Area teams ready for Scrabble Challenge
Annual Scrabble Challenge aims to promote literacy
TROY, N.Y. » The Literacy Volunteers of Rensselaer County will be hosting its fourth annual non- traditional Scrabble Challenge to help promote literacy in the community and raise money for their local organization.
This year, the event will take place from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 18 at St. Michael’s Church, located at 175 Williams Road.
The Scrabble games will be played non- traditionally, with participants working in teams instead of playing as individuals. Teams learn to work together, as each member plays a different role in the game.
“It’s great to watch the teams strategize,” said Judith Smith, executive director of the organization. “It’s really a good lesson on teamwork and making best use of the time. The event relates to the challenges that our students meet in terms of being able to read and spell.”
Each year the games are varied slightly with different rules. There will be trivia questions in between the games, raffles, and refreshments for all participants. This year, the trivia questions will have to do with the history of the Literacy Volunteers of Rensselaer County, as the organization is celebrating its 50th year.
This year, the first game will allow for three letters per word minimum and seven letters per word maximum. The second game will be “The Vowel Game” in which teams will not be allowed to use a specific vowel. At the start of the game, teams will be notified which vowel they must play without. The final game will be “The Theme Game.” For this game, there will be a theme each word must correspond with. “Things you find in a school” is a theme from last year’s scrabble challenge.
Teams are not allowed to use their phones or any other resource to help with spelling out words. If a team is feeling stuck, they can donate $1 to use a dictionary peek or to purchase extra tiles.
There will also be prizes for the top three scorers. Prizes include gift cards to various restaurants such as Defazio’s Pizza, Five Guys, Moscatiello’s, and Sunhee’s Farm and Kitchen.
Along with the prizes for the top scorers, there will be raffles for other prizes which have been donated by various businesses. Several of which include items from Autozone, Uncle Sam’s Natural Good & Natural Products gift card, Starbucks gift cards, Plum Blossom lunch tickets, Siena basketball tickets, Dutch Apple tickets, and more.
Last year, twelve teams participated in the challenge and several thousand dollars were raised for the organization. This year, 9 teams have already registered for the event and several more walk-ins are expected.
The organization hosts events throughout the year to raise money to educate the community about literacy issues and teach people to read and write English. They have two more upcoming events, the Famous Ladies’ Tea in March and the Literacy 5k Run in May.
“There is a bit of everything for all ages and abilities,” Smith said. “We have so many ways people can become involved.”
Admission for the scrabble challenge is $15 per person, $10 for students or $60 for a team of fours. Teams can register in advance at http://www. lvorc.org, although walk-ins are also permitted on the date of the event.
“It’s a really fun event,” said Smith. “We have good people that come to all of the events, and it’s another opportunity for people to get involved.”