Organizers Peter Schwartzman and Darla Krejci are excited to announce that Galesburg will host another competitive Scrabble Tournament in April. The “Spring Fling Tournament,” will consist of two one-day Scrabble tournaments on Saturday, April 5 and Sunday, April 6, 2025. Both tournaments are sanctioned by WGPO (Word Games Players’ Organization) and will be rated. This will be the second Scrabble tournament organized by Schwartzman and Krejci. They are partnering with the Galesburg Community Arts Center and the Galesburg Tourism Bureau in bringing this tournament to town.
“After the success of our first tournament, we were anxious to host another, and this was the first opportune date,” states Schwartzman. “And we are thrilled to be partnering with the Galesburg Community Arts Center by hosting the event in their facility. What better way to highlight Galesburg than to host the event in one of our historical buildings in the center of downtown.”
“Like our first tournament, our hope is businesses will welcome these visitors with Scrabble related signage or specials,” adds Krejci. “Most players will be coming from outside of the area, and we’ve built time into the tournaments for participants to explore our great city. We had several businesses participate last time and hope more will join this unique opportunity to promote themselves and Galesburg.”
The tournaments will be held in the third floor ballroom of the Galesburg Community Arts Center. The two tournaments will each consist of seven head-to-head games after which a winner will be determined. There will be two dictionary sections: (1) WOW, which is considered the current American Scrabble Dictionary for tournaments; and, (2) CSW, which consist of words in the Collins (Global) dictionary. The WOW section will likely have at least three divisions based on the rating of the players. People do not need to have an official rating to play, but they do need to join WGPO whose membership is free.
“We encourage local Scrabble players to participate. It may sound intimidating, but the way the divisions are set up, you will be playing with other Scrabble players at an equal skill level. Also, to help boost local participation we will be holding a three game, non-rated, practice tournament in March. If you are not sure you are ready for the “big times” come out and get a feel for things at this fun event.”
The local 3 game tournaments will be held Saturday, March 15 from 9:00 am – 1:00 pm at the Galesburg Public Library. Schwartzman and Krejci also hope to offer some additional tutorials and practice game opportunities. These will be announced on the Scrabble Galesburg Facebook page. For more information contact Peter Schwartzman at drearth1@gmail.com or Darla Krejci at krejcidarla@gmail.com. To sign up to participate in one or both Spring Fling tournaments, access the tournament flyer at www.cross-tables.com or wordgameplayers.org/tournaments/ .
