FWWF: Team Speed Scrabble and craft beer in downtown Hollywood – with gift certificates

By Mariam Aldhahi

You’ve been cheating. But it’s OK, we all have.

In a time of autocorrect and spell check, even journalists have lost touch of their roots. SPJ realizes we all have a problem — now we’re going to fix it. We’ll start by forcing you to forget everything you’ve learned about your smartphones and tablets. No easy shortcuts will work here.

This Scrabble tournament at a downtown Hollywood wine bar combines the two things we love most — words and alcohol. And SPJ South Florida is bringing it to you for FREE.

F@%# Words With Friends (FWWF) will take you back to the days where you needed to know your words and how to spell them. Enjoy a craft beer tasting whether you play Team Speed Scrabble (rules below) or just watch.

Here’s how it works

We want to get back to playing classic Scrabble, so Words With Friends loopholes aren’t going to work here…

• Teams of two play against each other.
• Each table will have a ref to keep track of time and points.
• Each team will have 30 seconds to lay down a word.
• The opposing team can challenge them by using dictionaries the refs will provide.
• The winners of each game play for the first-place title.
• Each member of the winning team receives a $10 Amazon gift card.

The tournament and tasting will only last a couple hours, giving you a chance to explore downtown Hollywood on a Saturday night with your newly made journo friends.

How it’s different from WWF

It’s really just a few details that sound much easier to avoid than they really are…

• If you exceed 30 seconds to put a word down, you lose a turn.
• The other team can challenge your word, and if it isn’t real, you lose a turn.

Basically, you’re only working with what you know. No autocorrect can save you now.

F@%# Words With Friends

What: Team Speed Scrabble and a craft beer tasting
When: Saturday, Feb. 23, from 4 p.m. to whenever you feel like leaving
Where: Hollywood Vine, 2035 Harrison Street. Hollywood, FL 33020
Cost: FREE
Questions: Email FWWF CEO Mariam Aldhahi