Scrabble Adventures

Well, I just got back from a fun afternoon of Scrabble at Shaun and Pat Goatcher’s home. They graciously invited a few of us over for a get-together of drinks, food, and Scrabble®. I definitely had quite a bit of fun. I didn’t get a chance to play everyone, but I enjoyed being able to play higher rated players. Vera Bigall and Max Panitch came from the Toronto club. From the Mississauga club, we had Yvonne Lobo, Steve and Sophia Ozorio, Sinna Vijayakumar, Shaun Goatcher, and myself. Dave Krook and his wife Shauna Petrie showed up much later.

Game #1 vs. Shaun Goatcher
Shaun and I started playing before the rest of the crowd showed up. My first few turns were spent playing off vowels to complement my very bingo prone tiles. I tried playing ATONIED*, but that was quickly challenged off. Shaun played his first bingo in the only spot available, leaving a free E on I15. I had EILNTX? but didn’t think much of it. Trying to heed Craig’s advice of “always looking for a better play”, I decided to take another look. Hey look – I found a bingo: T(E)LEXINg! My first ever triple-triple! Never having played one before, I tallied up the score incorrectly – 22×3 + 50 = 116. Shaun looked at me and was a bit shocked. Actually, he thought about challenging, but then accepted it. He was pretty gracious and then pointed out my calculation error: that’s 22x9 + 50 = 248. 248 points! Wow. The rest of the game, Shaun tried to catch-up and did a pretty good job by playing another two bingos. I got slightly better tiles at the very end and managed to pull out a win. I’m still a bit amazed that I won.
BINGOS: ME – T(E)LEXINg (triple-triple baby!); Shaun – DIAMINE, LATHIER, VIGORO(S)I*
FINAL SCORE: 474 – 440 (WIN)

Game #2 vs. Sophia Ozorio
I lost my score sheet for this game so I don’t have any details to report. All I know is that I lost and lost big.
FINAL SCORE: something like 410 – 301 (LOSS)

Game #3 vs. Steve Ozorio
I lost my score sheet for this game so I don’t have any details to report. All I know is that I lost. I do remember, however, having AQUATIC on my rack but nowhere to play it. I was leading for most of this game, but couldn’t close the deal.
FINAL SCORE: something like 384 – 362 (LOSS)

Game #4 vs. Sinna Vijayakumar
I really didn’t have any expectation of winning and so my goal was to keep the score close. I made a few good plays and was able to stay tied with Vijay for most of the game. Vijay made some really good plays to keep scoring even though I seemed to get most of the good tiles. On the penultimate play, I had EGILOT? with an open S to use (had to be the last or 2nd last letter). I spent nearly 8 minutes looking for a bingo, but wasn’t successful. If I found it, there’s a good chance I could have won. The only two that I recognized were: EuLOGI(S)T or LOGgIE(S)T. Doh!
BINGOS: ME – DENAT(U)RE, (S)QUARERS; Vijay – ALIENIS(T), UNV(A)RIEd
FINAL SCORE: 392 – 358 (LOSS)

Game #5 vs. Dave Krook
For the final game, I just got spanked. It’s just one of those games where your opponent seems to get everything at the right time. After turn #4, the score was 162 – 44 for Dave. I challenged ROOTIEST and lost. I was able to make up that turn by challenging REGIFTS*. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough. Even though I stuck him with the Q and a few other tiles, it wasn’t enough. Dave played a really good game.
BINGOS: ME – RESIGNE(R), (S)CuRRIED; Dave – RELATIO(N), (R)OOTIEST, FrIG(A)TES
FINAL SCORE: 481 – 380 (LOSS)

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I definitely had fun playing against everyone. Hopefully I’ll get a chance to play against Shaun, Vijay, and Steve again in the future. I’m also hoping to play Vera too – I didn’t get a chance this time because she and Max had to leave. Having played these expert players, I’m just happy that I was able to hold my own and not get blown out in all of the games. I did get some good tiles, but hey, you still need to make the plays. Hopefully with some studying and steady improvement, I’ll be able to play against them regularly. I’m just still stoked about getting my first ever triple-triple. That was the only bingo available too. 248 points – that’s definitely my highest scoring play ever.

Well, that’s all the Scrabble® I’ll be playing this week as I’m scheduled to get my wisdom teeth removed on Wednesday. I’m pretty sure I’ll be in no shape to play on Thursday.