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Stratford Scrabble Club News

Toronto, ON - November 4, 2023

Henry de Young first in Div 3.

Stratford, ON - October 28, 2023

Terry Aitken was 3rd in division 2.
Lynette Stewart was 3rd in division 4.

March 2023

We are back.

We have a new venue for the Stratford Scrabble Club beginning March 17, 2023.

  • Location: Anne Hathaway Retirement Residence, 480 Downie St., Stratford, ON
  • Park on south side of Grant Street, and enter at main entrance off Downie Street.
  • Sign in at registration wearing a mask. COVID-19 vaccination not required.
  • Games room is on the ground floor about 50 meters down a corridor heading to the left from reception.
  • Washroom is to the right of reception.
  • We meet every Friday afternoon from 2 pm to 5 pm
  • No dues are required.
  • If you need transport call John, Henry, or Terry.

March 2019

While you're waiting for COVID-19 to go away.

You might want to try to play Wordle, invented by Josh Wardle, a word lover in Brooklyn, New York.

Wordle is a guessing game that gives a person six chances to guess the day’s secret five-letter word. Type in a word as a guess, and the game tells you which letters are or aren’t in the word. The game is free and has no ads yet. You can only play once a day and send your results to friends.

The creator of Wordle, software engineer Josh Wardle, said in an interview in January that he had been approached about turning the game into an app but had no plans to do so; however, he sold it to the New York Times in February and it is now on their website.

Here's a link so you can play
Play Wordle Here.

Send your results to friends.

Stratford, ON - September 14, 2019

Div 2: Matt Schlegel 5 wins , 3 losses 2nd place
Div 4: Lorraine Lamont 5 wins, 3 losses 2nd place
Div 5: Lynette Stewart 6 wins 2 losses 2nd place

Mississauga, ON - August 24, 2019

Div. C: Terry Aitken 5 wins 2 losses. 3rd place
Div. D: Lynette Stewart 5 wins 2 losses. 2nd place

Kingston, ON - February 16 - 18, 2019

Henry de Young won a class prize (i.e., he was the best scoring person in the lower half of our 36 person division). He won $169. He also won a bag of tiles for the highest scoring OK word.
Terry Aitken won an upset prize. He defeated a player rated 800 plus points higher in his first game. The prize was $50.

Brantford, ON - November 24, 2018

Henry de Young, 2nd place in divison D, with 5 wins, 3 losses.

Caledon, ON - November 3, 2018

Terry Aitken, 1st place in divison C, with 5 wins, 2 losses. [+211]
Lorraine Lamont, 2nd place in divison C, with 5 wins, 2 losses [-100].

Rochester, NY - April 14-15, 2018

Terry Aitken, 4th place in divison B, with 8.5 wins, 5.5 losses. In division B Terry Aitken won 4 games and lost none.

Mississauga - Thursday October 19, 2017

In division B Terry Aitken won 4 games and lost none.

Stratford - Saturday September 9, 2017

Henry de Young won division 3 with 5 wins and two losses.

Mississauga - Saturday August 26, 2017

Division C: Henry de Young first with 5 wins and two losses.
Division D: Lorraine Lamont second with 5 wins and two losses.

Brampton - Saturday March 18, 2017

Lynette Stewart won 5 games and lost 2 in Division B to win 2nd place.
She gained 34 rating points.

Caledon - Saturday November 5, 2016

Terry Aitken won First Place in Division C with 6 wins and 1 loss.

Guelph - Sunday April 17, 2016

Henry de Young second in Division B with 5 wins, 2 losses.

Lake George, NY State - October 16 - 18, 2015

Early bird Friday October 16:
Div. E: Henry de Young first with 4 wins, 1 loss, Won $100
Div. D: Terry Aitken 2nd with 4 wins, 1 loss. Won $60
Main Event Sat/Sun Oct 17-18:
Div. D: Henry de Young 7th with 10 wins, 5 losses. Won $40

Badenoch - October 3, 2015

Lynette Stewart 2nd in Div. C with 4 wins, 3 losses

Badenoch - October 3, 2015

Lynette Stewart 2nd in Div. C with 4 wins, 3 losses

Toronto - September 26-27, 2015

Terry Aitken 3rd in Div. B with 9 wins , 4 losses

Stratford - August, 2015

On Saturday August 29, 2015 the Stratford SCRABBLE Club hosted our 16th annual tournament.
Thirty keen players from as far away as Oshawa and upper New York State met to take part in this, our 16th annual event. There were 4 divisions, and 4 Stratford players took part - Sandra Lavallee, Lynette Stewart, Rod Hulme and Matt Schlegel.
In the 4th and 2nd divisions Rod Hulme and and Matt Schlegel each placed 3rd, each with 5 wins out of 8.
Rod Hulme also won two word prizes with SCARFED in Division 4, for 108 points.

Guelph - March, 2015

On Sunday March 8, 2015: Lisa Kilpis won 5 games out of 6 and WON Division 3.
Caledon Village - January, 2015
Terry Aitken was 2nd in Div. B at Caledon Village on Jan 31, 2015, with 5 wins and 2 losses.

Oshawa - November, 2014

At the annual Oshawa tourney held 22-23/11/14 Henry De Young won 1st place in Div. 3 with 11 wins and only 3 losses.

Guelph - November, 2014

On Sunday November 16 2014, 5 of Stratford's club members comprised 50% of a small tourney of 10 in Guelph. Henry De Young came in third with 4 wins and two losses.

Oshawa - November, 2013

The Oshawa Scrabble Club held their 20th Tournament at the Caribbean Cultural Centre on Saturday, November 16th and Sunday November 17th. Henry De Young came in fourth in Division 3.

Lake George - October, 2013

Terry Aitken won Div D in the early bird in Lake George on October 18th with 5 wins, no losses, and was 4th in Div C in the main event October 18th to October 20th at the same venue with 11 wins, 4 losses.

Ottawa - September, 2013

Matt Schlegel was third in Division 2 on September 2nd in Ottawa.

Guelph - August, 2013

Terry Aitken won Division 3 with 5 wins, 1 loss on August 13th in Guelph.
For the Stratford local tournament in August, see the Tournaments page.
Congratulations to our club members

Embro - July, 2013

The revival of the unrated tourney at Embro (this time) was a great success.
Matt Schlegel's parents hosted the event in their home. The event consisted of 4 games played in two divisions - 6 players took part in the non timer division which was won by Anna Wodtka, a former Stratford player now living in Kitchener, and the 4 player timer division was won by Terry Aitken.
After the games we all enjoyed a barbecue supper which consisted of hamburgers, salad and the most scrumptious peach pie imaginable.
Matt's niece Hannah and nephew Connor, did a great job dealing with the challenges.

Mississauga - June, 2013

Matt Schlegel was first in Division 2 at Mississauga on June 6th with 6 wins and 1 loss. He also achieved a new high of 1345. Lynette Stewart was second is Division 4 with 5 wins and 2 losses.

Guelph - MaY, 2013

Matt Schlegel was first at Guelph on May 19th with 5 wins and 1 loss. Peter Sawatzky was fourth with 4 wins and 2 losses.

Guelph - March 2013

Henry de Young won second prize at Guelph on March 10th with 4 wins and 2 losses.

Oshawa - November 2012

A spectacular achievement at the Oshawa tournament November 17-18. Henry de Young seeded 13th in Division B, won 2nd place with 10 wins, and 4 losses, improving his best rating by over 100 points to 1251, surpassing both Matt Schlegel's and Terry Aitken's ratings in the process.

Brantford - November 2012

A lot was achieved by members of the Stratford Scrabble Club at the annual Brantford tournament on Nov 3, 2012.
Both Matt Schlegel and Henry de Young have new peak ratings of 1256 and 1147 respectively.
Matt was first in Division B with 6 wins, 1 loss, and Lynette Stewart won a $10 word prize.

Lake George - October 2012

At the Lake George tournament Oct 19-21, Terry Aitken attained a new peak rating: 1311.

Cambridge - October 2012

Henry de Young played in Division 3 with 6 wins and 1 loss for first place and new highest rating of 1142.

Guelph - September 2012

Terry Aitken placed 1st in Div B with 6 wins, 0 losses.

Toronto - July 2012

Terry Aitken attended the two-day annual summer Toronto Scrabble tournament July 21st & 22nd and placed 1st in Div C with 9 wins, 3 losses.

Guelph - JuLy 2012

On Sunday, July 15th a group from the Stratford club took part in Guelph's July tournament.
In Division C, Peter Sawatzky came in first.
In Dvision B, Lynette Stewart came in 2nd with 4 wins, 2 losses

Mississauga - June 2012

On Saturday, June 16th a group from the Stratford club took part in the 2012 annual NASPA-rated Mississauga Scrabble Club tournament. For your interest here is the Cross-Tables entrants list.
Matt Schlegel came in 1st with 7 wins and 1 loss putting his rating to a peak of 1234. Terry Aitken came in 3rd with 5 wins and 3 losses.

Guelph - May 2012

On Sunday, May 27th, Peter Sawatzky was first and Matt Schlegel second in the lower of two divisions at this recent tourney. This is the twelfth tourney in a row in which Matt has increased his rating.

Scrabble with the Stars - May 2012

Henry de Young and Terry Aitken were given tickets for this event by a friend who worked for Scotiabank which organised the event, which was a charitable one to raise money for PAL (Performing Arts Lodge).
We went along with some trepidation because of the possibility of meeting some famous person from the world of film, radio, and TV and this did happen, but, as I said to one such person in the buffet queue, I had just resolved to treat people as people.
I did speak to Tom Harrington of Marketplace in the elevator, and tried to speak to Colin Mochrie (at the instigation of my daughter) but the latter was surrounded by a bevy of adoring females, so I got nowhere.
There was a silent auction where celebrities had submitted pictures they had painted, or built a birdhouse, or even just tied a set of flies. There was also a 50:50 draw, and you could buy an arm's length of tickets for $20.
We landed up sitting at tables for 4. At our table there were 3 regular Scrabble players, and one star, Nil Koksal, the CBC anchor for Saturday night. She proved to be a very pleasant and gracious person.
Bids could also be placed for top Scrabble players to help at your table! Bids for the top lady Scrabble player in North America, who lives in Toronto, reached $1000. Bids for the top male player, a former world champion from Montreal, reached $1200.
A buffet meal was served, and many Scrabble players from Toronto acted as volunteers, including John Chew, who ran the tourney. Each table just had one game.
With a blank in each of my first two turns, I was able to bingo (play all my tiles) both times, and won the game with 270 points. The top win was only 301, and the top win by a star was 269 ( the star also happened to be a good Scrabble player.)
There were generous prizes for these two categories, as well for the table with the highest combined total. I think that was 900 something, and likely because one of the experts, for whom they had bid successfully, had helped. Anyway it was a lot of fun, and a good way to raise money. Volunteers were also selling cheat sheets for $5 each. I offered to buy one for Nil, but she preferred to be sporting, and go it on her own.
— Terry

Guelph - February 2012

On Sunday, February 19th Terry Aitken placed fourth in the Guelph tourney.
Guelph - January 2012
On Sunday, January 22nd Terry Aitken and Lynette Stewart placed respectively second and third in the Guelph tourney, each with 5 wins out of 6. Lynette now has a new peak rating of 1084.

New Orleans - January 2012

Henry de Young scored well in New Orleans (January 14-16, 2012) to give himself his best NASPA rating ever: 1138.

Gold Award Winners

Club GOLD Award winners include Terry Aitken, Carmen Beck, Henry de Young, Jan Downham, and Lynette Stewart.

Gold & Platinum Award Winner

On Wednesday January 19, 2005, John Dungey became the first member of the Stratford SCRABBLE Club to receive the GOLD Award for winning 500 games. Since then, John has gone on to win 1000 games (PLATINUM Award).

New Record Set

On Dec. 29, 2004, a visitor from Cambridge, Christopher Sykes, one time ranked 32nd in the world, achieved a record game score of 652. By comparison the best scores in neighbouring clubs are 720 (Cambridge), 621 (Brantford), and 624 (London). The highest score ever achieved by a local player is Matt Schlegel scoring 599 on February 8th.

Click for the Archives 

STRATFORDSCRABBLE.CA

We meet Fridays at 2pm

Anne Hathaway Retirement Residence,
480 Downie Street,
Stratford, Ontario

CONTACTS

Terry Aitken

+1 519 273 2233