Word Up!

Elise Gee

COSTA MESA -- Ask Gary Moss how to spell fun and he’d probably say

S-C-R-A-B-B-L-E.

But to the casual observer, Moss, the director of Scrabble Club 350 in

Costa Mesa, might seem a little O-B-S-E-S-S-E-D.

There are 96 two-letter words that can be used legally in the game of

Scrabble and Moss knows them all. He also knows most of the 977

three-letter words. Actually, Moss knows most of the tricks in the book

when it comes to playing the popular word game.

And he’s not alone.

Every Thursday night at 6 p.m., local Scrabble aficionados, from

beginners to the more advanced, gather at Borders Books Music and Cafe

for one-on-one matches. Anybody who wants to join them is welcome with

open arms, Moss said.

“Everybody wants some fresh meat,” Moss said.

On any given night, 12 to 20 players gather in the cafe to play on

custom-made scrabble boards, poring over their little wooden tiles while

a digital clock ticks away nearby.

The players come from a gamut of backgrounds. They are writers, teachers,

financial analysts, nurses, retirees and housewives. Some of them come

because they’ve been ostracized in their own homes, playing what club

members call “kitchen table Scrabble.”

“There’s usually one player in the house that’s the best, and they get

too good and no one wants to play with them anymore,” Moss said.

Sometimes it works the other way around. There are people who come to

Scrabble clubs and become instantly hooked. Others either get intimidated

or don’t like the competitive format.

Liam Seeley of Newport Beach and his wife began coming to the club more

than a month ago. Seeley continues to come, although he admits it’s a

humbling experience, but his wife hasn’t been back.

“She doesn’t like to lose,” Seeley said.

Club Scrabble can be a totally different game than what most people are

accustomed to. On one night at Border’s, Scrabble boards were covered

with such words as “inia,” “thuja” and “qat.”

The average Club Scrabble player knows between 10% and 15% more words

than the average person, Moss said. Club players also tend to bluff and

challenge words more than other players.

Huntington Beach resident David Pearl used to pull the burgundy cardboard

box out of his closet every once in a while to play with friends.

Club Scrabble has now surpassed golf as Pearl’s dominant hobby. In fact,

Pearl became national champion in the novice division at the premier

Scrabble competition last year.

“Don’t let the ... grandmas fool you,” Pearl said. “It’s a highly

competitive sport. There’s a lot of aspects to the game. You have to have

strategy. You have to think several moves ahead, and there’s the bluff

factor.”