scrabble!

[rstevens]

His name: Chris Ofstad.

His occupation: ninth-grader.

His goal: world domination.

His game: Scrabble.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/08/10/CM188026.DTL

[AugustWest]

Holy Crap!  There are national rankings for Scrabble players?  I wonder if Sagarin does 'em.

[ferocious j]

I wonder if it's possible to (a) make a lifelong actual money-making career of Scrabble and (b) not get completely sick of Scrabble due to (a).

[V-Adore]

I suspect Scrabble would eventually become unrewarding as an occupation; I picture horrible night-sweat anxiety nightmares involving tile racks like F F H Q T R P.

That said, there's one thing this kid really needs: an illegal ghost bike.

[revdj]

I wonder if it's possible to (a) make a lifelong actual money-making career of Scrabble and (b) not get completely sick of Scrabble due to (a).

That question is answered in a wonderful book called Word Freak, about the people who are vying for the world scrabble championship.

One of the wonderful thing about the book is the tone.  It starts with an air of "hey, lookit the freaks!" but as the book goes on, the author becomes obsessed with his scrabble rating, and by the end he is one of them.

It is a well written, interesting book, and you will love it.

DJS

P.S.  After reading it I memorized all the two-letter words.  Beware.

[Choop]

After reading Word Freaks, I searched my living quarters high and low for my old fold-up Scrabble board. I couldn't find it.

I bought the super-deluxo edition with lazy susan, hourglass timer, and red tiles online that very night.

I was completely taken by that book. Now, if I could just get back to where I was...

[satchel]

Few people (a) make a lifelong actual money-making career of something and (b) not get completely sick of it due to (a).