By Jimmy Boegle. I noticed the motto you have for the tucsonscrabble. I change that every once in a while with something clever. The last one was, "Where the elite meet to spell m-e-a-t. How many people usually show up for the weekly meeting at Denny's? About There's every variety of person you could think of. There's every age--our youngest is in the mid-late 20s, and the oldest is pushing They come from all walks of life.
We have engineers, a retired CIA person, an entomologist and teachers. Why Denny's? Because they put up with us. Also, more practically, some of our players are from Sierra Vista, Sonoita, the Patagonia area--and this tends to be a little closer for them.
Some of our players drive miles roundtrip to play every week. It's very addicting. What makes it so addictive? The level of competition. It's a very strategic game. Also, there's an element of luck involved, and that makes it interesting. There's a mathematical aspect, but it also gives attention to people's love of words and language. What's the highest word score you've ever gotten? The one I can remember is points. The word was "cherries. I hit two triple word scores at the same time, meaning it was nine times the point value, plus a point word bonus.
That's called a "triple triple. We return all of that, save 25 percent of it, in the form of cash prizes. We might have a prize for high game of the evening, or an award for a "high and dry"--the best word score with a word that contains the letters D-R-Y. Plus, there are different jackpots that accumulate over the sessions. Do you bring in a lot of business for Denny's? We do. Again, they put up with us, and for that, we ask the participants to order dinner and tip our wonderful servers well.
You say they "put up" with you. Do you get rowdy sometimes? A long time ago, I worked as a waiter at a Denny's, so from experience, I know that waiting on a large group can be a pain. Mine is Moons Over My Hammy. Probably breakfast, the fajita skillet.
