ADRENALIN RUSHES AND ADDICTION
I’d never played much Scrabble and hadn’t sat down to a game in 15 years before coming to the Club in the late 1990s. But I heard Roger [Friedland] talking about Scrabble outside shul one week and decided to go. I was hooked at once. Although I was a rank amateur (a score of 250 left me elated!), I enjoyed the game and delighted in playing regularly at the Club. The more I came, the more interesting I found it, and gradually some of the people became interesting to me as well and I began to form friendships. Scrabble and the Club are wonderful additions to my life, and it’s only reluctantly that I miss sessions. I enjoy being among so many pleasant people who share my love of Scrabble. The game itself is infinitely varied, the mental stimulation it provides is exciting, and the total concentration it demands produces a complete respite from the usual thoughts and concerns (making it — paradoxically — very relaxing). And the occasional moments of high drama create adrenalin rushes that would be incomprehensible to the non-addict!