Jacksonville2018

Six members (Art, Brian, Ed, Jim, Marina, & Tim) of the Orlando Scrabble Club participated in a unique tournament in Jacksonville on the weekend of July 14-15, 2018.

Below are some pictures and color commentary from the special event! And below that is a link to an article (with videos) that the team posted to the minor league baseball site milb.com!

The weekend started with the first day of a Scrabble tournament at the ballpark in Jacksonville, home of the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp minor league baseball team:

We played the tournament in the ballpark's Wheelhouse lounge :

We had a great view of the ballpark and surrounding area:

After the first day of Scrabble play, we watched the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp take on the Biloxi Shuckers:

Scrabblers enjoyed the game:

Scrabblers ate crazy ballpark food:

Players competed in an 11-round Scrabble tournament over two days, directed by the fabulous team of Art and Diane. Tim finished in first place in the "Jumbo" division, and Elaine Livers took first place in the "Shrimp" division. The team graciously awarded baseball/Scrabble-themed prizes to the winners, too!

Full results of the tournament are available at: http://www.cross-tables.com/tourney.php?tourneyid=10331:

After the tournament ended, we entered the ballpark on "Words with Fans" night, on which the players wore Scrabble-themed hats and jerseys, fans received a J-tile coaster, and reigning North American Scrabble champion Will Anderson threw out the first pitch and attempted to set an (unofficial) record by playing 30 opponents simultaneously:

It rained heavily and delayed the start of the game:

But the rain delay allowed plenty of time for the Scrabble simultaneous record attempt to take place and generated interest among passersby:

Will Anderson chatted with fellow Scrabblers:

The team provided small tile-lock Scrabble sets for the record attempt:

Even the team mascot was in the Scrabble spirit:

Will Anderson went down the line, playing on each of the 30 boards in rapid succession:

Several club members took part in the exhibition. Team staff trailed after Will to draw his tiles and keep the event on track:

Will ponders his move against Jim:

Will makes a play against Tim :

Art jokingly started Will's clock. Everyone had a good time! After the games, Will chatted with and signed boards for the fans:

The weather cleared up and Will Anderson got to throw out one of the first pitches:

The team did Scrabble-themed events throughout the night and announced home team players in Scrabble letters on the Jumbotron. The public address announcer also mentioned that the tournament had taken place and gave a plug to the North American Scrabble Players Association (NASPA)!

The Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp (in Scrabble-themed jerseys and caps) took on the Biloxi Shuckers on "Words with Fans" night:

Afterwards, the team published an article and videos about the "Words with Fans" events. Check it out at: https://www.milb.com/milb/news/jacksonville-jumbo-shrimp-stage-a-scrabble-celebration/c-286300622 .

You'll see several Orlando Scrabble Club members featured in the video that appears after the first couple paragraphs of the story! Further below that, there are a couple short video clips of Will Anderson, current North American Scrabble champ.

For more information about the Orlando Scrabble Club, see our Homepage or Meetings page.