In a nation traditionally obsessed with cricket, the wordy board game Scrabble is fast becoming a major competitive sport
Hasham Hadi Khan, a 10-year-old boy, spells out “oxyphenbutazone,” adding: “I think it is a drug.”
It is also one of the highest-scoring possible plays in a game of Scrabble, a subject the player knows a lot about. Last year, Hasham racked up a whopping 878 points at a Scrabble championship in Sri Lanka — a higher score than the official world record.
Hasham is part of a new generation of Pakistani schoolchildren who are establishing the nation as a Scrabble powerhouse. In a nation where cricket is an obsession, the board game is — perhaps surprisingly — flourishing. Scrabble clubs are popping up all over: Karachi has more than 20, and, last year, 726 people competed in a national tournament.
The Pakistan Scrabble Association was formed in the late 1980s, but players did not fare well internationally until the association began to focus on students under the age of 18, who went on to score triple-triple word scores at international tournaments. The Pakistani player Moizullah Baig won the World Youth Scrabble Championship in 2013. Last year, the national team finished in second place.
Javeria Mirza, 18, recalled reactions to the Pakistani contingent on the international circuit.
“One of the kids asked us: ‘If Pakistan is a totally locked down terrorist country, how did you guys make it here?’ It was strange for them to see me playing because I was a little girl with a scarf,” she said.
The Pakistan Scrabble Association once had to partake in fundraising, but, as word of its players’ success has spread, corporate sponsors have stepped up over the past couple of years.
Scrabble’s popularity is also, in part, a macabre byproduct of Pakistan’s state of insecurity. Parents would rather children stay indoors and play Scrabble than send them out to play physical sports, said Tariq Pervez, who heads the association’s youth program.
On a Sunday morning, about two dozen people huddled over their boards in a ranking tournament held at a Karachi hotel. Players rushed to a computer to challenge moves, mused over their strategy and meticulously recorded scores. Hasham’s older brothers — 17-year-old identical twins in matching clothes — competed, as did Pakistan’s top-ranked player, Waseem Khatri.
Hassan Hadi, one of the brothers, learned to play Scrabble when their father brought the game home one day. The twins are competitive, but have been upstaged by Hasham.
“He bullies me, [saying]: ‘I’m a record holder and you are?’” Hassan said. “I really am jealous.”
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