Barstool Sports

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — One of the top young Scrabble players in the country has been kicked out of the game’s national championship tournament in Florida after he was caught hiding blank letter tiles, organizers said Tuesday. John D. Williams, Jr., executive director of the National Scrabble Association, said that a male player was ejected from the 350-player event in Round 24 of the 28-round event. The cheating was spotted by a player at a nearby table, who noticed the ejected player conceal a pair of blank tiles, which can be used as wild card letters. When confronted by the tournament director, he admitted to it, organizers said. Williams, who has served as executive director for 25 years and co-authored a book on the popular Hasbro board game in 1993, said this was the first incident of cheating at a national tournament. However, he said it’s been known to occur at smaller, regional events. “It does happen no matter what. People will try to do this,” he said. “It’s the first time it’s happened in a venue this big though. It’s unfortunate. The Scrabble world is abuzz. The Internet is abuzz.” Williams would not identify the player by name or age because he’s a minor. There are four divisions and he was competing in Division 3. He said Division 3 is equal to “any great living-room player out there.”

I think Scrabble players might be some of my favorite cats out there.  Every year we get a story like this.  Some bro beat up and strip searched in the bathroom for hoarding G tiles.  Amish motherfuckers and transexuals arguing about ethics and gameplay and shit.  Now some kid hiding blank letter tiles which I’m not even sure how that works to his advantage and the entire tournament is flipped on his head.  People like crying and hugging each other and demanding investigations.  Hey guys it’s just a board game.  Like I think they invented it for families to play when their TV was broken.   Chillax a little bit.  Plus who the fuck plays Scrabble on the board any way?  What is this 1997?  Just have these goofballs all sit around next to power outlets with their phones plugged in playing Words With Friends, no wayward tiles or cheating going on that way.  Seems a lot easier.  Adapt or die get your Scrabble national championship tournament rocked by blank tile scandal.

PS-  Do people still play Words With Friends?    Scramble all day.