Book Review: Letterati

By Joseph M. Huber
December 3, 2008

Publisher: ECW Press
Author: Paul McCarthy
Year of Publication: 2008
Pages: 303
Language: English
ISBN: 978-1-55022-828-1

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book for review.

As a fan of games, one quickly becomes aware of just how few games are known by the average non-gamer: Monopoly, certainly. Typically Clue and Trivial Pursuit as well. A few children’s games, usually including Candyland. And one word game – Scrabble.

Letterati is subtitled “an unauthorized look at Scrabble and the people who play it”, and its cover asks three questions, which presumably it purports to answer: “Where did the game of Scrabble originate?”, “How has it developed?”, and “Who are the most sophisticated players and what motivates them to travel to tournaments for which there is little financial reward?” One cannot look at such a book without considering its relation to Word Freak, by Stefan Fatsis, but Letterati seems to be aimed at providing a different picture of the game.

To its credit, Letterati does explore different territory than that of Word Freak. Unfortunately, what is primarily explored is the lack of financial support Hasbro gives to the game of Scrabble, as compared to what the top Scrabble players are looking for. Other topics – the history of the game, for instance – are always tied to the matter of greater remuneration for the players.

Looking back to the cover, one can see a number of interesting stories that might have been told – but weren’t. Start with the subtitle: “An unauthorized look at Scrabble and the people who play it”. One can imagine chapters being devoted to individual players and names within the history of Scrabble. Instead, we tend to get snippets of information and repeated name dropping. Particularly annoying is the inconsistency with which names are explained. Often, the same description of an individual is given every single time the name is brought up, as if the book were written as a series of articles not expected to be read together. In other cases a new description is presented, so in addition to feeling as if the chapters are separate articles, the reader has the added annoyance of being surprised by data not introduced when the individual was first mentioned. Karen Merrill, for example, is introduced in one chapter as a club player who volunteered to help type up words for an updated edition of the Scrabble dictionary – and then, when mentioned later, is described as being a top player. Worse than the inconsistency, however, is the lack of a coherent image of any of the players. About the only individual one can really get a clear picture of is Joe Edley, and that’s because he wanders into and out of the narrative in his various roles so many times that the reader can piece together a view. Apparently McCarthy’s objective was to provide a look at the people who play Scrabble from a collective picture, rather than by telling the detailed story of any individual.

On the back cover of the book, we find the question, “Where did the game of Scrabble originate?” Unfortunately, almost no time is spent on this question; instead, the question answered is, “What is the history of corporate ownership of Scrabble?” Now, this question is of some interest, but so is the original one. The question of the origins of Scrabble is the subject of a single paragraph in the first chapter. Some interesting facts are brought up – for example, that the name, board configuration, and tile distribution didn’t match the current standards until 1948 – but the details of those changes are never mentioned. And even the history of the corporate ownership of the game is mentioned primarily so as to complain about the lack of financial support Scrabble‘s various stewards have given to the tournament game.

The next question – “How has (Scrabble) developed?” – is much better covered. The story of the development and maintenance of the Scrabble dictionary and the Official Club and Tournament Word List is interesting, and McCarthy does a fine job of providing the details. Unfortunately, the theme of bashing Scrabble‘s owners for their greed continues to dominate the story, but at least here there’s interesting data underneath.

Finally, we have this question: “Who are the most sophisticated players and what motivates them to travel to tournaments for which there is little financial reward?” For most gamers, this isn’t a hard question to answer – WBC, BGG.con, Origins, Gen Con, and hundreds of other conventions thrive in spite of the fact that there’s no financial reward. McCarthy likes to compare Scrabble‘s situation to Bridge – but Bridge players also travel far and wide with little financial reward. McCarthy points out the potential for Bridge players to earn by teaching, but ignores the stories he tells of experienced Scrabble players doing the same thing – or the absolutely abysmal reception that a visitor to a Scrabble club is likely to receive. As McCarthy describes the scene, “Most clubs play tournament-style Scrabble, with little or no socializing during games. Talking, except in hushed tones, is frowned upon. There aren’t many smiles. I often think of club Scrabble as the grim game. But for most newbies, the seriousness is only part of the problem.” And yet he still seems to be surprised that players don’t want to come back just because of the draw of the game. For me, this reception helps to explain why Hasbro doesn’t provide greater support for tournament Scrabble beyond a small bit of advertising, instead preferring to focus on the millions of dollars it can make by selling sets to the home players.

I suppose there’s an audience for Letterati; those who share McCarthy’s opinions about the lack of support that Scrabble‘s owners have provided may find more ammunition for their views. For anyone else, however, I cannot recommend the book. It has the feel of a 300 page op-ed piece, and any sympathy I had for McCarthy’s position was exhausted long before I finished reading. There is interesting data included, but there are no stories of the people and no stories of the games, or even the clever moves. For those looking for an enjoyable Scrabble book to read, Word Freak is a far more entertaining option.

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