700 Word Experts Head to Reno Aug. 19-24 for Nat'l SCRABBLE Championship; ESPN to Telecast

700 Word Experts Head to Reno Aug. 19-24 for Nat'l SCRABBLE Championship; ESPN to Telecast

RENO, Nev., Aug. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- There's a new game in town this summer, one that doesn't involve cards, chips, dealers or spinning wheels. Instead competitors rely on well-worn dictionaries, secret word lists and lots and lots of letters. It's the 2005 National SCRABBLE(R) Championship (NSC), August 19-24, at the Reno Hilton where nearly 700 players from 40 states and 6 countries will vie for the $25,000 first prize and nearly $90,000 in cash. All competitors play four days, seven rounds a day, culminating in a best-of-five final with the two top players on Wednesday, August 24th. It will be taped by ESPN for telecast later in the year.

"This is our Super Bowl, World Series, anything you want to call it," explains John D. Williams Jr., Executive Director of the National SCRABBLE(R) Association (NSA), which organizes the event. All competitors come from the NSA's 10,000 club and tournament players. "Some people train four hours a day for this all year long." Williams added that seven former National and World SCRABBLE(R) Champions will compete this year, including the current World Champion, who is coming from Thailand. The defending champion is Trey Wright, 32, a concert pianist from Los Angeles. The first National SCRABBLE Championship was held in 1978 with just a handful of players.

The tournament SCRABBLE scene has exploded in recent years, with nearly 200 local and regional competitions held annually. The phenomenon was chronicled by the recent documentary "WORD WARS" which debuted at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival and was recently nominated for an EMMY award. In addition, the acclaimed National School SCRABBLE(R) Program has had over 1 million students participate. Many of them will be in Reno to test their skills against more seasoned adults. NSC contestants range in age from 13 to 94 years old.

NSC 2005 features live on-line coverage at http://www.scrabbleassociation.com/. Last year, the website received over 6 million hits during the event. A new feature this year is the "M-W" prize, which awards $1000 for the best play using those two letters. It's to help celebrate the publication of the new Fourth Edition of The Official SCRABBLE(R) Players Dictionary from Merriam-Webster, published this summer. The NSC is underwritten by HASBRO, Inc., maker of the game.

HASBRO is the owner of the registered SCRABBLE(R) trademark in the United States and Canada. 2005 HASBRO. All rights reserved.

Source: National SCRABBLE Association

CONTACT: John D. Williams Jr., +1-631-477-0033 ext. 14, Cell:
+1-516-658-7583, jdw@scrabble-assoc.com, for National SCRABBLE Association

Web site: http://www.scrabbleassociation.com/

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