What a rush!At Scrabble Club 44 last night we had one of those magic moments experienced many times over through the years here. Ira Cohen was matched with David Whitley, a fast rising, soon-to-be expert-rated player, who first began attending the club in 2007.
With 12 tiles remaining in the bag David, down 265-393, bingoed at 5A with ARSINES front hooking COFFED with the last S for 80 points bringing his total score to 345, still 48 short of Ira's. Sensing he needed to block the open vertical bingo lines newly created by David's bingo Ira placed MAULER at 4A just above ARSINE for a six-letter overlap creating MA, AR, US, LI, EN, RE good for 41 points! Ira's total was now 434 as he emptied the remaining five tiles from the bag.
Now holding AEIORTZ David was still facing an 89 point deficit on a seemingly closed down board. He arranged the suffix -IZE on his rack and decided to take a chance on a triple-triple at A1 with AROMATIZE through the MA just created by Ira's overlap play. The challenge came back acceptable, David earned 230 points plus 26 more from Ira's remaining six tiles including both V's! Final score: David 601, Ira 434!
A quick glance of "Total Scrabble" http://www.cross-tables.com/download/totalscrabble.pdf didn't yield any record for largest out play including opponent's tiles but perhaps I just overlooked it. It would seem that the total of 256 points would at least be close to a record. Including the bingo in his prior turn David then scored 336 points in the final two plays en route to victory. In any case it was a truly spectacular finish!
Alan Stern
Director, Club 44 Los Angeles
Scrabble last night
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plasticene
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Scrabble last night
I had a pretty special game last night at club. I was playing Ira Cohen, the top player in the club and one of the top players in California. I can't improve on club director Alan Stern's account, which he posted to the Yahoo group for tournament Scrabble players. (My friend Cesar posted the game with his comments at http://www.cross-tables.com/annotated.php?u=1251, if you want to see how it unfolded.)
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christie1111
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tanstaafl2
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So you play Bingo at the same time you play Scrabble? Wouldn't have thought a game of Bingo would have that much appeal to Scrabble players...
Congrats on what sounds like an impressive success!
Congrats on what sounds like an impressive success!
If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man.
~Mark Twain
Some people are like a Slinky. They are not really good for anything, but you still can't help but smile when you shove them down the stairs...
~tanstaafl2
Nullum Gratuitum Prandium
Ne Illegitimi Carborundum
Cumann na gClann Uí Thighearnaigh
~Mark Twain
Some people are like a Slinky. They are not really good for anything, but you still can't help but smile when you shove them down the stairs...
~tanstaafl2
Nullum Gratuitum Prandium
Ne Illegitimi Carborundum
Cumann na gClann Uí Thighearnaigh
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kayrharris
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tlynn78
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Gave me goosebumps. Truly. Congratulations!
t.
t.
To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead. -Thomas Paine
You can ignore reality, but you can't ignore the consequences of ignoring reality. -Ayn Rand
Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities. -Voltaire
You can ignore reality, but you can't ignore the consequences of ignoring reality. -Ayn Rand
Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities. -Voltaire
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TheConfessor
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That sounds very impressive. Congratulations!
Most of my Scrabble experience came at least 30 years ago, but the way we used to play at home, which I thought followed the official printed rules on the box, was to deduct the value of any tiles held by each person after the first person had used all of his tiles. We didn't add the value to the winner. Was that wrong, or have the rules changed?
I guess it's a necessary skill among elite players to use approved words that exist almost nowhere but in the Scrabble dictionary, but for me, that makes it seem less appealing.
Most of my Scrabble experience came at least 30 years ago, but the way we used to play at home, which I thought followed the official printed rules on the box, was to deduct the value of any tiles held by each person after the first person had used all of his tiles. We didn't add the value to the winner. Was that wrong, or have the rules changed?
I guess it's a necessary skill among elite players to use approved words that exist almost nowhere but in the Scrabble dictionary, but for me, that makes it seem less appealing.
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SportsFan68
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Well done!
Congratulations!
Let us know when you hit Expert.
Congratulations!
Let us know when you hit Expert.
-- In Iroquois society, leaders are encouraged to remember seven generations in the past and consider seven generations in the future when making decisions that affect the people.
-- America would be a better place if leaders would do more long-term thinking. -- Wilma Mankiller
-- America would be a better place if leaders would do more long-term thinking. -- Wilma Mankiller
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SportsFan68
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I don't mind that part and love winning a game with a regular word that's not normally played.TheConfessor wrote:I guess it's a necessary skill among elite players to use approved words that exist almost nowhere but in the Scrabble dictionary, but for me, that makes it seem less appealing.
I won a match with anticline, adding cline to anti on the board.
I got serry challenged once but still lost the match -- he drew the blanks and most of the esses.
-- In Iroquois society, leaders are encouraged to remember seven generations in the past and consider seven generations in the future when making decisions that affect the people.
-- America would be a better place if leaders would do more long-term thinking. -- Wilma Mankiller
-- America would be a better place if leaders would do more long-term thinking. -- Wilma Mankiller
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Ritterskoop
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plasticene
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The rules printed on the box haven't changed: the value of each player's unplayed tiles is subtracted from the respective score, and if one player has gone out, that player adds the value of all the unplayed tiles to his or her score. Club and tournament rules are slightly different: if both players have unplayed tiles, the values are subtracted from the respective scores, but if one player goes out, no points get subtracted. Instead, double the value of the remaining tiles is added to the score of the player who went out.TheConfessor wrote:That sounds very impressive. Congratulations!
Most of my Scrabble experience came at least 30 years ago, but the way we used to play at home, which I thought followed the official printed rules on the box, was to deduct the value of any tiles held by each person after the first person had used all of his tiles. We didn't add the value to the winner. Was that wrong, or have the rules changed?
I guess it's a necessary skill among elite players to use approved words that exist almost nowhere but in the Scrabble dictionary, but for me, that makes it seem less appealing.
Everybody has pet peeves about real words unjustly excluded or non-words unreasonably included in the Official Word List, but it's something we all have to learn to live with. Not knowing what every word means (by a long shot) doesn't take the enjoyment out of it for me, and even though learning the meanings isn't the goal of my studying, I'm constantly learning new ones.
I love encountering (or discovering) "Scrabble" words when I travel. Ulu knives and qiviut blankets in Alaska, ohia trees in Hawaii, akee/ackee trees in the Caribbean, jabirus at the Sydney Zoo, agamas and crakes and nyalas and duikers and babirusas at Disney's Animal Kingdom. I just can't get enough of this stuff!
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