When Alfred Butts finally finished fine-tuning Scrabble in 1948 (it had been rejected by the likes of Parker Brothers and Milton Bradley under the names Lexico and Criss-Crosswords), he was a dynamic but unemployed architect, painter, and photographer who had been working on his game of “half luck and half skill” since the Depression. Though described by Scrabble scholars today as a genius, Butts was never a standout player. More than 50 years later, the men and women who gather annually for the World Scrabble Championships are, of course, standout players; the investigation of who these people really are is the black star surrounded by pink at the center of this brisk but well-rounded documentary. Found footage, tournament drama and romance, interviews, graphics, and the inclusion of Word Freak author Stefan Fatsis all address the Scrabble attraction, though the world’s lone professional, GI Joel Sherman, adds it up well enough. (The GI, incidentally, is for gastrointestinal, one of his many, many ailments.) “Where would I be without Scrabble?” he asks. “Probably in bed most days, every day, every hour, sleeping.”
This article appears in December 5 • 2003.