Word games people play

WHEN ALFRED BUTTS, a bored out-of-work New York architect, devised a word game in 1931, Chennai could hardly have had any takers for his game, then called Lexicon.

Seven decades later, a Chartered Accountant from Hyderabad is rallying Chennai school kids for a qualifier to the first National Scrabble Tournament for children.

Zygo Scrabble Clubs, a key Scrabble organisation in India, already has a Chennai chapter. But that won't do. Zygo wants to establish more localised clubs in the City. And Mr. V.R. Damaraj, its secretary, wants more kids participating.

When Zygo started its nation-wide operations, the focus was on adults. Children were virtually banned from the board. Scrabble picked up, but not as expected.

The club roped in some back-home NRIs, who were serious players abroad, hoping to up the competition levels. But that didn't help much. ``The standard is still poor. We can't stand up to international players,'' Damaraj says. ``Our focus on adults was wrong.''

Zygo then decided to catch them young. It approached schools urging them to organise scrabble competitions. Eventually, it got more kids interested and was amazed at how ``they started giving the blushes to the adults.''

Damaraj recounts that when he approached Padma Seshadri group of schools in Chennai recently, they were more than enthused. The school wanted him to help conduct a scrabble competition among their three branches in the City.

Just the kind of attitude he was looking for. ``There should be inter-school competitions,'' he says pointing out that kids take to the game like ducks to... What he would ideally love is someone who will be to scrabble as Viswanathan Anand was to chess in Chennai.

And why not. Scrabble is a good mind vitamin for kids. Besides the obvious vocabulary edge, ``it helps them develop spacial relationships, mathematics and cooperative learning, and sets them thinking about words,'' he says.

Chennai will likely be a key scrabble zone considering that Zygo will host the second National Tournament for school children in the City early next year. The club held a competition for Chennai school children in January. But that was more an introduction. Zygo will conduct its official scrabble tournament for school children on April 20, in which about 70 students are expected to participate. It starts early at 8-30 a.m.

There are two categories - classes 4-7 and classes 8- 10. The toppers will get to participate in the first national championship for children to be held in May at Secunderabad.

``We will be taking 10 children from Chennai to the Hyderabad tournament. Of these, two are winners of the previous championship, but they will have to take on the adults this time,'' Damaraj said. Pit them against the tough till they get tougher.

There's also a championship for young adults, in other words, late beginners, on April 22, again at the Cosmopolitan Club.

For registration, call 4421347/4410611.

By Feroze Ahmed

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Section  : Southern States
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