How to Become a More Competitive Scrabble Player

Have you ever seen that documentary Word Wars, about a bunch of full-time professional Scrabble tournament players? (Yes, there is such a thing as a full-time professional Scrabble tournament player.) By turns unbelievably sad and hilariously entertaining, it proves that some things-like games and sports-just shouldn't be taken too terribly seriously. Be forewarned: while Word Wars focuses heavily on the losers who spend way too much of their lives trying for the impossible dream of making a living by doing little else besides placing tiny tiles with letters on a cardboard square, the one Scrabble champion who has a successful life, a wife and kids and such is given the least amount of the screen time. (It's kind of like the fact that the only part of American Idol that might even possibly worth giving up an hour of your time for would be the part that allows you to laugh at thoroughly untalented people; and yes, I'm talking about when the judges give opinions, not when those poor saps sing in such a way that would sterilize frogs at a thousand yards.) And yet, even though the film does focus on those Scrabble tournament professionals who still live with their mothers and can only find the comfort of female company when green paper with pictures of dead Presidents are featured in the transaction, there is still much to be admired about these people who are playing at the top of the elite in the hardscrabble world of...Scrabble. Could you have a shot at becoming part of the cast of Word Wars II? Perhaps, if you follow some of this advice on how to become a better Scrabble player.