Imagine a world where Obies drop words like megilps (an oil used for mixing pigments), eagres (a tidal flood) and sparge (to sprinkle) in everyday conversation, a world where the worth of words is not in their meaning but their point value. Welcome to the Scrabble ExCo — the first Scrabble class ever taught for credit, anywhere.

This is not your grandparents’ Scrabble. This is not friendly, fireside Scrabble, where players compliment one another for putting together a particularly literary word or offer assistance for getting out of a bind.

This is the competitive scene of Oberlin’s newest Scrabble protégés, where students use words they have simply memorized without knowing the definitions, invent words to trick their opponents and purposefully close up the board to their advantage.

The ExCo’s teacher, sophomore Connor Lee — who describes himself as “really competitive” and “an upper-level player” — has been an avid Scrabbler for as long as he can remember.

One afternoon a week, Lee lectures the class on everything from thinking beyond a single turn to the ethics of online Scrabble. During the class’s second weekly meeting, the students play against one other while Lee provides expert assistance.

In addition to twice-weekly meetings, the class will feature a noteworthy semester completion.

“The ExCo will finish with a tournament, similar to the fencing ExCo,” said Lee.

Instead of crossing swords, the players will cross words, and a prize awaits the winner.

Unlike most groups centered on a game, the students take the class very seriously, completing multiple hours of homework a week and practicing on their own.

This is not to imply that the class lacks a sense of humor, though; Lee included a “story time” portion, recounting the epic tale of a human champion barely beating a computer in a two-out-of-three Scrabble battle.

The eight-person class allows for personal attention and close camaraderie. In addition, its diversity — it is comprised of male and female, Conservatory and College, literature- and math-focused students — fosters dynamic discussions and games.

According to Lee, this accurately reflects the competitive Scrabble community at large, which includes people from all over the world.

“Many top players are from South-East Asia. They don’t speak English, they just memorize the dictionary. In fact, it’s probably easier for them, because they don’t have all those definitions floating around in their head to distract them.”

Yet a diverse community does not always connote an aware community. As Lee explains, offensive epithets for race and sexual preference are accepted in tournament play.

Lee is proud of his status as the first for-credit Scrabble teacher in the world, but his plans do not stop there. He hopes to establish a club at Oberlin sanctioned by the National Scrabble Association, of which he is an active member.

As Lee compared Scrabble to both poker and chess, and handed out the next week’s stack of anagrams and practice puzzles, it was clear that his Scrabble vision for Oberlin is not an unfeasible reality.