Scrabble Club 56 in NYC

05/14/2026

Session report for Thurs. May 7, 2026 ...

25 competed in 3 divisions. Prizewinners were 1st Jeremy Hall 4-0 +557, 2nd Kurt Davies 2-2 +158 in Expert division; 1st Josh Knapp 3-1 +244, 2nd Mark Berg 3-1 +109 in Intermediate; and 1st Michael Edwards 4-0 +426, 2nd Chidi Bosah 3-1 +103 in Extreme Enthusiast.

Pleasing bingos included: SHUTOUT and DEADHEAD v. by Josh; WALTzING and ITEMIZeRS in the same game by Mark Danna; VALIANTS for a triple-triple by Jay Levin; DERELICT and PLAFONDS by Katie Edwards; RELATIVE (ana. LEVIRATE n.) for a triple-triple by Kevin Ng; SLUMMIER by Niki Matsoukas; SNIGGLER (ana. NIGGLERS) by Andrea Wang; and QUAYSIDE and PFENNIG (plurals -E or -S) by Alex Dering.

The next rated tournament run by Judy Cole at our club venue is a Saturday-Sunday 16-rounder on Memorial Day weekend: https://www.cross-tables.com/entrants.php?u=16738

Please join us for more unrated logotherapy on 55th St. in 9 hours.
Apologies for tardy report, I was preoccupied yesterday.

SCRABBLE® tournaments, statistics, and community

05/07/2026

Session report for Thurs. Apr. 30, 2026 ...

25 competed in 3 divisions. Prizewinners were 1st Howard Pistol 3-1 +373, 2nd David Firstman 3-1 +334 in Expert division; 1st Michael Edwards 4-0 +302, 2nd Chidi Bosah 3-1 +86 in Intermediate; and 1st Jack Lechner 4-0 +244, 2nd Alex Dering 3-1 +300 in Extreme Enthusiast.

Pleasing bingos included: ARBORIST by David; LOBELESS by Alex; OUTPREEN by Debbie Stegman; WARTLESS (ana. WARSTLES, WASTRELS and WRASTLES) and OEILLADE by Jeremy Frank; and OSSIFIED by Edward Moran.

The next rated tournament run by Judy Cole at our club venue is a Saturday-Sunday 16-rounder on Memorial Day weekend:
https://www.cross-tables.com/entrants.php?u=16738

Please join us for more unrated logotherapy on 55th St. in 22 hours.

SCRABBLE® tournaments, statistics, and community

04/29/2026

Session report for Thurs. Apr. 23, 2026 ...

26 competed in 3 divisions. Prizewinners were 1st Katie Edwards 4-0 +264, her first session win in top group!, 2nd Verna Richards Berg 3-1 +154 in Expert division; 1st Niki Matsoukas 4-0 +104, 2nd Chidi Bosah 3-1 +91 in Intermediate; and 1st Alex Dering 3-1 +407, 2nd Jean Lithgow 3-1 +300 in Extreme Enthusiast.

Pleasing bingos included: EYEHOLES (body parts that extend with -HOLE are ARM, ARSE, ASS, [but *not* butt!], EAR, EYE, and KNEE, and yes there are dozens more non-body parts that are -HOLE enders) by Katie; FINISHER (ana. obvious) for a triple-triple by Niki; RETRACEs (ana. CATERERs, RECRATEs, and TERRACEs) for a triple-triple, GALOOTS (also good with 2 Ls) and DATURAS by Alex; USURIES, AGAMIDS and SEIGNORY (this one is super tricky, because seignor* is a phony!; valid anagrams of seignor* are ERINGOs [also spelt ERYNGO, both pluralize with -S or -ES], IGNORES, REGIONs and SIGNORE [the plural of SIGNORA, and the singular of SIGNORI, SIGNORE does *not* take -S hook, but adding S to rack yields only GORINESS], but the following are all the valid spellings of the men of title: SEIGNEUR, SEIGNIOR, SIGNOR, SIGNIOR, and all of them take the -Y to indicate their office or authority, plus the sneaky one we started with is not good without the Y) by Kurt Davies; and JALAPENO by Andy Kravis.

The next rated tournament run by Judy Cole at our club venue is this coming Sunday, May 3, 2026. There is still plenty of room, so if you're a late decider, Judy would love to hear from you ASAP! Entrants list and flyer here:
https://www.cross-tables.com/entrants.php?u=16735 And after that she has a Saturday-Sunday 16-round tourney on Memorial
Day weekend: https://www.cross-tables.com/entrants.php?u=16738

Please join us for more unrated logotherapy on 55th St. in 23 hours.

SCRABBLE® tournaments, statistics, and community

04/23/2026

Session report for Thurs. Apr. 16, 2026 ...

31 competed in 3 divisions. Prizewinners were 1st Jeremy Hall 4-0 +375, 2nd Bryan Richgruber 3-1 +141, 3rd Jeremy Frank 3-1 +124 in Expert division; 1st Sofie Wasserman-Smith 4-0 +215, 2nd Chidi Bosah 3-1 +308 in Intermediate; and 1st Alex Dering 4-0 +427, 2nd Jim Piazza 2-2 +59 in Extreme Enthusiast.

Pleasing bingos included: NOTELETS, IGUANIAN and KATSINAs (also spelt KATCINAs, KACHINAs and KATCHINAs; KATSINA also pluralizes with -M, ana. ANTIMASK, the other spellings do *not* take the -m) by J. Hall; BOLTONIA (ana. LOBATION and OBLATION) by Bryan; COCHLEAR and YEARLONG by J. Frank; TEN(TO)RIAL (the only valid hook for the only valid plural of TENTORIUM; adding S to rack yields only RESTATION and STATIONER) by Sofie; REBASED (ana. BEADERS, DEBASER, SABERED) and GELCOAT by Skyler Lutz; KERATOID (also spelt CERATOID, both adj. do *not* take -s) and KEROGENS by Bob KERr, of course; ECLOGUE by Lynn Cushman; and ANTINODES by Fay Halberstam.

The next rated tournament run by Judy Cole at our club venue is Sunday, May 3, 2026. Entrants list and flyer here:
https://www.cross-tables.com/entrants.php?u=16735 And after that she has a Saturday-Sunday 16-round tourney on Memorial Day weekend: https://www.cross-tables.com/entrants.php?u=16738

Please join us for more unrated logotherapy on 55th St. in 21 hours.

SCRABBLE® tournaments, statistics, and community

04/15/2026

Session report for Thurs. Apr. 9, 2026 and other business...

29 competed in 3 divisions. Prizewinners were 1st Lisa Odom 4-0 +233, 2nd Jeremy Hall 3-1 +79 in Expert division; 1st Michael Edwards 4-0 +502, 2nd Sheldon Gartner 3-1 +138 in Intermediate; and 1st Alex Dering 4-0 +374, 2nd Jim Piazza 3-1 +241 in Extreme Enthusiast.

Pleasing bingos included: AUTOCOID (also spelt AUTACOID, both take -S) and LIMONITE by Lisa; CONTEMNS by J. Hall; SPAVINED (adj. also spelt SPAVIET, from the noun SPAVIN also spelt SPAVIE) by Alex; BEERNUT and EULACHON (also spelt EULACHAN, OOLACHAN and OOLICHAN) by Skyler Lutz; KEELBOAT and STRIPEY (ana. PYRITES; also spelt STRIPY) by Jack Lechner; REDOWAS and PALSIER (and PALSIEST both have no anagrams!) by Katie Edwards; TOURISTY (does not compare; but TOURISTA is also valid alternate of TURISTA) by Chidi Bosah; WINGTIPS by Kevin Ng; and WARPAINT by Sofie Wasserman-Smith.

There are quite a few NASPA rated tournaments coming up in NYC in the next few months. Find dates, entrants lists and flyers for all of them at https://www.cross-tables.com/ Among these are new relatively cheap Monday night quads organized by Dan Wachtell at the new location of The Brooklyn Strategist. Here's his announcement:

"Dear Scrabble friends:

I'm happy to announce that beginning later this month, and together with Kurt Davies, we're going to be organizing a (hopefully monthly) series of official NASPA-rated tournaments on weeknight evenings, in Brooklyn Heights.

These tournaments will be held at the *new* location of The Brooklyn Strategist, 148 Pierrepont Street (no longer on Court Street if you remember the tournaments that Linda used to host there).

The first dates will be:
Monday April 27
Monday May 18 (to be confirmed)
Monday June 15
We will need to begin promptly at 7 pm to finish before the shop closes at 11; please plan to arrive by 6:45.

As this is in a game shop, we cannot guarantee a fully quiet playing environment; please be aware of this when registering.

There is a maximum of 16 players for the time being, so it will most likely be four divisions of four players, playing a three-game round robin plus a king-of-the-hill round. $30 entry fee ($15 for the usage of the space per person, plus NASPA fee, plus a small prize pool).

If you would like to enter one / more / any / all of these tournaments, please let me know by responding to this email*.

[* see the flyer for Dan's edress]

Best,
Dan"

The next rated tournament run by Judy Cole at our club venue is Sunday, May 3, 2026. Entrants list and flyer here:
https://www.cross-tables.com/entrants.php?u=16735 And after that she has a Saturday-Sunday 16-round tourney on Memorial Day weekend: https://www.cross-tables.com/entrants.php?u=16738

Please join us for more unrated logotherapy on 55th St. in 24 hours.

SCRABBLE® tournaments, statistics, and community

04/09/2026

Session report for Thurs. Apr. 2, 2026 and other business...

27 competed in 3 divisions. Prizewinners were 1st Bryan Richgruber 4-0 +341, 2nd Andy Kravis 3-1 +143 in Expert division; 1st Christine Economos 3-1 +179, 2nd Chidi Bosah 3-1 +116 in Intermediate; and 1st Thea Hambright 4-0 +334, 2nd Alex Dering 3-1 +368 in Extreme Enthusiast.

Pleasing bingos included: MESOGLEA (hooks are -S, -L) and FANEGADA by Bryan; FOXTROTS by Thea; OVERWILY and HUGGIEST by Jeremy Hall; MONAZITE and VECTORED by me; LINIMENT and HOECAKE by Dan Wachtell; NANNIED and BOWLINE by Jack Lechner; THEBAINE by Tom Feldman; and the new-in-2023 PANTSING+ by Jean Lithgow.

NASPA's Official Tournament (and Club) Rules are undergoing a revision which will be finalized fairly soon. I will post links to the new full rules and summary of changes PDFs when they are finally posted to the NASPA Wiki. Good news is none of the projected changes appear to require new or different steps in our routines. Do all the required things in the prescribed sequence and you're golden. Screw up, and I have to read the book in the browser on my laptop to make sure I get the remedy right because some of the remedies will change in obscure ways that I will never commit to memory.

I'll also remind all of you that when you have any questions about rules and procedures, please stop the clock and call me over to resolve them, and do not get into disruptive disputes about them before it occurs to you to call me. I am in the room to resolve them, I don't mind doing it, you're not bothering me, do not hesitate!

The next rated tournament run by Judy Cole at our club venue is
Sunday, May 3, 2026. Entrants list and flyer here:
https://www.cross-tables.com/entrants.php?u=16735

Please join us for more unrated logotherapy on 55th St. in 15 hours.

SCRABBLE® tournaments, statistics, and community

04/02/2026

Session report for Thurs. Mar. 26, 2026...

26 competed in 3 divisions. Prizewinners were 1st Bryan Richgruber 4-0 +351, 2nd Kurt Davies 3-1 +106 in Expert division; 1st Tom Feldman 4-0 +240, 2nd Kevin Ng 3-1 +109 in Intermediate; and 1st Lainey Berel 3-1 +213, 2nd Joyslin Hodge-Watson 3-1 +160.

Pleasing bingos included: OBENTOS (ana. BOONEST) and LANTHORN by Bryan; TOLLINGS, SEJEANT (also spelt SEJANT, both adj. that do not compare) and CREDENZA by Tom; and KINDLIER by David Firstman.

The next rated tournament run by Judy Cole at our club venue is
Sunday, May 3, 2026. Entrants list and flyer here:
https://www.cross-tables.com/entrants.php?u=16735

Please join us for more unrated logotherapy on 55th St. in 18 hours.

SCRABBLE® tournaments, statistics, and community

03/26/2026

Club #56 is grateful to announce big donations of equipment by Carla and Chris Cree. At a recent rated tourney here, Carla gave us 5 tile sets and bags, and this week, we received 5 of the ZMF-II clocks sold at the NASPA store. We also want to shout out Judy Cole and Kurt Davies for facilitating a very fast delivery of the clocks. This should mean it will be very unlikely anyone will need to use a phone app instead of a stand-alone clock at our club sessions, but that is only true if those of you who already own and regularly bring your own clocks to club continue to do so -- don't think you can rely on everyone else and leave yours home. Thanks!

Joel Sherman, director

03/26/2026

Session report for Thurs. Mar. 19, 2026...

29 competed in 3 divisions. Prizewinners were 1st Seth Weinstein 4-0 +296, 2nd Bryan Richgruber 3-1 +195 in Expert division; 1st Kevin Ng 4-0 +249, 2nd Niki Matsoukas 3-1 +307 in Intermediate; and 1st Sofie Wasserman-Smith 4-0 +388, 2nd Joyslin Hodge- Watson 3-1 +72 in Extreme Enthusiast.

Pleasing bingos included: APRAXIC by Bryan; OVERPASS (ana. obvious) for a triple-triple by Niki; RETEAMING (ana. GERMINATE), GOVERNOR, ZIRCONS and POOFIER (previously expurgated, was returned to game validity among the 2023 additions) by Josh Knapp; CONDIGN (adj., extends -LY) and NONRULING (noun, -S!) by Jeremy Hall; PHARISEE and ARGINASE (ana. ANERGIAS and ANGARIES) by Bob Kerr; UNHOLILY and DOGFISH by Kurt Davies; HAVARTI and VALKYRIE (also spelt VALKYR and WALKYRIE) by David Firstman; RABBITY (does *not* compare, also look for RABBITRY n.) by Jim Piazza; ANTIDORA (formerly a collective noun, we recently added a discrete singular ANTIDORON, neither takes -s), PALMATE (adj., only hooks -D) and REECHOED by Tom Feldman; PETANQUE by Jack Lechner; PERFECTA (ana. PRAEFECT) by Christina LeMoine; PHISHES by Ashwin Vaidyanathan; GENTLING by Jean Lithgow; YELLINGS by Napier Lopez; and CIGARETTE by Alex Dering.

The next rated tournament run by Judy Cole at our club venue is Sunday, May 3, 2026. Entrants list and flyer here:
https://www.cross-tables.com/entrants.php?u=16735

Please join us for more unrated logotherapy on 55th St. in 21 hours.

SCRABBLE® tournaments, statistics, and community

03/19/2026

Session report for Thurs. Mar. 12, 2026...

34 competed in 3 divisions. Prizewinners were 1st Roy Kamen 4-0 +696 (with a lowest score of 445, and average of 542.25!; see previous post for his 6 bingos vs. Skyler), 2nd Jeremy Hall 3-1 +178, 3rd Bryan Richgruber 3-1 +109 in Expert division; 1st Josh Pepper 4-0 +326, 2nd Chidi Bosah 3-1 +301, 3rd Kevin Ng 3-1 +222 in Intermediate; and 1st Harper Wentz 3-1 +555, 2nd Lainey Berel 3-1 +150 in Extreme Enthusiast. Skyler Lutz had the elevator ride from hell, yielding the 717 to Roy in round 1 and 620 to Josh Knapp in round 2, but then coming back strong in round 4 with his own 621 vs. Paul Avrin.

Pleasing bingos included: FANBOYS by Roy; HURLINGS (the pattern ?URLINGS can be completed by all of C-, H- and P-) and ONESELF by J. Hall; fUN(GI)CIDE by Josh P.; BARLESS (ana. obvious) by Lainey; IDYLLIST (also good with one L) by Maddy Kamen; VIRIONS, SECONDI (only pl. of SECONDO, ana. CODEINs), TARTARIC (adj. only) and POBLANO by Andy Kravis; VAWNTIE (also spelt VAUNTIE, both adj., neither compares) HEADENDS and VERSICLE by Lynn Cushman; PREMIXT by Josh K.; PERVADER (ana. DEPRAVER) and THALLUS (plurals are -LI or -LUSES, adj. THALLOID; THALLIC is adj. of THALLIUM) by Skyler Lutz; and ACRIMONY (unrelated but aGrimony is also valid) by Kurt Davies. Department of Near Redundancy Dep't.: Niki Matsoukas bingoed with HEROINE, and Jeremy Hall bingoed with HEROINES.

The next rated tournament run by Judy Cole at our club venue is Sunday, May 3, 2026. Entrants list and flyer here:
https://www.cross-tables.com/entrants.php?u=16735

Please join us for more unrated logotherapy on 55th St. in 22 hours.

SCRABBLE® tournaments, statistics, and community

03/15/2026

Longtime experts Maddy and Roy Kamen visited from Florida in our latest session, and Roy joined the 700 Club for his second time! He played 6 bingos: OOTHECA, WIELDER, TEXTUReD, TINTYPE, DRaINER and ALBITES en route to a 717 game against Skyler Lutz. He also won all 4 games to be top Expert for the session. Thanks to Skyler for the photo of the final board below.