“Strip Search” Worth 18 or a Lawsuit? Scrabble Competition Rocked By Controversy Over Missing G

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