"In Madison of course we are a highly literate and well educated city with a lot of high tech industry and professional occupation," says coordinator for East Madison Family Literacy, Patti La Cross.

Playing a game of Scrabble may be something you take for granted but for someone dealing with illiteracy it could be impossible. In efforts to promote adult education, the Madison Family Literacy organization is holding Madison's first ever All City Scrabble Tournament.

"Families who have never been to school before, read a book, or know how to fill out a simple form in any language they get in our program and they begin to feel like I can do this!"

Parents and children were a part of the tournament that raised money for the organization. Held at Hilldale Mall, Mayor Dave Cieslewicz and the midwest's highest ranked Scrabble player tried to unscramble a few words.

"I used to sit with a dictionary and play Scrabble against myself because I beat my older brothers and older brothers don't like getting beat so the only person that would play against me was my mom," says Scrabble champ, Mark Kenas.

The tournament is aimed at promoting literacy throughout Madison. And if you think trying to spell words in English is hard, some people are even competing in different languages.

"Either in Spanish or in English and if anyone wanted to try it in another language they could form with the letters that we have we would welcome them to do so so we've got about a dozen Spanish boards out here," says La Cross.

And what is known as a family tradition is helping to promote education citywide.

"It gives them a fun opportunity to increase their vocabulary."