Another year, another Crescent City Cup in the books!

As I write this, many players have rushed home and dozens of players remain in frigid New Orleans, stuck in 5 to 8 inches of snow! I am pleased to hear reports of smiles and more Scrabble games as people wait out the storm.

Thank you to a record-breaking 145 players for joining us in New Orleans, LA for a long weekend of Scrabble! Not only did we get a new record number of players, but we had a record number of CSW players this year! With a total of 56 players, the CSW group made up 38% of the tournament, a whopping 12% more than last year. We would like to credit Bob Linn and his generous donation, which was focused on bringing in new players to the CSW group. We had 14 new players switch to the CSW division, and we hope they continue to enjoy all of the fun words (and players) that CSW has to offer!

After 20 games, below is the list of prize winners in each division.

CSW Open:

1st Place: $2,500, Josh Castellano (14-6, +954)

2nd Place: $1,000, Dave Wiegand (13-7, +846)

3rd Place: $750, Chris Lipe (13-7, +702)

4th Place: $500, Bob Linn (13-7, +571)

5th Place: $300, Ben Schoenbrun (13-7, +376)

6th Place: CCC Tile Bag, Evans Clinchy (12-8, +594)

Class Prize 1: $220, Dean Saldanha (11-9, +442)

Class Prize 2: $180, Cooper Komatsu (11-9, +37)

Class Prize 3: $150, Puneet Sharma (11-9, -361)

CSW Lite:

1st Place: $1,000, Carson Ip (15-5, +1159)

2nd Place: $750, Ayotunde Adeyeri (15-5, +959)

3rd Place: $500, Emmanuel Egbele (14-6, +947)

4th Place: $400, Terry Kang (13-7, +733)

5th Place: $300, Eric Fox (12-8, +569)

6th Place: CCC Tile Bag, Ethan Joseph (12-8, +171)

Class Prize 1: $220, Lila Crotty (11-9, +483)

Class Prize 2: $180, Jane Geary (11-9, +86)

Class Prize 3: $150, Jeannie Wilson (11-9, -101)

It should also be noted that we awarded 16 $10 prizes throughout the tournament for low losses, low wins, high losses, and high wins along with four $20 prizes for the highest new CSW words.

We are grateful for the donations, ratings, and support from both the CoCo and WGPO. We are also thankful for each and every player. Without each of you, this event would not have been possible.

Thank you, as always, to Christian and Andrew Kay for another wonderful streaming production, bringing our event to an audience all over the world. Their friend Kelvin Lai even took some professional pictures and videos, which was a bonus surprise for all of us! Thank you, Matt Canik and Nits Chagti, for commentating all weekend (with special guests Austin Shin and Cooper Komatsu)! The stream team even worked through lunch on Saturday so we could support the end of the School Scrabble event. We are excited to see these children enjoying our favorite game! Check out twitch.tv/austinho9 to relive all the Scrabble fun from the weekend.

Finally, we are forever grateful to Lila Crotty and Tim and Kate Fukawa-Connelly! Lila works closely with the Drury, and her attention to detail makes our playing room a special place. Tim's pairing expertise is priceless, and Kate's Quackling and king cake securing are on point. We all work together throughout the year to maintain the website, create flyers and Facebook posts, and make sure to return as much as we can to you in prizes! We love that so many of you choose to play with us every year, and we will continue to host this event for as long as you all enjoy it.

Stay warm!