IU Scrabble club calling all gamers

Quiz. For most the word means headaches and rapid pulse rates. But for Yun Zeng, vice president and co-founder of IU’s new Scrabble Club, it means 50 points and a personal best.\n“I was thinking, chess has a club, why not Scrabble?” Zeng said. \nDuring a computer technology class, Zeng started talking to the guy sitting next to her about the possibility of starting a Scrabble club. Zeng was not alone in her passion for the game. The guy sitting next to her, Joshua Riggins, would later became the president and co-founder of the club. \nFor Zeng and Riggins, the club is not about tough competition, but about learning the game and having fun \nwith friends. \nThis becomes obvious during a conversation with the club’s upbeat and enthusiastic members. Still, they are serious about the game and have plans to enter competitions with the National Scrabble Association, a college club based in Ohio and maybe some \nIndianapolis clubs. \nThe IU club is open to everyone of all skill levels. \n“All of us have a few certain tricks that we know and can pass along,” Zeng said.\nRiggins said his favorite word is “qis,” admitting that he isn’t sure what it means or even how to pronounce it. “But if you’re stuck with a ‘q’ and you don’t have a ‘u’ there are always a bunch of ‘I’s’ and ‘S’s,’ so it saves you from losing 10 points,” he said. \nAnother member said the game is a good way to learn new vocabulary.\n“I just learned a new word (qaid),” Sarah Holmes , the club’s treasurer, said.\nAs it turns out, Scrabble is not about having a huge vocabulary or knowing long words. Riggins said part of the strategy is frustrating your opponent by using two and three letter words like “ox” that earn points and take space on the board so that they’ll run out of room to play. \n“I know a lot of random three letter words,” Zeng said. “But I don’t even know what a lot of these words mean, I just know that they exist.” \nThe IU Scrabble Club is an official IU club and began meeting last spring. \nThey are holding a call-out meeting at 7:00 p.m. today in the Teter Quad Formal Lounge. Cookies and drinks will be provided. Club dues are $5 for a year and $3 for a semester. The dues help to subsidize the cost of snacks, National Scrabble Association dues and Scrabble boards.\nPeople with Scrabble boards are encouraged to bring their own, but all are welcome with or without a board. \n“Just bring your game face,” Riggins said.