BY SAM VISE
FOR THE OBSERVER
AUBURN — It’s more than just a game — Scrabble brings people together. That’s the spirit behind the North American Scrabble Players Association (NASPA) Club #903, better known as the Auburn Scrabble Club.
The club meets every Sunday at 1 p.m. in the Newspaper Reading Room in Ralph Brown Draughon Library at Auburn Univeristy, unless members are competing in out-of-town tournaments. The Auburn Scrabble Club hosted a tournament last weekend, with players coming in from Georgia, Florida and Tennessee to compete.
The club’s founder, Eric Harshbarger, who has been playing Scrabble his entire life, said he was inspired to start a club locally after teaching a class for retirees on competitive Scrabble at AU. He began organizing Scrabble tournaments in April 2024.
“It’s a very casual club,” Harshbarger said. “We take all levels of players. We take people who have never played the game before — we’re happy to teach you. We’re happy to let people play who have no desire to play in tournaments ever, but if there are people who find out there are tournaments around the country and go ‘Oh, that would be fun,’ you know, we’re happy to show them the basics.”
The club is free to join. There are around four to five members that attend each week, but Harshbarger said they’re hoping to expand participation. The club plays one-versus-one games, so they hope for an even amount of members each week.
“A lot of people love the game, and nearly everyone has at some point played, but there are some of us who just like to play it so much that we will meet every week and play,” Harshbarger said. “We’re just trying to advance that and encourage people to come by, whether or not they actually want to end up playing tournaments and get really, really good. It’s just a place to meet where other people can play people who like the game of Scrabble.”
NASPA has a rating system where members can see where they stand against other players. Harshbarger is currently ranked first in the state of Alabama and is one of the top 100 players in the country. He travels across the country to compete in Scrabble tournaments.
Once a tournament concludes, ratings are adjusted depending on how well a player performed. A mathematical formula determines how many games a player is expected to win. If a player exceeds these expectations, their rating will rise, signifying an improvement in skill. If a player underperforms, their rating will drop.
Tournaments are held throughout the year in various places across the country. This was the 12th tournament Harshbarger has hosted in Auburn.
During a tournament, players are expected to compete in all scheduled games during a session. A player rating system helps determine matchups, pitting stronger players against others.
“In general, you try to play people who are around your same rating, so it makes it more enjoyable,” Harshbarger said. “You want it to be fun and competitive for all the people involved. Each round is played, and you keep track of who wins and loses and how much they win by and things like that. At the end of the day, we see who’s won the most games.”
Since NASPA charges Harshbarger a fee to officially rate and sanction the tournament, he charges a $5 entry fee per game played. The entry money is also turned around and used for prizes for the winners and most improved players.
The competitors were excited for this month’s tournament, many also eager to connect with fellow Scrabble enthusiasts.
“For me, the reason I enjoy it is the people,” said Kat Anderson of Auburn. “You make friends and it introduces you to people that you would not ordinarily know.”
Anderson recalled a time when she hosted out-of-town players at her house so they did not have to pay for a hotel for the tournament. Now, some of those players are her good friends.
Other players also noted that the social aspect of the tournament is what drew them in. Many had been playing since childhood, and the tournaments ignited a sense of nostalgia.
“I’ve been playing all my life, but I’ve been playing in NASPA for 10 years,” said Ralph Ireland of Atlanta. “[I joined because] I played with my family, my brothers and sisters, since we were very young, back in the 1970s. When I retired from teaching, I found out that there’s actually a National Scrabble Association, and I joined.”
To learn more about Auburn’s Scrabble Club, email Eric Harshbarger at eric@ericharshbarger.org. To learn more about NASPA, visit www2.scrabbleplayers.org.
