I play with a few friends from time to time around here, but haven’t found an actual club that meets regularly.
To get my fix, I play daily on The Internet Scrabble Club . One thing I like about it is that it keeps your stats for you. Right now, I’m 1742 for 3617, averaging 16 points per play and 334 points per game on average.
I just checked the National Scrabble Association website and there is no club in the Norfolk area. The closest is Williamsburg, but it is temporarily inactive.
I don’t know Mike or Laurie, at least not based on the descriptions.
Most of the best Scrabble players do tend to be math types, often working in finance or accounting or something to do with money management. Also, several are independently wealthy, and thus can devote a lot of time to memorizing words from dictionaries.
For an amusing look at the Scrabble subculture, check out the book Word Freak by Stefan Fatsis. He’s a semi-regular at the DC club.
Yeah, that’s the same information that I had three years ago. Another example of how the words Scrabblers use don’t have definitions (re: “temporary”).
So how hard would it be to start one and have it sanctioned?
I think it is more a matter of finding a critical mass. I was a member of a club for a couple years that only had 6 regulars, and we managed to survive.
You could also check this out and contact the people nearby. None in Norfolk itself it seems. Or why not do what was mentioned in the OP, and advertise on Craig’s List?