Glenrothes man set for Scrabble World Championship finals in Las Vegas

James Wilkie, a59 year old former Fife Council employee, will take part in the 2023 World Scrabble Championships at Las Vegas’ Westgate Las Vegas Resorts & Casino this July, in what will be an emotional return to the famous gaming city in the Nevada desert.

He will first play in the ‘Last Chance Qualifier’, where he describes himself as “hopeful, but confident” of qualifying for the tournament proper, but just attending the championships is a huge achievement in itself.

He said: “To take part in the world championships of anything, I don't care what it is - you've got to be at a reasonable standard. It's going to be tough, but I welcome the competitiveness of it all, and anything is possible”.

The competition being held in Las Vegas is also an opportunity for James to pay tribute to his brother, Stephen, who passed away in July following a brain-wasting disease. The duo took a final trip to the city in 2019.

James said: “That was my brother's last holiday and it was with me. I was there in carer mode because he was dying. His health was very poor at that time.

“He'd been in Vegas before, but it was basically his last hurrah, because the chances of him getting travel insurance ever again, or even his health dictated that, so it's a pilgrimage to pay homage to him”.

A keen puzzler, who even appeared on TV game show Countdown in 1987, James first picked up the tiles at a Kirkcaldy Scrabble club around 20 years ago. This was thanks to a tip from his wife’s colleague.

He explained: “I went along. It was all ladies at the club and they were my mentors, basically. They taught me all the small words that score a lot of points like ‘xi’ and ‘qi’. Within three to six months, they said that I was tournament ready just by the practice play that I'd hadm and the guidance and the fact that I'm not an anxious person, so I wouldn't go to pieces at a tournament”.

James quickly made his competitive debut, playing at a Scottish Open tournament held at Stirling University and before long he was one of the highest rated players at his club.

“I like puzzles, I like crosswords. I like the kind of lateral thinking and I like the strategy involved in Scrabble. I like the competition – I'm quite competitive - I like the people, although obviously not when I'm getting thrashed, but that's the same for everybody.”

Since those early days, James has used Scrabble competitions to travel all over the world, including Germany, France and a trip to Malta in 2022 which ended with a third place finish at the country’s championships – the events add a bit extra to his travel plans

James explained: “There’s a social aspect of Scrabble outwith the competitive side. When I was in Malta I was going out for a meal or going to the casino and playing a poker game. When the game's done, it's like everything else – it's only a game, nobody died. There's not a huge amount of money in it -here's kudos. The reason sometimes you go in these wee jollies is because you're incorporating scrabble with a holiday”.

Before James jets off to Las Vegas, he’ll host a one-day event at the CISWO in Glenrothes. The competition will see players from around the country come together to play seven divisional games each across the day.

With the benchmark for top players at around 400 points per game, Jame even scored 664 when he won the 2017 UK Open in Coventry, and he offered some top tips for taking your Scrabble game to the next level, including revising the Scrabble dictionary.

He said: “Word retention. When you see an unusual word or one that you wouldn't have thought was a Scrabble word, like qintars Q-I-N-T-A-R-S. So there's a Q without a U and these kinds of things stick in the mind”.

And what is a Qintar? An Albanian coin.

James is still looking for sponsors for the world championships,and more information can be found here: https://gofund.me/29159d61