Scrabble is almost 86 years old, and still attracts some of the most smart, well-read, and competitive players of all time. In the world ofcompetitive Scrabble, players spend hours memorizing word lists and the Scrabble board to strategically score points. Around the world, Scrabble pros play intournament games, hoping to make it to the World Scrabble Championships, which hosts participants from more than 30 countries every year. Though many records have been set, no one's managed to achieve the highest-scoring Scrabble move possible, which is a whopping 15-letters long and includes an x, a y, and a z.
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Scrabble World Championship 2023 Winner
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David Eldar, 34, of Melbourne, Australia, won the 2023 World Scrabble Championship in Las Vegas, Nevada, taking home $10,000 in winnings. “This is huge for me, of course,” he told Slate. But it’s important to remember that I also am just there, like, all the time. I am incredibly fortunate that I have the time and funds to be able to support my hobby as much as I like. That means I can show up to as many world championships as I like.” The next championship tournament will take place in 2025.
A Playful Game Makes History
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In 2006, three Scrabble records were shattered in aplayful game between two Massachusetts men, a carpenter named Michael Cresta and a deli worker named Wayne Yorra. The match managed to break the North American Scrabble records for most points earned in a single play (365), highest individual score (830), and most combined points in a game (1,320).The word Cresta played to set the single play record was QUIXOTRY (defined as "behavior inspired by romantic beliefs without regard to reality"). According to experts, Cresta wouldn't have been able to pull off the move in a tournament game of Scrabble because professional players wouldn't have left an opening for him to do so.
RIP Karl Khoshnaw, Undefeated Champion
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But Cresta's impressive move still falls short of the feat Karl Khoshnaw managed in 1982. The international Scrabble legend earned 392 points with CAZIQUES (which is the plural of a type of oriole). It remains the world'stop-scoring single Scrabble move ever. The champion allegedly passed away in 2006, and his record stands undefeated.
The Highest-Scoring Scrabble Word Is…
ShutterstockAnd though no one's managed to use it yet, the theoreticalhighest-scoring Scrabble word out there is OXYPHENBUTAZONE. Ohioan Dan Stock found the word, which is worth a wild 1,458 points. And if a player was able to add some specific hooked words to the theoretical board, they could score up to 1,778 points. That's 458 more than the record Cresta and Yorra set in their single game.
Can You Smash the Record?
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So if you manage to find a Scrabble word that will earn you more than 400 points, you won't just be eliciting groans from your fellow players; you'll also besmashing Scrabble records left and right. And chances are you'll be playing sometime soon considering that there's a Scrabble board ina third of U.S. households. In fact, more than 150 million Scrabble boards have been sold worldwide since they were created more than 80 years ago.During the Great Depression, a man named Alfred Butts found himself without a job and in need of some money. So, he invented a game called Lexicos in 1938. Unfortunately for Butts, the game didn't gain much traction until 10 years later, when James Brunot bought the rights and changed its name to Scrabble. After four years on the market, Scrabble finally took off—and it's been a staple onfamily game nights ever since. And if you want to start setting Scrabble records, get ready to Own Scrabble with These 43 Words That Start with X.
