It may come as news to most of the universe that the World Scrabble Championships took place last week, and ended yesterday when Nigel Richards of New Zealand defeated Aussie Andrew Fisher, 3-2. Richards ended the five-day tournament with 95 points on the word "omnified"—which, as proof that humans can still beat the machines, spell check refuses to recognize as a word.


But the real highlight of the weekend was not Richards, his beard, or his acceptance speech (reportedly: "Nice!"), but this item, from The Independent:

At the event, which opened on Wednesday, a Thai player demanded England's Ed Martin be taken to the toilet and strip-searched to prove he had not hidden a 'G' tile that mysteriously went missing during their game. The judges ruled in Mr Martin's favour, sparing him the indignity of a search and seeing a tight defeat turned into victory by a single buttock-clenching point.


According to reports from people who keep track of Scrabble controversies, the incident was Scrabble's "most controversial" since a player accused his competitor of eating a tile in an earlier tournament.

Richards won $20,000 and eternal glory for his efforts. As far as we can tell, the missing "G" never turned up.

G/O Media may get a commission Subscribe and Get Your First Bag Free Promo Code AtlasCoffeeDay20

H/T Kyle.

G for 'guilty'? Lost letter spells trouble at world Scrabble contest [The Independent]