Century Center hosts day one of the 2024 Scrabble Players Championship

SOUTH BEND, Ind.-- Finding the right word sometimes doesn’t go your way, other times, it gets HIGHJACK (28).

“Everything goes wrong, and everything goes right for your opponent, and you will just you know get the socks knocked off of ya,” said competitor Roger Blaine today with years of competition under his belt.

The Scrabble Players Championship in South Bend was full of dictionary lovers in hopes of creative wordplay to advance them in the rankings out of over 300 competitors.

Many looked to use their brain power today.

“Well, it’s a chance to get a good workout. I’m not a champion level player, but I’m an amateur level player,” Blaine shared.

Derek Allen, local South Bend resident has only been playing competitively for one year, but “[He] used to play with [his] aunt. She’s from Chicago. She’s passed away now. But 45 years ago, [they] were playing Scrabble.”

Strategies were on full display throughout the skill levels and younger player, Dathan Lang tries to take advantage of dominance across the board.

“I personally like to be very aggressive when I play. I like to play open boards,” Lang explained.

The big main table featured tough decisions and lots of creative word play.

The two final words today CLAYIER (12) and SOROCHE (12) were the advancing choice of words for the two semi-finalists moving onward to face off in a battle of words tomorrow in a best-of-7 for $10,000.