AUBURN – They came armed with words only a librarian could love and plans to hit the trifecta – triple letter, triple word using the coveted 10-point Q or Z. Of course, at this year’s 11th Annual Letters for Literacy Scrabble Fest, the top scoring word actually didn’t use either the letter. “Rejoices” scored a whopping 104 points during the Sunday event that raised about $4,300 for the Literacy Volunteers-Androscoggin.

But the Scrabble Rousers scored an even bigger 1,309 points to take home this year’s top honor in the tournament’s professional division.

“It’s the main fundraiser of the year for the organization,” said Steve Bouchard, not only a member of the winning team, but also a board member for the organization. “Scrabble Fest attracts a lot of attention to Literacy Volunteers and to what it does.”

Literacy Volunteers provides free, one-on-one tutoring and other educational services to help adults in Androscoggin County acquire the basic reading, writing and math skills. Volunteers aim to help people enhance their lives and achieve their personal goals.

Tahlia Chamberlain, executive director for the agency, said 22 teams competed in this year’s tournament. The tournament is broken into two divisions – professional and social. Winners of the social division – Sisters of the Sea – scored an impressive 929 points over the course of three rounds.

Chamberlain said the four-person teams collect pledges and then play three rounds of Scrabble that last 30-minutes each. The annual event ties in very well with what the organization does.

“In fact, several of our tutors use Scrabble tiles to help people with spelling and learning words,” Chamberlain said.

All in good fun, players got cutthroat about their words – throwing down challenges like pro-wrestling champs.

“I think community events like this are wonderful,” said Liz Allen, whose team was “Scrabble-Licious” in their matching tie-dyed T-shirts. “It’s a way to have fun and raise money for a good cause.”