Crazy for Scrabble

In the game of Scrabble, there are those who regulate themselves to coffee shop games and those who travel the world looking for linguistic glory.

Foster City resident Jerry Lerman learned more than 20 years ago he wasn’t satisfied with coffee-shop scrabble. Lerman, a risk assessment consultant for Wells Fargo, is a one of 627 registered contenders in the U.S. Scrabble Open, happening this weekend in Arizona. The competition began Friday and wraps up Wednesday when a final match will determine the nation’s greatest word master.

Lerman, 58, stands a chance at that title. He placed fourth in the top division last year and took home a $2,500 prize. He is one of the top-rated California players and in the top 100 nationwide.

After all, how many people can look at the letters A-C-E-G-I-M-M-T and form the 65-point word: Tagmemic? You may not find the word in the desk reference Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, but you will find it in the Official Scrabble Dictionary. The Scrabble player’s "bible” underwent a recent revision and had an additional 5,000 words added to it this March. Words like Tagmemic, a linguistic discourse theory developed by Kenneth L. Pike, is enough to turn a good game into a great game.

"If I ever get those exact letters, I’ll know what to do,” Lerman said.

Lerman’s been memorizing about 5,000 new words added to the Official Scrabble Dictionary in March. Any good player has the book memorized, he said.

This weekend, he’ll find out just how well he memorized the book when he takes on the nation’s best.

His rise to Scrabble stardom began in the quiet coffee shops of San Francisco in the 1970s. Not content with the strict game of Chess and leery of betting associated with Backgammon, Lerman took up a relatively new game his friend told him about.

"There’s luck in Scrabble — certainly more in Scrabble than in Chess,” Lerman said.

The two played in coffee shops six times a week and eventually developed a group of friends with the same love of Scrabble.

Eventually Lerman met his wife, Eve, at a Scrabble game and the two have been married more than 25 years.

The relationship hit a rough patch when Jerry Lerman decided to attend a Scrabble tournament in Los Angeles two week before she was supposed to deliver the couple’s first child. If fact, she went into labor early and her parents, who lived in Los Angeles, personally chauffeured Jerry Lerman to the airport to get home.

Their 23-year-old daughter now participates Scrabble tournaments as well.

After so many years, the married couple seldom play Scrabble together anymore.

"We just took a trip together and played, but we don’t usually play. He needs someone on his own level,” Eve Lerman said. "I’m typically doing the crossword puzzles or cross-stitch.”

While many wives struggle with their husbands’ weekend golf obsessions, Eve Lerman parts with her husband for Scrabble tournaments and cross-country Internet games.

She’ll be in Arizona Sunday because the San Francisco Giants are playing the Arizona Diamondbacks Monday.

His friend moved to New York to work for the National Scrabble Association and the two still compete online. At last count, the two tallied 320 games and Lerman is down by 13.

Dana Yates can be reached by e-mail: dana@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 106. What do you think of this story? Send a letter to the editor: letters@smdailyjournal.com.

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