One of the many reception cakes adorned with the NSC logo

San Diego Concourse welcome sign. John D. Williams walks towards and greets to reception guests in the foreground.

Father/Sons meet at the NSC again: Leland Fidler (Waltham, MA), Mark Fidler (Waltham, MA), Scott Leifer (Middleboro, MA), and Dave Leifer (Alpharetta, GA).

Avi Moss (Brooklyn, NY) and Mark Kenas (Madison, WI) at the buffet.

The buffet's sushi display.

Claudia Koczka (Williamsville, NY) and Jerry Scheiten (Buffalo, NY).

Siri Tillekeratne (Calgary AB), Lisa Kessler (Toronto ON), and Brenda Megannety (Toronto ON).

Christine Economos (New York, NY), Rich Baker (Westhampton Beach, NY), Judy Ford (Hollywood, FL), and Liz Ashby (Westhampton Beach, NY).

Nancee Mancel (Rio Rancho, NM) and Chris Guilbert (New Bedford, MA).

Lorraine Burton (Baltimore, MD), Charlene White (Kearny, NJ), Margaret Bauer Williams (Kearny, NJ), and a guest.

Sarah Rosenblum (West Orange, NJ), Ginger White (Shirley, NY), and Lynne Mitchnick (North Bergen, NJ).

Debbie Stegman (Ossining, NY), Craig Rowland (Mississauga ON), Pat Krohn (Milwaukee, WI), and Jim Nanavati (Burlington ON).

Muhit Rahman (Cincinnati, OH) and Asif Rahman (Cincinnati, OH).

Ken Louie (Whittier, CA) and his guest.

Rosalind Gold (New York, NY), Tom Titus (Costa Mesa, CA), Peter Dolgenos (San Francisco, CA)

Bruce Adams (Worcester, MA), Wendy Wolfberg, and Doug, Bruce's guest.

Cason Lane (San Diego, CA), Sam Kantimathi (El Dorado Hills, CA), and Trey Wright (Beverly Hills, CA).

Elisabeth Jordan (Santa Monica, CA) and Gregg Foster (Manchester-by-the-Sea, MA).

?, Marlon Hill (Baltimore, MD), and Carole Denton (New Carrollton, MD).

Don and Rose Kreiswirth (East Northport, NY).

Carol Ravichandran (Northville, MI).

?, Cynthia Seales (Stone Mountain, GA), Judy Ford (Hollywood, FL) and ?.

Eve Wengler, Kit Morehead (Berkley, MI), Scott McDougall (Williamsburg, VA), Scott Pianowski (Berkley, MI), and Noah Kanter (Berkeley, CA).

A front shot of Noah Kanter (Berkeley, CA) and Eve Wengler.

Ronnie Thomas (Bethesda, MD).

Lisa Kessler (Toronto ON) and Stuart Levinsky (Thornhill ON).

Stephen Moniz (Manchester, NH) and his wife Joanie Moniz.

Roy Kamen (Covina, CA), Maddy Golob (Canyon Country, CA), Jason Bednarz (Las Vegas, NV), Jim Geary (Glendale, AZ) (in the background) and Trey Wright (Beverly Hills, CA).

Alice Goodwin (Seattle, WA), her son Daniel Goodwin (Seattle, WA), and Mike Frentz (San Bruno, CA).

Barbara Epstein (Brooklyn, NY) and her husband.

Julie Chase (Woodland Hills, CA) and Gene Tyszka (Mississauga ON).

Marlon Hill (Baltimore, MD) and Patricia Barrett (Houston, TX).

Evelyn Evans (Queens Village, NY) and Dolores Furye (Bronx, NY).

Marie Gier (Gainesville, FL) and Geeke Lossing (Melrose, FL)

Barbara Lowrey (Londonderry, NH), Carole Denton (New Carrollton, MD), and her husband Dennis Larkin.

Adam Logan (Berkeley, CA) gotcha!, Andrea Michaels (San Francisco, CA), and Eric Harshbarger (Auburn, AL).

Jan Dixon (Wilmington, DE) and Stephen Dennis (Atlanta, GA).

Gina Fassio (Methuen, MA), Lorraine Burton (Baltimore, MD), and Gina's guest, her sister's husband.

Herb Lewis (Cherry Hill, NJ).

David Gibson (Spartanburg, SC), Randy Greenspan (Buffalo, NY), and Ember Nelson (Buffalo, NY).

Jim Kramer (Roseville, MN) and Paul Avrin (New York, NY).

Andre Ornish (La Mesa, CA) and his guest of equal stature.

Max Panitch (Toronto ON).

Albert Hahn (Calgary AB)and Vivienne Muhling (Toronto ON).

Nick Carter (Richmond, VA) and Matthew Carter (Richmond, VA).

Mark Landsberg (Laguna Woods, CA), Lori Gaut (Valencia, CA), and William D Shipe (La Jolla, CA).

Joel Wapnick (Montréal QC) and David Gibson (Spartanburg, SC).

Carol Yamashita (Hilo, HI), Walker Willingham (Bainbridge Island, WA), Mark Pistolese (Pahoa, HI), Gigi Miller (Reno, NV), Greg Heidler (Waialua, HI), and seated: Carlynn Mayer (Sparks, NV), and Carlene Wallis (Sparks, NV).

Trying out their new travel SCRABBLE^® set: Joel Elkins (West Hollywood, CA) and Bruce D Ambrosio (Los Angeles, CA).

Caesar Jaramillo (Austin, TX), Tunde Ogunyemi (Hyattsville, MD), and Waheed Thompson (New Orleans, LA).

Ginger White (Shirley, NY) and John D. Williams.

Robert Smith (Reno, NV).

Lynda Cleary (Princeton, NJ), ?, and Amit Chakrabarti (Hanover, NH).

Travis Chaney (Van Buren, AR) and Billie Garver (Leachville, AR).

Diane Firstman (Brooklyn, NY) and Lori Gaut (Valencia, CA) compare their heights. Diane still wins no matter how high Lori's heels are!

Scott Appel (Neshanic, NJ) and his finacee Ellen Kelly.

Daniel Goldman (New York, NY) and Debbie Stegman (Ossining, NY).

Camela Hicks (Portland, OR) and her son Zeno Merlin Alexander. Missing from the photo is Zeno's dad Steven Alexander (Portland, OR).

Tony's guest, Tony Leah (Ajax ON), and Lynda Wise (Toronto ON).

Jim Miller (San Diego, CA), Gary Dismukes (San Diego, CA), and Jack Eichenbaum (Flushing, NY).

Jim Geary (Glendale, AZ), John Babina (Norwalk, CT), Howard Greenspan (Norwalk, CT), and Mark DiBattista (Astoria, NY).

Von Parrish, Yvonne Gillispie, [error: no such id: BenLoiterstein], and Scott Pedersen.

Matt Hesson (Las Vegas, NV) and Julie Ellen Maria (Oxnard, CA).

Dave Leifer (Alpharetta, GA) and Elaine Patterson (Stoughton, MA).

Arnie Horowitz (Framingham, MA) and Michael Wolfberg (Concord, MA).

When I asked David Pearl (Long Beach, CA) who his guests were, he said, "My wife and my cuñada." Not speaking Spanish, this worried me a bit, but I looked it up and it means sister-in-law!

Avi Moss (Brooklyn, NY), who is not be confused with any other player from New York.

Roy Kamen (Covina, CA) under the glare of a documentary filmmaker. I think it is division 3 player Paul Terry (N. Las Vegas, NV).

Amit Chakrabarti (Hanover, NH), Lisa Odom (St Louis Park, MN), Mike Sherman (Bronx, NY), Larry Sherman (Bronx, NY), and Lynn Cushman (New York, NY) seated.

Jeannie J Wilson (Livermore, CA) and Jeanne Freebody (Provincetown, MA).

Sally Ricketts (New York, NY) and Mira Stulman (New York, NY).

Andrea Michaels (San Francisco, CA) listens to an entertaining tale from Lester Schonbrun (Oakland, CA) while Joan Mocine (Oakland, CA) pretends to be surprised to see me.

Amber (daughter of Joe Edley (Coram, NY) and Laura Klein, the NSC organizer) and Melina Baron-Deutsch (daughter of Mike Baron (Corrales, NM) and Pamina Deutsch).

Smiling Texans: Kathy and Chris Cree (Dallas, TX).

Stefan Fatsis (Brooklyn, NY) signs a copy of Word Freak for Jeanne Yori (Culver City, CA)

Chloe poses with her parents Stefan Fatsis (Brooklyn, NY) and Melissa Block.

Not lacking for attention, Chloe is passed from Auntie Susi Tiekert (Alpharetta, GA) to Auntie Diane Firstman (Brooklyn, NY).

Marlon Hill (Baltimore, MD) chatting with a reception guest.

Jan Dixon (Wilmington, DE), Rita Norr (Danbury, CT), Rich Baker (Westhampton Beach, NY), Robert Gillis (Huntsville, AL), and Tracy Cobbs (Decatur, AL).

Maureen Kennerk (Hicksville, OH), Patricia Saito Stewart (Stevens Point, WI), Rob Matthews (Winter Springs, FL), L Cheryl Francis (Old Town, ME)

Tracy Cobbs (Decatur, AL) and Drew Allen (Philadelphia, PA).

Tracy Hogan, Senior Marketing Manager for Hasbro Games, her guest Maryann, and the NSA's Teresa Bubbs.

NSA's Sara Hallock (behind the desk) and Patty Hocker (in front of the desk) help register Julia Bogle (Indianapolis, IN).

The running twins: Ron Barker (Boise, ID) and Jim Barker (San Jose, CA).

Esla Ewida (Jersey City, NJ) and Dave Zimmerman (Baton Rouge, LA).

Jessie Sparkman and Vivien Valenzuela Mallick.

Justine Zollinger (Memphis, TN) and Cynthia Pughsley (Oakland, CA).

Will Cooper (Winston-Salem, NC) and Jesse Cromer (Waxhaw, NC).

Lorraine Pariser (Covina, CA) and Lois M Hawkins (Los Angeles, CA).

Yvonne Gillispie and Von Parrish.

Linda and Randy Hersom (Morganton, NC).

Several of the Thai players: Nuttakrit K (Thailand), Thavach T (Thailand), Komol Panyasoponlert (Thailand), Charnwit Sumrattanaporn (Thailand), Amnuay Ploysangngam (Thailand), Gerald Carter (Thailand), Jakkrit Klaphajone (Thailand).

Intern Anne Koza and her cousin, Jeff Persson.

Martin Smith (East Orange, NJ), Dominic Grillo (Somerset, NJ), and Scott Appel (Neshanic, NJ).

Evelyn R Davis (Anaheim Hills, CA) and her reception guest.

Tunde Ogunyemi (Hyattsville, MD) and Jacqueline Camper (Memphis, TN).

J Goard (Foresthill, CA) and Carol Johnson (Sacramento, CA).

John Williams showing his cordial side to Robert Linn (Potomac, MD) and Gail Linn (Potomac, MD).

Susan Love (Milwaukee, WI) and Alan Love (Milwaukee, WI).

Gloria Miller (Santa Monica, CA) overjoyed to run into Susan Love (Milwaukee, WI) and Alan Love (Milwaukee, WI).

Diane Brown (Toronto ON), Gene Rawlins (Scarborough ON), and Maddalena Palazzo (Richmond Hill ON).

Maddalena Palazzo (Richmond Hill ON) and Mark Milan (San Juan Capistrano, CA).

John Babina (Norwalk, CT), Pete Muller (New York, NY), Dave Zimmerman (Baton Rouge, LA), and Howard Greenspan (Norwalk, CT) playing anagrams with the travel SCRABBLE^® tiles. Hard to see on the white tablecloth, but they are there!

Some of the Calagary SCRABBLE^® club: Siri Tillekeratne (Calgary AB), Wayne Clifford (Calgary AB), Grace Brooks (Calgary AB), Randall Thomas (Calgary AB), Anna marie Cook (Calgary AB), Mike Ebanks (Calgary AB), Alvina Palmer (Calgary AB), Danny Panganiban (Calgary AB), and sitting Margaret West (Calgary AB), Maureen Clifford, and Rebecca Soble (Naples, NY).

Brian Cappelletto (Chicago, IL) and Sam Kantimathi (El Dorado Hills, CA) pose with Melina Baron-Deutsch and Amber Edley.

Already hopping in the after-hours room, Tracy Cobbs (Decatur, AL), Steve Tier (Rego Park, NY), and Marty Gabriel (Berwyn, IL) consult over their rack. Bob Lundegaard (Minneapolis, MN) and ? share the other rack. Barbara C Ring (Portland, OR), Gregg Foster (Manchester-by-the-Sea, MA), and Sara Hamel (California City, CA) look on.

Rita Norr (Danbury, CT) and Paul Avrin (New York, NY) scribbling furiously on their rotisserie sheets.