Scrabble

On Wednesday, the North American Scrabble Players Association, which governs tournaments in the U.S. and Canada, said it was removing 236 potentially offensive words from its approved list.

The Association of British Scrabble Players doesn't think so. Suspecting cheating, the group temporarily banned Allan Simmons, who has written advice books and ranks highly worldwide.

Wellington Jighere of Nigeria was crowned world champ last year. He's one of many Nigerians who excel at the game. What's their secret?

It took about two months for Nigel Richards to memorize a French Scrabble dictionary. The New Zealand native has won many English-language Scrabble tournaments.

Also on the list of 6,500 new Scrabble words: aji (the pepper), coqui (the frog) and the more old-fashioned ixnay and zowee. Or you could just say yeesh — if you've got the right tiles.