From time to time my husband and I have been known to indulge in our Scrabble addiction in public places — restaurants, coffee shops, hotel lobbies, park benches. Unlike conversing or reading a book in public, a Scrabble game seems to be everybody’s business, always calling to mind the old joke, “How do you contact civilization if stranded on a deserted island? Start playing solitaire, and soon someone will come along and instruct you to move that six on top of that seven over there.”
The same works for Scrabble. Countless passersby invariably stop to ask who’s winning. Any women present will root for me, while any men will roll their eyes in sympathy or find some other way to silently encourage my husband. (They rarely support him out loud lest they receive a sharp elbow in the stomach from their wives.) Without fail, some stickler will stop to inform us snootily that we are not to use the dictionary when playing Scrabble, that it’s against the rules. Another kinder, gentler meddler will give us hints which would earn half the points of the plays we end up using. We thank them all for their concern, smile politely, and go back to our game.
Despite our propensity for playing in public, we never break out the board at home. It simply never occurs to us, and even if it did there are far too many distractions.
And then this evening, the following note dropped into my lap. I looked up to see my husband waiting hopefully for a response. In a flashback to middle school, he had folded it into a cute little shape (then gave up and taped it closed when the folds wouldn’t hold).
Note: If you have trouble reading it, click the note for a closeup version.
I ask you, how could I say no? Game’s on in T minus seventeen minutes.
Now you know one of our obsessions. What do you do for fun?
Update: People are already asking, so here’s the lowdown. Hubby won, 445 to 334. He rocked the board with three bingos (words that use all the letters in the rack). Go hubbs!
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Jess said,
Tuesday, January 29, 2008 at 8:02 pm
Oh my God Caryn, that is about the cutest thing I’ve ever seen!!! You guys are just great. I love that you play Scrabble in public.
Dru said,
Tuesday, January 29, 2008 at 8:09 pm
That is so cute. Have fun playing Scrabble. Dare I ask, who won?
Courtney said,
Tuesday, January 29, 2008 at 9:08 pm
Did you know that you can play Scrabble on Facebook? I’m so terrible at it, but I looove to play. Scrabble in public is cute.
Larramie said,
Tuesday, January 29, 2008 at 9:34 pm
Whoa, this is a new version of PDA…talk about love!
Liz said,
Tuesday, January 29, 2008 at 9:35 pm
We play Yahtzee and Monopoly. I totally kicked his trash the other night at Monopoly.
Caryn said,
Tuesday, January 29, 2008 at 9:40 pm
And we get made fun of it all the time because of it, Jess. We’re kind of famous (infamous?) in certain restaurants around town.
Dru, I just posted your answer above! Tim wins more often than I do, but I’m catching up. Slowly.
Courtney, I’ve heard that, but haven’t tried it yet. I also heard that Scrabble is suing Facebook for breach of copyright.
LOL, Larramie!
Go Liz! I haven’t played Monopoly in ages, but I’m terrible at it. Hmmm. Coincidence?
Brenda Grate said,
Tuesday, January 29, 2008 at 10:57 pm
That’s so cute!! Hubby and I play scrabble, too, but not in public. We don’t play a lot of board games, but we love Cranium with a big group of friends.
Katie said,
Tuesday, January 29, 2008 at 11:27 pm
So…? Who won?
We sit in the livingroom together (on our respective computers, of course), and work on our websites. Wow. I guess we really DON’T have fun. Really, though, we have lots of fun together, usually traveling. Hope the Scrabble went well!
Caryn said,
Wednesday, January 30, 2008 at 7:13 am
Brenda, we have a group of friends that gets together every other Thursday for games. It’s tons of fun. We play Cranium sometimes, although we usually break out Apples to Apples, Outburst, Taboo, Pictionary, Catch Phrase or Balderdash.
Katie, he did. By an embarrassing amount: 445-334. Next time we’re starting earlier than 8:00, and I won’t start falling asleep at the table, darn it! And I think it’s cute that you like to be together and don’t feel like you need to spend all your time giving each other 100% of your attention. I think it shows security in a relationship when people can be silent together, but still want to be near one another.
BookGirl said,
Wednesday, January 30, 2008 at 7:58 am
the bf and I play Remmy-Kube…we are insanely obsessed with the game and can play it all day and night. He claims that I cheat…I just whine a bit when he takes forever to make a move.
Melissa said,
Wednesday, January 30, 2008 at 9:48 am
That is too cute. I grew up in a house where we played Monopoly against Dad. No one ever won against Dad. No one knew how he cheated, but we knew he was cheating. No game was shorter than 2 hours. So I have very fond memories of board games.
And again that note is too cute.
emily said,
Wednesday, January 30, 2008 at 2:22 pm
my husband and i like playing board games and card games, but we usually only do when we’re having company over. we like hand & foot (nerts), as well as blockus and settlers of catan. one thing we do a lot of (just the two of us) is watch movies.
Caryn said,
Wednesday, January 30, 2008 at 6:31 pm
Book Girl, I’ve never heard of Remmy-Kube. Now I’m terribly curious and must look it up. Thanks for the inadvertent suggestion!
Melissa, I love that you played board games with your family growing up. I have fond memories of playing endless games of Clue and Euchre with my family over Christmas breaks in middle school and high school.
Emily, games are such a good excuse to have friends over, aren’t they? And we’ve lately developed a love for Blockus which, unfortunately, we don’t yet own.
sarah said,
Wednesday, January 30, 2008 at 8:06 pm
I love games. Particularly Clue which I am very, very good at.
David is too competitive to play. He won’t indulge lest he punch someone in the face.
Everyone should know their limits, I guess.
Barrie Summy said,
Wednesday, January 30, 2008 at 9:51 pm
That is so adorable. Love note passing.
Erica Orloff said,
Thursday, January 31, 2008 at 4:26 am
OMG, so cute!
I am from a long line of Scrabble-obsessed women. When my mom visits (she usually stays a month), we can’t WAIT to get the kids to bed, then we look at each other and say, “Scrab?” (We shorten it! And make it a VERB!)
I’ve got my kids into Boggle. It has increased their vocabulary as they learn new words that I make.
I went through an obsession with RISK. And I am ALWAYS up for Poker. And I also love “Oh Sh*t” (a card game like Rummy, but you bet). Yahtzee.
And knitting. My primary obsession. People always ask what I am making when I am in public.
Eileen said,
Thursday, January 31, 2008 at 9:41 am
I love that he sent you a note. You should keep him I think.
We love to play board games and like Erica I’m a knitter too.
Mary said,
Thursday, January 31, 2008 at 12:45 pm
Love the cute note!
My friend and I are into ice-cube curling. Honestly, it takes skill!
Jordan said,
Thursday, January 31, 2008 at 6:52 pm
That note is too cute.
Susan Hatler said,
Thursday, January 31, 2008 at 6:56 pm
Your hubby sounds completely adorable! My dh & I play scrabble from time to time. We keep a tally of who wins on the inside of the box. It actually goes back several years. In case you’re curious, I’m in the lead!! It’s quite another story with Battleship though. I don’t know how I continue to get my butt beat so badly.
Anti-Wife said,
Thursday, January 31, 2008 at 7:49 pm
That note makes me feel like I’m back in high school. Gawrsh! What a sweet thing to do – except for the winning part. If he really wanted to reel you in to playing at home he should have let you win at least the first game.
Caryn said,
Thursday, January 31, 2008 at 8:10 pm
Sarah, at least he knows his limits!
Thanks, Barrie & Jordan! I’ll let him know.
Erica, I like Boggle, too, although hubbs isn’t as big a fan. I don’t understand.
Eileen, I think I will.
Oh, and I’ve done some knitting, but I’m at the scarf stage, and I want to be making sweaters, so I keep quitting. So I admire you and Erica for sticking with it.
LOL, Mary! I can just picture that one!
Susan, we have a new Scrabble board, complete with a fancy score pad. We always write down where we played and the date, too. We don’t have a log of our games before that, though. It was a good idea for you to do that! It would be fun to look at.
Anti-Wife, I kind of felt like I was back in school, too. As for not letting me win, I think he knows I’d rather lose than have him go easy on me. I won the last two times, so it’s his turn!
Tink said,
Friday, February 1, 2008 at 8:44 am
The note gave me a chuckle. Too cute. Hoop and I don’t play many games, but I think we might start. That sounds like fun!
elenaberenice said,
Friday, February 1, 2008 at 9:41 am
Oh my God! It was so funny to read that
I’d like to find people like you playing Scrabble in Madrid!
Rebecca said,
Friday, February 1, 2008 at 10:03 am
we actually love scrabble too and have kept score in the same notebook for years now. it is full of comments back and forth about game plays, mistakes, jokes, etc.
Dwight said,
Friday, February 1, 2008 at 3:15 pm
THREE BINGOS!?!?!
For the love of GOD! Forget the dictionary, you need a young priest and an old priest, and the Book of Excorcism/ Pronto! Three bingos? Unreal!
Playing in public?
How many points are in “EXHIBITIONISM” anyway?
Caryn said,
Friday, February 1, 2008 at 6:32 pm
Tink, it’s definitely a fun thing to do together. I highly recommend it.
Thanks, elenaberenice! If we’re ever in Madrid, we’ll have to whip out the Scrabble board and hope you pass by.
Rebecca, that’s such a good idea! We must start doing that.It must be so much fun to reread all those comments.
Dwight, it’s rare for one of us to have so many bingos in one game. We each usually have 1-2. We’ve just been playing a long time. Oh, and my husband has actually *studied* Scrabble strategy, which meant that I had to, too, lest I get left in the dust. So we’ve learned about rack management, which words have a q but no u, all the legal two-letter words (and many of the three-letter ones that can be made from them), etc. If you learn that stuff and are patient, you’re bound to do okay. As for playing in public, we just do it because we like the atmosphere of playing in a restaurant, park, whatever. It’s like we’re part of that particular community, but still in our own little world. I highly recommend it.
Erica Orloff said,
Saturday, February 2, 2008 at 9:04 am
Caryn . . .
I’m the same way (with strategy). My mother is such a good player, I was compelled to learn all that . . . and my scores shot WAY up. Which sometimes kills me–because I’ll have an AWESOME word–good vocabulary. But a lesser word, not so interesting, will make more points. So I go for points. Unless I play with my kids, in which case I go for vocabulary. Since I don’t play cutthroat with them . . .
E
:: jozjozjoz :: said,
Sunday, February 3, 2008 at 10:47 am
Caryn,
That is the most adorable note!
How could you say no to that?! You can’t!
Caryn said,
Sunday, February 3, 2008 at 10:54 am
Erica, I have the same problem with wanting to put in the show-off words instead of the ones that make the greatest number of points. I love to build a word right alongside another that’s already there, thus earning points for my new word, and all the words that were created as the sum of the new word and the existing word. If that makes sense.
I definitely couldn’t, jozjozjoz, even when time got away from us and I found myself playing way later than I should have on a work night.
Susan Sonnen said,
Sunday, February 3, 2008 at 3:05 pm
Holy Cow! I’ve never entered the 400 point range! Wow!
My beloved and I also like to play Scrabble. In fact, while we are apart we indulge in Scrabulous on FaceBook.
I’m enjoying your blog!
Sonja Sensenbrenner said,
Monday, February 4, 2008 at 8:25 am
Caryn, Scrabble is a wonderful, sociable game. I have played with a group of ladies aged 80 and over and we not only had great games, but also great conversation between turns. This is a “traveling” game as we go house to house among our mutual friends who are not well or need cheering up. This includes trips to AMH. As for those who show an interest in games in public places, occassionally a super word is contriubted.
heidikins said,
Monday, February 4, 2008 at 11:42 am
Favorite Scrabble Spin-Off: Take 2. No board, double the letter blocks, each person makes their own, personal, scrabbleness. Start with 7 tiles, and when someone runs out you tell “take 2″ and everyone else has to pick up 2 more tiles. Rinse & repeat until all tiles are gone. Then add up your word points and congratulate the winner. Favorite Part: You can rearrange your words however you see fit (i.e. however will make you The Winner!)
xox
Caryn said,
Tuesday, February 5, 2008 at 5:40 pm
Susan, check your e-mail!
Great to hear from you, Sonja! What a great idea, to take games over and play with those who are sick or otherwise housebound. I’d love to play Scrabble with other people, and so would hubbs. Unfortunately, word has gotten out that we’ve studied some techniques, so no one wants to play with us!
Heidikins, I’ve just recently been introduced to Take 2, and although I haven’t had a chance to play it, I’m greatly intrigued and want to give it a try soon. Thanks for the suggestion!
77free said,
Thursday, February 7, 2008 at 3:00 pm
How adorable!!!! You and your hubby are such a cute couple.
I’m addicted to scrabble on facebook, have you ever tried it. I love the note too thats what great romantic movies are made of. I’ll try not to steal it.
Caryn said,
Saturday, February 9, 2008 at 11:46 am
Awww. Thanks, 77free. What you call ‘adorable’, though, others have dubbed ’sickening’. I prefer your word choice.
ACJ said,
Tuesday, March 25, 2008 at 10:04 pm
Oh, this is too cute! What a fun idea!