An update from the CoCo amid the COVID-19 pandemic
Back when COVID-19 cases started to rise in North America, we were quick to take action to protect our players. We worked with the directors of our upcoming spring tournaments to individually assess the situations in their areas and the risks posed by players traveling. Scott Jackson canceled his April Minneapolis tournament, and we canceled the third annual May Oregon Coast Open. Though we greatly miss the chance to see everyone, we know these steps were necessary to protect the health of not just our community, but the public as well.
After reflecting on where we are in this pandemic and where we expect to be in a couple of months, our directors made the tough decision to cancel our summer tournaments. The tournaments previously scheduled for Saint Louis in June, and Kelowna and Charlottesville in July, are now canceled. All of the directors plan to add their tournaments back to the calendar when it’s safe to gather in person again. For the currently scheduled fall tournaments in Oakland, New York, and the Pacific Northwest, our directors will decide how to proceed closer to September. The easiest way to learn about in-person and virtual tournaments is to sign up to receive tournament announcement emails (see below). Thanks to Supriya Devnani for suggesting this announcement feature!
Though this has been an undoubtedly strange time, the good news is, we’ve kept moving forward while much of the world has paused. We’ve pivoted to directing virtual tournaments in our Computer Users’ Remote Event (CURE) series. Those four tournaments (and counting!) have now hosted 74 different players from 11 countries, including many first-time Collins players. You can check out the results of these diverse fields here. Special recognition goes to Peter Armstrong for being the only person to play in all four CUREs!
It’s not often that you get to play someone you’ve never played before in Scrabble, but that’s happening every time we direct a CURE. In this time of distancing and social isolation, we’re closing the gap between the North American Scrabble scene and the rest of the world. We’re building our international reputation by inviting players from around the world to participate, and we’re humbled to see how strong the interest and support has been. One international player commented that it was exciting to see the CoCo take steps to unite North America with the rest of the Scrabble world, and we couldn’t agree more.
In addition to the CUREs, we’re also using the quarantine time to plan for our long-term future. Like a devoted turtle, we’re making slow, but steady progress behind the scenes to build the organization in many ways. We’re consulting with nonprofit experts on cost-effective ways to pursue legal incorporation. We’re enhancing our tournament registration and data systems and developing programs to streamline how we handle and process pairings and player data. We’re building a livestream setup to provide a high quality stream when in-person tournaments resume. (On that note, we thank Vince Castellano for donating 3D-printed components for the livestream rig, and all the many players who have donated this spring to support us. As we promised from the start, we make information about our donations and finances publicly available, so you can see how we use every dollar to advance the community.)
If you’re sitting at home missing Scrabble and want to connect with others, now is the perfect time to get involved. Let us know if you have ideas for virtual or in-person events or if you have skills you want to contribute. We can’t wait to see you all over the board again someday. Until then, stay safe and healthy, everyone!