Very few people would
disagree with the fact that scrabble is an intriguing and enjoyable game. When
I played it with my children, a few decades ago, I imposed several house rules
on the very old thick Oxford
Capitalised proper names
Abbreviations
Hyphenated words
Archaic words
Colloquial words
Acronyms
Abbreviations
All foreign language words
As such, scrabble doubled
as a linguistic teaching aid, both for my growing children and for myself,
being a new-comer to the hard-to-master but beautiful language.
As a retiree, the word “scrabble”
caught my eye in an advertisement in the local paper. I made enquiries with Val
Hardiman and got information about her group. Five years later, I headed to the
address given. There, I made a gross mistake by joining a “beginners group” run
by another lady. All I learnt as a “beginner” was that the game had been
mutilated. It became quite different from the refined version I played with my
children. The lady in charge had the habit of peeking into the bag, for
educational purposes, in order to demonstrate that it was possible to have
multiple bingos in a single game. She enjoyed the ohs and wows of the captive
beginners, every time she tossed down one of her bingos.
It didn’t take long before
I moved to Val’s group. Val Hardiman is a real mature old lady that commands
respect. Her game is most enjoyable, to the extent that I can wrench a win from
her every now and then! She knows the rules of the game and adheres to them. Unlike
some other dubious players, she lifts the bag high with no signs of fatigue at
her mature age. She acts like a magnet that attracts other players, who travel a
fair distance to join us. We have a spacious room with kitchen facilities. We
are within walking distance from Watsonia Railway Station. We are a functioning
club, unlike the many dysfunctional clubs, existing only on a hopeful club list.
New members are always welcome, we cater for all levels :
Tuesdays 12:30 - 4:00
Watsonia Neighbourhood
House
(Check with Rose at the
office in order to locate our room)
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