A Dabble of Scrabble

Saturday, March 14, 2026 | 10:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

$0.00 | Friedman Family Auditorium

Enjoy a dabble of Scrabble! The North American School Scrabble Championship is back at Planet Word for the 5th year in a row. Museum visitors can drop by the Friedman Family Auditorium to check out the competition livestream and engage in pop-up talks by Stefan Fatsis and Natan Last.

For more details about the North American School Scrabble Championship and guest programming, visit LetsPlayScrabble.com.

North American School Scrabble Championship Livestream | 10:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.

Inside the Dictionary: Defining Words in the Digital Age | 10:45 a.m.
Stefan Fatsis, the bestselling author of Word Freak about the world of Scrabble (and one of the organizers of the North American School Scrabble Championship), talks about embedding at Merriam-Webster as a lexicographer for his new book, Unabridged: The Thrill of (and Threat to) the Modern Dictionary.

Copies of Word Freak and Unabridged will be available for purchase in the Planet Word gift shop. Stefan will be happy to sign books after the talk.

Across the Universe: The Ins and Out of Making a Crossword | 3:30 p.m.
Join author and New Yorker crossword constructor Natan Last for a behind-the-scenes look at how crosswords are made, from devising an interesting theme, to building the grid, to writing clever clues. Natan will also present the history of the crossword, drawn from his new book, Across the Universe: The Past, Present, and Future of the Crossword Puzzle.