Posted 16th Apr 11 by in

Tomorrow,  come to London to take over one of our favourite local hangouts,  the in Hackney. For us, its a good excuse for a knees up, a pint of ale and a few choice words with the Word Festival regulars as our friends and takeover one of East London’s finest establishments.

We caught up with Lisa to get the scoop on the all-new tournament they’re bringing (literally) to the table.

Scrabble Sunday is a nomadic event giving people the wherewithal to meet and laugh and eat over a word game or three. We pop up in cafes and pubs around the country and at festivals like Latitude, Green Man and End of the Road with our fingers crossed for fine weather and an array of blankets, boards and jaffa cakes (yup, posh). We’ve also taken bands and DJs along with us to The Camden Crawl and Lynton and Lynmouth comedy festival (they have a funicular railway there).

We have dictionaries and rules and people to dish them out if needed, but it’s entirely up to the people who come along how they choose to play. Some people play a serious game and some choose to make up the rules as they go along. Either way is fine with us. Over the years we’ve gathered a load of other games too and think it’s nice to be able to balance the brain after a particularly taxing win by playing Buckaroo (trickier than you think old Bucks).

Sundays seem to be the ideal day for Scrabble. Festival goers tell us it’s the perfect hangover cure – you can lie down in the sun, you don’t have to talk too much and you get fed bourbons. It’s just one of those games that fits the pace of a Sunday. Like the Antique’s Roadshow. I believe Craig David was trying to fit Scrabble into the lyrics for his most excellent of songs, but it just didn’t fit the beautiful rhythm, although whenever I sing it (more regularly than you’d imagine) I always add it in, you should try it. I would add that there’s nothing wrong with making love *and* playing scrabble on Sundays, but ideally not at a Scrabble Sunday event, and I think that’s what Craig was trying to get at really.

Tournaments are a relatively new thing for us. We were a bit worried about making it too serious, but we just try and do it in our own way and make sure people don’t feel intimidated by the idea of a competition. Although some people love the fact it’s a competition and get all steely eyed, most people just come along to have a go and if they go out in the first round they can play a different game and be consoled by a jaffa and a high five.

Prizes will include tickets to incredible London Word Festival events, a cake that will be iced with your name (or a name of your choice… this may be a chance to woo that special chap/lady?), some advice on any subject you like (we cannot promise good advice), the aforementioned high ten AND A TROPHY (of some sort).

To sign-up for the tournament, email . See you there at 3pm. Mine’s an ale & a packet of lemon flavoured pork scratchings thanks.

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