Historic Moments: SCRABBLE Throughout the Years

The Case of the Invisible Tile

by Stu Goldman

Playing the late Margaret Bauer Williams in the 2000 Providence Nationals, something happened to me that had never happened before, and hasn't happened since. It was the last game of the first day, and I told Margaret at the beginning of the game that I was under time pressure because my car was in a garage, and the rate would go up at 6 p.m., some 45 minutes away.

Making all my moves with as much hand speed as possible, I got into trouble. After my brain decided on a play, my undeft motions caused the tile I was attempting to place at 15H to jump off the board and then off the table. I searched the floor in vain; then we stopped the clock and both looked—with no luck. After a couple of minutes I proposed that since we both knew what the tile was, we should continue the game. Margaret accepted the idea, and we continued, trying hard, but unsuccessfully, to keep from laughing.

Division 1 Director Mary Rhoades, having seen our predicament, came over to take up the search as we continued play. After an unsuccessful scan of the floor, she picked up Margaret's SCRABBLE equipment bag, which its owner had already examined, and emptied it. After a brief ruffling through the contents, she extracted the lost tile!

P.S.: I got my car out of the garage at 5:58

Stu Goldman lives in California and has been playing tournament SCRABBLE for 36 years.