If you enjoy playing Scrabble, but don’t have any friends who also like to play the game, the best thing to do is form a Scrabble® club and try to attract people from around your city. It may take a few weeks or even a few months to acquire a lot of members, but persevere and eventually you will have enough people to play with. Even if you only get one new member of your club – at least that will give you someone to play with.
When starting a Scrabble® club, the first thing to do is decide if you wish to provide all the Scrabble games used by your club, or if you want your members to bring in their own games.
A possible solution is to purchase a number of inexpensive games from the auction site eBay – or even visit your local Goodwill or other stores that sell used games. The most expensive games are the deluxe ones that come with a turntable, and burgundy tiles instead of plain wooden ones. The plastic suitcase-type Scrabble® boards come with black tiles and are quite nice also. Do a search on eBay for a couple of weeks to gauge the prices – some people will sell the game cheaply but make up the price in shipping, others will charge $20 to $30 or even more, but ship for free.
When you are first starting your club, you have no way of knowing how many people will join – unless you have a lot of friends who like to play the game and will be happy to join. Purchase three or four games just so that you can have some for emergencies.
You can also purchase inexpensive used Scrabble® dictionaries from eBay. Some Scrabble® players prefer to use “tournament rules” at all times – which means no using dictionaries. Others prefer relaxed rules – they use dictionaries during regular club meetings, but when a club holds a tournament, then no dictionaries are used. You also download two sheets called Cool Words from the Scrabble® Association website (do a Google search on “Cool Words for Scrabble®” to find the site.) This is a very helpful resource – it lists 2 letter words, 3 letter words, Q words that don’t need a U, short X and J words, and “Vowel dumps.”
Purchase a bulk amount of paper pads and pens in order to keep score.
Purchase some bulk candy and bottles of water to have at each club meeting.
Next decide on what day you want to hold your club meetings, and at what time. Depending on if you are looking strictly for retirees or for members of all ages, you could hold your meetings during the day or during the evening. If you have retirees during the day is usually the best time, if you are aiming for a variety of age groups, hold the meeting during the evening.
If your library has meeting rooms, reserve one of these on the same day, and at the same time, for four or five weeks. It is usually best to meet in a library or at a restaurant instead of at your own home, until you get to know your members.
Next, print up a few flyers advertising your club. Give your phone number, and a list of date, times and meeting rooms for the club. Specify if you’re looking for all ages or just seniors. Arrange to post these on your library’s community bulletin board. If you have used book stores or magazine stores in the city, stop in and ask if you can post the flyers. (Usually the major chains like Barnes & Noble won’t let you post flyers, but used book stores and coffee shops will.)
Depending on how many Scrabble® boards you acquire, you can bring them to and from your Scrabble® meetings in a suitcase.
Bring a book with you during the first meeting, and wait to see who shows up. If no one does, don’t despair. Do a bit more networking. Post the details of your Scrabble® club on your local Craigslist. Talk to the info person at your library and ask them to tell people about the Scrabble club. If there’s a Welcome Wagon-type organization in your city or neighborhood, put an ad in their newsletter.
After about five weeks, you’ll have at least a couple of members. Keep working on building membership, and after a few months you’ll have at least ten or fifteen with whom to play.
How To Start A Scrabble Club
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