The World Scrabble Championship was rocked by controversy this year when Chollapat Itthi-Aree, from Thailand, demanded officials take Ed Martin, an IT consultant from London, to the toilet for a strip search. The contraband was the letter “G”, which went mysteriously missing in the match.
Itthi-Aree, 24, objected when Martin, 35, was declared the winner in the match despite the disappearance of the letter.
Officials declined (avoiding a Youtube moment of Martin screaming, “Don’t tase me, Hasbro!”). They have no legal authority to conduct such searches. Even stores in the United States can generally only do voluntary searches of suspected shoplifters or hold a person for the police. Besides, they probably feared that a strip search would just lead to a demand for a “cavity search” worth 25 points, according to the scrabble calculator (yes, there are scrabble calculators).
The $20,000 first prize was won by New Zealand player Nigel Richards, who strangely described his victory as “nice,” a disappointing 6 pointer as opposed to “electrifying” for 21 or “exhilarating” for 23 or “exquisite” for 25.
Source: Daily Mail
I hear a G was added to the bag after no luck finding on or under the table or in their pockets. If both players agreed to have a replacement letter added to the bag, I think that’s perfectly fine. However, if one player wanted to restart the game, that should have been allowed, too. Competitive Scrabble isn’t anything to take lightly. But… if would have offset the flow of the tournament. So, maybe replacing the letter was the best thing to do. Neither finished in the top 10, so I guess it really doesn’t matter now.
Very nice anecdote, Dennis. I could read these all day. (Only the finest of distractions will do.)
I was a military clerk at a time of typewriters, carbon paper, and mimeograph machines. My station was near a U. S. Public Health Service Hospital. My unit served as the record holder for members of my service checking into the hospital. I’d hold their orders and personnel record. They were physically at the hospital but assigned to us. I’d take their 5 or 6 copies of their orders, put carbon paper between the copies, and endorse them into our unit, endorse them to the hospital, endorse them back to our unit, and document their release back to their parent command. There were fill-ins for mileage, reporting times, departure times, use of government quarters, receipt of government meals.
My typewriter was old, and in spite of my cleaning the keys with rubbing alcohol, the 4th and subsequent copies were mostly illegible.
To replace a military typewriter required the action of a “survey board.” The board had to approve “the destruction of class B property.” Additionally, my Group wanted me to use Station Funds, my District wanted the use of Group Funds. I sent the paperwork up the chain of command, and it came back several times.
One duty evening, I was in my office struggling to answer a question that asked for detailed analysis of the causes for replacing the typewriter. My Junior Officer of the Day was also the Senior Engineer. He asked what I was working on. I showed him the form. With oil stains on his fingers and hand tools on his belt, he read the form and asked, “What key do you use most?”
I replied that I probably used the E key most. With one hand he slowly pressed the E button. As the the key rose toward the carriage, he used his other hand to rip the key out with a small pair of pliers. As I gaped at him, he said, “Now type your report, but use X every time you should have used E.”
I typed onto the questionnaire, “Subjxct typxwritxr rxndxrs documxnts illxgibblx dux to the absxncx of onx kxy. Othxr kxys arx smoothxd down to thx point of xxacxrbating illxgibility.”
I had a brand new typewriter in less than two weeks.
I gotta agree that Scrabble is serious business. The letter count is uber-important, especially in a tourney.
Anybody see the movie “Word Wars”? People dedicate their lives to the game.
yup, this one hits me where I live….
but; Roger Lambert1, October 18, 2011 at 9:00 am
hahahaha! ood 1!
As a dedicated Scrabble player, any missing letter is a legitimate reason for pulling out one’s six-gun and shooting the opponent.
A do-over should have been approved.
Way cool y es … š
I actually think he has a point about the need to do the match over again. The rules are pretty specific about how many of each letter you need to play scrabble.
However, it’s perfectly possible to have a great point and still act like a complete and total jerk.
My greatest play was “Czarina” with all 7 letters across one triple word score, and then adding an S on the other. For a grand total of 161 points.
LOL Ro er.
Not if you want to win….
Oh od. What’s the bi deal? Scrabble is just a ame.