January 23, 2002
Teams form
for Scrabble
tourney
Hudson library hosts second board
game event
 |
JFK Middle School students, from left, Sean Roche, Alec Szczerbinski and Mike Papulis formed a team with Mike’s mother, Michele Papulis, second from left, at the first Saturday Scrabble tournament at the Hudson Public Library. |
The success of the first Saturday Scrabble tournament at the Hudson Public Library last week has prompted a second tournament Saturday, Feb. 16.
Unlike the opening tournament, at which several adults were allowed to participate on the 12 teams vying with 1998 [Intermediate] National Scrabble champion Ben Loiterstein, the Feb. 16 tournament will be open only to students in grades five through eight.
Loiterstein is educational consultant for the School Scrabble Development Program and played the 12 teams at one time, going from board to board — and winning every game.
According to Children’s Librarian Luna Greenwood, Loiterstein will again explain Scrabble strategies before play begins, but the tournament will be between 24 teams of two students each.
" Four students will be seated at each table, with two people on each team, " said Greenwood. Parents and other adult Scrabble fans will be welcome to watch, but will not be allowed to play. Because play will be limited to 48 participants, students should call the library at 978-568-9645 to be secure a spot.
" While the children are playing, I’d be happy to meet with parents, teachers, educators and home-schooling parents who are interested in introducing board games to their students, " said Loiterstein.
A fifth-grade teacher before he took his consultant post, Loiterstein said the board game was called " Criss-Cross " when it was first introduced in 1948 by Connecticut inventor Alfred Butts, but didn’t gain widespread popularity until the 1950s as " Scrabble. "
In the Jan. 12 event at the Hudson Public Library, the experienced Loiterstein easily beat all comers, using interjections like " er " and the word " ka " (a person’s soul in ancient Egypt).
Andrew Mulcahy, 10, only non-adult member of runner-up Team 12, received a pizza certificate. Other members of his team were his aunt, Margaret Warner, principal of Saint Michael School; his grandmother, Marjorie Mulcahy of Needham; and Marlborough firefighter Jeff MacQuarrie.
Three pizza certificate prizes will be awarded at the Feb. 16 match, and Greenwood promises " lots of others prizes, too. "
As at the opening tournament, Greenwood will first explain " Scrabble etiquette " to the student teams — like, hold the bag of tiles (letters) above eye level when selecting a tile; dictionaries are not allowed; and there should be unanimous team agreement when a word is challenged.
" I want to see teamwork, good sportsmanship and good manners, " she warned the 48 participants last week before play began.
Alec Szczerbinski, 12, member of a team from JFK Middle School, said he liked to play Scrabble " because I win a lot. "
Mike Papulis, 11, whose mother, Michele, was an adult member of the team, said he has been playing Scrabble for a few years and once earned 42 points with one word.
Teammate Sean Roche, 11, said he came to the tournament " because I like spelling, but at home I use a dictionary when I play. "
The popular Hasbro board game involves players taking seven wooden tiles bearing letters, each awarded a point value, and putting the letter tiles on the game board to form words. After the first word is built, players build off of existing words.
In explaining some strategies, Loiterstein, 39, said it’s important to remember that many words can be modified by using pre-fixes and suffixes. He said the best letters to have are a, e, r and t, because it’s easier to put words together with them.
" Of course the best letter in the bag is the blank, " said Loiterstein about the tile that can be used in place of any letter.
He cautioned players to try to think one turn ahead, and make best use of the squares on the board with the highest numerical value.
" If you are left with impossible letters , turn them in, take zero for that turn, and replace them with the same number of tiles, " advises Loiterstein.
Greenwood said she hopes Hudson teachers will try to introduce Scrabble in their classrooms, calling it " a great tool for vocabulary and spelling. "
Anne Maguire, reading curriculum specialist at Saint Michael School, attended the first match and said she would like to see Scrabble and similar board games as part of the curriculum.
Julie Welch-Bucceri, JFK Middle School teacher who played with a team of students, said, " The game helps them to learn new vocabulary words and to think on their feet. " She said she is inspired to bring the game into her classroom.
Since the National Scrabble Association, outreach program of Rhode Island based Hasbro, began its School Scrabble Development Program in 1991, Loiterstein said more than 500,000 pupils in more than 18,000 schools and libraries nationwide have played the game.
Published on page 1 of the
Hudson Sun, January 24, 2002
[Factual correction shown in brackets]