Scrabble as an Interesting Game - Essay Example

GAME SCRABBLE Scrabble refers to a board game that uses lettered tiles in order to create words basically in a crossword fashion and score it. Throughout history, a number of indoor games have been invented, but it is only few in which human beings have taken interest in them, one of them being scrabble (Petrillo & Chaikin, 2004). Scrabble was invented by a person called Alfred Butts and has since then gained interest among people who are obsessed and interested in word creation. Scrabble game has recently gained recognition and occasionally holds a world international scrabble tournament to commemorate its architect and founder (Stefan, 2001). In this paper, we shall have a look into the lives of three characters and their relationship to scrabble (Petrillo & Chaikin, 2004). In the documentary video called Word Wars posted by Julian Petrillo and Eric Chaikin in You Tube, a detailed analysis is made about scrabble through looking into the lives of some of the characters who won the Scrabble prize money some years ago. One of the characters is Matt Graham, who at the moment was the 8th best player in the world (Petrillo & Chaikin, 2004). A close up into his personal and games life was made and the audience had a look at how a scrabble champion lives. In Matt’s case, he is obsessed with scrabble. First of all, Matt lives a simple life, he is neither rich nor poor, but he is constantly dreaming of becoming a champion another time so that he can take the prize money home. He is a down to earth person, and one could get a glimpse of what he does at his home (Petrillo & Chaikin, 2004). From the documentary, Matt does not have a regular job, though plays scrabble as a professional. In as much as he knows that becoming a professionally paid scrabble player entails a lot of hard work and dedication, he does not relent on this, but instead pushes himself to the limits. He has a library full of dictionaries to nourish him with new words (Petrillo & Chaikin, 2004). He has studied volumes of dictionaries and constantly yearns for more in order to build his word vocabulary. In order for Matt to boost his brain capacity to absorb the large quantities of information, he uses a number of drugs (Petrillo & Chaikin, 2004). From the documentary, you can clearly see he uses a number of brain boosters. One could think he is a psychiatric case with obsessiveness to the game through the kind of investments he has made for such a game. At his house, Matt is not an organized person based on the unarranged stuff in his house. In addition, he is not a good time keeper as seen when he arrives late at a tournament organized in Las Vegas (Petrillo & Chaikin, 2004). He is well kempt when he comes to the game with a torn t-shirt. In playing the game, Matt has his own habit. He goes to play games while listening to music through his earphones. He loves to concentrate in the game entirely with minimal destructions. In the game, he is sharp and quick in forming words that earn him the highest points (Petrillo & Chaikin, 2004). Another character portrayed in the documentary is Joel Sherman. He was the 13th best player in the world at the moment the documentary was made. On first impression, one could know that he looks like a geek with his sweater written “G.I”. G.I is also obsessed with this game despite his lifelong disease called gastro esophageal reflux disease (Petrillo & Chaikin, 2004). In the film, one could catch some glimpse when he has the reflux. Joel is unemployed and engages in scrabble professionally as it inspires him. He has ever won a grand prize in one of the scrabble events and is determined to win another one. As Sherman describes himself while playing the game, he says that creating words to him is easy as he can visualize them floating in the air and rearranging themselves (Petrillo & Chaikin, 2004). To anyone who interacts with Joel can automatically think he is a genius. In the game, Joel likes to concentrate in ensuring that he performs best despite his condition. He is focused. Outside the game, he likes keeping himself updated with new words that can help him build his word vocabulary. Marlon Hill is another character in the documentary film. At the shooting of the documentary, he was ranked 29 in the whole world in the game of scrabble. Marlon does not have a job and is from the ghetto. He loves what he does and dedicates his free time to play the game. He is a person who has accepted his poor economic status and is happy about it (Petrillo & Chaikin, 2004). Appearing in the documentary with his Rasta hairs, one could always have a negative perception of him being a carefree person, but in the contrast, through his soft-spoken nature and humble lifestyle, one could see that he truly has a passion. Marlon has ever emerged second place and won a grand prize of 10,000 dollars in his hay days (Petrillo & Chaikin, 2004). He has since then dreamt of winning the championship and has dedicated most of the time in perfecting the game. It is clear that Marlon lives a simple life outside the scrabble game. In playing the game, Marlon is always relaxed and keeps it easy. He always tries to study his opponent and outwit him or her no matter the situation through careful creation of words that earn him the greatest point. He is skillful from how he plays it though he does not appear to be serious like the rest of the players (Petrillo & Chaikin, 2004). One can conclude that he plays scrabble for the fun and the thrill of being a champion. In conclusion, scrabble is an interesting game as evidenced from the documentary into some of the lives of the world renowned champions (Stefan, 2001). Based on the documentary on Matt Graham, Joel Sherman, and Marlon Hill, scrabble has been seen as a game that deserves dedication and endurance if one intends to be a winner. Work Cited Petrillo, J. & Chaikin, E. (2004) Word Wars. Retrieved on 25th February from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyjS0Xdzrlc (Petrillo & Chaikin, 2004) Stefan, F. (2001). Word Freak. New York: McMillan Publishers. Read More