Michel Duguet (born 1961) is a
French
French may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France
** French people, a nation and ethnic group
** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices
Arts and media
* The French (band), ...
Scrabble player who won the
French World Scrabble Championships
The French World Scrabble Championships () is an annual Scrabble tournament that takes place in a different French-speaking country every year. Created in 1972 by Hippolyte Wouters, it was the first of the three World Scrabble Championships to be ...
five times during the 1980s. His record of five world titles has never been broken but has been equaled by
Christian Pierre
Christian Pierre (born 1959) is a Belgian ''Scrabble'' player who has won the French World Scrabble Championships five times, during the 1990s. Despite both players being five-time world champions, it was Duguet that was awarded the prize of 'player of the century' () at the 2000 World Championship in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
.
Duguet only played ten seasons of French Scrabble, also winning the French national championship six times, the World Championship by pairs five times and the French championship by pairs twice. Away from Scrabble, he was the ''
Des chiffres et des lettres
''Des chiffres et des lettres'' (; ) is a French Television show, television programme which originally aired from 1965 to 2024. It was created by Armand Jammot and tests the numeracy skills and vocabulary of two contestants. It was one of the l ...
'' champion in 1984, a game show based on
anagram
An anagram is a word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of a different word or phrase, typically using all the original letters exactly once. For example, the word ''anagram'' itself can be rearranged into the phrase "nag a ram"; which ...
s and numbers games known as ''
Countdown
A countdown is a sequence of backward counting to indicate the time remaining before an event is scheduled to occur. NASA commonly employs the terms "L-minus" and "T-minus" during the preparation for and anticipation of a rocket launch, and eve ...
'' in the
UK. After retiring from Scrabble in 1988, he took up
bridge
A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...
and ended up representing the French national team at the European Bridge championships in 2002, as well as winning the ''French cup'' (''Coupe de France'') of the bridge in 2004 with his wife Marlène. Duguet has occasionally come out of retirement to play Scrabble, finishing 7th at
Vichy
Vichy (, ; ) is a city in the central French department of Allier. Located on the Allier river, it is a major spa and resort town and during World War II was the capital of Vichy France. As of 2021, Vichy has a population of 25,789.
Known f ...
in 2006, a tournament which welcomes more than 1200 players each year.
Duguet is also an author and has written six books with Michel Charlemagne, another World Scrabble Champion who turned to card games after being World Scrabble Champion.
Notable achievements
Scrabble
*Five time World Champion: 1982, 1983, 1985, 1987, 1988
*Five times World Champion by pairs: 1982, 1983, 1985, 1986, 1988
*Six time French national champion: 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1987
*Twice national champion by pairs: 1982, 1987
Bridge
*9th place in the European Championship (with Marlène Duguet): 1998
*2nd place in the European Championship (with Marlène Duguet): 2000
*Winner of the 'Coupe de France' (with Marlène Duguet) : 2004
*Member of the French national bridge team in 2002
Books
* 1998 : Le Scrabble en 10 leçons par Michel Charlemagne and Michel Duguet, editions Minerva ().
* 1998 : Premiers pas au bridge by Michel Charlemagne and Michel Duguet, editions Marabout ().
* 1998 : Jouez au Scrabble avec Michel Duguet, editions Flammarion ().
* 1999 : Le grand livre de tous les jeux de cartes by Michel Charlemagne, Michel Duguet and Jean-Michel Maman ().
* 2003 : Le guide Marabout du bridge by Michel Charlemagne and Michel Duguet, editions Marabout ().
* 2005 : Le grand guide Marabout du bridge by Michel Charlemagne and Michel Duguet, editions Marabout ().
See also
*
Contract bridge
Contract bridge, or simply bridge, is a trick-taking game, trick-taking card game using a standard 52-card deck. In its basic format, it is played by four players in two Team game, competing partnerships, with partners sitting opposite each othe ...
*
Duplicate Scrabble
Duplicate ''Scrabble'' is a variant of ''Scrabble'' where all the players are faced with the same board and letters at the same time and must play the highest scoring word they can find. Although duplicate is rarely played at competition level i ...
*
Francophone Scrabble
Francophone ''Scrabble'' is ''Scrabble'' in the French language. The governing body, the ''Fédération internationale de Scrabble francophone'', has more than 20,000 members. Just as in English, points are scored by playing valid words from the l ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Duguet, Michel
1961 births
French contract bridge players
French Scrabble players
Living people