The next photo is the PROMPT. Remember, all photos are property of the photographer, donated for use in Friday Fictioneers only. They shouldn’t be used for any other purpose without express permission. It is proper etiquette to give the contributor credit.
PHOTO PROMPT © Jennifer Pendergast
I’m indulging in a bit more of an intro than usual. I want to share how I got from Jen’s photo to the story I ended up with. At first, I zeroed in on the game Sorry which I played a lot when I was a child. Later, I would play it with my kids. So naturally I Googled the history of the game and came up with George Swinnerton Parker, founder of Parker Brothers and inventor of such games as Sorry, Tiddly Winks and Monopoly. Then as I was playing Scrabble on my iPad, which I do several times a day, it occurred to me I was following the wrong thread. This story is based on my own family history. 😉
Genre: Anecdote
Word Count:100
GAME ON
In 1948 James Brunot redesigned the game Criss Cross and renamed it Scrabble. It was first marketed in Great Britain in 1954.
My parents played on otherwise quiet evenings.
Mom was an avid crossword puzzle worker. Dad’s vocabulary didn’t compare to hers.
She spelled out, “QUA”
“What the hell is that? I challenge!” Flipping through dictionary, he muttered, “Oh, here it is, ‘being; in the character of’” Then he played his tiles. “SCREAM. Double word. Beat that, Mrs. Know-it-all.”
Mom added five letters to QUA to form SQUABBLE. “Triple word and my name for this game. I win. I quit.”
Rochelle Wisoff-Fields-Addicted to Purple 
Games do bring out the worst in us, don’t they?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Neil,
I think it depends on who’s playing the games. 😉
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
True that
LikeLike
Interesting real story abut an interesting game, Rochelle 🙂
I love Scrabble too!
Spent hours playing and learning new words.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Anita,
I’ve always loved that game. Now I play it on my iPad or iPhone so I don’t have to wait for a human opponent. 😉 Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLike
Dear Rochelle,
At least this one didn’t end with flipping the board over and scattering all the pieces! Way to go Mrs. Wisoff! 😉
Shalom and lotsa fun love,
Dale
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Dale,
Mr. Wisoff would’ve been more likely to dump the board and scatter the pieces. He didn’t like losing. It was an…interesting…dynamic. 😉 Thank you for playing.
Shalom and lotsa thoughtful hugs,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hahaha! Alrighty then!
LikeLike
My mom and I used to play Scrabble a lot. Every time I’d fly out to Denver for a visit, we’d have “SCrabble Tournaments.” How I miss those days!
Great story, Rochelle. Thanks for bringing back the memories!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear A.M.
I do miss playing Scrabble with a human. I play against my iPad. I kept the oldest version of the game, refusing the new bells and whistles. I can’t even go online with it because it won’t update…and that’s the way I like it.
I used to love playing Scrabble with my mom, too. Thank you. Glad my story brought back sweet memories for you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLike
Terry won’t play word games with me. I won’t play numbers/logic games with him. I stink at chess. He fails miserably at Scrabble. So–we don’t play anything but pure luck games 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Linda,
Jan says he wouldn’t play Scrabble with me since I play it all the time on my iPad. I’m such a word nerd. 😉 And for the sake of Shalom in the Home we don’t play any other games.
Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes. Shalom in the Home. I like that 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
What a great story, Rochelle. My ex-husband was so far superior to me in scrabble but I got to be a much better player because of it. I do know that in a scrabble dictionary just about any combination of 2 or more letters counts, which gives a distortion of real. I used to play online scrabble all the time but it became a sinkhole of time as I was playing many people at the same time and every time someone played, my phone would ding and I’d run to it like a crying baby.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Lisa,
I never got involved in oline Scrabble or Words with Friends. Besides being a logophile I’m also an introvert. Scrabble on my iPad suits me just fine. And I recently found an online Scrabble dictionary app. 😉 I know the two letter words but I kind of like to know what they mean.
Thank you re my story. 😀
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
Rochelle, good to know on all. You are very welcome.
Shalom,
Lisa
LikeLike
This was really fun to get a snapshot of their playing Scrabble together. Loved the ending. Last month we played “zingo” with my two granchildren and James, now almost five, won (after helping two people by giving them tiles) and it was so funny because when he won, He pointed to everyone and said “I beat you, I beat you, I beat you , and you.” But not in a cocky way – just confident – and kind of like the mom here, “I win, I quit.” ha!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Yvette,
Thanks for sharing that little story with me. It made me smile. Thank you re my story.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
🙂
LikeLike
Dear Gertrude Ederle W(T)F,
I could probably hang with you at Tiddly Winks, but wouldn’t be any good at Scrabble (can’t spell schitt). As you’ve probably ascertained, I’m more of a Know-it-some than a fancy linguist.
BTW – When are they going to come out with a game called “Not Sorry.” I think it would be a big hit.
Happy word making,
Alex Trachec
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Alex Trachec,
You know there are words that the electronic Scrabble accepts, particularly Yiddish vulgarity. Who nu? In fact, in one of the pictures I posted from a game with iPad, you’ll see the world “schlong” which the computer played. Feel free to look that one up. 😉
It was nice to see you here this week. I will miss seeing you at OWL. One of my Hebrew students is having her bat mitzvah the same weekend. I tried to clone myself but came up short.
Shalom,
Gertrude Ederle W(T)F
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Gertrude W(T)F,
I can only assume electronic Scrabble was programed by a Jew. I’m am familiar with the term “schlong” and expect it might accept “schort” as well.
What? No OWL presence? Who will drink wine with me, and no Jan to play guitar with. In that case, I’m just going to drive up that morning and not spend the night (it’s cheaper that way too).
Glad the cloning didn’t work out. Not sure the world could handle two of you. That would mean double mimes. YIKES!!!!!
Happy Passover,
Alex
LikeLiked by 1 person
Either the Fields or the Gayers are going to have to make a trip to see the other. Nu?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Absolutely. 🙂
LikeLike
like sharing food, playing games like scrabble brings the family together.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Plaridel,
I think it depends on the family. 😉 I’ll opt for food. Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
Love scrabble. Your story seems very familiar to me. I wonder why 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Will. 😉
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLike
loved your story…personally …
LikeLiked by 1 person
So glad, Nandini. Thank you for taking the time to say so. 😀
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLike
A fun story Rochelle. Scrabble is the only game that all of us at home agree upon 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Dahlia,
I envy you. We can’t agree on any games so we don’t play them. 😉 Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
I enjoyed watching over their shoulders!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Keith.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
Damn… she’s brutal
I love it!
Sounds like two very interesting characters
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Laurie,
My mom didn’t pull any punches. She’s the reason I’m part of the “grammar police.” 😉 Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
Scrabble can be a frustrating game. My sister who was always the worst speller would always win because she was tutored by a scrabble master and had all those little know two-letter words usually starting with X in her back pocket.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Michele,
There are some great two and three letter words using Q, X and Z. If you can get those babies on a triple letter square, you’re golden. 😉 I guess this is why I play against the iPad.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
It is like the usual crossword between family members, some take the games seriously and others don’t.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear James,
Neither my dad nor my husband have ever understood the concept of “it’s only a game.” 😉 Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
What a great scene/snippet from your life. Your mother must have been very competitive.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Gabi
Actually quite the opposite. My mom just wanted a peaceful game. My dad didn’t like to lose. Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
Mrs. Know-It-All! That cracked me up. There’s one in every game and always good to have on your team!
Fun story, Rochelle!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Nancy,
So true. There is one in every game. It’s why my husband always wanted me on his team when we played Trivial Pursuit. Although he’s much better in the music category than I. 😉 Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
Trivial Pursuit is my game, also!
LikeLiked by 1 person
My favourite scrabble word. I play against the computer when I play on line and I’m amazed the computer doesn’t have ‘qua’ in its lexicon. Good one, reminding me of some very happy evenings that ended in some slightly less happy bedtimes.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Sandra,
What’s interesting to me when it comes to Scrabble is that some words are allowed on the iPad that the iPhone won’t let me use. Same app…or so I thought. At any rate I recently downloaded a scrabble dictionary. I learned qua from the computer. I don’t know if playing has increased my vocabulary or not but it’s certainly given me more of those two letter words to play like te, ti and ta…whatever they mean. 😉
Thank you for reading.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLike
I have always loved Scrabble, I guess many of us wordsmiths probably do. Any game I played with my dad or step mother, as a kid they always beat me, so it was always my desire to beat them. Fast forward to online games and Words with Friends. I played my step mother and after a few games I beat her (yay!), then I ended winning more than losing, and then, as she aged, I won every single time.
She doesn’t play anymore. 😦
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Dawn,
How sad. The circle of life.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLike
Yes….
LikeLike
Great write! and still one of my favorites! I play it alone too, to see if I can use every tile!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Violet,
I find that tucking myself away and playing Scrabble on my iPad helps center me somehow. Unless, of course I lose a bunch of rounds in a row. 😉
Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
Rings a few bells, this one! Family games night is a favourite in this house! High emotions, drama and competition, but on balance I think it’s a good thing to have that time together.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Jen,
Family game nights can be fun for some. I gave up on them a long time ago. I’ve loved watching your boys grow on FB. I remember when I was posting their birth announcements.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLike