Scrabble world abuzz after US player caught cheating in national championships

One of America's top young Scrabble players has been kicked out of the national championship tournament after being caught hiding blank letter tiles. John D. Williams, Jr, executive director of the National Scrabble Association, said that a male player was ejected from the 350-player event in Round 24 of the 28-round event.
The ploy was spotted by a player at a nearby table, who noticed the ejected player conceal a pair of blank tiles by dropping them on the floor, organizers said. Blank tiles can be used as wild card letters. When confronted by the tournament director, he admitted to it, organizers said. Mr Williams, who has served as executive director for 25 years, said this was the first incident of cheating at a national tournament.

However, he said it's been known to occur at smaller, regional events. "It does happen no matter what. People will try to do this," he said. "It's the first time it's happened in a venue this big though. It's unfortunate. The Scrabble world is abuzz. The internet is abuzz." Williams would not identify the player by name or age because he is a minor. There are four divisions and he was competing in Division 3.

He said Division 3 is equal to "any great living-room player out there." The ejected player had concluded a previous game and never reinserted the blank tiles into his bag in an attempt to use them at his discretion in the next game, organizers said. The ejected player forfeited all of his wins. Mr Williams said there is usually "good self-policing in the Scrabble world" as players try to protect the integrity of statistics on the competitive circuit.