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Ather Ali Bokhari
I inherited wooden tiles and a tattered scrabble board (1956 edition) from my father when I was in tenth grade. My father did not play after that but I was hooked by the magic of letters. I sometimes wondered what it would be like to play scrabble with those who were masters of the game.
Around the time I joined McDonald’s in Ireland, I started playing scrabble professionally in RISPA (Republic of Ireland Scrabble Players Association). I started as a novice and ended up at number 56 in the rankings in my first year. It was not easy to play with people who have been playing for the last 20 or 30 years but I didn’t give up and last year I was up to number 20 in RISPA rankings.
Playing scrabble weekly, monthly and quarterly in different places all over Ireland (Dublin, Cork, Wexford and Galway) would not be possible without my McDonald’s flexible working hours. My managers took care of all my requests for days off for outside tournaments and early shifts so I could play on Mondays at my community club. I wonder if I could have gone that far with any other kind of job.
My recent ratings and other details about RISPA can be seen on Scrabble Ireland.
Acheivements at RISPA level:
- Recent ranking: 23rd place
- Wexford 2006: 5th place
- Dublin 2006: 15th place
- Galway 2005: 2nd place
- Dublin 2005: 1st place
- Cork 2005: 10th place
- Galway 2004: 22nd place
- Wexford 2004: 2nd place
I have received numerous awards at club level. Some idiosyncratic words I learned through scrabble:
Euouaes: It’s a mnemonic that was used to denote sequence of tones. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, it is the longest word in the English language that is made up of nothing but vowels; it is also the English word with the most consecutive vowels. I wonder if I would ever pronounce it properly or not. You may try!
Aalii: It means a bushy shrub but I like it as my name is housed between the first and last letter.