ELYRIA – Quiet conversation gave way to the snick, snick of Scrabble tiles being shuffled in velvet bags or placed on rotating Scrabble boards as players began the second half of day one in a tournament this weekend at the Holiday Inn.

Forty-five players from eight states and one from Canada are vying for ranking points as well as cash prizes in three divisions.

“Bingo” words, in which a player places all seven letters in their rack on the board, such as “manitous” and “banquet” – 149 and 137 points respectively – were recorded and entered into a side competition for the most bingo words played.

Ohio’s top-ranked player, 33-year-old Pete Zeigler, recovering from two brain surgeries to remove a tumor and later to deal with an infection, was there to offer moral support and the occasional coaching game.

Zeigler, a law student at the University of Akron, said his recovery from the surgery has affected his math skills, so he’s sitting this tournament out, but he wanted to show up for his friends.

“I wish I were in game shape to play, but I’m happy to see my friends,” he said, adjusting the intravenous tube attached to his arm giving him antibiotics. “I’m here to root them on and to enjoy the after-hours fun.”

Zeigler’s goal is to have recovered sufficiently to compete in the Arden Cup in Chicago over Memorial Day weekend.

North Ridgeville resident Doug Szymkowiak, 39, was up four games to one after the morning’s play.

“I was at Best Buy around Christmas time and I saw this Scrabble computer game,” he said of his introduction to competitive play. “I played it for some ungodly amount of time, and it just went from there.”

Szymkowiak, an engineer with Energizer Battery, appreciates the math necessary to be competitive as much as the word play. He keeps track of the letters played and figures the probabilities of drawing the letters he needs from those left in the bag.

“It’s a hobby,” he said. “I’m a pretty competitive person, but I don’t really want to spend the time it would take to get really good.”

An avid outdoorsman, Szymkowiak plays mostly during the winter months and has competed in about nine tournaments since he got hooked in 2009.

For co-sponsors Dan and Joyce Stock, dressed in the tournament’s theme colors of purple and green, hosting the tournament is about their love for the game.

Dan Stock began playing in the 1990s and later became certified through the North American Scrabble Players Association as a director, enabling him to host approved tournaments.

Stock, ranked 239th in the country, lives in Rocky River with Joyce, whom he married five years ago.

“I got involved in the ’90s and perhaps got too involved, and I got divorced,” he said. “When I was back on the market, I wanted someone who liked Scrabble.”

The Stocks met through the Internet dating Web site Match.com and have been playing Scrabble together ever since.

“It’s fun,” Dan Stock said. “This is something you do because you enjoy it, not to get rich.”

The cash prizes for the first-place finishers in each division are $400 for Division A, $280 for Division B and $260 for Division C.

Thirteen rounds of scrabble will finish today and winners in each division will be announced.

Contact Alicia Castelli at 329-7144 or acastelli@chroniclet.com.

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