"Every man dies; not every man truly Scrabbles."—Scrabble game show on NBC circa 1980s
While visiting my grandparents in Maine, our family held many rowdy games of Scrabble. All ten of us crowded around a huge, wall-mounted scrabble board and paired up to begin the most epic Scrabble tournament of my life. It may not come as a surprise that there were more than a few fights. We were forced to keep a Scrabble dictionary on hand after my dad started a ten-minute debate over the legitimacy of 'biz' (which IS in fact an acceptable Scrabble word). He then proceeded to challenge every single word that my grandfather tried to put on the board out of pure spite.
Sabotage was rampant, and my little sister took to tripping me on the way up to the board. In retaliation, I started playing alarm clock sounds during her turn. I also suspected her of cheating, but was never able to prove it. There is absolutely no way she picked up a Q, Z, J, and V all in one turn!
Despite the chaotic atmosphere, I came out on top in multiple games and am pleased to report that I now hold a family record after putting down a thirty-eight point word! I also learned a few things about my family this week, the most obvious being that we are all dangerously competitive and will stop at nothing to be Scrabble champions.