Joel Sherman (born 1962), nicknamed GI Joel, is an American professional English-language Scrabble player and former world champion. He is featured in Stefan Fatsis's book Word Freak,[1] in Eric Chaikin's film Word Wars,[2] and in Scott Petersen's film Scrabylon.[3][4] He is also mentioned in Collins Gem's reference book.
Since beginning his career in 1988, he has played at least 4,750 tournament games, winning about 64%, and earning at least $135,000 in prize money.[5] He is director of NASPA Games Club #56, which meets on Thursday evenings in New York City.[citation needed]
Sherman holds the record for the highest score recorded in a tournament game played with the North American lexicon, having defeated Bradley Robbins 803-285 at a tournament in Stamford, Connecticut on December 9, 2011.[6]