Last week, in a large chalet at Park Pierre Elliott Trudeau in Cote St-Luc, I was among a wide variety of players ranging from recent university graduates to senior citizens who bellowed their scores proudly to Bernard Gotlieb, one of the world’s greats and the director of the club. The evening’s high was an outstanding 505 from a kind lady sitting next to me.

By contrast, the lowest was a mere 150 set by…me. After being thoroughly served by a communications graduate from University of Ottawa by over 200 points, I certainly wasn’t proud to walk up to Mr. Gotlieb afterwards for a few tips, but I was glad I received them.

Turns out you can learn a thing or two from a former national champion. In our little caucus he suggested I start by learning a series of two and three letter words like “Aa” and “Kef”.

I assume he made me start at the beginning not to make fun of me but to teach me how those “dump words” could lead to greater combinations of words that can dish out 35 points per turn; my highest that night was 24.

As luck would have it, I have a little motivation to practice. On May 9, the Atwater Library will be hosting a Scrabble fundraiser where the MSC have been cordially invited to participate.

As daunting as it may seem to take on someone from Mr. Gotlieb’s crew, the event’s organizers promise it’s all in the name of good fun; considering the event almost didn’t happen, according to Dorothy Lipovenko, who spearheaded the event.

“It was serendipity. I was in the Atwater Library one day looking up old photos,” explained Lipovenko. “A few days later I saw a poster in the Atwater Market about the library. If I hadn’t been at the library, I would not have noticed it.”

“I like to be catalyst. To me it just made sense to have Scrabble in a library,” added Lipovenko.

The MSC aren’t the only guests Lipovenko attracted; Westmount mayor Karin Marks will be ready for any challenger who wishes to exchange a few words by placing the highest bid.

Anyone who wants to participate can visit the website at www.atwaterlibrary.ca for a registration form and attendees will also need to raise $50 to reserve a table.

Meanwhile, I’ll be practicing those words Mr. Gotlieb told me about to boost my score. As he eloquently said, “the good news is your scores can’t get much worse.”