On October 12, 1996 in the basement of a Unitarian church on the town green in Lexington, Massachusetts , the record for the highest scoring word in a Scrabble game was scored. Michael Cresta’s word QUIXOTRY (meaning a rash and impractical act; a back formation originating from the name Don Quixote), used all seven letters and extended over two triple word squares. (The R was already on the board for him to connect to.) Cresta’s score, which is the current all-time record for a single play, was 365 points.
The match, between Cresta and his opponent, Wayne Yorra, produced two other sanctioned Scrabble records for North America. Cresta’s total score was 830 points. That was record number two. Yorra’s score was 490 points. The combined total point score of 1320 points was the other record.
