sheree Bykofsky, Brian Cappelletto, Charlie Carroll, James Cherry, John Chew, Chris and Kathy Cree, Lynn Cushman, Steve Dennis, Pamina Deutsch, Mark DiBattista, Jan Dixon, Bob Ellickson, Robert Felt, Diane Firstman, Gregg Foster, David Gibson, Daniel Goldman, Dominic Grillo, Roz Grossman, Matt Hopkins, Merrill Kaitz, Jason Katz-Brown, Laura Klein, Mark Landsberg, Matthew Laufer, Joseph Leonard, David Lipschutz, Adam Logan, Ben Loiterstein, Richie Lund, Andrea Carla Michaels, Ann Mirabito, Joan Mocine, Rita Norr, Mark Nyman, Lisa Odom, John O’Laughlin, Sam Orbaum, Jim Pate, Steve Pellinen, Nigel Peltier, the late Roy Peshkin, Steve Pfeiffer, Sal Piro, Dan Pratt, Nigel Richards, Sherrie Saint John, Ann Sanfedele, Chris Schneider, Brian Sheppard, Larry Sherman, Hilda Siegel, Martin Smith, Rafi Stern, Susi Tiekert, Audrey Tumbarello, Dan Wachtell, Joel Wapnick, Mark Watkins, David Webb, Ginger White, Margaret Bauer Williams, Steve Williams, Winter, and Trey Wright.
Though he rarely wins a game against me these days, John D. Williams, Jr., was unflinchingly supportive of this book and my quest for Scrabble greatness. His dedication to and love for the game have helped the competitive scene flourish. I’d also like to thank Jane Ratsey Williams, Kathy Hummel, and Yvonne Gillispie at the National Scrabble Association for catering patiently to my journalistic needs. At Hasbro, I’m grateful to Alan Hassenfeld, Dave Wilson, Wayne Charness, and Mark Morris for providing insight and access. Thanks also to Philip Nelkon and Ian Anderson of Mattel.
I am indebted to Robert Butts for allowing me, on several visits to his home and office, to pore through his uncle Alfred’s personal papers. John Nason’s files and reminiscences aided my writing about Selchow & Righter. Beryl Harrison at the Booth Library in Newtown, Connecticut, tracked down material about the game’s manufacturing roots. Language maven Paul Dickson shared his copious files. Thanks to them all.
Paul Steiger and Daniel Hertzberg of The Wall Street Journal generously granted me a leave of absence to go play a board game, no doubt a first in the annals of journalism. I’d also like to thank Journal editors Stephen J. Adler, Joanne Lipman, Jonathan Dahl, Laura Landro, and Jeffrey Trachtenberg, and the newspaper’s toy-industry reporters, Lisa Bannon and Joseph Pereira.
Jonathan and Lynn Hock were unflagging boosters, even if they now claim my obsession ruined the game for them. Adam Sexton enthusiastically endorsed the idea for this book when I wasn’t so sure, and his comments greatly improved the manuscript. Thanks to Lampros Fatsis and Dan Margolies for their long-ago infatuation with Scrabble and to Andrew Lenney for our high school games. My friends Charles Heaphy, Steve McKee, Alex Reyes, Bob Rifkin and Jane Levin, Amy Stevens, and David Stone and Robin Aronson put me up during my travels or just put up with me.
The advice, wisdom, and good sense of my agent, Robert Shepard, and my editor, Eamon Dolan, inform every page of this book. I’ve been fortunate to work with two such talented professionals. Thanks also to Emily Little, Jayne Yaffe Kemp, Martha Kennedy, Walter Vatter, and Teresa Elsey at Houghton Mifflin; Stephen Morrison, Gretchen Koss, Acadia Wallace, and Maureen Donnelly at Penguin; Chandler Crawford; John Rae; and to Leslie Goldman for the board diagrams.
Finally, Melissa Block proofread expertly, played eagerly, and then, happily, over two racks of tiles, agreed to marry me. A million words couldn’t express my thanks, or love. And then came the best Scrabble partner a dad could ever have. Let’s play another game, Chloe, and another and another after that.
About the Author
Stefan Fatsis is the author of A Few Seconds of Panic: A Sportswriter Plays in the NFL, about his summer as a placekicker for the Denver Broncos, and Wild and Outside: How a Renegade Minor League Revived the Spirit of Baseball in America’s Heartland. He talks about sports on NPR’s All Things Considered and on the Slate podcast Hang Up and Listen. A former reporter for the Wall Street Journal, he has written for the New York Times, Sports Illustrated, Slate, The New Republic, and other publications. He lives with his wife and daughter in Washington, D.C.
Visit the author at www.stefanfatsis.com and follow him on Twitter @stefanfatsis.
Footnotes
† The term has another, older meaning that appears in Webster’s Third New International Dictionary of the English Language: a puzzle consisting of a phrase, with another phrase made up of rhyming words that corresponds to the first phrase. A “male doll” is a “boy toy.” An amusing rabbit is a “funny bunny.” On Jeopardy!, alphagrams are played in a category called “Rhyme Time.”
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† Like alphagram, the word isogram also has a dictionary definition: a line on a map or chart along which there is a constant value, like temperature or elevation.
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† A 1956 study showed that the outer limit of people’s ability to reproduce information is units of seven, plus or minus two. Seven, of course, is the number of Scrabble tiles on a rack.
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Word Freak : Heartbreak, Triumph, Genius, and Obsession in the World of Competitive Scrabble Players (9780547524313) Page 48