Scrabble
1st and 3rd Thursdays pm
Conveners: Pat Windle and June Lunnon
The Scrabble group meets on the first and third Thursday of the month, 2-4pm in the King Billy pub in the centre of Cottingham. There are thirteen members at present who enjoy a sociable afternoon, with optional competitiveness for those who take their Scrabble more seriously.
There is no charge but members are asked to buy something to drink.
A FEW SCRIBBLES ABOUT SCRABBLE
They say that Scrabble and Monopoly are the two greatest board games of the twentieth century. Maybe. But there's one big difference. With Scrabble you never lose the will to live. A game of Scrabble goes on until all the letters are used up. A game of Monopoly just goes on...and on...and on. Monopoly seems a pleasant enough way to while away an hour or so. But after what seems half a lifetime later it's turned into a nightmare. You've become a glassy-eyed, hoarse-voiced, money-shuffling zombie, desperately trying to land on an opponent's hotel-rich Mayfair in a bid to end the misery. Monopoly is the only game I know where people cheat in order to lose.
Scrabble is not at all like that. It's fun. The most frequent noise you'll hear at our u3a Scrabble sessions is the sound of laughter. And don't believe all the scare stories you've heard about it. You don't have to be a walking encyclopaedia or a wizard at cryptic crosswords or some kind of weirdo who's digested a dictionary in order to be good at it. All it needs is a bit of practice and some ever-willing help from your fellow players. Take the sentence: "The cat sat on the mat." Can you spell all the words there? Of course you can. So you can play Scrabble. By the way, notice anything about the words in that sentence? They're all just two or three letters. And believe it or not, two and three-letter words are the real key to the game. Naturally, the ones used in Scrabble are a little more exotic, particularly those containing the last three letters of the alphabet. Nevertheless, you'll be surprised at how quickly you pick them up. We have lists to help you and no - you don't have to memorise them. Though after a while you may find yourself idly picking out words from car number plates. Though please don't do this while you're driving. Insurance companies tend not to be impressed by the explanation that you crashed because the car registration in front spelled out a word meaning a breed of Himalayan cattle (ZHO).
So even if you're a total Scrabble virgin, why not give us a try. You'll find that all our members are extremely welcoming and helpful. Naturally, everybody plays to win. But winning - in our group at least - is not the most important factor. We play because we enjoy it, win or lose. There's another thing too. Scrabble is an excellent way of exercising those little grey cells. And you know what they say about them - use 'em or lose 'em.
Don't worry if you have no Scrabble board, we have enough to go around. Though once you're hooked, you'll soon want to get your own.
- Bryan Summers
If you would like to join the group please contact Pat or June by clicking the bird icon.