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Philadelphia Students Meet New Words, Friends At Scrabble Tournament

By Hadas Kuznits

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Over 100 Philadelphia school district children participated in the annual scrabble tournament at the Philadelphia School District building.

Students across Philadelphia who have been playing scrabble in their local scrabble clubs gathered here at the Philadelphia school district building to play against each other.

Justin Ennis, with After School Activities Programs, says it's good to face different opponents.

"Competition is important to keep them focused in their regular club meetings so if they see some different words being played, different tactics, kids might be taking advantage of triple letter scores or words they've never seen before, it's anything that will help them improve their performance."

John Green is one of the scrabble coaches here. He became a professional scrabble player after honing his skills in prison.

"I did 24 years of my life in the penitentiary, and I played scrabble every day."

For those of you just trying to best your opponents at Words With Friends, Green has some tips.

"Learn those 2 and 3 letter words! Ha, xu, xi.  There's so many of them!"

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