Rating: 
Summary: Boring book about boring people!!
Review: This book is about all the social and career underachievers who play Scrabble as an escape, so they do not have to deal with life. The author describes their medical and psychological "issues", ad nauseam! if you don't beleive that such one dimensional people exist with no obvious means of financial support,,,,,,, then read on, but I did not empathize or care about them by the second chapter. Besides, they all stared to resemble each other, I did not care to keep them staight in my mind. You might learn a few new Scrabble words, if you are a hobby player. But I did not find it worth the effort.
Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining
Review: Scrabble is one of the most popular board games in the world. A relaxing diversion for most, it has spawned a subculture of competitive play, the subject of journalist Stefan Fatsis investigations in "Word Freak."
The game is relatively new, being the invention of one Alfred Butts (inspired in part by Edgar Allan Poe). An architect thrown out of work during the Great Depression, Butts took most of the 1930s to develop Scrabble, the description of which makes clear how difficult it is to invent a good game, even though Scrabble now seems like a completely obvious and natural idea. Unable to secure a contract with a game manufacturer, Butts was obliged to personally assemble and mail the sets to customers reached only by word of mouth. The game eventually got commercial distribution in the late '40s, but it was only in the early '50s that it really took off, becoming a national craze before its sales subsided to the more modest, but steady, level they have retained ever since. Sold by Butts to Selchow & Righter, Scrabble is currently owned by Hasbro. Butts earned a total of about a million dollars from sales, so he wasn't completely stiffed, but given that upwards of 100 million sets have been sold worldwide this amounts to less than a fair shake for what is probably the greatest board game with a known creator.
Most of the rest of the book is devoted to Fatsis' observations of the top players and his personal journey to improve his rating (Scrabble has a chess-like rating system). Fatsis encounters the usual passel of misfits, oddballs and curious characters of the type familiar to anyone who has ever had more than a casual involvement with chess, gambling or even video games. These pastimes, which may threaten to swallow one's entire life, seem to have a fatal attraction for a particular type, who is generally cerebral, competitive, solitary, eccentric and male. In fairness, however, the majority of players are quite normal. Even at the highest level there is a balance between the well-rounded, with full time jobs (often university professors) and those tending to monomania. Fatsis recounts his personal struggle with the obsessive lure of Scrabble. The kibitzing, one-upmanship and occasional feuding, but also the peculiar sense of community engendered by the game are well rendered.
Like all competitive pastimes Scrabble has a hierarchy. The untouchables, almost beneath contempt, are "living-room players," that is, normal people who play only for fun. Above them are the "blue hairs," blue-rinsed grandmothers, who make up the lowest grade of tournament players. Starting as a novice, Fatsis gradually gains strength, albeit not without setbacks: as any real player knows, there is no pain like the pain of losing to some limper you should be mopping the floor with. Eventually, however, he attains expert level, amongst the top 200 players in North America.
The serious game is different from the amateur version. First, and obviously, scores are a lot higher. Scores over 500 are routine, with the record a whopping 770. So are multiple bingos (playing all seven letters for a 50-point bonus) in the same game. Challenging words and even deliberately playing phonies are important tactical points. The issue of what words are acceptable is one of the most unsatisfying aspects of the serious game. For one thing, there are different official dictionaries in different parts of the world. Players therefore have to memorize not only obscure words but also which word list they are in, depending on whether they are playing in local, foreign or international events. The combined British and North American official word list, known by the unforgettable name of SOWPODS, an anagram of the acronyms of the two lists, is used in most of the world outside North America. The pros also resort to sharp practices, such as the Machiavellian tactic of deliberately playing a phony in the hope that the opponent will not only accept it, but pluralize or otherwise extend it. The extended word is then challenged as a phony and the opponent loses a turn. The admission of other "words" such as BRR (as in "Brr! It's cold!") which can be extended to make BRRR, also seem rather questionable. While the game requires a certain strategic sense the main way of improving one's play is simply by learning more words. There are hundreds of obscure two and three-letter words that have to be learned just to reach minimal tournament strength, and then thousands of special lists, like the 84 possible bingos that can be made from the root SATIRE plus one other tile, or, for the truly dedicated, the 21,734 seven letter bingos in the Scrabble Players Dictionary. This sort of mnemonic drudgery, which must make learning chess openings feel like going to the movies, has to practised for years to crack the top ranks. Many words are so obscure that players do not even bother to learn their meanings, which strikes one as rather Philistine.
While it is a matter of taste, there is a sense in which competitive Scrabble goes a bit too far. Scrabble should be fun. There is something slightly unpleasant about the prospect of sitting down for a game with some hard-core obsessive who in all seriousness plays words like ALNAGES, JIMP or WATERZOOL, or absurd twos like CH, UG or ZO. Fatsis makes the fair point that the top players do not get much public recognition (or money) for their hard work and talent. Yet on the other hand, there is something slightly horrifying about so much effort and ingenuity being devoted to something so inconsequential, although this is certainly true of many other activities besides Scrabble.
Fatsis describes his subjects (and himself) with empathy and humour. It may not inspire the reader to become a tournament Scrabble player, but "Word Freak" is a well-written and entertaining account of a subculture most of us will never get to see.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating look at obsession with a game
Review: The author, an otherwise reputable sports reporter and writer, spent two years devoting his life to Scrabble in order to document the obsession, eccentricity, and passion found in the world of competitive Scrabble. Fatsis talks about the history of the game and how the tournaments were born, but the real star of this book is the game itself, and the expert players. He introduces us to the quirky oddballs, I mean esteemed luminaries, who form the upper echelons of Scrabble playing: the uptight, meditating and self-affirming expert who comes across as arrogant; the affable and possibly hypochondriac Joel, nick-named "G.I. Joel," as in Gastro-Intentinal, for obvious and unfortunate reasons; the unemployable African-American quasi-activist, ever complaining about the Man; the neurotic, pill-popping Matt, also unemployable. Fatsis acknowledges that he's highlighted the eccentric characters among the experts and only breifly touched upon the many "normal" expert players, and why not? It makes for more interesting reading. Interesting, too, is the game as it's played by experts: a different game indeed from drawing-room amateurs' bouts. The words are archaic to the point of unrecognizability: two-letter words like AA and SH also abound, allowing for players to lay tiles atop or below other words instead of intersecting them in the familiar way. The only way to become an expert (a goal Fatsis soon becomes literally obsessed with) is to memorize reams of these words; many players are only vaguely familiar with their meanings, if at all. They know only whether the words are acceptable in the official word list. It comes to a point where the letters are, as one expert puts it, "scoring tools:" they may as well be colors, or shapes that you arrange in memorized patterns. And in a way, that's strange and sad, for isn't Scrabble a game of active word power, not rote memorization of thousands of letter strings? In any case, a fascinating look into a world of obsession, written in a clear, intelligent, and honest style. Hard to put down.
Rating: 
Summary: I'm addicted
Review: Just as the characters in this story are addicted to Scrabble, I find myself addicted to this book. I've had a really hard time putting it down, and even missed my train stop once because I was so engrossed. As a (very) novice player, my mouth is often agape with this book (how could you get 600 points in a game?!?). The characters are so rich, original and compelling. And Fatsis' writing skills are extraordinary. I would recommend it to anyone who likes to play Scrabble, on any level. My only warning is that the text contains a lot of foul language, which is fine for me, but I'm debating whether to recommend it to my mother and grandmother.
Rating:
Summary: more than just words, a mid-life transformation
Review: Just finished "Word Freak" by Stefan Fatsis. To paraphrase Wolfgang Petersen, it is a descent into competitiveness. I have competed at the national level in both athletics and games, and I noticed a great similiarity between my experiences and Fatsis': The initial allure, the fear of the competitive environment, and then the dedication to becoming better and better at what most people consider a pastime. Some reviews have described this book as lacking a driving theme, but that's how life often plays out. This isn't a hollywood screenplay; it's a narrative. It perfectly describes a newcomer's journey into a bizarre, off-beat world and the slow progression from interested outsider to devoted elite member of a strange little society. Most of all, he perfectly captures the camaraderie and sense of belonging that develops between people who would normally never notice each other.
Rating:
Summary: It Takes All Kinds!
Review: While this book is the tale of a professional sports writer who decides to try to become a competitive Scrabble player, it is really a tale of obsession. The players detailed in the book have no other goal in life except to win as many Scrabble games by the widest margin as often as they can. And in order to achieve this goal, the players must spend an immense amount of time studying word lists, and analyzing prior plays to determine how best to play the board. Some of the players spend more time studying and playing the game than any full time job would require. Since most of them don't have a job, they are able to commit huge word lists to memory. The funny thing is that very few of them actually know the meaning of the words they use, only that they exist as words. And any outside person to the game would probably not recognize 70% of the words played. I remember reading a study years ago that eccentrics, people who become obsessed with an hobby or pastime, often live longer than other people because their single minded devotion actually gives them more of a purpose to live. If that is true, then many of the players highlighted in this book should see one hundred years at least. While it is hard to understand their obsession, I did some to admire the players. They are truly doing what they want to do. They have not conformed to the 9-5 working day, with a spouse and 1.8 children. While most players have very limited funds, none of the players seemed to moan about the lack of money. As long as they had enough to provide for the most basic needs, Scrabble fulfilled the rest of their life. Since Fatsis interviewed very few family members of the players, it was difficult to see the impact that this lifestyle had on the family. But one father did bemoan the fact that this two sons, both in their 30's never seemed to be able to hold a job and were content to do nothing else except play Scrabble and live at home with their elderly father. Author Fatsis does a wonderful job of describing the players and their motivation. He asks hard questions and doesn't hesitate to point out how odd their viewpoints are when compared to the rest of society. Yet he also wonders at the way their brains work, the amazing ability these players possess to see words out of a random set of letters. He stands in awe of the immense amount of work that players have devoted to the game and wonders how much it would take to lure him into this sub-culture. I would recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in the game because much detail is given about its origins, and the various strategies employed to become a competitive player. But I would also recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand obsession and how one single purpose in life can shape that life.
Rating: 
Summary: penultimate gaff
Review: I have no complaints about this book except that it's rather dry considering the subject matter is about a sub-culture of people partially or totally obsessed with a board game. My main problem is this: Near the end of the book when Fatsis is describing his experience where he claimed to have played the "total game," I was appalled to discover a mistake in his reasoning. He graphically (p. 338 in my paperback edition) and deliberately describes the set-up on a board during a particular tournamet game nearing the end game. He says that he had an available place to play MATADORS but to ensure that his opponent would not block his chances, he plays the letter B on anavailable O (BO) to set up an alternate place to bingo with the hook on BO for ABO on a subsequent turn. The problem is that MATADORS would not fit on the board in the place where the A on his tray would hook onto ABO. Now this may sound like a small complaint, but this whole book is about attention to detail. Is this just a case of poor proof-reading or is Fatsis jerking the reader around with a phony set-up? I am a little bit ticked at this minor irritation because I asked Fatsis at a recent Book Review at Powell's Books if he felt any pangs of remorse by playing phony words. He said that it was just part of the game and why should he feel remorse? I frankly think that the phony words diminish the purity of the game and Fatsis should acknowledge that the game will be flawed until this bluffing techniques is ruled illegal. If he wants to bluff he should play poker. If he gets a thrill out of laying down a phony word and getting away with it, so be it. But when he gloats at his successful challenge of an inferior opponent's play of a plural noun with an S hooked onto his own phony word, I draw the line. He should feel good about his ability to play the game in its purest form, not in his ability to out-flank an inferior opponent. Shame on him. Life in the world of a competitive Scrabble player may be as pathetic as he describes.
Rating:
Summary: Whether you like games or not, you'll like this book.
Review: Fatsis gives an interesting perspective on obsessive Scrabble players that he himself is tranformed into throughout the course of the book. The only negative of reading this is that you might have urges to waste the rest of your life learning bingo's and arguing for or against SOWPODS.
Rating:
Summary: Can't find an anagram good enough...
Review: My wife and I are serious gamers and serious readers, but not really serious SCRABBLE(tm) players. However, it is rare that you can find a good read about games and this book fits that criteria. It is also interesting to read a book where you think you know how to play the game, but then realize that there is a level WAY beyond your play (at least mine), and can appreciate it. While the SCRABBLE parts of the book are great, if you're not into that, you can still read it for the interesting people and the insight into competition and what drives them to more-or-less dedicate their lives to something most everyone thinks of as a coffee table game.
Rating:
Summary: great book
Review: This was a highly interesting foray into the competitive scrabble world. At times, the chronology of the story was difficult to follow. This is my only complaint. Warning: this will make you want to join the upper echelon of scrabblers!
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