A word about our values

Every now and then, it's good just to take a moment and remind yourself of your roots. Where you came from. What your purpose is. What you believe in.

When it comes to the CoCo as an organization, these are relatively easy questions to answer. We came to exist five years ago because, as a group of Scrabble directors and organizers, we realized there was a set of common beliefs we were all quite passionate about. We remain passionate about them to this day. And I think it's helpful, once in a while, to reiterate those beliefs.

So, just to review, apropos of absolutely nothing, here goes:

We believe in democracy. It's important for leadership to represent the interests of the people and to be held accountable. In Scrabble and in the world at large, you deserve to have someone fighting for you - and if the leaders you have can't do that, you should have the power to vote them out and replace them with someone who will. That's why we hold yearly elections to bring in new CoCo leadership every fall, and why all of our elected board members make a genuine effort to do what's best for the community in everything they do.

We believe in being citizens of the world. There's a rich, vibrant culture of love for Scrabble all over the planet Earth, and we believe great things can happen when players here in the U.S. and Canada explore opportunities to play abroad. We also believe in welcoming international players here with open arms. Immigration makes our country - and our Scrabble community - stronger.

We believe in giving people economic opportunity. Not everyone has the means to play Scrabble as often as they'd like - flights and hotels and meals and entry fees cost money. Having said that, the more we can do to help people take part in tournaments, the richer our community (literally and figuratively) will be. Bringing greater socioeconomic diversity to the community is an important goal for us.

We believe that all people - most certainly including women, racial and ethnic minorities, and members of the LGBTQ community - deserve to be treated with empathy. There's a lot of bigotry and inhumanity out there in the world today, and a lot of it is aimed at underrepresented groups of folks who don't deserve it. There's only so much we as a Scrabble organization can do about it, but we at least hope that CoCo tournaments can be a safe space where all players can feel welcomed and respected.

Above all, we believe in being conscientious, decent humans. It's a cold world sometimes, but we hope CoCo tournaments can be a source of warmth and kindness for everyone who attends. That was the goal from our inception five years ago, and it still is to this day.