I played in the biggest Scrabble tournament in the country — and it was nothing like the game you grew up playing

Patty Hocker/NASPA

When most people think of Scrabble, they think of a leisurely game night in grandma’s living room.

But for a few thousand people, the iconic board game is a competitive, adrenaline-filled, highly cerebral discipline, worthy of hundreds of hours of study and a lifetime of obsession.

I’m one of those few, and last month, I flew to New Orleans to compete in the North American Scrabble Championship with 400 fellow word nerds.

The tournament was a marathon — 31 games in five days — that pushed me to the brink of mental exhaustion. But it also offered an illuminating look into a quirky subculture that toils in relative obscurity, far from the confines of grandma’s living room.

Here’s what it’s like to play in the biggest Scrabble tournament in the country: