Previewing Crescent City Cup - and the rest of 2026

For the 14th time in Scrabble history, we can say it: The Crescent City Cup is upon us. We're just days away from the start of one of North America's most beloved tournaments. And as always, that also means another thing - it means we're starting off the Scrabble calendar year just right.

It was as true way back in 2012, '13, and '14 as it is today - there's no better way to begin a year of Scrabble than with a long weekend in New Orleans in January. With the CCC, you get it all - good people, good food, good vibes, and one of the most competitive Scrabble events in all the land. If January can offer you all of that, there's no telling what the rest of the year may bring.

For all of us on team CoCo, I can tell you we're super excited for New Orleans. The action gets underway this weekend, and we're looking forward to seeing 42 CSW players across two divisions join us to compete all weekend long. It's going to be one of the best Scrabble events of the year, as it always is.

And you know what else we're excited for? The rest of 2026! There's a jam-packed year of Scrabble ahead of us, and we're ready to dive right in. We're excited for all of it.

Namely...

We're excited for our other flagship winter event, the Hood River Open, coming up in February. It may not be the 14th annual, but we're coming up on #8, which isn't too shabby. Hood River has become a sacred tradition for a select group of Scrabblers who keep coming back every year. You get a weekend in a log cabin with your best Scrabble buddies, a 20-game tournament, and lots of food and drink and camaraderie - what's not to like?

We're excited for Word Cup this summer. This one is going to have a different vibe than most - set against the backdrop of Colonial Williamsburg, and during the nation's semiquincentennial no less, this event will give players a unique opportunity to enjoy championship-level Scrabble and history all at once. We're looking forward to a truly unique tournament experience, and we hope you all will join us for it.

We're excited for the North American Collins Championship (NACC), the CSW-only championship that we've got coming up in Minneapolis this November. It's only our second time running a NACC - we're running it back for the first time since 2023. And we're psyched to do it. If you prefer a championship event where Collins is the only game in town, this is the tournament for you.

We're excited for all of the other major events that have become the backbone of the CoCo tournament calendar every year. That means Austin and Champions Cup in the spring, Portland over Labor Day, and the California Open in December most notably. While none of these events are on the calendar just yet, we're working on them, and we have high hopes for them in 2026.

Finally, we're excited for - fingers crossed! - a whole lot more CoCo events, large and small, all over North America, that should come out of the woodwork as the year goes on. We're looking to add more tournaments to our slate anywhere and everywhere, and we're going to work tirelessly on that in 2026.

We're hoping that this coming year is a year of serious growth, both for the CoCo and for all Scrabblekind, and we're psyched to hit the ground running on that.

Of course, that journey begins with a trip to New Orleans for MLK weekend.

At the moment, we're excited for that most of all.