Utah Scrabble Club, Pier 49 Pizza, Murray, UT (2026)

07/13/2026

So, we did a thing this weekend.

We, the Utah Scrabble Club, sponsored an event: the 1st Annual Kent Nelson Scrabble Tournament! This was held on July 11, 2026, at the Meadow Brook Golf Course Clubhouse. Thirty-four logomaths battled, playing 8 games each, for fun, prizes, and memories of Kent, an extraordinary player and our dear friend, who passed away on March 3 of this year.

I will be uploading some photos soon. Max Dwyer was the big first place winner in division A!

Other winners (all players from UT unless otherwise indicated)

Div A, 2nd place: David Goldberg, our illustrious director
Div A, 3rd place: Mike Thelen (MA)

Div B, 1st: Zana Anderson
Div B, 2nd: Dan Spencer
Div B, 3rd: Sam Swain (OH)

Div C, 1st: Bridget Chiazzese
Div C, 2nd: Tony Boyle (CO)
Div C, 3rd: Brad Hertz

Div D, 1st: Lori Stoddard
Div D, 2nd: Jeff Burton
Div D, 3rd: Shibby Jones

Thanks to our director, David Goldberg, our statistician, Josh Burri, our caterer, Mandy Donaldson of the Clubhouse Grill, and to all the participants who made the tournament a success!

04/18/2026

The Utah Scrabble Club meets each Wednesday from 3 to 8 PM at Pier 49 Pizza in Murray, UT. All levels of play are welcome. Games start as close to top of each hour as possible.

Come join the fun!

01/02/2015

A F T E R W O R D S
for Monday – 29 December 2014
at a North American Scrabble Club ( #173)
Wednesdays 3:30,4:30,5:30,6:30,7:30,8:30 pm
meeting in Murray, Utah at the 5300 South IHOP
by Jim Fischer

This session (last one of 2014) met earlier on a Monday to work around the New Year's Eve celebration of 31 Dec – 1 Jan. Our previous meeting was also a Monday (12/22) which was a gathering only - for those who needed a Scrabble fix in lieu of the December 24th holiday happenings.

LAST SESSION OF 2014: We had yet another one of our usual full-of-surprises club meetings with one-to-five games played by each of the 10 word formers present.

OH, SO CLOSE: Kent (4-0) advanced his club rating to above the 1900-level finishing the Old Year with a 1912 rating and gaining 17 club-rating points. Of his four wins he won three of them by close margins (3, 3, and 14 points). He had the session's highest-scoring non-bingo ZAXES/63, the plural of Zax which is a tool for cutting roof-slates.

NOTABLE SESSION PLAYER: Josh (2-2) added 20 rating points while his HINTERS/102 was the highest-scoring bingo to go with a hefty 415 per-game average. He played the session's highest-scoring single-game score with his 2nd round game, a 531 (Max had the only other 500-game, a 515 in the 5th round). Among Josh's eight bingos were his FORGIVES/80, PROUDER/76, and HOAGIES/65. He also had an high-scoring non-bingo, FISH/50.

MANY BINGOS PLAYED: Max played seven bingos including JAILERS/90, OVERLAP/80, BLASTERS/76 (anagram of Stablers), and PRISTANE/74 (meaning of a chemical compound) and having five anagrams and, the not-to-be confused with the word Pristine.

Mike (2-2) had five bingos including the eight-letter QUESTORS/88 which is after the nine-letter Quaestors which were Roman magistrates but, an other meaning than Questers which are ones that quest, and he also played ISSUING/80 and the eight-letter TASTEFUL/64. Other longer than seven-letter words were by Pat, Mark and Donna namely TREASURE/60 (anagram of Austerer), FOUNDERS/74 (anagram of Refounds!) and FLOUNCED/70 (to move with exaggerated motions).

Additional words of note included Zana's CARDERS/69 (anagram of Scarred and having to do with cleaning and combing fibers); also Dean's 7-letter ROSEATE/69 (suprisingly, no seven-letter anagrams but assisted by other single letters produce some interesting eight-letter words, earstoNe, Keratose, oLeaster, oPerates, oVereats, Protease and resoNate).

NEW FOR 2015: Beginning with this last session of the Old Year, future words deemed to be most unusual (and/or out-landish) that are played will be spotlighted together with a short discussion of said word/s. An example of a spotlighted word was would be Zana's play of NODDLES/72 a verb, meaning to nod infrequently. A somewhat unrelated word is NODDY a plural noun which has the interesting meaning of a fool. Let's ask Zana to tell us about her play such as, was it a stab-in-the-dark of the kind relished for a spotlighted word, or maybe she just thought she had played Noodles? Surely, more of the unusual and/or out-landish words forthcoming in 2015!

Thanks(!) to our Club Director Mike for being the driving force behind our weekly session's enjoyable times and the many successes of 2014. And, thanks go also to IHOP's attentive wait-staff servers and meal-preparing chefs; they have been accomodating and superb!

Have a very HAPPY NEW YEAR!

10/25/2014

Results from this week’s meeting can be seen here:
http://utahscrabble.com/stats/session.php?date=2014-10-22

Results for the current Season can be seen here:
http://utahscrabble.com/stats/season.php?name=2014+-+2nd

Here are the winners of last week's contests:

1. Lady Ma Donna: Max Dwyer won $2.75 for his play NIPPED 42, the highest play where the main word contains the letters D, P. (Lady Ma Donna Peterson).

2. Crazy Eights: Bruce Burri won $2.75 for his total of one 8 pt play in a game.

Hi Play ( K, T ): Dean Sorenson won $3 for his play ANTLIKE 66.

Triple Triple: Mike Stevens won $1.37 for his play INTERCOM 167.

100 + Play: Mike Stevens won #1.37 for his play INTERCOM 167.

Bingo Bango Bongo: Max Dwyer won $2.37 for his plays POSTAGES, BEATABLE, COREIGNS.

Unclaimed Progressive Jackpot Prizes roll over from week to week.
Here are the current totals for each of these prizes:

Triple-Triple: $0.00 plus 1/8 dues
100+ Play: $0.00 plus 1/8 dues.
Bingo Bango Bongo: $0.00 plus 1/8 dues.
9+ Bingo: $1.37 plus 1/8 dues.
Alphabet Bingo Bonus: $3.00

Alphabet Bingo Challenge ( W, H, Y )
Dean Sorenson 1: LAWINGS
Donna Peterson 1: WESTINGS
Linda Sorenson 1: WAITERS

1. Miki Mouse

1/4 of dues, for the highest total of two plays of the session where the main words played contain the letter M.

2. You're Better Than That

1/4 of dues awarded for the highest play where the main word ends in -IER.

10/19/2014

Results from this week’s meeting can be seen here:
http://utahscrabble.com/stats/session.php?date=2014-10-15

Results for the current Season can be seen here:
http://utahscrabble.com/stats/season.php?name=2014+-+2nd

Here are the winners of last week's contests:

1. Bingo Power Rating: Max Dwyer won $1 for his score of 1169, and Dean Sorenson won $1 for his score of 721, the LOWEST net Bingo Power Rating, calculated as follows: Your beginning club rating, as published at the beginning of this session, minus 50 points for every bingo scored during the session. Your rating is your handicap, the higher your rating, the more bingos you must score during the session. One winner for each division.

2. Dean of Scrabble: Kent Nelson won $2 for his play FASTENED 66, the highest play where the main word played contains the letters D, E, A, N.

Hi Play ( F, X ): No winning play, $1 carryover.

Triple Triple: Mike Stevens won $11.96 for his play OUTBOARD 149.

100 + Play: Max Dwyer won $1 for his play ZAPPERS 102.

9+ Bingo: Max Dywer won $2 for his plays SENTINELS, RETREATER.

Unclaimed Progressive Jackpot Prizes roll over from week to week.
Here are the current totals for each of these prizes:

Triple-Triple: $0.00 plus 1/8 dues
100+ Play: $0.00 plus 1/8 dues.
Bingo Bango Bongo: $1.00 plus 1/8 dues.
9+ Bingo: $0.00 plus 1/8 dues.
Alphabet Bingo Bonus: $2.00

Alphabet Bingo Challenge ( B, G, W )
Max Dwyer 1: TABOOING
Dean Sorenson 1: GRANITE
Donna Peterson 1: COWHIDE
Jim Fischer 1: WINTERS
Mark Nielson 2: GRAVELS, BITTERS
Todd Simmons 1: NIBBLES

Next time our Weekly Contests will be:

1. Lady Ma Donna

1/4 of dues, for the highest play where the main word contains the letters D, P. (Lady Ma Donna Peterson).

2. Crazy Eights

1/4 of dues awarded for the highest most 8 point plays in a game.

10/19/2014

AFTER WORDS
for Wednesday – 15 October 2014
at North American Scrabble Club #173
meeting 3:30 – 8:30 pm (6 games possible)
at 5300 South IHOP on State St., Murray, UT
by Jim Fischer

Twelve letter-manipulators (including newcomer Delores Peterson) were present for this session of 49 bingos, many of which appear below. As an exercise, practice with some of this session's mostly 7-letter racks. Some have an extra letter (or two) that were already on the game board. See what you can make with these racks: (EEEICHRS), (AEEFDFNST), (EIOUHNS),(EIOQJHS), (EIBBLNS), (AEKNRRS), and (AIOOBGNT).

Club-rating points were gained by Todd (+26) now rated at 1405, Josh (+10), Miki (+9), Kent (+9) and club director Mike (+4), now rated at 1861. The highest single-game score was Max's 557 in round four. In the 3rd round Max played ZAPPERS/102 winning from Mike (491-349) and, in the 5th round Mike returned the favor (470-378) which included Mike's holy-grail triple-triple word score with OUTBOARD/149 (a type of motor)!

Miki played ZONE/68 while in yet another game Mark played JOSH/72 (a score equal-to-or-exceeding more than half of the session's bingo scores). Interesting to note, Dean played AIRIEST/66 once more (he played it twice the previous session of 8 October) such that we may be eventually saying it was a “Dean Rack”, rather than a “Satire Rack”.

Dean had six other bingos including ASTRIDE/65 (six anagrams of Aridest, Diaster, Disrate, Staider, Tardies, and Tirades), GRANITE/66 (four anagrams of Gratine, Ingrate, Tangier, and Tearing), ETESIAN/66 (an annually recurring wind) and DARKEST/84 (anagram of Straked meaning a line of planking extending along a ship's hull); Max's with 9 bingos including two 9-letter words RETREATER/60, and SENTINELS/77, also HEINOUS/68 (very wicked), REAGENT/68 (a substance used as in a chemical reaction and having three anagrams, Grantee, Greaten, and Negater), POTTERY/70, REEDINGS/78 (four anagrams Designer, Energids, Redesign, and Resigned), PARTNERS/78, INVENTED/80, NITERIES/59 (after Nitery, a nightclub) and TABOOING/86 (same meaning as Tabu, to exclude from use, approach or mention); Todd's NIBBLES/73; Mike's MOATLIKE/66, FUNDING/67, ANOINTER/68 (anagram Reanoint), TENORITE/70 (a mineral), POACHED/75, OARFISH/75 (it takes a front B-hook for Boarfish), ORRISES/76 (from Orris, a flowering plant), (MOTIVES/ 82 and ARCADED/75 (having to do with a series of arches); Josh's PATTING/80 and STOOLIE/85 (two anagrams Oolites and Ostiole and meaning of an informer); Jim's TALLIERS/66 (anagram of Literals meaning small errors in printing or writing), CEASING/66 (anagram of Incages); TEDDIES/72 (after Teddy, a woman's undergarment), FERNIEST/72 (from Ferny, abounding in ferns and with the anagram of Infester), and RANKERS/79 (enlisted soldiers); Kent's ENGRAVE/72 (anagram Avenger) and FASTENED/66; Mark's GRAVELS/93 (anagram of Verglas meaning a thin coating of ice on rock), CHEESIER/63, and BITTERS/81 (having a disagreeable taste); and Donna's COWHIDE/81 and CRAFTING/74.

utahscrabble.com AND [email protected]

10/03/2014

AFTER WORDS
for Wednesday – 1 October 2014
at North American Scrabble Club #173
meeting at 3:30 pm with 6 rounds possible
at 5300 South IHOP on State St. Murray, Utah
by Jim Fischer

We are on a roll! Since the first session in July of this year (16 wordsmiths in attendance then) we have had double-digit participation with either 11, 12, 13, or 14 players getting in from one-to-six games per session. Much of the credit is due to our session's directors, Mike T. (now residing in Massachusetts) and Mike S., so this shout-out is for them - THANKS GUYS!

With fourteen participants (including club co-founder Mike H., now living in Las Vegas) in this, our first of the five sessions of October, we are on a course to finish the 2nd half-season of 2014 with a high-water mark in weekly participation. Already in the 2nd-half we have had 26 individuals come by for one to six games of competitive (and oft-times fun) Scrabble.

This session, …. To be continued; keep checking back.

09/25/2014

AFTER WORDS
for Wednesday – 17 September 2014
at North American Scrabble Club #173
meeting at 3:30 pm with 6 rounds possible
at 5300 South IHOP on State St. - Murray, Utah
by Jim Fischer

Playing this full session (now club-rated at 1835) and going undefeated, Max (6-0) is our forthcoming sessions' KOH (King-of-the Hill) until he is unseated by either Kent or one of our three Mike's, all who have infrequently posted (5-1) and (5-0) sessions in the recent past at IHOP. Note to ALL, it can be a grueling challenge so, practice your drawing skills....

As an aside, the last time one of our Club #173 players went undefeated (whilst playing a full session) was Mike T. (6-0) over 8 months ago on 15 January 2014. And, the one previous
time Max won six games in a session (since he joined our club) was when he managed two games at the same time in one of the rounds by playing seven games (6-1), almost one year ago (18 September 2013)!

With Kent admirably subbing as session director, thirteen players were able to play at least one game while 50 bingos came forth. Fifteen of those bingos were by Max who also had a near-447 points-per-game average. Linda (1-2) tied Max's bingo CHORDAL/98 (referring to a chord) for the highest-scoring session word with her eight-letter PRALINES/98 (a confection of nuts cooked in sugar). The only other 90+ scores were by Jim (2-2) with FOXIEST/92 and TWANGIER/92 (making a sharp, vibrating sound), and by Bruce (1-3) with RECOILS/92 and ENTASIA/92 (the spasmodic contraction of a muscle).

There were only four players who had rating-point gains and included Cathy (2-2) with an additional 47 points, and Mark (3-1) adding 15 points. Bruce and Max both had the highest-scoring non-bingo words, JO/54 and HEXED/54 respectively. In the same category, Cathy had the unusual JAWED/48 (meaning to jabber – by talking rapidly). Max had the highest-single game score (557), while Kent (4-2) played seven bingos and narrowly won a game from Bruce (400-391). Dean (1-3) also had seven bingos (many with anagrams) including ARENITE/68 (Retinae, Trainee), RATIONED/77 (Arointed, Ordinate),, REUNITE/69 (Retinue, Uterine), PRAISED/80 (Aspired, Despair, Diapers), and AUDIENT/75 (for 8-letter words with Audient, add a Q, C, R, R, (two R's), or S (the latter for Audients and S-------------).

The points per-game averages were very good with Pat (3-2) a near-335 average, Linda had a near-339 average, Todd (1-2) with a near-346 average, while Mark had a 353 average. Unususal words seen on game boards this session included FOGEY, CION, BICKER, YEAH, JUNTA, FRITZ, WUD, NEUK, AEROBE, SUP, BIRDY and CHEVY (but suggest you don't try Buick*, Altima*, or Lexus*; but LEXIS is okay and means the vocabulary of a language, a group, or a subject field).

Some other notable bingos were Max's ALEATORY/65 (adj. pertaining to luck), NIDGETS/71 (idiots), NITRIDS/65 (same as Nitride, a compound of nitrogen), FORMANT/76 (having to do with quality of a speech sound), EARLOBE/77, and STINKARD/78 (a despicable person); Jim's CHROMATE/67 (a chemical salt); Matt's BRAINED/71 (to hit on the head); Todd's WAIVERS/72; Bruce's ACETATE/74 (a salt of acetic acid); and Kent's SNOOPIER/74.

With the session director having a dozen-or-so players coming and going, the activity sometimes becomes fast-and-furious. So, as an occasional reminder to all of our participants, it is a good thing to notify (as soon as possible) whomever is directing that you are planning on leaving after the current round such that pairings happen smoothly and don't have to be repaired/re-paired. Also, try to do your analysis and jabbering (see above) and turn in your tally slips, immediately after your game is completed. The session usually runs more efficently when the director (who also is playing) attempts to manage all of the happenings after a round is completed.

CHALLENGE (or not): “If it looks too good to be true, it probably is.”

utahscrabble.com and yahoo groups utah-scrabble

09/17/2014

AFTER WORDS
for Wednesday – 10 September 2014
at North American Scrabble Club #173
starting at 3:30 pm with six rounds possible
at 5300 South IHOP on State St., Murray, Utah
by Jim Fischer

Seven (one-half) of the session's fourteen players had positive rating-point gains of from 4-to-84 points, with the highest being accomplished by Linda (3-0). Donna (3-3) was next with a 19-point gain while Todd (2-1) picked up 10 additional points.

Max (5-1) with a near-444 average-per-game played 16 bingos including the highest-scoring bingo DEXTRIN/100 (same as Dextrine and meaning of an adhesive substance). With his PRAJNAS/93 (a religious belief in ultimate knowledge), he was tied with Todd's RAVINGS/93 for 2nd-highest bingo score. Todd actually played a second -INGS suffix bingo, AIRINGS/87. It has been estimated that only about one in four (25%) six-letter words ending with the -ING suffix will take an S end-hook.

In the highest-scoring non-bingo word category, Mike S. (3-2) turned in the four-letter JIBS/63 (a verb with the meaning of refusal to proceed further) only to be surpassed by one point by Max's four-letter BOZO/64 (a fellow).

Linda stymied the “I jus' can't get no blanks” mantra of Max who had a possible near-sweep of playing all of the top five single games scores (451, 468, 472, and 500), with her high breakthrough game of 461. And the closest highest-combined score game occurred when Linda's edged “flash card” Brad by six points (359-353).

As per usual, there were several of the long words (7 and 8 letters; no 9's this session) that were played with many having unusual meanings and notable anagrams including: Dean's SLIMIEST/59 (anagram of Elitisms), and LINEATE/71 (marked with lines); Mark's PIONEERS/59 (anagrams of Isoprene meaning of a volatile liquid and Pereions relating to a crustacean's thorax); Max's RETINOLS/60 (liquid hydrocarbons), a three-eyed monster, INSIPID/63 (dull and uninteresting), +VAGINATE+/66 (meaning of closed in a sheath and has the anagram Navigate), NESTLES/66 (anagram Netless), +TONETICS+/68 (the phonetic study of tones and the has the anagram Stenotic having to do with the narrowing of a bodily passage), +DRATTED+/72 (to damn), AGISTED/73 (care of livestock), LAUREATE/74 (after laurel, to crown with a wreath of evergreen leaves), MOONLESS/72, MINSTER/83 (has the two anagrams, Minters and Remints and with the meaning of a large and important church - think Westminster Abbey), and +GLIADINS+/83 (also Gliadine and the anagram of Dialings - yet another -INGS suffix); Mike's +UNPOLITE+/63 (same as Impolite), TALISMAN/64 (an object believed to have magical powers and has the anagram of Staminal after Stamina having to do with endurance), FLOWERED/65 (anagrams of Deflower and Reflowed), and +PEONISM+/74 (anagram of Impones meaning to wager); Zana's +TRAMPLER+/63 (yep, one that tramples); Jim's MOULTED/68 meaning to molt by casting off an outer covering), OVULATES/74 (to produce ova, the plural of o**m), CONIFER/84 (anagram Coinfer, an evergreen tree), and ANTIQUE/87 (anagram of Quinate, groups of five); Brad's CHATTED/69; and Todd's BROILED/68.

BTW, the above bingos flanked by + + are not too likely to be played in one of our future sessions in that they R unusual.

LUCK is being prepared for OPPORTUNITY when it comes.

09/10/2014

AFTER WORDS
for Wednesday – 3 September 2014
at North American Scrabble Club #173
starting at 3:30 pm with six games possible
at 5300 So. IHOP State Street – Murray, Utah
by Jim Fischer

Twelve word wizards spent much of their game times looking for those sometimes elusive rack cleaners (often a 7-letter lay-down bingo or maybe even joining with an already on-the-board single-letter for a satisfyingly longer 8-letter bingo).

Las Vegan Mike H. (4-2) brought with him a bit of the gaming mindset and emerged with two unchallenged phonies which interestingly enough had Scrabble-acceptable anagrams (*Purinose/81 = PRUINOSE and *Eliders/69 = RESILED) having meanings of a powdery covering and, to spring back respectively. He also had five other lexicon bingos including AERIFIED/74, and RIGATONI/74 (a tubular pasta).

There were plenty of highlights during the six rounds of play with one 600+ game, a 616 by Mike H. in round 4: Mark (2-2) had the highest-scoring word AVOIDER/99 (anagram of Avodire, an African tree) in round 3; and the highest-scoring non-bingo word ZARF/78 (a metal holder for a coffee cup) was played by Max (2-3) in round 6. Wonder if Max has ever asked for a zarf from our efficient IHOP waitress, Diana (she might have produced a short-stack of pancakes with a side-order of a medium-rare steak smothered in onions – sounds zarfy).

Five players ending the session with rating-point gains of two-to-fourteen-points and two additional players, Miki (1-1) and Jim (3-0), each ended with 26 rating-point gains.

Top 50-point bonus-point word players were Jim (6), Dean (7) and Mark (7), Max (8) and Mike H. (10). Some of the very interesting bingos (and not too many anagrams) this session included Josh's SHINNIES/62 (after Shin, to climb by gripping and pulling alternately with the hands and legs); Donna's BROODING/63 and TUNDRAS/68; Pat's TRAWLING/64; Max's CEORLISH/65 (after Ceorl, a freeman of low birth), ESTRAGON/80 (same as Tarragon and meaning of a perennial herb with the anagram Negators), and GESTALT/91 (meaning of a unified whole); Kent's TOONIES/68 (a Canadian two-dollar coin and having the anagram of Isotone, a type of an atom) and POSTMAN/80 (previously played over 3 months ago by Kent on 28 May and a noticeable “improvement” from his earlier Postman/65, WTG Kent!); Mark's GIRLIES/71, WEENIES/73, and BRAGGIER/74; Dean's RAVELIN/77 and MISREAD/83 (anagrams of Admires, Sidearm, and Sedarim, having to do with a Jewish dinner); Jim's STROKED/82 and GRIMACED/82; and Mike H's DEVILING/92 (a verb form of Devil, and with the meaning of preparing food with a pungent seasoning). Similar to Mike's Deviling is the verb Develing meaning to strike forcibly.
UP and AT 'em: Some of the more common UP-prefix words are UPO, UPS, UPDOS, UPON, UPBEAT, UPCAST, UPGAZE, UPGIRD, UPGROWN, UPHILL, UPMOST, UPPITY, UPREAR, UPRISE, UPROAR, UPRUSH, UPBUILD, UPBOUND, UPCOAST, UPCURVE, UPDATED, UPDRAFT, UPENDED, UPFIELD, UPFRONT, UPGOING, UPGRADE, UPHEAVE, UPRIGHT, UPRIVER, UPSCALE, UPSHIFT, UPSILON, UPSLOPE, UPSTAGE, UPSTAND, UPSTART, UPSURGE, UPSWELL, UPSWING, UPTEMPO, UPTIGHT, and UPCHUCK . Not so commonly seen/heard might be UPISH, UPPILED, UPDIVE, UPTORE, UPPROP, UPHROE, etc., etc. There are many more; take just a glance in an Official Scrabble-Players Dictionary.

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Utah Scrabble Club

07/13/2026

04/18/2026

01/02/2015

10/25/2014

10/19/2014

10/19/2014

10/03/2014

09/25/2014

09/17/2014

09/10/2014

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