Scrabble is the age old game won only by having a clever knowledge for spelling words.

The Escondido Public Library recently held its annual Scrabble-A-Thon Feb 5. So many students and adults showed up to participate that the event was moved to Emmanuel Faith Church. Among the students were some Juniors who were participating for a second year in a row: Kevin Carvalho, Christina Cheadle, Edgar Vega, Kiernan Harvey, Jonathan Padilla, Austin Barkley and Casey Stolberg. Sophomores who also played in the event were: Kayt Borden, Paige Lopez, Brittany Aelig, Kathy Mayo, Helena Yanez, Alex Tallman, Gary Jiminez, Leonard Dioniosio, Julian Escobedo and Bernardo Cruz. There were even some teachers from EHS who played: Rudy De La Torre and Kymberly Atkins.

Students signed up to play in the Scrabble-A-Thon independently. They did not have practices and played based only on their knowledge of words.

Sophomore Kathy Mayo 15, was new to Scrabble. She found it challenging but entertaining.

“It was fun and I learned how to play scrabble,” Mayo said.

The event went from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the evening. Free food was provided to all players. For many students, this was not their first time participating. Junior Christina Cheadle 16, played for her second year in a row.

“I go to have fun and hang out with friends,” Cheadle said.

While the overall winner for high school students attends Orange Glen, Junior Nate Sena 17, was not much further behind. He manged to place in the competition.

“I came away with seventh place without having played before,” Sena said, with a laugh.

Some students who played in the Scrabble-A-Thon even received extra credit from their teachers or community service hours.

Video teacher Rudy De La Torre enjoys the game of Scrabble and wanted to see how well students would do.

“I had fun giving advice to the kids there,” De La Torre said.

Whether students were motivated by academic or entertainment reasons, they all seemed to have fun and learn a new word or two.