Mike Whelan (center) leads Mensans in game play.


A single grid masterpiece by Mike Whelan from a two player game, using fifty tiles per player.


Joan Rayford, far right, at play with other Mensans.


Joan poses with her record setting results. Skill, along with the luck of not drawing the hard to play Q, X or Z help with the speed of play.

Click on the pictures for close ups.

This was our second appearance at the 29th annual regional convention of the South Eastern Michigan Chapter of the Mensa High IQ Society. This year, it was held at the Troy, Michigan Hilton Hotel. We set up the tournament table in the Oak Room, which was a very good location.

Play demonstrations were made on Friday evening, with most of the action taking place on Saturday.

Again, play times were very fast. Last years stellar players, David Patch and Dovanna Lividini turned in some real spirited play. Many new people saw Word-Sport for the very first time and picked up on the concept immediately. As usual, Word-Sport Associate, Mike Whelan was facilitating game play while I, Paul Mellerowicz was refereeing and running the game clock.

On Saturday, all time best time record holder, Joan Rayford came by for game play. At the last years Semmantics RG, Joan set the mark at 1:15:03. After many rounds of play, Joan was constantly winning with times in the one minute and twenty second range. Then she did it... breaking her own record with 1:14:43; beating the old mark by less then a half of a second. It was exciting to see her at play. Joan Rayford works for Dickson Allan, an accounting firm located in Troy, MI. The caliber of play at the table was also very high as the second place players were constantly very close behind.

We made some very interesting contacts from visitors (especially by Dr. Steve Major), who know people in the games and video industry. Hopefully through them, we can take Word-Sport to the next level... The next step is the online version for internet play. As always, we will keep you posted on future developments.