Scrabble is around 70 years old. Born in the United States, the game is known throughout the world and the number of players in Poland is growing.

"You'll find fans of Scrabble in any country," says Wojciech Usakiewicz, the Scrabble champion of Poland and the man who wrote the first Polish book on the game, Grajmy w Scrabble (Let's Play Scrabble). The 250-page opus, co-written with Michał Derlecki, includes basic information on the game, tactical advice, analyses of different letters and the history of Scrabble in Poland.

Professional Scrabble is distinguished by a set dictionary that does not allow certain words. "In games played for fun, you can always find a compromise," says the champion. "If the same were to occur during a tournament, we'd have a fight. The other difference is that during a tournament we play with a clock, so your opponent doesn't spend three weeks thinking."

Currently, the Polish Scrabble Federation's ranking has 50 players who have played at least one game at a tournament over the last two years. "The history of Scrabble in Poland is quite long given our conditions," says Usakiewicz. The federation organizes 20-30 tournaments per year. It's surprising how many different communities have adopted this way of spending their free time. There are championships for journalists, schools, the coastal region, the Kujawy region and others.

The tournaments attract international participants. Of course, in order to become a world champion, you have to play in English. "By winning the Polish championships, I've actually become world champion in Scrabble in Polish," says Usakiewicz. "I have played in Polish with an Englishman and he was doing fine. But in general, I play with Poles."

Can you learn how to really compete by playing on the Internet? Yes and no. "The Web is a dead place," says Usakiewicz. "I don't like playing online. I prefer a real rival who thinks, reacts and gets irritated." Scrabble is good for impatient people. If you want to play professionally, you can get decent results in quite a short time. And certainly faster than in chess. "Even a player with little experience, but with a lot of luck, has a chance of beating a champion," says Usakiewicz. "Aided by a dictionary, I'm able to beat a world champion. In chess, with Karpov across the table, I wouldn't achieve much."

This season, two tournaments in English were held in Poland. The first was between Warsaw and Poznań. The second took place in Poznań and was an unofficial Polish championship and an qualifying round for the world championships. In the fall, players from around the world will play in Kuala Lumpur. If the PFS manages to obtain the necessary funds, a Polish representative will attend.


Anyone interested in playing Scrabble in English may contact Wojciech Usakiewicz at tel. 810-37-25, e-mail: ukisiel@poczta.onet.pl
Polish Scrabble Federation, 4/18 Dobruckiego St., Piastów, tel. 723-22-20.