"How long have you been playing scrabble?"

This question puzzles me...

Does it matter how long someone has played the game? Is it asked to be conversational? Are people personally invested in your response, like saying an amount of time that is similar to how long the person asking the question has played would establish a sort of camaraderie? Do people tend to use the amount of time as a gauge for 'how much better or worse' an opponent might be?

For me, it's a distracting question because I never know if they mean how long have I been playing scrabble, or how long I've been playing scrabble competitively. I could just as easily say, "oh, this is my first time playing, I heard about this club--or competition from a friend and I figured I was fairly good with words and thought I'd give it a go". Not all together true, but it sort of answers the question, does it not?


As bloggers, are you truly interested in your opponent's response when that question comes up in conversation? If so, to what end?




I guess we each have our own kinds of reactions to that question.

I tend to try and brush it off. I kind of like NOT knowing how long someone has played, or not knowing the amount of tournaments the individual has played. I like the mystique of the initial meeting. The very first game with an opponent. We all know how this can go...: "Hi, I'm Raf... How are you?" And then the other person introduces herself or himself and it's kind of "Game On". But for me, it's more than that...

It's almost like a performance. How the person checks the board, how they pull their tiles and rearrange their rack. How quickly they make their plays, whether they lift all their tiles at once or place their tiles individually in place on the board.

That initial game is a battle of wits--before you really know where you stand with the person. Before you know what kind of game your opponent plays, you are forced to take guesses. I like that. I like not having an idea as to what I'm up against.

I don't like Losing, but Martha made a good point the other day about it not really being a huge deal if I incur a loss in a match, as long as I was pleased with my performance or I gained some new knowledge. The competitive side of me does feel that anything less than victory is unacceptable, but I honestly like scrabble for the reason that, unlike some athletic competitions, you can learn from each loss. Your opponent might lay new words that you can use in future games, or might have a different technique or see the board differently than you'd been used to.

Do they challenge words often, lay false bingos? In that initial meeting, it's all new. We don't know the mentality of the person. Appearances are definitely important in that first go...Your opponent could come off as aloof by showing up to club an hour late and wearing a college hoodie and tattered jeans. Or perhaps appear more serious in dress slacks and buttoned-down shirts?

There are so many different aspects to scrabble, and I guess that's why I like it so much.


When we have played one another multiple times, you grasp what your opponent might do. You have an understanding--or some might believe-- of where your opponent consistently will lay their tiles, and when they might challenge you or make a challenge-worthy play.

At the same time, knowing a person could be detrimental to your game strategy because we might psych ourselves out if we are playing someone we perceive as much better or if we play someone who consistently plays potentially invalid words.

I guess this rambling note is an open invitation to respond to how you each might take someone asking you, "So, how long have you been playing scrabble"; and what you might do in your initial game against a new opponent.

I'm personally looking forward to when I do go to my first tournament, and I am playing against people I've never met in a completely competitive setting. I wonder how I'll react to their question... perhaps with... "well, how long have YOU been playing?!" Or perhaps I'll smirk and reply simply, "Oh, you know... not that long."