ONWORDS Ltd - SCRABBLE CONSULTANCY
IMPROVE YOUR GAME - SCRABBLE COURSES
Improve Your Scrabble:
Typically these courses run from a Friday night through to a Sunday 3pm. It is ideal for regular home or Club players who are looking for ways to improve their scoring, winning, and general appreciation of the game strategies. skills of the game. There are top tips of learning words, rack balancing, changing, strategy, and how-to-win close games together with copious handouts. Advice is on tap during the practice sessions and there is an expert demonstration game to consolidate aspects of the course.
COURSES COMBINED WITH A 6-GAME RATED EVENT ARE CURRENTLY BEING SCHEDULED FOR 2006
A course can be tailored for a smaller group (eg four players at someone's house) - please contact Allan Simmons if you wish to discuss such possibilities for your Club or your Scrabble group. Fees and expenses are negotiable.
A typical general course SCHEDULE can be found here
Some Feedback from Scrabble Players who've attended
Play through a Demonstration Game from a typical course
SOME FEEDBACK FROM COURSE ATTENDEES
"The "Improve Your Scrabble" course has improved my
Scrabble to the extent that I won Div E at the Swindon event. My only
loss of the day was in the last round (round 6) by 8 points in what
was probably the most enjoyable game of the day.
Needless to say I went home feeling extremely happy and I am
looking forward to my next event at Newport. Thanks for making a difference."
It's my second time of attending and it's always an excellent course - good atmosphere and experienced tutors.
The tutors are so good at their subject, so enthusiastic and good at communicating their skills and the couse was a joy.
A thoroughly absorbing course - highly recommended
I liked the enthusiasm of the tutors - very relaxed, cheerful atmosphere and a sense of humour
Very useful course with plenty of handouts - an enlightening weekend.
All types of Scrabble challenges are catered for, whether the requirement be for a regular puzzle, a short series for a competition maybe, or a once-off. Any level of difficulty can be provided for and even theme puzzles are possible where some or all of the words on the board arewithin a certain theme. Onwords Ltd currently provides regular weekly puzzles for the Daily Telegraph newspaper and over the years has provided puzzles for the Daily Express newspaper, Games and Puzzles magazine, Medeconomics, Toronto National Post, Readers Digest, Mattel (Uk) ltd.
Some examples of the types of Scrabble puzzles that can be provided by Onwords Ltd are as follows:
Target Score - solver has to try and find the elusive play that equals the target score
Join Them Up - solver has to replace a selection of letters back on an incomplete board position to make a valid game situation
Triple Tester - solver has to find ways of reaching triple word squares through extension of existing words on the board, given some specificed racks of letters
EndGame - solver has to try and find a way of winning a game given a specificed end position and deduction of the opponent's last letters and possible plays
A large display board is used in order to play out an expert game in front of an audience. The board and letters are large enough to be comfortably seen from some 10 rows so a demonstration game could easily cater for an audience of up to 100. The racks of letters are visible so the audience can play along and the score is normally recorded on a flipchart. Two experts play out their moves, explaining their thought processes and reasons behind their choices and discussion on plays is encouraged from the audience. A game played in this way normally lasts about two hours allowing for a 15 minute break about half way through. Supporting handouts on top tips are also provided. Such demonstration games are built into the Scrabble courses but can be organised as a specific event for a Club or other venue.
Fees for demonstration game and associated travel expenses are negotiable - contact Allan Simmons for further details and to discuss possibilities.
Organised Scrabble activity and tuition on P&O's Oriana 10-day
cruise to The Canaries
Provided a general Scrabble challenge each day for all interested passengers.
Word adjudication, expert consultancy, challenge compilation and game design consultancy in respect of Scrabble and other word games can be provided.
COUNTDOWN - word expert in the early years
Providing best words to the presenter
CELADOR - word expect and consultant for TV Scrabble - 1985-86
Feeding adjudications and definitions to the presenter
TALENT TV - Scrabble expert and consultancy for TV Scrabble - 2002-2003
Feeding word definitions and best plays 'live' to the presenter and
checking contestants plays.