Scrabble Adventures

Last night was another tough night as my losing streak continued.  I lost all three games I played.  Even more frustrating than the bad tiles I got was my play.  Basically, I made bad plays, low scoring plays, and risky plays.  There’s just not much else to say.  I reviewed my games on Quackle and I missed a couple of blatantly obvious bingos.  For whatever reason, my brain just wasn’t working well last night.

Hopefully I’ll be able to get out of my funk before the tournaments in March (Oshawa and Cambridge).

Another tough night at the club. I didn’t do well in terms of wins/losses, but I think I played as best as I could, given the letters I had.

Game #1 vs. Mark
I’ve had some really close games against Mark and this one was no different. He tried to open with VALORED, but I challenged it off. Unfortunately, I couldn’t take advantage because I had DFFNTTV.  On turn #3, I had AEGIONS on my rack and played AGONIES.  We pretty much traded plays for several turns both staying within 10 points of one another.  After reviewing the game on Quackle, I realize that I should have traded in the middle.  I got stuck with a combo of QWFJV (not all at once, but basically that set) for several turns and pretty much wasted several turns trying to balance my rack.

Mark tried to play another bingo, STANDIN, but I challenged it off.  Later, he played SaNDING and I responded with STEaMER (there are 23 possible bingos with this set of letters).  Unfortunately, I didn’t know all of the front hooks for YIN so I missed an opportunity to play TEMpERS for more points off of a TWS.  Toward the end, Mark got slightly better tiles as I got stuck with mostly vowels (AAOUNNI) and couldn’t keep up.  I guess I paid for my poor play in the middle of the game.  FINAL SCORE:  421 – 390 (LOSS).

Game #2 – My turn to sit-out

Game #3 vs. Valeria
I won the past few games against Valeria, so I was pretty optimistic about winning.  On the other hand, I was thinking that the law of averages will catch-up with me and that I should expect a loss.  The story of this game was me struggling with the letters.  I had only one bingo rack and I missed it:  AIMNSST (SANTIMS).  All of my racks were pretty ugly, but somehow I was able to stay within a bingo throughout most of the game.  Ultimately, I wasn’t able to overcome my poor letters.  FINAL SCORE:  363 – 322 (LOSS).

Well, I had another tough night at the club.  For some reason, I really struggled with some ugly tile racks.  There was an “incident” during the second round/game – I’ll write about that after the game summaries.  Onto the summaries…

Game #1 vs. Sophia
I’ve played Sophia once before and lost.  I was hoping to better my record against her.  Unfortunately, the tile gods weren’t very good to me this game and I lost.  I only managed to play one bingo and missed three.  Here are the bingo racks:

• EEGIMN?:  I played tEEMING, but could have played REGIMEN, SEEMING, MEETING, or DEEMING.  Honestly, I only saw MEETING out of that list.
• AEHIRU?:  I didn’t see anything on this rack.  The only bingo here is HAULIER.  I don’t think I would have gotten that.
• AEIORR?:  Another seemingly bad tile rack.  I missed both ARMOIRE and HOARIER.
• DIRTUU?:  I would never have guessed there was a bingo in this one:  TRIDUUM.

I tried a phoney of “OUTHERD” and it was challenged off.  Looking back, that was probably the turning point of the game.  I was up by about 50 points at that point and I figured trying to make the play was a reasonable gamble.  FINAL SCORE:  366 – 307 (LOSS).

Game #2 vs. Ann
Not sure what to say about this one.  At the time while I was playing, I thought I had the worst possible tiles – I ended up trading 4 times this game.  After reviewing the game on Quackle, I realized that, yes I did have bad tiles.  But, I probably could have made some plays only only traded twice during the game.  Here are some of the really bad racks I had:  EEIIIIP, OQRSVZ?, and IIMNNNS.  After I traded away my four I’s, I had a rack of EEEEIJP – I was able to play JEEP, but then I got mostly vowels the rest of the game.  Oh well… Here are some bingo racks I missed.  On Quackle, I only had three bingo plays available to me, and I made one:  EQUINES for 104 points.  I had to use both blanks for that one (I had EEIQS??).

• INOPSSU?:  SPINOUS is the only play and I missed it.
• EEIQS??:  I played EQUINES, but could have played QUERIES or EQUITES.  There was no spot to play ESQUIRE.  Quackle pointed out a possible play of REQUI(M)S, but that was only worth 84 points.
• EIORRS?:  I totally missed this one as there are 15 possibilities:  CIRROSE, CORRIES, CROSIER, ORRICES, GORSIER, HORSIER, CORRIES, IRONERS, PROSIER, SORRIER, ORRISES, RIOTERS, ROISTER, REVISOR, and WORRIES.  No excuses.  I just missed this one.

Ann played her usual closed board style.  I tried my best to open up the board, but with four trades in the first 9 turns, I just couldn’t.  She made an excellent play off of an opening I left her:  VINY for 70 points along the TWS.  She hooked an open L, WO, and BOX.  That was great for her, but bad for me.  FINAL SCORE:  387 – 352 (LOSS).

Game #3 vs. Valeria
Not much to say about this game as it was pretty close.  At the end of the game, there were a few lead changes, making the game pretty exciting.  I managed to play only one bingo (R)EBOOtED for 83 points using up a TWS.  I had only four bingo racks this game:

• EFIPRU?:  I missed the obvious PUFFIER.  Using a letter on the board, I could have made REPU(R)IFY, PUR(I)FIER, PUR(I)FIES, PUR(I)FIED or FRUMPIE(R).  There was an interesting play that Quackle suggested (non-bingo) with this set of tiles.  The play was PFUI for only 49 points, but what was interesting was to front-hook off of an existing bingo that Valeria had played (P + REUNIONS).  I never would have thought either of those words were good.
• DEHPUU?:  I never would have expected a bingo here – UPRUSHED
• AEEIPRS:  The only bingo is APERIES (which I didn’t know existed).  Doesn’t matter because there was no spot to play it.
• BDEEOO?:  This rack looked pretty bad until I saw a free R on the middle TWS.  I played (R)EBOOtED for 84 points.  Other plays could have been REBOOKED or fO(R)BODE (this one was only 62 points).

Not much to say.  The game came down to the final two plays.  I was able to get a win by playing QATS for 41 points.  FINAL SCORE:  364 – 341 (WIN).

“THE INCIDENT”:  Talking during a game
I mentioned an “event” at the beginning of this post.  During round/game #2, a player sitting at the game next to me stormed off after declaring an incorrect letter for a blank (he said “D” but meant “R” or maybe “S”).  His bingo play was challenged off and he basically lost 100 points.  He was quite upset and then basically resigned, complaining that his opponent distracted him by speaking on his turn.  The opponent denied distracting him and a brief discussion ensued.  He then said that he quit and left the room.  Other players in the room quipped that he should “grow-up” or “take it easy”.  I didn’t say anything and continued to play.

What makes the incident remarkable was the reaction of the other players in the room.  After the game was over (playing against Ann), I mentioned to Ann that in the future, she should not be speaking after her play is over.  She got quite indignant and said that she had been “coming to the club for 15 years and everyone does it and no-one has ever complained”.  The “it” she was talking about was announcing her cumulative score after her turn was over.  I informed her that the proper rule was to announce the score of her play, hit the clock, and then not say anything.  I replied by saying that “just because everyone else does it, does not mean they are correct”.  I suppose I shouldn’t have said the phrase “tournament rules” because she pointed out that we aren’t in a tournament (correct) and are playing a “social” game (technically not correct, but probably true for most people).  She then started arguing with me that she has to call our her cumulative score, otherwise we wouldn’t know until the end of the game.  I tried to point out to her that the proper procedure is to wait until her turn to confirm the cumulative score.  Luckily, Craig Rowland, the club director, came to our table and explained the rule to her.

While confirming the cumulative score doesn’t really bother me, I do know that when I really want to concentrate, I prefer not to have my opponent speak on my turn.  I pointed the rule out to someone at a tournament (game #7) last year.  I don’t understand why so few people know the correct rule.  The reason why I don’t declare my cumulative score after my turn is because I want to be as consistent as possible so that I don’t change how I play when I play in a tournament.  In all fairness to the player who got upset and left, I did make a comment to his opponent because she noted that I was trading so often.  My comment was that “I had four I’s – so I had to trade”.  That was poor etiquette on my part, especially considering my dislike of people speaking on my turn.

Another night at the Scrabble club. Here’s a quick recap of my games.

Game #1 vs. Valeria
The game started off slowly with my play of XU. I had REDUX on my rack, but I wasn’t sure if it was a good word. On my second turn, I had DEFRRST and didn’t think too highly of the rack. But, Valeria played AWE and left the A available. I played DR(A)FTERS for a double-double and 98 points! The alternative bingo was REDR(A)FTS for fewer points. My only other “bingo” rack during this game was: ADEHIN? I saw HEADING and CHAINED but missed ECHNIDA, INHALED, HEADPIN, PINHEAD, and HANDIER. I really should have seen all of those words except ECHNIDA and maybe PINHEAD (thinking that it might not be acceptable). I was ahead 255–240 at that point and my play of CHAINED (for a TWS 92) pretty much ended the game.

Reviewing the game on Quackle revealed some interesting results (you can see the board). At the end game, I had ELLNOT and after tracking, Valeria had AADEEIS (she had just challenged a word and lost). I was a bit confused with Quackle’s recommended plays:

• O(F)TEN at 2C for 23 points, leaving LL
• Valeria could then play (N)AIADS at L10 for 42 points leaving ED (assuming she knows this word)
• My next play would be (PI)LL at 12K for 6 points.

The interesting thing is that in Quackle’s recommended sequence, I would generate 29 points plus 6 for unplayed tiles and Valeria would play 42 points. What I actually played was the following:

• (Y)ELL at 13K for 14 points leaving NOT
• Valeria hooked off of YELL to play SAD for 20 points at O13 (she could have played DADS at C12 for 24 points)
• I finished with NOT at O1 for 20 points and received 10 for Valeria’s unplayed tiles.

So, in my sequence, I played for 34 points and received another 10 (but should have been 6 if Valeria played the DADS). Valeria gets 24 points for DADS. In this sequence, I score 40–44 points (including unplayed tiles) while Valeria scores only 24 points maximum. In Quackle’s sequence, I score 35 points (including unplayed tiles) while Valeria scores 42 points. I let Quackle run several simulations on this end play to see if things would change, but it didn’t. I’m curious to see what people think of this end play and why Quackle would recommend a series of lower scoring plays. In the end, the final three plays didn’t matter as I pulled out the win. FINAL SCORE: 426 – 295 (WIN).

Game #2 vs. Mark H
This game was a close one. I had both ugly (AAAIUUU?) and interesting racks. I only managed to play one bingo (s)INGLED and missed several other bingo opportunities:

• CILNOO? – I saw COOLING and wanted to play LOCA(T)ION, but was blocked. Unfortunately, I missed COLONIST. The other natural bingos on this rack are ORCINOL, COLONIC, and LOCOING.
• EEIIMS? – This rack looked good, but I couldn’t find MEINIES or ITEMISE.
• EEINOS? – I missed all of the 9 possible bingos here: EBONIES, EBONISE, SENECIO, GENOISE, SOIGNEE, EIKONES, OLEINES, PEONIES, and EOSINES.
• DEGILN? – I played SINGLED, but missed plenty of others. There are 23 in total. Quackle had several other listed before my play.

This game came down to the wire and I managed to pull out the win because I knew Mark had IIU left and couldn’t go out. I had AAEELO and I missed A(R)EOLAE to go out in one. Instead, I played LA(C)E, (L)O(R)E, and A(JAR). That was a bad sequence. FINAL SCORE: 345 – 333.

Game #3 vs. Gene
I was hoping to go 3–0 for the night but then get smoked in this game. I spent most of the game either trying to balance my rack or getting rid of bad tiles. Meanwhile, Gene had some nice letters. Not much to say about this one. FINAL SCORE: 457 – 300.