The Librarian's Guide to Gaming:

An Online Toolkit for Building Gaming

HISTORY

TOOLS AND RESOURCES

BEST PRACTICES

CALENDAR

"Go for it! Once the initial set-up has been done, it seems to develop a
life of its own. There is a list of schools and libraries on the School Scrabble website that include contacts, so it is fairly easy to find a local organization near you to consult with and get help from."

~Cynthia Fordham
Woburn Public Library
Woburn, MA

Scrabble Club

Woburn Public Library, Woburn, MA

Woburn is a medium-sized city, north of Boston, with a population of 37,042. The library building, which is over 125 years old, has woefully inadequate space to serve its enthusiastic and supportive community.

The National School Scrabble Association contacted the Woburn Public Library to see if the library was interested in a Scrabble Club, and WPL jumped at the chance. Students from grades 3-8 (and now grades 9-12) meet weekly to play competitive Scrabble against each other and other organizations (schools, libraries, Scout troops). The club follows the official School Scrabble rules.

The goals of the program are to encourage children in grades 5-8 (now 3-8) to meet weekly at the library to play Scrabble and to get them interested in playing in local, regional and national tournaments.

Running the Program

At the weekly meetings, kids drop in at a set time for 1 hour. They set the boards up, decide on teams, then jump right in and start playing. Burlington and Woburn Public Libraries co-host "mini-tournaments” of three rounds (tournaments are normally 5-6 rounds) twice each year, one in winter and one in summer, open to any teams that want to play.

After tournaments, students and coaches usually talk about how the games went, what mistakes they realized they made, what other teams did, and what they'd do differently. During practice, feedback occurs during play so students can learn while doing.

Students often keep their scoresheets to track progress. If a team is being selected to go to the National Tournament in Rhode Island, there may be some competitive matches to see who is ready to go if that isn't already obvious. The National Tournament is videotaped and televised, if not in its entirety then the final round.

Literacy Connections

There is a strong literacy connection here as students learn new vocabulary words. Many memorize the words, but others learn the definitions as well, just as they might in spelling bees – and then play them. During gameplay, misspellings cost teams points if they're caught and challenged, so spelling counts!

Many peculiar words are out there, and students love to learn them so that their opponents will challenge them and thereby lose a turn when the word turns out to be real. Some examples are words like: gox, bap, jif, qaid, za. Schools that use Scrabble as part of their curriculum have the advantage of requiring students to memorize word lists, whereas libraries that have a more recreational aspect to their programs might scare off kids by "quizzing" them on lists. The more motivated kids tend to learn the information on their own.

During practice (weekly meetings) students are allowed to use the School Scrabble Association's "Cool Words to Know" tip sheet (available on the website). Their knowledge of the more peculiar words they learn on their own using the Official Scrabble dictionary, which includes words that do NOT appear in most "normal" dictionaries. It's interesting to see how motivated kids can be to learn new words!

Funding

A starter kit from Scrabble (which may no longer be available) includes 6 boards, tiles, racks. Egg-timers cost $49.95. Rotating boards, official timers, and specialized tiles (plastic or large print) all cost extra.Most equipment can be purchased through Wordgear, but sets are also readily available in stores.

Hasbro used to donate prizes, but they no longer do, citing economy. They do provide really nice prize packets for the national tournament.

Tournaments usually include snacks and drinks and prizes, which are governed by what the tournament sponsor(s) choose to spend on them. When Burlington & Woburn Libraries have a tournament, the Friends of each library provide $50 per library for prizes, drinks and snacks.

Impact

The result of participation is that Scrabble scores increase; words are more complex; students understand the strategies better and improve word placement to gain higher scores. In tournaments where local participants are playing against competitors who have been coached differently, it's interesting to see how they place. During weekly sessions students play for fun, but they do keep a close eye on the score. In tournaments winners are those who place first, second and third, and occasionally there are other “contests” such as the non-winning team that plays the highest word using Q, J, X, or Z, for example.

Success is measured at weekly meets by frequent attendance and enjoyment of the game as well as improvement in play. At tournaments, success is also marked by rank within the group. WPL's emphasis isn't on cutthroat play and winning, it's on enjoyment of the game and friendly competition. Some coaches take a decidedly different tack! It's interesting to note that there are very specific rules on sportsmanship on the School Scrabble website which forbid running down opponents, trash talking, disrespect, etc. Violation of sportsmanship can result in disqualification of the team and expulsion from the tournament.

The impact of the WPL Scrabble Club continues to grow – schools in the area have picked up the idea and started teams, and a growing number of local libraries are also adding it to their Children's and Young Adult offerings. It is being seen less as a "nerdy" activity, which gives more kids who might have been avoiding it because of fear at being labelled an interest in trying the game.

A high school Scrabble club is in the works, but getting it off the ground is proving tricky because so many high school students are involved in extracurricular activities after school. The most recent tournament was January 31, 2009.