Word Freak: Heartbreak, Triumph, Genius, and Obsession in the World of Competitive ScrabblePlayers
 

Word Freak: Heartbreak, Triumph, Genius, and Obsession in the World of Competitive ScrabblePlayers

by Stefan Fatsis

Like a cross between a linguistic spy and a lexicographic Olympic athlete, journalist Stefan Fatsis gave himself a year to penetrate the highest echelons of international Scrabble competition. Word Freak is the account of his journey. It's a wacky grab bag of travelogue, history, party journal, and psychological study of the misfits and goofballs whose lives are measured out in Scrabble... (read more)

Top tags: scrabblenonfictionnon-fictionmemoirgames (all tags)

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Most Helpful Reviews

Liked It

Highflung
  • Rated 4 stars

A window on obsession - what you see through that window tells a lot about one's self
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Annoying and weird, funny, loveable, eccentric, talented, and driven - the multitude of players Fastis helps us get do know display all of these characteristics and many more. There's gobs of interesting scrabble history, trivia, strategy, and tournament play-by-play but what this book was really about for me was obsession: it was about how obsession...

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Didn’t Like It

adamreck1
  • Rated 2 stars

Personally, I am fascinated by competitive Scrabble. This book raised my interest significantly, made me realize I would never be able to play past a certain level, and then bored me as the tales of freaks interacting became repetitious after a dozen or so chapters... I only play Scrabble occasionally these days.

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Community:
  • Rated 3.982906 stars
Amazon:
  • Rated 4.5 stars
 

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