History Film / WordWars

* CrowdChant: The lively crowd in the park watching the Champ and the amatuer was cited as one of the factors that threw off the Champ's game.

* AngryBlackMan: Marlon. He openly rails against many of the words in the game, citing cultural oppression and appropriation.

* DreamingTheTruth: Joe says he [[TetrisEffect often dreams in anagrams due to his constant play]]. Once in a dream he anagrammed a word into "antipolice" and woke up to see whether it was a real word. It was.

* DreamingTheTruth: Joe says he often dreams in anagrams due to his constant play. Once in a dream he anagrammed a word into "antipolice" and woke up to see whether it was a real word. It was.

* SignificantAnagram: Being able to anagram words or even a jumble of random letters is, of course, an ''extremely'' important ability in Scrabble.

* TheStoner: Marlon.

* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: One of the best non-tournament players in New York (who only plays "friendly" local games in the park) once beat the world tournament Scrabble champion in a pick up game.

* LanguageBarrier[=/=]SeparatedByACommonLanguage: The guy who's considered one of the best Scrabble players in the world (and one of the best wordsmiths period) loses in the San Diego tournament final to Joel. He had been playing with a handicap in being British; there are many British words not in the U.S. Scrabble dictionary and vice versa. He stated he was having difficulty with this.

* SicklyNeuroticGeek[=/=]SicklyProdigy: "G.I." Joel Sherman. One of the best players in the circuit, he fights poor health, especially his severe acid reflux problem (hence the "G.I." nickname).

* CrashCourse: The beginning of the movie gives this to the viewer for the rules and origins of the game. It additionally shows a lot of the basic "trick" words used by experienced players like a list of acceptable two letter words and words that start with "q" that don't require a "u" after it.

• SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: Much needed to compete at this level.

* SignificantAnagram: Being able to anagram words or even a jumble of random letters is, of course, an ''extremely'' important ability in Scrabble.

* LanguageBarrier/SeparatedByACommonLanguage: The guy who's considered one of the best Scrabble players in the world (and one of the best wordsmiths period) loses in the San Diego tournament final to Joel. He had been playing with a handicap in being British; there are many British words not in the U.S. Scrabble dictionary and vice versa. He stated he was having difficulty with this.

* LanguageBarrier: The guy who's considered one of the best Scrabble players in the world (and one of the best wordsmiths period) loses in the San Diego tournament final to Joel. He had been playing with a handicap in being British; there are many British words not in the U.S. Scrabble dictionary and vice versa. He stated he was having difficulty with this.

Word Wars is a 2004 documentary film directed by Eric Chaikin and Julian Petrillo about competitive TabletopGames/Scrabble playing. The film follows four players in the nine months leading up to the 2002 National Scrabble Championship, which was held in San Diego, California.

The film shines a spotlight on the SeriousBusiness nature of high level competition in Scrabble; all of the players are shown to have any other real hobbies and in most cases, even regular ''jobs'', as the practice and play time needed to be competitive leaves little time for anything else. Considering the tournament cash prizes aren't really that substantial, it becomes obvious it's done purely out of love of the game and competition more than anything.

* {{•Bowdlerise}} Discussed with the decision to remove some foul language and slurs from the Official Scrabble Dictionary. Since the movie, most have been restored, however.
* DreamingTheTruth: Joe says he often dreams in anagrams due to his constant play. Once in a dream he anagrammed a word into "antipolice" and woke up to see if it was a real word. It was.

* KnowWhenToFoldEm: Marlon gets a few bad hands of tiles that leads to him losing the tournament, walking out before the game is even complete.
* LanguageBarrier: The guy who's considered one of the best Scrabble players in the world (and one of the best wordsmiths period) loses in the San Diego tournament final to Joel. He had been playing with a handicap in being British; there are many British words not in the US Scrabble dictionary and vice versa. He stated he was having difficulty with this.
* OddFriendship: Marlon is openly negative towards the other players, especially Matt. However, the movie shows they all have a bond and an odd friendship with each other despite personality differences. Marlon even rooms with Matt after verbally running him down.
* ScrabbleBabble: Discussed as one would expect. One is shown in an actual tournament, as Matt plays "bemeant" against Marlon, which he decides not to challenge even though he knew it was bull.

* ShownTheirWork: Various scenes at the players' homes shows stacks and stacks of dictionaries, word books, and variations of Scrabble. It's very clear it's ''impossible'' to compete at the high levels without serious study and memorization.
* SicklyNeuroticGeek / SicklyProdigy: "GI" Joel Sherman. One of the best players in the circuit, he fights poor health, especially his severe acid reflux problem (hence the "GI" nickname).
* SignificantAnagram: Being able to anagram words or even a jumble of random letters is of course an ''extremely'' important ability in Scrabble.

Joe Edley, Matt Graham, Marlon Hill, and Joel Sherman.

* {{Bowlderise}} Discussed with the decision to remove some foul language and slurs from the Official Scrabble Dictionary. Since the movie, most have been restored, however.

* {{Bowlderize}} Discussed with the decision to remove some foul language and slurs from the Official Scrabble Dictionary. Since the movie, most have been restored, however.

This film provides examples of:

* OddFriendship: Marlon is openly negative towards the other players, especially Matt. However, the movie shows they all have a bond and an odd friendship with each other despite personality differences.

* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: