Scrabble Adventures

Another night at the club.  I’m trying to get myself ready for the upcoming tournament (flyer; entrants), but I’m not having too much success studying.  I’ve been busy working on my research proposal and it’s been taking up much of my time.  Hopefully I’ll get some studying done in the near future…

Here’s a quick recap of the games from Thursday (no Quackle simulations this week):

Game #1 vs. Valeria
I’ve had difficulty playing Valeria in the past and I don’t really know why.  This game started off slowly as we both had some pretty crappy tiles.  I managed to open up the game a bit with STORIES and held on for the win.  I had some crappy tiles after that bingo so I just tried to score without opening up the board.  For some reason, Valeria didn’t open up the board.

FINAL SCORE:  353 – 323 (win)

Game #2 vs. John D
John and I have been having some competitive games lately.  I opened with RAVINES and then played QUAHOGS.  He thought about challenging and then said that the word looked so strange that it had to be good (darn!  I was hoping for a challenge).  I had a sizable lead until he played FLINGERS.  Two turns after that, I had ABEONRT with a free I in the centre of the board.  I didn’t realize there were two bingos (BARONET and REBOANT) but managed to play BARITONE once John traded.  He had me worried because he looked like he was going to play through the I, but then took his tiles back.  John responded by playing SALTIRE.  For some reason, I totally forgot this word and thought about challenging it.  I took a moment and then realized it was SATIRE+L.  I ended up with better tiles toward the end of the game and that was the story of this game.  I got away with a phoney (AXER).

FINAL SCORE:  434 – 335 (win)

Game #3 vs. Laurinda
I was behind for much of the game but managed to pull out a win over a four turn sequence.  I scored 77, 28, 73, and 34 points (two bingos – TEENIEST and DIALING).  Laurinda had most of the good tiles this game.  Personally, I thought she should have crushed me with the great tiles she had at the beginning, but I’ll take the win.

FINAL SCORE:  395 – 349 (win)

Not much to say about this past club night as it was pretty normal.  I’m pretty busy at the moment, so there are no official re-caps via Quackle.  As such, I’ll just be posting a few comments here and there.

Game #1 vs. Jason U
I didn’t expect much from this game because Jason is one of the expert players at our club (~1700 NSA/Club rating).  The game was very tight as we both seemed to have some crappy tiles at the beginning.  I just got a bit unlucky toward the end because I had a few bingo racks but no obvious plays.  I think I played a decent game.  The only bingo played was by Jason, RETAILER.

SCORE:  330 – 373 (LOSS)

Game #2 vs. Don B
I had poor tiles for most of the game, but managed to keep the game close until the end.  Don made some good plays right at the end and that was pretty much it – he finished with a bingo (FADINGS).  He got another 24 points for all 7 tiles on my rack.  I don’t think I’ve ever beaten Don.

SCORE:  304 – 401 (LOSS)

Game #3 vs. Brenda S
Tough to recap this game.  Brenda opened with REDATES and took an early lead.  I thought this game was going to be a blow-out because I had some ugly racks at the beginning.  I caught-up with two consecutive bingos NASTIEST and THINNER.  With a slight lead, I started to shut the board down as I noticed I was getting some bad tiles.  Brenda likes to hoard the good tiles for the end, especially the S and the blank.

SCORE:  345 – 334 (WIN)

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Just a note about Scrabble rules.  I’ve noticed that some players like to announce their cumulative/total score after the completion of their turn, basically trying to confirm the score.  After an incident earlier this season, players seemed to get much better about not speaking after their turn.  One player I played did this and I just ignored them the entire game.  After the game when I tried to explain the rule, this player got somewhat upset and confused.  I told them that they can confirm the score when it’s their turn (i.e., your clock is running).  They kept asking “when am I supposed to confirm the score?  Do we wait until the game is over to confirm?”.  I kept trying to explain that they can do so at the beginning of their turn.  I even had to call the director over to explain.  Hopefully this won’t happen more in the future.  For some reason this never bothered me in the past, but I’m noticing that it bothers me more lately.

Well, it’s been a busy few weeks and I haven’t had a chance to update this blog.

I can’t remember the exact details, but here’s a list of the people I’ve played over the past few weeks (the ones I can remember):

• Fraser S: a win and a loss
• John D: win
• Valeria: loss (for some reason, I can’t seem to beat her)
• Brenda S: loss (another person who I can’t seem to beat)
• Kevin T: beat him last week on a final out play of SYSTOLE
• Allan B: win – should’ve lost this one but he missed an out bingo play of ENTRAINS
• Amy C: win

I visited the Toronto Scrabble Club last week as I had a free evening. I ended up playing against Christine W (loss), Paul W who also plays at Mississauga (win), and Eli (win). The win against Eli was a bad one for me, as I let him play DISOLVE for 91 points and then FOES/DISOLVES for 65 points. For some reason, I wasn’t really thinking and let DISOLVE go even though it needs a second S.

While visiting the Toronto club, I registered for the upcoming annual July Toronto Scrabble tournament (view the flyer – don’t pay attention to the 2006 date as it’s a typo). So far, there doesn’t seem to be too many players registered, but I’m sure that will change as the tournament gets closer.