Get ready to eclipse the competition in Austin next April

Next April, a star is set to take center stage, and I'm not talking about the star at the center of the Scrabble board. Nope - this time, it's the big bright star in the sky, the one and only Milky Way Galaxy sun. Come April 2024, an otherworldly spectacle will take place before our very eyes - and you'll have the chance to make that weekend an other-word-ly experience, too.

For the last time in a generation, North America will see a total solar eclipse. The eclipse will occur on Monday, April 8, 2024, and the path of totality will cut right through Austin, Texas. So we, the CoCo team, have decided to make a Scrabble-packed long weekend of it - any and all players are invited to join us for a 2-day tournament the weekend of April 6 and 7, then stay to view the eclipse the day after.

The timing of this eclipse is fortuitous for us, as we've already had an Austin tournament running in early April for the last two years. In 2022, directors Becky Dyer and James Curley teamed up to bring us the first Austin Tile X-Words event, complete with cool ATX wood racks as souvenirs for the players and fabulous Texas barbecue. This year, James reprised the event at the same great downtown venue, right across the street from the aptly named CoCo's Cafe. Four players ran the Longhorn Run 5k race before the tournament, and many more gathered to enjoy pizza, beer, and baby goats at Jester King in the evening.

Next year's tournament will be truly spectacular. James is returning again as a veteran ATX director, and this time he's teaming up with Jesse Day to run the show. Jesse kicked off a series of Austin 1-day tournaments this summer, and he's had great success drawing new and experienced Collins players from around the state. With a core group of active local players already in place, this tournament promises to draw a large and competitive field.

Austin Tile X-Words is already a thriving tournament, but next year's eclipse will make for a truly one-of-a-kind event. If you're not an eclipse enthusiast already, you don't know what you're missing. Partial eclipses are fairly common, but a total solar eclipse is a rare astronomical phenomenon that is astonishing to observe firsthand. The ambient environment changes dramatically, with a bright day suddenly going dark as night. Shadows fall suddenly, birds chirp like it's morning, dogs bark with great confusion, and you can witness a sunset horizon a full 360 degrees around you. It is beautiful, magical, natural, unreal, and simply put, it is not to be missed.

So come on down to Austin next April! You'll get to enjoy 14 games of Scrabble with a great field, then wrap up the long weekend by witnessing an unforgettable eclipse. Be there, or be squarer than a Scrabble grid.

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Everything you need to know about the North American Collins Championship (NACC)

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Recapping this weekend's 1-days in Portland, OR and Austin, TX