Organizers Peter Schwartzman and Darla Krejci are excited to announce that Galesburg will host three days of competitive Scrabble this Labor Day weekend, September 5-7. The "Midwest Showdown" culminates on Monday after two 7-game relegation/promotion tournaments held Saturday and Sunday. The event will be held at Knox College.  There is also an independent four-game night bird tournament on Saturday, Sept. 5th to be held at the Best Western Prairie Inn. 

"The Showdown is special! This one-of-a-kind format will lend itself to intense competition," says co-director and Mayor of Galesburg, Peter Schwartzman. Division winners of the Showdown will have trophies awarded, in addition to cash prizes.  Players not advancing to the showdown continue to play in an open tournament with a separate pool of prize money.  As of this release, 58 players are planning to participate, with players coming from all around the United States.   

All four tournaments are sanctioned by WGPO (Word Games Players' Organization). There will be two dictionary sections: (1) WOW, which is considered the current American Scrabble Dictionary for tournaments; and (2) CSW, which consists of words in the Collins (Global) dictionary. The WOW section will have two divisions based on the rating of the players. People do not need to have an official rating to play, but they do need to join WGPO, whose membership is free.