Scrabble Cheater Caught Hiding Blank Tiles At National Championship
(NEWSER) – A young Scrabble player has been ejected—or, for a higher word score, expelled—from the national championship tournament in Florida for cheating. Organizers say the player was busted after a player at another table watched him conceal a pair of blank “wild card” tiles, the AP reports. When confronted by the tournament director, the young man confessed. Organizers are not identifying the player by name or age because he is a minor. Organizers say the player kept the blank tiles at the end of one game, apparently hoping to use them in the next one; he had made it to Round 24 of the 28-round event. Cheaters have been caught at regional events but this is the first case uncovered at the national championship, says the executive director of the National Scrabble Association. “It does happen no matter what. People will try to do this,” he says. “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.”
How can you be smart enough to get the Round 24 of the National Scrabble Championship but dumb enough to try and cheat by using extra blank tiles? You think the guy sitting across from you isn’t gonna realize you just dropped 4 blank tiles in one game? I mean what was the end game here? How could that tactic possibly ever work? Is there something I’m missing?
I guess its kind of equivalent to being some no name prospect in the Domincan Republic or low level A ball in the minors. You might as well just go all out and do steroids and hope for the best, right? I mean you ain’t gonna make it to the Bigs with your natural ability anyway. And theres about a 99% chance you get caught cheating and get the boot. But theres that 1% of hope right? 1% chance you get roided out of your mind and somehow beat the testing and make the league and cash in a little bit. Well this little snot nose teenager knows he ain’t gonna win dropping “Dog” and “Fat” on the board. So fuck it. Might as well spell Quixotic with three or four blanks and take a shot at the Scrabble Crown. Scenario A) you’ve got a 100% chance of losing, Scenario B) 99%. I’ll take my chances with a blank tile scandal.
Im more impressed by the fact he go to round 24 and didnt get caught rather then the fact he was in round 24 of the scabble tournament…..btw, that place must of just been a pussy festival
Not only did this little bastard disgrace himself, he disgraced the National Scrabble Championship. Shame on him. Shame I say.
“You think the guy sitting across from you isn’t gonna realize you just dropped 4 blank tiles in one game?”
I thought same thing but I read that they use the same bag for each game so after the game was over he wouldn’t put the 2 blank tiles back in the bag. I imagine when he picked letters, he would sometimes only pick 6 tiles and then take the blank out from where he was hiding it