CAPE ELIZABETH – Joey Mallick is set on memorizing all of the thousands of words on the official Scrabble list, but he won’t slow himself down by learning their meanings.

The most important thing for Scrabble competitions is knowing a lot of words, says Mallick. The 24-year-old is consistently ranked among the top Scrabble players in North America. He peaked at third place two years ago but slid to 24th this month.

Knowing words such as “aa,” which is rough lava, and “pahoehoe,” soft lava, helps him rack up the points.

He also knows the 20 words that begin with “q” but require no “u,” such as qintar, or its plural, qindarka. That’s an Albanian form of money, but you don’t need to know that to play the word in Scrabble.

“I’ve got a word bank, but not a definition bank,” Mallick said.

His ability to rearrange letters is uncanny and quick, as he displayed by coming up in a moment with “towlines,” an anagram of the word “Lewiston.”

That facility, so essential to the challenge of Scrabble, came to light soon after he played his first games with his father and older brother, figuring out what he needed to do and beating them after some 50 games. He was about 7 years old when he started winning.

“It was so rare to get a victory,” he said. “I just wanted to keep going.” For years, he didn’t play outside his own living room.

I’ll get there’

Beginning when he was 16 and while earning a degree from Southern Maine Community College and also working, Mallick competed in national tournaments.

He usually scores in the 400s, but in his highest-scoring game he got 684 points, with 104 points for “prudency.” It’s not really a word, but because his opponent didn’t challenge it, he kept the points.

Mallick keeps sharp by playing Scrabble on the Internet. His highest-scoring word, “fuzziest,” for 302 points, came when he was playing online.

“It’s very hard for me to get away from a Scrabble board for a whole day,” Mallick said, although taking a day or two off won’t make him rusty.

At his second championship game, he played a rare nine-letter word: “retracing.” With only seven letters to work with, words longer than eight letters are unusual, although Mallick recounted how another player pulled off “existentialist” by adding to “existent.”

Although he plans to attend other tournaments, Mallick is most excited about heading to New Orleans for the National Championship July 31 to Aug. 5. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” he said.

He loves the excitement and the attention of ESPN, which covers the matches. They also can be followed online.

In 104 tournaments, Mallick has won a total of $15,000, he said. The money is welcome, but it’s his skill that delights him, such as when he uses all of his letters from the rack and earns a 50-point bonus.

Mallick is confident that he will rise to the top of the Scrabble rankings, where most of the top players are older than he is.

The all-time high score of 770 still eludes him, but Mallick expects to surpass it someday. “I missed it by less than 100, but I’m getting there. Eventually, I’ll get there. I’ll know all the best moves.”