In the past few weeks, I’ve started playing Scrabble somewhat regularly at lunchtime with a co-worker who I also find myself increasingly drawn to (but for now we’re just establishing a friendship): he saw my officemate and me playing one day, and said he was interested. The next few games were just between him and me, but on Friday my officemate played and today his officemate and another woman who works on our floor played (and I think we’re going to play again tomorrow). Yesterday morning he and I were sitting around, chatting, and he mentioned that since he started playing Scrabble with me he’s been wanting to play more of it, so he went on craigslist and found some people in the area to play Scrabble with. They play every other Wednesday evening, the next game is tomorrow night, and he asked me if I wanted to go with him!
At first, I demurred: I told him to check it out and report back to me and maybe I’d go with him next time. He expressed surprise at my caution, saying that he saw me as a very confident and outgoing person, and after I went back to my own office I got to thinking about it. There’s something inherently very geeky (and maybe a little desperate) about arranging to play Scrabble on a weeknight with a bunch of strangers from the internet, and I also worry that they’ll be much more competitive than I am – or even just downright scary. Ultimately, though, I decided that it won’t kill me to step outside of my comfort zone and take a chance on having a pleasant evening (and maybe come to terms with my geeky, Scrabble-loving side). Plus, I like this guy, and worst case I’ll have spent some quality time with him outside of the office. So, this morning I told him I’d go with him, and I knew I’d made the right decision when I saw that he was relieved: he would have been ok on his own, but said he was glad that someone he knew would be there.
Still, I’m a little nervous about this! I’ve never gone to hang out with total strangers before – people that even the person I’m with doesn’t know, especially when I barely know the person I’m with! I’m kind of a planner, and except with very close friends I like to know what I’m getting into, and it’s very unlike me to agree to a situation where I don’t know the people involved or any of the details. My instincts say it’s ok to trust this guy from work (that if the situation is weird or uncomfortable he’ll agree to leave), and I guess the part of me that worries about stuff like this is hoping that I’m right. I need to stop worrying that we’re going to knock on someone’s door tomorrow night and be greeted by a Scrabble grand master who is also an axe murderer (oddly enough, writing this OP is actually helping).
I mean, how bad can a night of Scrabble with total strangers really be, right?
Well, I play weekly in the DC Scrabble club (was just there this evening is fact). I didn’t know anyone when I was first there, and a few regulars I still barely know after 3 years of going, but really what better way to break the ice with strangers than by sharing a common interest?
Oh, and be sure to study your q without u words and your 2’s and 3’s!
Absolutely. Go for it. As you noted, what’s the worst that can happen? You may find that some of the players are more aggressive than you like, or too casual. Or that they are a lot better or worse than you are at the game. No big deal. You’ll get to spend time with someone you like, in what will most likely be a friendly and non-threatening situation. If it becomes uncomfortable for any reason, just get a headache, apologize, and leave. Best case situation, you will meet even more people that you will get to know and like and have a really fun evening.
One suggestion: Most likely you and your friend will need to RSVP for the event. Ask at that time if you should bring a beverage or snack to share. The response may give you a clue as to what kind of group it is. “Yeah, sure, you can bring some chips if you like,” or “People usually bring some soda, and I’ll make a pot of coffee” vs. “No problem, we’ve got a well-stocked bar and have ordered a couple o’ kegs.” It is overwhelmingly likely to be along the lines of the first two, not the last.
I don’t mean to sound alarmist, but I wouldn’t go into that situation without some sort of weapon at my disposal, know what I mean? I’d suggest one of these. If things get out of hand, it should stop 'em in their tracks. Best part? It’s perfectly legal to carry on the street.
By the way, Scrabble is my idea of hell. It always surprises me to hear people claim to enjoy it.
I think you should focus on the fact that a guy you like asked you on a date. It’s a safe date, to be sure, if you don’t hit it off you can just pretend you were playing Scrabble.
I have played Scrabble on church retreats and found that people I don’t know at all are…unknown quantities. This may shock you. I’m sorry.
It’s a bit like tennis (which I suck at)–you aren’t sure of the skill level of play. I ended up playing with people who
think it’s a game (!)
have the vocabularies of lower bell curve 4th graders
refuse to bow to my obviously superior skills.
Go-have a good time. I do have one question:
How in hell do you have TIME to play Scrabble at work?
(and if you tell me you work for Parker Bros or Milton Bradley, I will hurt you).
The good news is that we aren’t going to a complete stranger’s house: we’re meeting at a restaurant/bar near downtown. Yay!
The “bad” news is that my officemate is coming with us. It’s my fault, because I talked about it while the three of us were playing and we wound up inviting her to come along. So tomorrow there will be no private jokes or references between just the two of us. Aww. But it’s not really bad news, because I like my officemate, I’ll still get to spend time with this guy outside of work, and the fact that three of us are going will head off any possible office rumors. Not that there would be anything to rumor about, because we’re definitely establishing just a friendship right now, but it never hurts to prevent such things whenever possible.
Even though the axe-murderer potential is now considerably less, and there won’t be so much of a hint of a date about the evening, I’ll still post later tonight and let everyone know how it goes. Thanks for the interest.
Exactly the opposite with me: I mean, I can understand if someone is self-conscious about his/her spelling or vocabulary, but when people who I consider my betters (or at least equals) in those areas say that they don’t like the game, I don’t get it!
No, I don’t work for a game company (how cool would that be?).
My company believes in very flexible schedules, and we get to manage our own time: as long as we put in 80 hours every two weeks, we can work whenever we want (within reason, of course). So taking a long lunch a few times a week isn’t a big deal. Yes, I love my job.
In the Campion household growing up:
[ol][li]Scrabble was the game of choice for everyone else, and so I had to play or sulk alone in the corner, so I mostly played (and only occasionally sulked);[/li][li]I was not the smartest/most literate/most verbal person in the family;[/li][li]I was a sore, sore loser;[/li][li]My sister and brother were sore, sore winners. I think we can all agree that there is nothing worse than a sore winner. Especially a sore winner with a sore winner song that they sing while dancing around you.[/ol][/li]Scrabble got so competitive that we had an official Scrabble dictionary, and all had to agree to abide by what was or was not in there. It was a pretty crappy dictionary, according to mom, who argued that we ought to get an OED to settle fights. Dad said that the only thing that kept the game competitive was the Scrabble dictionary, because it didn’t have mom’s five dollar words in it, and he’d be toast if she had an OED.
We also had another rule: no throwing tiles at other players. That rule was instituted for me.
Suffice it to say that I haven’t played Scrabble in years, and even though my vocabulary (not to mention my self-control) is much better developed now than it was when I was five, I have no desire to test my ability to play a game without throwing tiles at the smart people.
Update us after the game. I promise I won’t throw anything at you.
The Scrabble club sounds like a lot of fun, actually, aside from the strangers you’ll meet the first time, and then it will probably be a whole lot of fun once you get acquainted with them. And of course, if they’re playing on a different level than you like, you don’t have to go back.
I’m back from my geeky night of Scrabble! And, aside from wanting to throw a few tiles of my own (I was the worst player of the 6 people who showed up), I had a really good time.
The other 3 people were very nice – a skinny black guy named Elvis and I had fun identifying the songs being played in the restaurant and singing along to them – and everyone had senses of humour and good people skills, etc. It was too far to drive on a regular basis, though, so we probably won’t play with them again. Too bad, because they seemed like good people. The co-worker I’m interested in (Mark) talked about maybe starting an informal club in our area, so we’ll see if he picks up that idea.
Speaking of Mark, the evening brought no news/movement on that front. However, I’m hoping that this experience has laid some “friends outside of the office” groundwork that can be built on.
Misnomer I’m happy you had fun. Maybe you could invite Mark over for Scrabble and Dinner or something.
My husband and I used to play scrabble all the time but he doesn’t want to play with me anymore because I regularly kick his ass.
I used to play with a friend in high school. She wasn’t nearly as literate as me but she almost never lost at Scrabble. For her it was a game of numbers and strategy and while I was over there trying to think of a clever word she was working on how to get the maximum points out of her available letters. Worked every time.
Slight hijack. I blundered into the world Scrabble championship on TV a week or two ago. I managed to watch for a half hour before deciding it would be more enjoyable waiting for water to boil.
Anyway, one guy was Thai, and didn’t speak English. He’d memorized the dictionary (what dictionary, I’m not sure) but had no idea what the words meant. Apparently that’s common. Also, world-class Scrabble players tend to be math and engineering types. They’re into the patterns, and how to get points, and don’t know crap about words.
Both guys were laying down seven-letter words no one had ever heard of at an alarming rate.
If the stranger you’re playing with is one of these guys, I advise you to apply deadly force. It’s an abomination.
It’s so funny that you know him! He totally kicked our asses. Maybe you know the other people, too: a guy with thick glasses named Mike, and an older woman named Laurie.
Mike mentioned that club, but Springfield’s too far from us (in Reston; we met in Arlington last night). And, yes, it’s probably way more competitive than we want/are ready for!
I keep my Scrabble game at work, but I’ll work on the “or something”…
Mark and I played Pente yesterday, and he’s much better at it than I am: I have a hard time with games that require being able to think several moves ahead (no, I don’t go near chess). I enjoy the challenge, though, and I just hope that he won’t stop wanting to play it because it’s too easy for him!
From what I can tell, many of the official word lists do not contain definitions. One of the things I like about playing with my co-workers is that we’re more interested in it as a vocabulary exercise than as a puzzle.
Elvis and I actually talked about that last night: as I mentioned, we were both singing along and having fun with the music, and Mike and Mark helped out with the music trivia at times, and at one point I half-seriously asked Elvis if he thought there was a connection between Scrabble and music. I was thinking along the lines of language and music, but he pointed out that Scrabble is probably much more about math – and there is a connection between math and music. It was almost like an IMHO thread.
[slight hijack]Do you know of any registered clubs in the Norfolk VA area? I tried finding one a few years ago, and had no luck.[/hijack]
And you’re absolutely right about what to study. That’s how my girlfriend kicked my butt at Scrabble for a couple of years.
