Scrabble

Outside of the world of backgammon, Nack Ballard is known by his birth name, Nick Ballard. As of this writing (September 1st, 2026), Nick is the 19th-highest rated player in the U.S.: a rating of 2026 in the year 2026. 🙂
https://www.scrabbleplayers.org/cgi-bin/ratings-byrank.pl

Nick Ballard wrote and published the expert Scrabble newsletter Medleys: 36 intense monthly issues that spanned 1991 to 1993. During that period, he also organized Letter Getters: correspondence Scrabble through the U.S. mail. (It was popular but short-lived, with the inevitable march of technology.)

Nick Ballard (aided by Charlie Carroll and Jim Kramer) pioneered most of the early work on anamonics. Further, Nick cocreated the BaSiC model (acronym using the first letters of Ballard, Sheppard and Carroll) for tile values.

Nick Ballard’s recent Scrabble works include:

Articles:
Anamonics

Puzzles:
BONEHEAD Problem, short
BONEHEAD Problem, extended
Equilibrium Puzzle, short
Equilibrium Puzzle, extended
UNUSUAL Puzzle (2026)
UNUSUAL Problem (1990) – link not yet active

Videos:
ZEDONKS Conundrum (Will Anderson commentary of Equilibrium Puzzle)