A transsexual grabs British National Scrabble Championship
Recently a transsexual, who only started to play the game five years ago, has won the Scrabble British national championship. While this is not such earth shattering news, it does bring the game of Scrabble into focus as a great competitive activity that
people take part in. From becoming a simple game played between friends to something that has a world champion, this humble game of words has really come a long way. It did not really take the world by storm when it was first launched but it soon became extremely
popular. The question we have to ask here is Scrabble a sport? To answer this question, we first need to delve into the history and nature of this game.
Scrabble is an extremely popular board game that is played all over the world. Studies have shown that one out of every three households in America has a Scrabble set. Scrabble was invented in 1938 by an architect named Alfred Mosher Butts. The game was
a variation of an earlier game he had invented but with this game he had meticulously worked out the scoring system and analysed word counts using numerous sources. Butts was unable to sell more than a few sets of his new game and eventually sold the rights
to James Brunot in 1948. Brunot amended the premium squares on the board and simplified the rules. He also changed the name of the game to call it Scrabble.
The game’s big break came when the president of Macy’s played the new game on vacation and was surprised to find that his store did not carry the game. Macy’s placed a huge order for sets of the game and unable to meet demand, Brunot sold manufacturing rights
to a large board game manufacturing company. Over time the manufacturing company bought the overall rights for the game and soon the game became one of the most popular board games ever.
Over time, with the increase in the game’s popularity, people developed clubs and tournaments started to take place all over the world. Today a World Championship takes place every second year since 1991. The current world champion of the game is Pakorn
Nemitrmansuk who won the title in 2009 in Malaysia. In 1991, there were a total of 48 players who took part in the championship, but in 2009 there were 108. The rise in popularity on a global scale of the game has been reflected in the number of participants
taking part in national championships and the world championships as well.
Recently, a transsexual named Mikki Nicholson won the Scrabble British National Championship. He had only started to play the game five years ago online and he was able to beat Mark Nyman, a player who has over the years won 20 major tournaments and even
the World Championship of the game. Nicholson claimed that he felt that Scrabble was not only about a good vocabulary but it also required an analytical brain and a strong mathematical inclination. One of the strategies involved in the game is to bluff and
in that regards makes it similar to the card game poker.
This brings us to the point whether Scrabble is a sport or not. Well that is hard to say; technically it is not really a sport. It does not involve any physical activity and a player does not usually even break a sweat. But this can be seen in numerous other
recreational activities such as poker, chess, snooker and many others. Many have said that sports such as paragliding and even race car driving do not involve too much physical activity but they are still sports. At the end of the day, Scrabble involves the
use of one of the biggest muscles around, the brain and players put in a lot of time, effort and concentration in order to win. The fact remains that it is a competition that is contested by players at the highest levels.
In the end though, it is up to fans of the game themselves to determine whether they think it is a sport or not. Whatever it is, Scrabble is one of the world’s most popular board games and looks likely to remain so for many years to come.
Tags: