Scrabble Adventures

For all the improvement and promise I’ve shown lately, I seem to have a night that completely humbles me.  I had good tiles all night, but I played horribly for my first two games.  What can I say?

Game #1 vs. John D
Here’s a sequence that will surely cost you a game:  lose a turn for challenging VANED and then get your play of (D)ERRiDES* challenged off – completely missing (D)ERiDERS.  On top of that, for my first five turns, I only had one scoring play for 9 points.  That’s surely not a great way to start.  Nevertheless, I screwed myself this game.
FINAL SCORE:  463 – 395 (LOSS)
BINGOS:  ME – REaDERS; John – STARING, (D)IvERTER

Game #2 vs. Fraser S
I lost this game because I made a tactical error.  I had SATIREQ and opted to play Q(I) for 11 instead of Q(A)T for 32.  In retrospect, I think I was trying to bingo too much and then made silly plays like the aforementioned.  Nevertheless, I admit that Fraser is probably a better player than me – he certainly knows more words and sees them too.
FINAL SCORE:  338 – 320 (LOSS)
BINGOS:  ME – r(E)STATES; Fraser – cOWBANE

Game #3 vs. Brenda S
Sometimes I really don’t understand my opponent, especially Brenda.  She was behind in this game, and yet she didn’t even try to open up any bingo lanes even though she had great tiles at the end.  I wasn’t going to open anything up for her.
FINAL SCORE:  402 – 357 (WIN)
BINGOS:  ME – REU(N)ITEs, RESOLiN(G); Brenda – T(R)ENDING

I definitely need to work on improving my strategic play and reducing mental errors.  Scrabble® is challenging enough without giving points to your opponent.  Oh well, there’s always the next game…

Powered by Qumana