A word about inclusivity

In the days since we went public with our plans to form a new Scrabble organization, the response we've gotten has been overwhelmingly positive. People have been offering their support in all sorts of ways, whether signing up to play our existing tournaments, volunteering to direct new ones, or simply letting us know they're pulling for us. It's been heartening to see. We didn't know how people would react to our announcement, so we breathed a sigh of relief when they mostly reacted favorably.

Mostly. While the positivity was great to see, it wasn't quite unanimous. We did hear a little bit of criticism from some corners of the Scrabble community - and to be perfectly candid, there was one piece of feedback in particular that really stuck with me. A couple of days after we announced, a friend alerted me to this comment, from a social media discussion about our tournaments:

"I was never 'cool' enough to play Hood River, as it felt like one of those tournaments you had to be in a certain clique in order to get in. I think that's something they need to be cognizant of if they're looking to attract more Collins players - being open and accepting to all players would be an important factor."

This comment saddened me when I first read it. Jennifer and I have worked hard to build a network of fun and competitive Scrabble tournaments, with the February tournament in Hood River being our flagship event, and it was never our goal to make these tourneys cliquish or exclusive. But after giving it some thought, I had to admit that the criticism had some merit. After all, we're coming up on our third Hood River tournament, and of the 20 people signed up, 13 of them have been on the list all three years. Now, we've always viewed this as a good thing - after all, who wouldn’t want to have happy players coming back each year? - but I can see how it might look to someone outside that bubble. It might look like we're cutting everyone else out.

I should say a couple of things, though. First, any use of the word "cool" makes me chuckle a bit. We're all word game nerds here - I highly doubt that any of us are that "cool." High school unpopularity is the one thing just about all of us have in common. But secondly and more importantly, I want to make it clear that we encourage new players to come aboard. Our tournaments so far have appealed to a small niche group, yes - but we plan to work actively in the months ahead to broaden that group. We want as many players as possible to become aware of our tournaments and to consider playing them. Nothing excites us more than seeing a new name pop up in our inbox, telling us they want to join.

We're eager to welcome new members into the fold. We're looking for not only new players, but new directors and new leaders as well. As we work in the coming months to create a new governance structure, we'll want people on board who have a bright vision for the future of Scrabble, and we'd love for those people to come from beyond our immediate circle of friends.

The entire reason the CoCo exists is to give the people of this community the power to shape the game's future. If this effort is going to be successful, it's going to need support from everyone - and I very much hope that you will be one of them. Yes - you.

You may not see yourself as a part of the CoCo today, but you can certainly become one. All you've got to do is speak up. I hope you do.