My Scrabble Nationals

Tournament venue, Reno Convention Center Ballroom, entrance looking east (Left hand photo) with the National Bowling center dome in background. Right-hand photo is looking west from the Ballroom entrance, view of Silver Legacy hotel/casino. Nigel & I had rooms on the 29th floor of the 36 floor hotel. This is one of my “homes” for my video poker jaunts, so we scored a comped suite and room. Tourney entry fee was $200.

Game 1 notes: I wrote TORT but played TROT. <x2> means player exchanged 2 tiles for zero score. My OUTcALLS was brave – it’s Good but I wasn’t sure. I tried “PEARY” (the quotes means it’s a phony) and opp challenged it off. Opp challenged my MES and lost her turn because it’s Good. I tried “NOSER” = no good for 0 pts. Missing words on scoresheet were VID 23 and CUE 13 for me, JOIN 11 and ICK 9 for opp. Lucky to win this first Game. Scoresheets are of my own design – column 2 is always for player going first.

Game 2 notes: Lost by 4 pts even with my no bingos to opp’s two bingos. CLAMOUR is good, I held a long time thinking about challenging it. opp’s last play was OR 10 and my outplay was CUr 10.

Game 3 notes: Opp tried “NTHS” early on, but I knew it was phony and sent it off. I replied with a bingo SMELTER 71 and then just hung on for a 4 pt win. Opp’s last play was ALAE 20; he was MUCH higher rated, so this was an upset WIN for me.

Game 4: I screwed up bigtime when I bingoed “ARENOID” when the correct bingo was ANEROID. It’s a common rack, so this was a bit embarrassing. Paid the price with a LOSS. GETUP is a cool word. My last play was SlaW 7; his: aminE 8.

Game 5: Opened with HIDEOUT 78 and (E)LATION 65 two plays later. It was never close. Morale zoomed with this big WIN.

Game 6: Opp’s play 3 bingo was the difference, the only bingo in the game. Last plays: he: joB 12, me: Dy(E)s 21. Nothing spectacular in this LOSS.

Game 7: I couldn’t find a bingo against an average opp. From Thailand, he confirmed his total score every single play on my clock! A grievous crime, and he kept doing it all game despite my requests he stop and a talking-to by the director who I sicked on him for the annoyance. GRRR + LOSS. Last plays: me: BReD 13, he: OR(E) 6. End of Day 1 – I’m at 3w – 4L.

Game 8: weird game: opponent’s first play failed to touch the center star. my challenge automatically sent it off, no matter if it was a valid word. Opp’s bingo INEDITA 68 on play 6 is a common rack and put her ahead. I scrambled back into the lead while closing down the bingo lanes. Opp had a great final rack of INRST ()() (two blanks) so it was key I not give her a place to play the many bingos she had. Opp failed to block my Q play of SUQ 24 which iced the WIN. My outplay was AlAE 16.

Game 9: One of my least favorite opps, Katya’s strategy is to play fast and try to get her opps short of time. She makes poor choices as she doesn’t take the time to consider the consequences. Her play of OXY 72 brought it scary close and her phony “PIAGE” at the end tied it up! I did not risk a challenge as I had an out-play of nEE 5 to WIN by 7.

Game 10: After my strong starting 5 plays, I’m UP over 100, so opp’s bingo INdENTED 70 didn’t phase me. It was the only bingo in the game. I was glad she didn’t block my knock-out play of QI 62. Cruised to an ‘easy’ WIN.

Game 11: Opp Chris lived in Seattle so we’re good friends. His two bingos to my no bingos made it difficult to keep up. He got greedy near the end with “BOtOX” thru the T of RIOT and I knew it was phony. My outplay of SI 12 made it ‘only’ a 40-pt LOSS.

Game 12: Another opp from Thailand. I risked and lost a turn when I tried “WABE” where I subsequently played WEBS 45. It was very close, until the end game, where my tracking revealed his last rack of STUPHII, so he couldn’t block my outplay of INTR(O) 10 (he played aH 20) and I collected 16 from his remaining tiles for the narrow WIN.

Game 13: This one could have gone another direction had opp challenged off my phony “AGOS” on my 3rd play. But he didn’t. Again, my strong plays negated his bingo D(E)RiVING 74 and my later CO(D)eX for 58 put the nail in his coffin, so to speak. It’s only a game, but another WIN felt great. (his outplay: SINS 13)

Game 14: A high-scoring ‘shoot-out’ where I got up 78 pts after 5 plays each – I played strong while opp “played off” tiles – jO 10 and Bo 4 – to set up his imminent bingo(s). Play 6 we each played phony bingos which we both allowed to stay on: me: “TEENIES”, he: “UNRAISES”. Opp followed up with a beauty (R)AWHIDE 81 but I remained in the lead. My 2nd bingo ENSNARE 68 assured me a nice WIN. End of a heady day 2 where I went 6W-1L for a record of 9-5.

Game 15: I reconstructed this board from my scoresheet (just for YOU!), as I failed to take a pic of the final board at the tournament. Opp got down the only bingo PAREN(T)Ed 70 which had me scrambling to catch up. I guessed my outplay of S(O) which, if I played it, was 16 pts, not 15 as noted on scoresheet. Lost 10 pts because I went overtime on my clock, and LOST the game by 19.

Game 16: I foolishly tried “NOOB” early on. My bingo ADOPTEE 71 gave me breathing room on my lead and opp’s only strong play was his late-game bingo TINGL(E)D 74, not enuf to threaten. Looks to be a lot of poor racks in this low-scoring WIN.

Game 17: Opp’s DBL DBL word score AIRShED(S) 94 was sweet on play 2 and RETARDEr 70 bold bingo later were key plays. I gamely gave it my all with doughIEST 42 extension, ZEK 53, bingo SNOWiEST 76 and VOX 40, but came up short. LOSS

Game 18: Opp’s opening play VAPER is a new valid word. His bingos BORINGS and LIA(T)RIS went unanswered. I dunno why I thought “RONDET” was good. Big LOSS. Matthew loaded this game on QUACKLE here, so you can see his racks and play the game:

https://www.cross-tables.com/annotated.php?u=32954#3#

Game 19: our 2 bingos apiece canceled out on the score. I was proud of my OUTGROsS as I was unsure of it. Gotta be brave. Also, I challenged off his reasonable play of “CARTLIKE” near the end. Besides opp’s bingos and POOH 55, his plays weren’t very strong. A needed WIN.

Game 20: Ugh, another one I just…couldn’t…quite…keep up. Opp got the only bingo of the game and stuck me with the Q when he went out. LOSS.

Game 21: Glenn likes to mess with his opps, always asking “Do you agree?” when verifying the total score. He’s not fun to play against, but he doesn’t pull that verbal shit with me, so I don’t mind. This started good when I challenged off his first play “INTERLIE”, which most folks might let stay. He let my phony bingo “AGONIZER” 72 stay on, meaning he didn’t recognize it as phony, probably because he had the HUGE play of QUaILING 128 as a reply. I lost a turn challenging his AIDER, but I got away with adding an S to “AGONIZER” later on. Small conciliation as his ACTU(A)LLy 74 put it away. Tough LOSS. End of a poor Day 3, I went 2W-5L for a record of 11-10 overall.

Game 22: S(A)LVOED is good. “DaRBY” is phony (DARBIES is valid). Opp challenged SAN when I played FETES/San and he went on tilt when it came up ACCEPTABLE at the challenge computer. His outplay bingo TINDERS 82 gave me a tough LOSS. I should have noticed this play from tracking and blocked it. Maybe I would have lost anyways…

Game 23: ANTIGAY is good. I was happy to find ARENItES, even tho I should know it as it’s a common rack. his EX 52 killed my chances and his last play of uRP 18 left me to play Ow 6 to go out and LOSE by 34.

Game 24: I owned this game with my persistent strong plays. I sent off his “IRONIZER” near the end but left him IONIZER 73. He had no chance. Fun WIN.

Game 25: My good find of REBOUGhT 67 and opp’s lost turn challenge of it was key. He got down three bingos after that, but went over on his clock more than one minute, costing him -20 pts and that lost him the game. CASTERED is good. My outplay was NIL 13. Once again, strong plays overcame an opp who ‘played off’ tiles for weak scores looking for bingos. Opp went on tilt and came up to talk to me many times in the afternoon. Lucky WIN.

Game 26: I didn’t know OSTIO(L)Ar to be good, but I didn’t consider challenging much as it gave me JoW 39 as a fine answer. Opp “had to” challenge F(O)RMIc as he couldn’t win otherwise. Very satisfying WIN.

Game 27: Two bingos apiece in this nail-biter. I skanked a win with my last tile S play moleS/epicureS 22. My extension of PONY to PONYTAIL(S) was cute, but my use of a blank to play it was questionable for ‘only’ 42 points. No extra pts for cuteness. WIN!

Game 28: I gave too much credit to my young opponent, letting “RAMULATe” 68 bingo stay on. Proved too late he’s capable of phonying. I had no bingos and really no chance in this blowout LOSS. End of day 4, going 4W-3L today, 15-13 overall.

Game 29: Another nail-biter where the end game was crucial. As I recall, I was short on time, but no matter. My outplay (S)cARF 18 appered to tie it. The recount revealed two scoring errors (XI = 38 not 36 and NAOI = 8 not 5) in opp’s favor, giving me a 5-point LOSS. I thought I never miss scoring errors, so it was a doubly painful LOSS. I’m too shattered to find better plays in the post-mortem.

Game 30: I challenged off opp’s “LOOSERS” early on. I felt forced to challenge opp’s styE/ZERO 76 STYE is good. Luckily I had a home for oVERNEAT which I knew was good. Opp then bingoed twice for a big lead, but I found ReLENTED 61 to go out and stick him with the Q for the WIN. A stunner.

Game 31: My first rematch of the tournament, and my second reconstructed board after I forgot to take a photo. I know my threes, so I cant explain why I let “LEM” stay on. Opp made a few scoring errors again in this game, making me suspicious that he has a strategy of BANKING points: knowingly letting his underscores and my overscore errors stay- it’s a rare thing that only pays off in cases like our first game, game 29. My “dONNERS” is phony. I sent off his ridiculous “ITSIEST”. His Dbl Dbl word bingo D(A)UnTER(S) is good. He added a bingo KITTIES 78 and I had no bingos, sealed my fate. His last play was RING 24 and my outplay was STRIVE 35. Tourney OVER, I went 1W-2L on this last day, finished 16-15 in 35th place in division 2. My rating of 1513 was unchanged after 31 games. Your feedback of questions, errors or this new BLOG format is welcomed!