Scrabble Tournament challenges ages 6+ on May 19

Fervent competitors, casual players, and newbie’s age 6 and up are welcome to participate in Oak Park Public Library’s spring Scrabble Tournament. Put your Scrabble skills to the test starting at 1 pm on Saturday, May 19 at the Main Library, 834 Lake Street. Registration begins May 1. Register at the library, at http://oppl.org/events/scrabble-tournament, or call 708-452-3440.

Players at the Scrabble Tournament will be divided into four age brackets:
(1) ages 6 – 9
(2) ages 10 – 13
(3) ages 14 – 17
(4) ages 18 and older

Choose competitors from your age bracket. Players will be assigned four to a Scrabble board. The 2008 version of The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary will be the official dictionary for the tournament. Prizes will be awarded to the player with the top score in each age bracket.

Whether you have never played Scrabble before or consider yourself an expert, come show your skills at Oak Park Public Library’s Scrabble Tournament!

Brush up your Scrabble skills and get game pointers with these resources from the library: The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary, The Official Scrabble Players Handbook edited by Drue K. Conklin, Scrabble Crossword Game Players, inc., and Everything Scrabble: Crossword Game by Joe Edley and John D. Williams, Jr,

Soak up the Scrabble culture with Word Wars, an entertaining documentary which follows four Scrabble game fanatics as they advance to the North American Championship. In his book Letterati: An Unauthorized Look at Scrabble and the People Who Play It, Paul McCarthy conveys the history of this past-time/obsession. In The Fingertips of Duncan Dorfman, a fiction work for kids written by Meg Wolitzer, three twelve-year-olds meet at the Youth Scrabble Tournament and realize that something more important is at stake than the grand prize.

Further prepare for the Scrabble Tournament by referencing the Oxford English Dictionary online. With your library card and PIN visit http://oppl.org/languages.

Find more events happening at Oak Park Public Library at http://oppl.org/events/calendar.