Preface
I’ve still been consistently cardboxing between seasons. I also took some time to learn the very short list of all 9 letter bingoes containing 6 vowels for fun. Hopefully I will have more time to learn additional words soon.
Game 1 - The worst draw of all time?
Facing an immediate 84 point deficit after zzz’s opening bingo of BEHEADS, I’m facing this position.
I have a very strong rack with some easy bingoes like HAIRDOS, but I had a strong feeling I was missing a better bingo. I would love to find a 7 letter word on my rack that takes an S so I can play it to the S in BEHEADS scoring a minimum of 83 points, but there just isn’t one available. HAIRDOS is the only 7 letter bingo available in this rack. After tanking for a while, I just shrugged my shoulders and went ahead with playing 7F HAIRDOs for 73. Unfortunately, there were some higher scoring bingoes including the low probability but common word D8 (H)IgHROAD for 82 points.
As punishment for this error, I drew the absolutely disgusting KORUUUV as my post-bingo pick. After his L4 QIN(S)#, I have no choice but to exchange tiles with plays like J5 KU(D)U for 14 still keeping the awful ORUV, with the V having poor synergy with the O and especially poor synergy with the U.
This season I actually had a decently high amount of turns where I had the toxic UU, UV, or UW combinations at 13 turns (as well as a slightly above average 31 Us drawn across the whole season. Funnily enough, later in this game, I drew 2 more Us, meaning I drew more Us this game than there are in the set.
Game 2 - The best draw of all time?
Midway into this game with bnjy, I’m in a 92 point hole after scoring poorly and their bingo of RELIERS.
I made the relatively standard play of M3 MOP for 31, keeping my best bingo tiles for next turn and scoring well. As I’m waiting for bnjy’s next turn I’m absolutely freaking out because of what I’ve just drawn. I just drew the insane Z?? as my replacement draw, nearly the best 3 tiles to draw in most situations.
Bnjy has a rack full of duplicate 1-pointers and makes the solid play of 15D TAATA# for 29, scoring decently and untriplicating his As and Ts, after which I’m able to convert my draw into the completely game swinging LaZiEST for a enormous 120 points, putting me back into the lead by 30 points.
bnjy and I had some double blindness around the sneaky (HERY)E# hook for the entirety of the game, missing multiple 45+ point scoring options through the V, shooting both of our MIs way up, with 13 out of 26 total plays being non-optimal due to one of us not using or blocking the hook.
Game 3 - No Scrabble allowed today
I’m just 3 turns into this game with andy when I’m faced with a weird position, down 25 points.
I have the Z, but there are no good scoring spots or premium squares that I can use it with. My rack has some good bingo tiles, but no way to keep an especially strong leave. Figuring that keeping the Z or playing very short on this board were not useful ideas, I played the very unsatisfying 7D GAZE for 21 atop WAX, keeping my S and also setting up the A(GAZE) hook for my leftover A.
I didn’t expect Macondo to especially like my play, but Macondo had a crazy option that it liked much more. Macondo is all over the play of just 9G A(HI) for 14.
The biggest value of this play is its extremely strong defense. Without a Y for WAXY or an S for AHIS, there are almost no reasonable plays that exist on that board. Additionally, with AHA not taking an S, many racks containing an S but not a bingo are still extremely limited in terms of scoring options. Macondo suggests that andy averages an anemic 18.9 points on his next turn, while I average 49.4 points on my next turn holding the S to hook AHIS as well as the Z to pounce on any weak board opening play using an S or from the V in VIA. Additionally, the AEGISZ leave draws 7 letter bingoes (though most don’t fit on the board if andy doesn’t open it) with 27 of the 85 unseen tiles, giving me even more upside if andy opens the board.
Game 4 - The art of patience
I’m leading by a solid 32 points midway through this game against MGI, holding an extremely strong rack.
There are a variety of bingoes available, most of which using the A and Z of ZAIDA. Although these bingoes put me up over 100, I felt there was an issue with these moves. Although bingoes to the A score the most, they blow the board open with multiple floaters and open a potential triple-triple. Bingoes through the Z such as wOMAnI(Z)E for 70 are safer, but offer some floats to MGI for 8 letter bingoes that also further open the board. Bingoes through the N in CHYRONS present a similar problem.
In this position, I made the non-standard, but Macondo’s top play of 7G AMI(N)O for just 19 points, sacrificing 59 points. I felt there was a very strong case for this to be the best play. In terms of board dynamics, AMINO blocks the easiest bingo line, for 7 letter words ending in S hooking UPS, while offering absolutely nothing back. The game score is also a major factor here. With this play putting MGI down 51 points, they are greatly incentivized to open the board, often with plays hitting the lower right triple hooking (BERLIN)E. Holding such a strong leave of E??, I’m very likely to land a game ending 80 point bingo to the tile in the lower right corner, once again offering nothing back. Rare bingoes, often to the A in ZAIDA are likely to give me a triple-triple.
In the actual game, I drew ANRY, and after MGI’S 15K DEFER for 40, opening bingo lanes to the E and R, I have the massive YANkERs# for 100 hooking AWAY, easily sealing the game.
Game 5 - A Lucky mistake? and handling the Q
Most of the way through my game with AnitaCH, I made an error in this position.
I’m already up 85 points here and I quickly played the high scoring 12A HEAL for 41, leaving balanced tiles. I simply did not see that the bingo of (E)THERIAL was available. I may have been lucky to have not spotted my bingo, because holding AAISV??, I would’ve been devastated by the triple-triple of ArrIVA(L)S for 167, reducing my lead down to just 6 points. Specifying that AnitaCH is holding a blank, Macondo does actually prefer my play of HEAL for 41 which maintains control on a poor board, with even bingoes from the V in DEV leaving me up around 40 points.
After AnitaCH is forced to take a much lower scoring bingo, I’m in another interesting position.
I’m still up 56 points and there are only 6 tiles remaining in the bag. One of these unseen tiles is the Q. With this in mind, I played L11 TETH for 21 points. My idea was threefold. TETH blocks the only spot on the board where the Q can be played by itself. Additionally, leaving just 2 tiles in the bag, any play like I3 QI will empty the bag and give me perfect information that will let me block any bingoes AnitaCH may have. Leaving IOR, I’m guaranteed to be able to play the aforementioned I3 QI if I draw the Q.
Afterward, AnitaCH fished off just 1 tile, leaving 1 tile in the bag.
I’m looking at an unseen pool of BDEENOOQ. Now that I’ve drawn the other I, I know that there’s no way for AnitaCH to play the Q if they already have it. Although I was pretty sure the non-Q tiles of BDEENOO did not form a bingo, I didn’t want to risk the game on it if I was somehow wrong. In order to do this, I elected to pass my turn. Since I’m up 70 points, if AnitaCH passes, I can just pass again and I’ll easily win if we continue to pass via the Six-Zero rule after we subtract the value of our tiles from our scores. If I’m wrong and AnitaCH does have all the non-Q tiles as well as a bingo, I will easily win as they will draw the Q and be stuck with it, where I will be able to freely play 1 or 2 tiles at a time and rack up points. If AnitaCH already has the Q, then I have nothing to worry about either way.
In the actual game, the final tile in the bag was in fact the Q. There was no bingo on AnitaCH’s rack. I still ended up gaining an additional 60 points of spread from the start of the endgame via the Q-stick.
Game 6 - An improbable comeback and a poor pre-endgame
Midway into this game against Inverse, I’m already in deep trouble, down 120 points after their 3rd bingo of the game while I haven’t bingoed a single time.
Luckily, I realized that I had a sneaky overlap of J2 ANTIENT# for 92 points to jumpstart my comeback. Overlaps with higher scoring tiles are often better than double and occasionally even triple word scores because the tiles all score just 1 point.
Just a few turns later, Inverse puts me into a big deficit of 97 points once again with his 4th bingo of OUTDURE#.
I spotted some of my available bingoes such as sC(A)RFERS and CR(A)FtERs, both scoring 74. I decided to pass both of these up because of the timing. With 8 tiles in the bag, I’ll leave one in the bag for Inverse’s next turn. With an ugly unseen pool of AACEEEHIIJKORTV and still down 23 points plus whatever Inverse scores on their next turn, I felt that drawing another bingo was basically required and too unlikely. I ultimately went with 15A S(E)RF for 33, holding a strong CER? leave and hoping for a better chance to bingo in the future.
Inverse played AVI(S)O for 24, leaving 1 in the bag (unseen: CEEHIJKR) and me down 88 points.
After searching for a while, I spotted an insane option. I had K1 CREATEs available with 6 overlaps for a massive 100 points. Even then I did not slam down this play immediately. I saw that with the C I was opening on the top row, Inverse often had extremely high scoring plays from the C that would outrun my 1 tile outplays, such as (C)HEEK or (C)HECK. After iterating through all the tiles, I eventually figured that I could still win if I draw the H or K, which both give me solid outplays and don’t give Inverse a huge play from the C. Eventually, I went ahead and played CREATEs and crossed my fingers and hoped for the H or K.
Miraculously, I drew the K, and after Inverse’s 1K (C)HEER for 42, I went out with 13H O(K) for 22, winning by 16 points. Despite it working out in this game, I did not quite make my best play in the pre-endgame. It’s very rare that a 100 point bingo is incorrect, but there are better options available.
I’ll only be covering one of these plays for the sake of brevity. CREATEs indeed only wins if I draw the H or the K, thus I win 2/8. The play of (HI)E, which I actually considered, for just 8 points is a better play, winning 37.5% of the time, if I draw an H, I, or K.
If I draw the I, my winning line is relatively simple. Inverse has no reasonable ways to block my highest scoring bingoes hooking HIES while offloading his high point C, H, J, and K. Plays like 11O (ON)ER#, blocking the hook lose easily because I have bingoes like 1A bACTERI(A) for 80, also getting 42 points from Inverse’s unseen tiles. The best Inverse can do is play C3 C(L)ERK for 32 points, after which O6 ATREsIC wins by 3.
If I draw the K, once again, Inverse can’t stop me from playing a high scoring bingo, either TRACKEd hooking HIED or TA(L)CKiER# will play. The best move for Inverse would be to play C3 E(L)ICHE for 30, and O4 TRACKEd once again wins by 3.
Finally, if I draw the H, I have the bingoes of CATHEdR(A) and CHARTEd available, both scoring 98. Once again, Inverse’s best option is to play C3 C(L)ERK 32, which loses by 6 after O4 CHARTEd.
My biggest problem in the pre-endgame was that I forgot to consider the open A and L on the left side of the board as bingo lines, so I thought Inverse would be able to make an effective block.
Interestingly, I actually gained a massive 40 points just from overlapping the Q and Z when playing my 2 bingoes in this game. Even though I stole this game at the very end, congratulations to first time league champion Inverse, who finished a strong 11-3.
Afterword
I had another decent season in terms of mistakes made, coming in at a MiAOW of 2.8. My biggest problem this season was not seeing all my available plays. Though I’m undeniably still getting quite a bit of luck in my games, I think I’m still playing about as well as I ever have.
Stats
- Lost Endgame Points: 70 (7/14 Perfect Endgames)
- Missed Bingo Turns: 9 (5 Word Knowledge, 4 Playfinding)
- Suboptimal Bingo Turns: 7 (1 Word Knowledge, 2 Playfinding, 4 Strategy)
- Cumulative Pre-Endgame Win Percentage Loss: 62.9%