Word Freak

From: Houghton Mifflin Author: Stefan Fatsis List Price: $14 ($11.20 street) ISBN: 0-618-01584-1 Reviewed by: Peter Sarrett, Issue 26, Summer 2001

Stefan Fatsis, NPR commentator and Wall Street Journal sports columnist, decided almost on a lark to take on a mission: to obtain an expert-level rating in competitive Scrabble within one year. His transformation from neophyte to veteran forms the framework of Word Freak: Heartbreak, Triumph, Genius, and Obsession in the World of Competitive Scrabble Players.

How do the experts become so adept? Is it an innate talent, some preternatural combination of vocabulary and board sense? Nothing so romantic. While anagramming skills are clearly important— Fatsis describes numerous casual anagram sessions played during car rides and in the wee hours at tournaments— the experts get where they are through rote memorization and mnemonic systems. Not just of the 96 two-letter words or the 972 “threes”, or even the thousands of seven-letter “bingos.” The best players memorize everything. Fatsis shows us how, from word lists to flash cards to computerized analyses. In fact, he indulges in perhaps too much detail, at times losing the narrative thread in eye-glazing esoterica. A minor quibble, given the other merits of the book.

Fatsis’ journey brings him into contact with a cast of fascinating characters, from street players in New York’s Washington Square Park to top international champions. Though he develops friendships with many of these people, he retains his objectivity in documenting their idiosyncrasies and often bizarre personalities. From the Zen-like multiple-champion Joe Edley to manic, smart-drug-fueled expert Matt Graham, we get the sense that to excel at tournament Scrabble requires one to be a few tiles short of a bingo. 1997 national champion “G.I.” Joel Sherman (that’s GI as in gastrointestinal), who has no full-time job, calls himself a professional Scrabble player. “It’s the one thing I’m really good at, and if I can’t accomplish something in this field, it’s unlikely I’ll accomplish something in any other field,” he says. “So this basically validates my existence. I’m not kidding.” There are plenty of good players who are socially adjusted, of course, but by design they’re not the ones with whom Fatsis spends most of his time.

Fatsis takes us behind the scenes of everything Scrabble, presenting a fascinating look behind the curtains. He relates a comprehensive history of the game, from its invention and subsequent faddish mania to its series of corporate handoffs and ultimate joint custody by Hasbro and Mattel. Illustrations of the rift between the dedicated player community and the game’s corporate guardians are especially beguiling. The players strive to elevate and improve the game, while the executives’ primary concern is the protection and exploitation of the brand.

If you’ve ever attended any kind of gaming event, you’ll hear the ring of truth in Fatsis’ accounts of the goings-on. The philosophical issues with which Fatsis wrestles transcend Scrabble, applying not only to games in general but many hobbies and obsessive pursuits. He questions why people play games at all, let alone obsess about them. On page 158, he wonders “whether Scrabble isn’t a substitute— for work, for ambition, for confronting the realities of life. Any chess hustler or cardsharp or Nintendo junkie can testify to the seductive power of games. I feel it myself now, too; I’d need to be strapped to a mast like Odysseus to avoid the siren song of a Scrabble board.”

Fatsis begins as an outside observer, a journalist pursuing a story. It’s not long before he’s drawn deeper into the competitive world, becoming every bit as obsessed as the players he documents. The strength of his writing and the inherent drama of his quest pull the reader along with him. Fatsis explores the entire Scrabble world with his critical journalistic eye, and doesn’t flinch from turning that eye on himself and, by extension, perhaps the reader. Word Freak isn’t just a must-read for Scrabble fans, but for game enthusiasts of all stripes.