Circle Power

The Scrabble Club

The Philadelphia-based gamers started 18 years ago, when criminologist Jane Siegel decided that she missed playing games with friends. "I felt like there was too much work and not enough fun."

The pursuit of the seven-letter word has kept the five friends together-though they admit that their meetings have become more about babble than Scrabble.

"We don't follow the social expectations of our mothers' bridge club," says Pettengill. "We curse and bitch and moan and opinionate without worrying that someone isn't going to approve."