Addicted to Scrabble
On a recent visit to my daughter, my grandson and daughter
downloaded an online Scrabble game to my wife’s (formally my) iPad.
My wife has always loved Scrabble, and is quite good at
it. She always wants to play me at
it, knowing she will outscore me by a considerable margin. I have wisely declined her innocent
invitation to the slaughter.
Once the game was downloaded to her iPad, she started
playing with my daughter, who is no slouch when it comes to word games.
The outcome of the first ten games was pretty much a
slaughter.
Barbara gleefully reported her clever use of the tiles and
the resultant lopsided scores to everyone (mostly me) who would listen.
She was queen of the scrabblers and sought to engage other
players who she anticipated slaughtering as well. She enlarged her group to include friends and other family
members including her grandson.
Around the 8th game, a serpent entered this
veritable Eden. My daughter was
getting better.
At first it was just taking a coveted spot on the board
before Barbara could use it. Soon,
the scores were closer together.
Barbara complained bitterly about how well my daughter was doing. She became angry every time Ronni did
well. When Ronni finally beat her,
there was little I could do to console her.
Her only solace was to take it out on the other players.
Scrabble has taken over her life. She turns on her iPad early in the morning and continues
playing until late at night.
She gets angry when players take too much time in between
moves, and rails at them for taking “her spot” or forming a high scoring
word. She takes it as a personal
attack when other players do well and are competitive. She wants to win badly.
Saying she is competitive is like comparing her to the US
invasion of Grenada.
Last night, I made her turn off the iPad at 11 o’clock. She was getting upset no one was still
playing with her.
Yesterday she breathlessly reported how she had beaten our
daughter on the last play by making a 52-point word combination.
“She was thoroughly demoralized,” Barbara joyfully reported.
Now Barbara loves our daughter, but….
It obviously is getting out of hand.
I am going to look for a “Scrabblers Anonymous” or licensed
therapist who is familiar with this addiction.
Perhaps there is still hope.
