Scrabbler Q&A: Will Anderson

Welcome to another installment of our Scrabbler Q&A series. Once every month or so, we'll sit down with a member of the Scrabble community for a lengthy interview.

The COVID-19 crisis is still ongoing here in North America, and that's forced Scrabblers to get a little creative about how they continue to play the game and stay engaged with their fellow players. One individual who's still thriving in that regard is Will Anderson, who's used his time at home to launch a word game Twitch stream where he plays Scrabble, Boggle and other games for a live audience. We got together for a video chat and talked about what that experience has been like. Hope you enjoy!

EVANS: First and foremost, how are you doing? What's your life been like during this pandemic? Are you holding up OK, all things considered?

WILL: I would say the actual transition to pandemic life has not been that bad for me because I have already been remote, working from home full-time, for several years. So it's not like anything's changed in that regard. The biggest change for me is that [Will's wife] Allison has been working from home. She works at a school, and the schools are obviously not open for business the normal way. So she's been around, which has been nice. I know it's not good for anybody to be cooped up at home all the time, but it's nice to have her around. And it's nice for our cats to have everyone around. So the cats are happy, and I'm doing OK too.

Just like with anybody else, the adjustment is emotional. You're learning to be social differently, and you have to give up some of the things you like to do, like going to in-person Scrabble tournaments, going to the gym, and enjoying live sports. There's a lot of stuff that everybody's adjusting to. I think I'm doing OK with it, though.

EVANS: So, you mentioned live Scrabble tournaments. I wanted to ask you what it's like going through this time period as a top Scrabble player. I'm guessing that in a normal year, you put a lot of focus on preparing for major tournaments, studying for them and so forth. This year, we just found out there's going to be no Niagara Falls tournament, no King's Cup, and it doesn't look good for Alchemist Cup, either. Does this have an impact on your approach to Scrabble? Do you still feel the motivation to keep studying and preparing, or is it harder when there's no big tournament to look forward to?

WILL: That's a really good question. I would say historically, I've never really had an issue with motivating myself to continue to do word study and stay sharp, just out of loving Scrabble and feeling that being good at Scrabble and playing good Scrabble is its own reward. But I did find that two years ago, when Alchemist was on the calendar, I found myself preparing and anticipating that tournament more than almost any other that I've played. I mean, it's not that I didn't anticipate Nationals every year, but you know there's going to be another Nationals the year after that (pandemic excepted, of course). For me, Alchemist was so unique. I wanted to be as good as I could possibly be leading into that tournament. It sort of shifted my outlook toward being more event-focused.

So it's been an adjustment. I did look forward to all of the things you just said, and now, they're not there. I'm not sure if I've filled that void of self-improvement to the degree that I might have in the past, and maybe that's a little bit out of disappointment that those events aren't available now.

But obviously, part of the reason we're chatting is I've also been throwing a lot of my energy into other Scrabble endeavors.

EVANS: You're making my segue for me! So, yeah, one thing you've done to stay engaged with Scrabble is all the work you've done streaming Scrabble on Twitch. I wanted to start from the beginning of that. I've heard you mention Bnjy [Ben Schoenbrun] as a real trailblazer, someone who inspired you to get started with streaming. I was wondering if you could describe that inspiration a little bit. What was it like the first time you saw him streaming Scrabble online, and how did that idea pop into your head - like, "Hey, I could do this too?"

WILL: Well, the idea of Scrabble being something entertaining that people can watch is something that's just cemented in anybody's head that goes to a big event, like a Nationals or a Crescent City Cup or anything like that. You see that there's a way to present this game that can theoretically be extremely entertaining, even to people who aren't completely immersed in our culture.

But frankly, some of the broadcasts, like really old Nationals broadcasts, and some of the MSI broadcasts, you know, they left things to be desired. And I'd think to myself, "Aw, man. I wish I knew how to do any of this, so that I could make it better somehow."

So there's already that. And then Bnjy comes along, and you know, there's not that many Scrabblers that are really immersed in Twitch culture or anything like that. I've only just started learning the lingo myself. So just the simple act of watching Bnjy talk to groups of people, which could be different from one night to the next night, just whoever's there and wanting to hang out, was cool. And Bnjy's an affable sort of person who's well suited to that. It just feels like you're hanging out with Bnjy. And it's fun to hang out with Bnjy! I really appreciated that aspect of the stream.

So I was full steam ahead with the idea that this was something I would like to try. And it's been good on a whole bunch of levels. One way it's good is, selfishly, it's fun to hang out with friends of mine that want to watch the stream. More altruistically, I think it's good for Scrabble to have more outward-facing media, of all types. If someone comes along and says Scrabble doesn't have any Twitch streams, we can say, "Aha! But we do. We've got Bnjy, we've got Will, we've got... who knows how many other people." Because now there are a bunch of other people that are trying it out, and I think that's awesome.

I'm always watching chess on Twitch these days. I'm trying to understand: What is it they're doing, where they have so many successful chess streamers? Obviously, chess has 10 times the user base of Scrabble - it's certainly a bigger game. But their streaming environment is like, 1,000 times bigger than ours. We still have a long ways to go, even to be proportionally even with them in that way. So for me, just feeling like I'm filling that vacuum is great. But I wouldn't do it if it wasn't fun. It's just been a lot of fun! That's the main thing.

EVANS: Do you have any advice for any other Scrabblers out there who might be thinking about creating some outward-facing media of their own? What would you tell them?

WILL: I would say, for me, I definitely procrastinated for a while just learning the software. I was screwing around with the software for several months, learning all the features and making sure I knew exactly what I was doing before I started. And I would definitely say now that that's not necessary. You're not going to have thousands of viewers the first time you stream. You're going to have a few people that are very devoted to Scrabble streaming and are not going to care if you're learning on the job a little bit. So it's definitely better to just get started.

It takes a little doing to learn how to manage all of the facets of being a streamer at once. You have software that you're dealing with, and you're talking to people, and you're trying to play a game as well as you can. It took me a long time before I could feel like my level of play in any game even came close to what it would be without all the distractions going on.

So it's better to get started sooner rather than later. And don't get too hard on yourself when you do stupid stuff that you don't think you would do normally. Because not only is that natural when you're dealing with so much stuff all at once, but also, it's kind of fun for your viewers when you [mess] up. That's actually a value proposition for my viewers - they get to watch me do idiotic things and enjoy my pained reactions.

So if anyone's on the fence and thinking, "Could I be good at this?" or, "Would I have fun doing this?" There's only one way to find out. You've got to start and see how it goes. I'll be there in the channel throwing bits at you and using emotes when you do.

EVANS: One of the cool things about Twitch is how interactive it is - there's people in the chat conversing with you, they're tipping you money (I think?), they're challenging you to play word games with them, and so on. It's got to be a lot of fun, just getting to interact with people like that. What's the audience engagement been like for you?

WILL: It's been great having fun with the people that are watching the stream. I definitely try to do as many things that are interactive with my viewers as I can. I'll play Boggle in big groups with the viewers at times, or I'll tell people, "First person to challenge me on ISC when I log on, we'll play," and then we'll do king of the hill after that. So I try to make it interactive. And Scrabble players are punny, and I laugh at a lot of the silly things my viewers say. It's fun!

And there's been no trolling. I don't know - maybe people are loath to troll me because I'll talk [trash] hard right back at them. If you know anything about me, you know I would be completely unfazed by being trolled. But yeah, it's been a pretty positive experience interacting with the viewers on a regular basis, for sure.

And let's face it - 99% of these people, I'm already good friends with. Hopefully, at some future time, that percentage will decrease, and there will be a lot of people that I don't know that well personally but that are interested in the content that I have to offer. That's the dream, I guess. Someday.

EVANS: So you've been playing these tournaments that Bnjy's been putting on - first the first big matchplay tournament, and now the Double-Double. Is it more challenging for you to play these tournaments when you've got to stream them at the same time? What's that been like, juggling those responsibilities?

WILL: Based on how I've played, I sure hope it's a little tougher, because I definitely make more unforced errors than I feel like I do in live play. I feel like I probably don't make as many blunders when I'm just focused on the game and not streaming. But I just have a ton of fun streaming these serious Scrabble tournaments, just talking through my thought process. If it means I make a mistake or two that I wouldn't normally, that really doesn't bother me too much.

I also just like setting this precedent because if online tournaments are ever going to be taken seriously, there's going to need to be an increased burden on every player to go the extra mile and assure everybody that everything's above board and you're not using aids and stuff. A really great way to do that is streaming! I don't think anybody in their right mind would accuse me of using any aids at any point. I'm streaming my games, and I'm making dumb boo-boos and missing stuff all the time.

But hey, I'm playing well sometimes. So there's that.

EVANS: All right, I've just got one question left for you. I feel like I'd be remiss if I didn't ask you this one. So, you've won your first two matches in the Double-Double, and I'm looking at the bracket...

WILL: Ha! I know what's coming.

EVANS: Your next opponent is yours truly. As you remember, you beat the bajeezus out of me in the last online tournament we played. So I guess I'll just have to ask you: Are you ready for the payback that's coming your way?

WILL: You know what? I seem to draw so, so well in every series that I don't lose. Any time I draw evenly or worse, I lose. Any time I draw incredibly lopsidedly well, I win. So if you can get any kind of tiles going in your favor, then I fully expect that I could be in for a long series.

EVANS: I'll see what I can do.