Scrabble champions run through their highs and lows of competing at the classic word-speller

Everybody makes mistakes – even the best among us. When it comes to Scrabble, it’s no different.

The New Yorker recently put up a nearly 10-minute video speaking with champions of the Scrabble world recalling their favourite plays while competing in the classic tabletop word game, as well as some of the times that even the greatest Scrabblers were let down by silly mistakes or just bad luck.

The anecdotes range from the improbable to the unfortunate, whether it’s one player’s opponent playing the specific two-letter word they needed to score an immediate nine-letter word as their opening move or another pro losing out by a single point by contesting her rival’s word instead of just placing the single letter she needed to win – which was in her hand.

The video is especially nice for casual Scrabble players, as it pops up helpful definitions for some of the in-the-know lingo employed by the pros, including scoring a ‘bingo’ by using all seven of your available letters or allowing an opponent to ‘fork the board’ – opening up two separate quadrants that stops the other player from blocking their next play.

Whether you’re into Scrabble or not (let’s be honest – who isn’t?), it’s a fascinating look at the complexity beyond just knowing how to spell involved in the tabletop classic.