Preface
“Always face what you fear …. Even if it’s not your fault it’s your responsibility …. Do what you must do …. Never wish. Especially don’t wish upon a star, which is astronomically stupid. Open your eyes, and then open your eyes again."
-Terry Pratchett
Obsession is a funny thing. It is defined and evaluated by what you are obsessed with. If you’re obsessed with consumption you are deemed an “addict”. If you are obsessed with routine you have a “compulsive disorder”. And if you are obsessed with pain?
You play competitive scrabble.
Signing up for my very first in person tournament was a hell of a plunge. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous - though I’ve played in person over the board before, I still consider myself an online void player, and have been for the past 4 years. The thought of counting my own scores, tracking my own tiles, and no safety net of void challenge to catch me felt like standing on the lip of a giant hole of swallowing-you-whole-and-spitting-you-out. But, like with all obsessions, you build a tolerance to what you’re familiar with, and seek out higher forms of stimulus.
“You do ok. ONLINE. But, now, it’s time to see what you actually got.”
I periodically checked the registration page for most of the summer, hemming and hawing, before finally committing to the idea of playing. I registered, took time off of work, and prepared for my very first multi-day tournament. This was my experience.
Tournament Day 1
“If you’re gonna be dumb you gotta be tough.”
-Jackass Theme Song
7am. Tournament day. I look over my study book at breakfast, frustrated with myself that I only seriously began studying in the past month, but I feel a calm sense of confidence that only a worn-out sense of self-preservation will allow. I check the registrants one more time, confirming that the small division contains half highly rated players - Including WEPSA #7 Grandmaster Alec Sjoholm - and half unrated players. I feel a bit of relief that I won’t be the only first time tournament player so I am not alone in embarrassing myself, but I don’t feel a lot of hope for my chances of placing. That’s not what your first tournament is for, I tell myself, you’re there to have fun and see if this truly is for you.
Still, it’s impossible to avoid imagining all sorts of scenarios, and those scenarios leading to expectations, and those expectations eventually chipping away at my shoulders. I have a foreboding premonition of my first game being against Alec, but I try to shake off the thought. Of course he’s the top seed and likely will play one of the other rated players first. Time to put on pants, chug an energy drink, grab another couple for the road, and make the drive over.
When I arrive at the tournament location, I’m surprised at how lively the room is. Many of the players were experienced tournament players and already friendly with each other and were taking the time before play to catch up, but everyone was friendly and conversational. I found my place with the other Collins division players, and instantly recognized Alec. I introduced myself, and once again had a flash that I would be paired against him first.
Shake it off, not gonna happen. I make a joke to him about it, and he replies he’s likely to play one of the higher rated players first.
I introduce myself to the pair to my right, who are two of the other first timers. We connect about our nerves, and what to expect, and they seem just as excited as I am so I know I’m in a good place mentally. The rest of the Collins players all eventually took a seat and we chatted excitedly with each other, already building a camaraderie.
After a short bout of technical difficulties, the director announces it’s finally time for Game 1.
I recite my “plan” in my head: Just play like you do online, trust your word knowledge, and don’t run out your clock.
I check the pairings, my first opponent? Alec Sjoholm
Game 1: “Oh, shit.”
“You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’ You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”
-Eleanor Roosevelt
“Oh, shit.” I said, out loud. “Welp, here goes nothing” I said, in my head. I laugh it off, and Alec draws to start the game.
The game starts somewhat slowly, we trade some middling scoring plays back and forth, I have a clunky rack of mostly vowels and opt to exchange 5 over play EUOI, hoping to rush to a blank and some Ss. Another couple of turns later, Alec gets the first bingo down with AEC(I)dIUM. I think I even chuckled when this came down, and considering who put it down I don’t even bother challenging it, despite never having seen it before. Instead, I focus on my own rack, and with EGGORY? and an open F on the board, instantly “FROGGERY” pops into my head like some kind of jumping animal. I know I’ve SEEN it before.
“Is FROGGERY valid? It’s not “FLOGGERY” is it? No, FLOGGERY* has to be wrong, that doesn’t make any sense. Maybe FROGGERY is wrong too”
I choose not to go with FROGGERY, once again considering who I was playing against and that this would not be a good time to lose a turn to a successful challenge. I instead play (F)OGGY for a baby score to open the board up some more, work through my clunky tiles, and make a note to check FROGGERY after the game.
I hit a lucky break with my next draw of AIOT, which gives me a whole host of bingos, and I find a couple quickly to at least assess the situation and make an intentional move. At this point I’m down almost 100, while this bingo will help, I’ll still be behind a bit, and I’m playing a Grandmaster for god’s sake, so I figure my best shot is to keep things wide open and hope that the tile gods smile favourably upon me in a shootout.
Almost instantly after hitting my clock and announcing my score for OTARInE, Alec begins placing his tiles down one by one across the newly opened bottom row, and he doesn’t stop until every tile is placed, spanning both triples that I had just given him access to. INSETT(E)R for 131. I instantly deflate, and hopelessly challenge the word. I’m pretty confident it is a word, but I figure 5 points is a small cost when I was just hit with 131, and I tell myself that’s what a good player would do in this situation. Of course it’s valid, and we continue on with the game. Alec immediately hits me with the one-two punch of a monster Z and monster X play, and my winning chances are effectively zero. I try to play academically, but still sloppily stumble my way to a 350-534 loss. A near 200 point loss, but to one of the best in the world, and I still scored a decent 350 points. First ever tournament game down, it can’t possibly be worse than that.
I pull out my phone to check if FROGGERY is good. It is.
Game 2: Time Pressure
-“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”
JRR Tolkein
My next opponent is mercifully another one of the newcomers, so I’ll have some time to nurse my lumps. I pull a blank fairly early on, but have a few clunky racks to deal with until I find my first bingo of MOLlIES. Around this point, I take a look at my clock, and notice that opponent has about 5 minutes on me, and is playing lightning fast while I’m struggling with time pressure. This genuinely throws me off a bit, I’m used to being the quick player, thinking on my opponent’s time, but with about ⅓ of the tiles left in the bag, I’m at around 5 minutes left and dealing with ugly racks.
I get a bit of luck in the form of an easy rack in EILNOST and instantly slap down ONLIEST in the onliest place I can see it plays. My replenishment rack consists of CDEIOSY. Utter nonsense, but my mind is still reeling from “FROGGERY”. I look at the scores, figure I’m far enough ahead, and I also consider my opponent who, while green, still seemed to recognize some of the weirder plays I’ve made. I’m not going to let this opportunity slip away again, and slap down DISCOEY* after just a short few seconds of thought. I score it, hit my clock, and hold my breath to see if opponent is going to challenge. Amazingly, she lets it go through, and I cruise to a time-starved endgame and 499-207 victory.
Amazingly, my opponent questioned me about MOLlIES rather than DISCOEY*, I showed her it was indeed valid and wanted to check out DISCOEY* together. As it turns out, it indeed wasn’t valid, and while it didn’t really make a difference, I do feel a bit like a capital S-Sneak for getting that one past my opponent. I make a mental note that I’m squared for missing FROGGERY, and prepare myself for the next round.
Game 3: LIONeSE*
-“Take it slow, it’ll work itself out fine. All we need is just a little patience"
Axl Rose
My third game is against Eric Fox. I actually recognize the name as someone I think I’ve played before online, and have absolutely seen come up in the Woogles discord, so I’m excited for another tough match. We remain incredibly close in score, until I win the race to the first bingo finding ABOLISh hooking SHUNTS after searching. Not to be outdone, Eric almost immediately slaps down ARETTED onto the triple I just opened for a cool 90 points. However, by the grace of the tile gods, my replenishment draw after ABOLISh is EILNOS?.
Not wanting to waste any time, I quickly decide on LIONiSE hooking EAT to keep things nice and open. Excitedly, I slap it down, announce the score, and I’m about to hit my clock when Eric reminds me to designate my blank.
“Oh, right, sorry! It’s an ‘e’” I quickly announce, circle the card, and then hit my clock. As soon as I do, Eric holds it and challenges, and only then do I notice my mistake.
I think it was Ralphie that said it best in A Christmas Story, but I definitely gave it the old college try.
“Son of a bitch!”, I said quiet enough to not disturb others but loud enough Eric heard it on our way to the challenge computer. “That was meant to be an ‘i’ wasn’t it” he asked, I sheepishly exhaled a confirmation.
Of course the computer deems it invalid, and it comes off the board, leaving me 50 points behind and my opponent with full knowledge of my rack. All Eric has to do now is close down the board such that I can’t play an actual valid bingo, and he manages to make me hold onto my blank until the end of the game, never able to bingo again. 344-452, in a game that could have easily been mine had I slowed down and been more careful, but lessons learned in blood and all that. Still, there was one last thing bothering me, after Eric played CAAED blocking me out, there was an open E I could have potentially bingoed to. I searched and searched during the game, but I was far too rattled after LIONeSE* that I just simply couldn’t find anything. A post game check revealed a bunch of bingos, NOvELIS(E) which I absolutely should have seen, and perhaps would have if I had done my due diligence to go through the alphabet with the blank.
After game 3, it’s time for lunch, so I shake off the rough start and focus on the only thing that makes me happy in life - food. The options are “vegetarian” or “regular”.
Game 4: “That’s not supposed to happen”
“Hobbes: Do you think there’s a God? Calvin: Well, somebody’s out to get me!”
-Bill Watterson
Game 4 is against another top player in Jesse Matthews. Once again I manage to barely hold my own against another expert player, and while Jesse wins the bingo race with ENSNARE, I hit back a couple turns later with DENArII and we remain basically even. I make yet another dumb mistake in an effort to clean up my all consonant rack with F(A)NT* hooking FEH, and Jesse immediately challenges it off the board.
Figuring that I’m not going to be able to clean my rack in one play WHILE keeping the board open for myself AND with a really hot tile pool including a blank, I make the call to exchange down to just my S, and pull EIJNPST. Not bingo worthy, but my eye instantly catches the top left of the board, and notice I’ve got JAPE/S there for a big score and begin to salivate. If I was online, I would’ve premoved. If I was online, I would have beaten my keyboard after Jesse picked up 4 tiles and played BOTE, just blocking me from getting my J doubled twice, and I reactively play J(A)P there to subtly signal to Jesse that he successfully screwed me.
In the late game, I’ve got EINOSTV, and I’m down about 40 points. My clock is dwindling, and with the remaining pool holding a million and a half bingos, I play off just the V expecting Jesse to bingo, and hopefully giving myself a bingo. My replenishment draw yields an L, so I’m staring down the barrel of the familiar EILNOST that I’ve basically had for 3 times this tournament.
With both our clocks low, my fishing play was a bit too obvious for Jesse and he responds by blocking the open T hook on RES with TRUG, leaving exactly 7 in the bag. This, unfortunately, gives me a new home for my previously unplayable bingo, putting down ONLIEST for 69 nice. While I’m counting this play up, Jesse defeatedly remarks “that’s not supposed to happen”. As I’m looking at my scorecard, I notice that my tracking is off, so Jesse’s reaction made me first think something was wrong with the tile pool. I pause for a second to see if a call needed to be made, but Jesse played on, so I drew the final tiles in the bag.
FIINRU?
I do see FRUITION as an 8 instantly and look for an open T or O, but the open T in ONLIEST is in the wrong place. Jesse places PLACE(S) blocking off the right side of the board, and with less than a minute on my clock I make a play I hope will be enough to carry me past the finish line in FRUIt hooking GOT for 39, keeping my head above water for a 407-376 victory.
Afterwards, Jesse explained that his comment was in reference to the high improbability of the S being on my rack and then pulling exactly the tiles including the blank for UNIFIeR from the final 7, which is why he placed PLACE(S) to block my potential out bingo. After he explained I understood, and told him how my tracking was off so I thought the tile pool was wrong, and we joked about the situation.
Eric peeked over and mentioned WALI takes a back E hook, meaning I also had ENTOILS the whole time.
Game 5: “Weren’t there other people?”
“Improvise, adapt, and overcome.”
-Marine Corp/Bear Grylls
During my game with Jesse, I looked at the Collins table and noticed that two of the newcomers weren’t present. I mentioned this to Jesse, who also had noticed, and after our game was up he went he pulled the director over who shared that two of the players had dropped out.
A short discussion was had, and we decided for a host of reasons to just give the remaining players who would’ve had matches against them byes. Meaning that my next game wasn’t going to happen, so I took the opportunity to catch my breath, go for a bit of a walk outside, and enjoy some of that famous Vancouver staring-at-my-phone-playing-scrabble-in-between-games-of-scrabble.
There’s no smoking signs everywhere, that’s lame as Hell.
Game 6: Study Works
“Never give up. Trust your instincts”
-Peppy Hare
My next game was against another newcomer to the scene, but this one was actually a regular online player in the Collins division, so she knew what she was getting into. I figured out of anyone here, she would likely be my “rival”, as there was no way I could match across multiple games against literally any of the rated players.
Going into the last few games of the day, I’m definitely feeling a bit of the burnout, despite the break in play, but I tell myself I’ve still got enough gas in the tank. It’s me to go first, so I draw my rack to start the game.
AEDIY??
I sit and stare at this for a long time. A LOONG time. Y bingoes are a tough blindspot for me, but with 2 blanks there’s gotta be something there I can find. There has to be. I keep looking, until I finally frustratedly play DAY.
I remarked after the game that had I just made one blank an S in my mind, there was at least a half dozen bingos I should have seen, such as the blindingly obvious DAYsIdE. But whether it was my technique, fatigue, or simple hubris to believe I’d have been able to find something with that rack to begin with, I just couldn’t.
Once again, I get rattled from this. But when opponent makes a short play of LOT under DAY, I am somewhat relieved, but then immediately I am filled with dread. I stare at LOT for another extended period of time, wondering if it takes an E back hook to give myself a 2x2, which would surely put me in commanding lead. I tank for a long time, but I can’t find anything. However, at this point I’ve spent over 5 minutes on just my first two moves, and, feeling a bit of time panic, I make a pretty big blunder in UNVeIlE(D) just to get a bingo down. Honestly, I think even not bingoing would’ve been better than this play, and I don’t know why I wouldn’t just have gone with UNVEIls hooking ALS. I was cracking under pressure, time to get focused.
My next couple of moves are tougher, but I don’t spend too much time on them to try and win some time back for myself. I then get a bit of a break when I see and quickly slap down REPLAC(E)R for my second bingo of the game, and when opponent challenges and I go over by almost 100 points, I’m suddenly revived. Another couple of big power tile plays a few turns later and I’m clinched to win this game. Low on time in the end game, I make mistakes all the way to the bank with a 428-384 victory.
Game 7: “That son of a bitch has the P”
“So well thy words become thee as thy wounds; They smack of honor both.”
-William Shakespeare, Macbeth
My next game is against a Master player that I’m actually not familiar with in Dean Saldanha, but he’s coming in at a rating over 1800 so I know he’s serious business.
As many of my games this tournament have gone, this game starts slowly. I’m trying to keep focused on scoring and be careful to not let myself get into serieses of fruitless fishing, which leads me to make what probably was a bad call in ME(TI)S hooking QUADS. While it was 8 more points than the other option I saw of MEM hooking onto MAHA I, perhaps foolishly, also thought I might induce a challenge from Dean should I play MAHA perhaps giving me a few extra points. Ultimately, I decided to go with the more points, using up my S hook for SQUAD for a potential bingo.
As fate would have it, Dean challenged METIS, netting me the extra points anyway.
We remain close for another couple turns, but then Dean hits me with SANTOLS, and I fall further and further behind. Eventually, I end up with the rack EIOTTY? and I instantly recognize TOYETIc, which is a fun word I would love to be able to play, and once again hopefully incite a challenge from Dean on a word that very much looks like a “plausible phony”. Unfortunately, it doesn’t play, so I play TOY to score with my Y and open a line for myself.
I draw ILN from the bag, and instantly slap down ETIOLIn, bringing me to within 10 points. I feel pretty good, until Dean hits me with TUX putting me down by over just about 40 points again. After what feels like a weak play of O(V)A in the bottom triple, Dean grabs two tiles, and plays R(U)N(E) stopping right before the double letter score below the triple word score, completely protected by CODA and BUN stopping any parallel plays.
I audibly chuckled and smiled when this play came down. “That son of a bitch has the P”, I thought to myself. “He did it, that crazy son of a bitch did it”. I decide to fight fire with fire, and played DICK(Y) to give access to the right side triple and hopefully have something I can score with, maybe even drawing ITZ to play (D)ITZ for big points.
Those plans get ruined when Dean first plays ZE hooking BEZ, and then finally hits me with the NEEP hooking PRUNE, and a few decent turns later, Dean wins 411-358. I immediately ask him if he had the P when he played RUNE, and he laughed and said he didn’t, but he just had so many consonants and nothing to do with them he just went for it. I also asked him if he was familiar with TOYETIC, and, surprisingly, he wasn’t.
One. Last. Game.
Of day 1. There’s more games tomorrow.
Game 8: No Rest For the Wicked
“Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.”
-Semisonic, Closing Time
My last game is my first repeat of the day against Eric Fox. It’s the end of a very long day and I’m definitely feeling it, but I am set on finishing strong.
Of course, that plan immediately fails as I somehow get in my head about whether or not VENGE takes a D hook, for some reason I just completely didn’t connect the meaning with the word, and not only didn’t play it to open, it never got hooked for the entire game.
Just like our first game, it is an all out slugfest, we trade bingos with my RADIALe for 69 nice to Eric’s INHEARS(E) for 84. He hits me with a huge Z bomb with ZAP for 64, but then a couple turns later I hit (T)HINNEST hitting the bottom triple for 86 and he has to exchange, keeping me in the lead by about 30.
A couple turns later, I exchange 5 myself, including the Q, and at this point we are nearing the endgame. While I am ahead by a bit, there is an open S lane for 7 letter bingos, and the remaining tile bag is looking quite bingoey. Unfortunately, I am saddled with a few ugly racks, including drawing the Q again and although I can safely dump it hooking QAT, Eric wins the race to the bingo with GURrIES, completely reversing the lead.
After playing Q(AT), my rack is AEIILNT. I stare at it for a bit, and I’m convinced there’s no playable bingos on my rack. Holding the last L, and with 3 tiles in the bag, I make what is either going to be a game losing mistake or a masterful setup in AI(R), creating a relatively difficult to block L hook for myself. And, while Eric does leave it open for me, unfortunately I fail to connect and with a tile of 1 pointers, time dwindling, and down about 30 points, I struggle to catch up, and stumble over the finish line with a 411-430 loss.
I finish the day with a 3-4 record, and I’m feeling pretty good. I’m proud of many of my finds, and though I made just about every type of error you can make in live play and made a few bad misses, I feel pretty good about my play overall and feel like I represented my actual abilities.
Hanging around to chat with some of the other players is fun as well, and Dean even comes up with me to connect about joining a group of casual collins competitors that occasionally organize over-the-board games in the area. Even the players I only meet in passing I have great connections with, including holding a conversation with a gentleman in the bathroom who wouldn’t let me leave while he was peeing. (It’s not as bad as it sounds.)
I collect up my things and make the pitchblack drive home to feed my cats, and prepare for the next day before bed.
Tournament Day 2
“There is scarcely any passion without struggle.”
-Albert Camus
The games are starting a bit earlier today than yesterday, so there’s not much time to dawdle in the morning. I ended up tossing around a bit during the night, partially buzzing from the excitement of the day, partially buzzing from the excess of caffeine. In either case, I was feeling a bit sore and tired, but I picked myself up and hoped it wouldn’t affect my play too badly.
I put on pants, chug an energy drink, grab another couple for the road, and make the drive over.
Game 9: Hero to ZERO
“Difficult to see, always in motion is the future.”
-Yoda
My first game of the morning is a rematch against Jesse. He actually takes a little over a minute to make his first play of JEDIS for 46, which is such a commandingly strong and obvious play that it actually gives me a bit of pause as to what he could actually have and be holding in reserve. I think that maybe he doesn’t want to give me an S on a triple line, or easy J access to a triple, and try not to think too deeply more about it. I have the V and duplicate Os, so I decide to just try and shed all the dreck and go for another shootout.and play VIOL(E)T.
Jesse pulls a bit ahead of me in the first few turns, but I’m the first person to get a bingo down in DAISIES. I actually pause for quite a bit on this move due to the extreme volatility, but ultimately decide it’s too early and too expensive not to bingo (and I can’t find anything else) so I play it and wait for the retaliation.
My next rack of ACEFONR is actually somewhat promising, and I have a standout play of FACE hitting the top right triple for 50 points available, until Jesse makes an amazing overlap of ELITE across that line for 33 points, completely shutting that lane down. I spend a bit of time thinking if I should try to fish off a single tile to try and shoot for something like FURNACE or CONIFER, but ultimately decide that I just need to keep scoring, and play FOR to at least keep the board open and score over 20 points.
A couple of turns later, Jesse bingos for his first time with TORMINA, but fortunately I can hit right back with SLENDER, and we are literally 1 point away from each other. Though I hit a big X play with MUX, Jesse bingos again with ENTWINe(R)*, going up by 60. It wasn’t until I was annotating my games that I noticed this was a phony, and to be honest I don’t know if Jesse knew either, but it was definitely a turning point in the game.
I am sitting with the rack of BEHKORZ, and I have a standout play of ZERO for 56 points, which would put me ahead by about 6 points. Unfortunately, this gives big scoring potential back to Jesse, and although I have the K to prevent ZUKE (or perhaps drawing it and playing it myself), I’m still looking at a potential 40 point reply. There’s also the Q lurking out there, and even if Jesse doesn’t have a Z play response, he could get a handy score with some open volatile lanes.
As my clock is dwindling, I ultimately make the call to just play H(I) for 9, probably the largest non-bingo-miss mistake I made in the whole tournament. After Jesse blocks it with (T)WIRL, and hits me with a huge Q play there just to rub it in, I end up rushing a 492-383 loss - notably I scored less than if I had played ZERO instead of HI. I chatted with Jesse after the match, and he shared that he knew I had the Z based on how long I tanked on that move. I worked through my logic with him, and he shared what I already knew which was the right call is to just take the points. I try to internalize that, shake the game off, and move on to the next round.
Game 10: Pride Cometh
“Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.”
-Proverbs 16:24
My next game is my first rematch against the other newcomer. I’m off to a promising start when she exchanges, and I hit WINEY for 30, inducing a challenge for a bonus 5 points. Though she responds with INT(E)RNED for the first bingo, she has to exchange a second time on her next turn, and we’re essentially neck and neck.
I actually end up sneaking a phony of BITEY* on her a couple turns later, which I actually did think was more likely valid than not, but figured opponent might psych herself out based on the failed challenge on WINEY before, and then pull the rack of GIILO??, pulling both blanks on my rack for the second time this tournament.
I try to take my lesson from the first time this happened and simply make one of the blanks an N and spend a short time looking for ING bingos, not wanting to spend too much time when I’m already playing slower today than yesterday. I fairly quickly put down rOILInG hooking rYU, and then opponent hits me with a two turn sequence of KO and PREX for a combined 94 points, taking the lead once again.
A couple turns later, opponent makes a suspicious looking play of PILFS*, which I hold and stare at for a few seconds. Though I’m feeling shaky and less confident on my words, I do eventually make the call to challenge, and fortunately manage to bingo one turn later with SCARIER to take a commanding lead.
With 2 tiles left in the bag, and a board that is completely shut down for bingos, and opponent having played off an S for just 8 points last turn, I figure they’ve got to have the last S already. I have a standout play of JEFE for 41, putting me about 80 points ahead. I spend a bit of time to do the math on what the worst case scenario for a play on the bottom hooking JEFES and ultimately decide it puts me far enough ahead to withstand anything and go for it. Though opponent surprised me with (Q)U(I)DS for 50 points, closing the gap a bit, I simply play BELL to go out and walk away with a 426-357 win.
Game 11: The Fall
“I believe, in life, you always get a second chance.”
-Fabio Lanzoni
With no time to rest, it’s an immediate rematch with the same opponent, and I open with a phony of FABIO* that neither of us catch until after the game when Alec pointed it out after the game was over. I’m not even really sure why I thought this was good or what I was thinking of.
A few turns later, for the third time this tournament, I pull both blanks on my rack with AINRS??. Thrown off both by the extreme unliklihood of this, and an incredibly high probability tile set that’s just not instantly signalling tons of bingos to me, I spend a lot of time on this decision before finding a handing spot for sARNIeS hooking WE and OXOS*.
Opponent challenges this move pretty quickly, and I confidently walk over to the challenge computer expecting her to challenge SARNIES. When she puts in OXOS*, I’m immediately confused, and even more confused when it comes back as invalid. This now leaves me about 90 points down, and an opponent with full knowledge of my rack.
Fortunately, there’s no real way for them to stop me from bingoing, so I make what’s likely a suboptimal play of ANeStRI just for the sake of bingoing. I manage to climb my way back to just half a bingo deficit, until opponent wins the race to the STAG hook, playing COLBIES for 72. I hold this play, but unfortunately I’m one again low on time so I don’t have a lot of time to think about it. I spend half a second wondering if COLBYS can also be spelt with an IES, before deciding that I’m going to be down 100 either way, so I might as well challenge it just to see. It comes back as valid, and I am left with under 2 minutes on my clock.
I spot a short sequence that will net me a good number of points, and be rather difficult to block in I(C)K, leaving ZENS on my rack to score 66 points. While opponent could hit me back with DIT(Z), I’m already lost here anyway and take the chance that I could be the one to pull the final D from the rack. I successfully play ZENS nearly instantly, quickly announced the score I had already calculated, and hit my clock within a couple of seconds, leaving less than a minute on my clock. Without skipping a beat, opponent starts their next move by placing the D, and then finishing off DIT(Z) for 42, and I’m now completely dead in the water.
I lose track of time over my next few moves looking for an optimal sequence, and end up going overtime by 2 minutes and 30 seconds, giving up 30 points in the end for a miserable 300-410 loss. After this game, and my performance this morning so far, I go to recheck the ratings for this tournament. The previous day I finished with a provisional rating of 1512, today checking it’s plummeted to 1410.
It’s time for lunch, and there’s fixings for sandwiches. By the time I get to the table, all the meat is gone, so I end up making a cheese and potato salad sandwich. It wasn’t half-bad.
Game 12: My brain has fallen out of my skull and I’m playing with my ass
“My brain has fallen out of my skull, and I’m playing with my ass”
-Styles Rockman
Now it’s time for my third game against Eric, and I’m definitely starting to feel the fatigue set. I know this is going to be a tough fight. In both of my games against Eric I felt like he’s been just slightly out of reach, and all I need to do is play carefully, get a little bit luckier with my draws, and not play another phony bingo and there’s a chance I could win this match.
We once again get off to a very even start, he makes a big X play with YEX for 42, and I hit the first bingo of (I)NVADERS for 72. A couple of rounds later I pull AADGIMR and after a short while I find DIAGRAM, but notice there’s nowhere for it to play. I’m disappointed, and it definitely shows on my face when I play G(R)AM to clean up my rack and try to open things up a bit. Eric then hits me with QUIST for 62, and I’m suddenly down half a bingo.
Unfortunately, I pulled IIU, and with ADIIIRU I spend a long time trying to think of what to do. The only palatable plays are IRID for 14, opening up easy access to the triple for Eric to capitalize on, and still leaving me with AIU which isn’t great, or (G)AUD for 20 but leaving myself IIIR which is even worse. Figuring the board is closing rapidly and I’m likely going to need to bingo to get back in the game, I choose to instead exchange.
Unfortunately, I don’t hit anything for a couple turns and make a few very obvious fishing plays, until I pull AEGIIST, and I stare at this one for a long time. I recognize this rack, and I know there’s a bingo with it, but I’m torn on the spelling, and if it’s only an 8 or if there’s a 7 there too. I count the remaining tile pool and notice how close we are to the end. I need to make something big happen now, however if I lose my turn to a challenged phony, then there will be absolutely no path to victory for me as Eric is too strong a player to let me come back from that. After tanking for a long time, I finally decide to go for it, and put down GAITIES* hooking PICE and NUS for 75.
Eric challenges immediately, and we head over to the challenge computer. He actually challenges both PICE and GAITIES* which I thought was a brilliant move. I knew that GAITIES* was the phony immediately, but I noted that also challenging PICE was smart to try and get me to question which word or if both were phonies.
Though I do get down a decent Z play in SAZ for 43 (+5 for unsuccessful challenge), ultimately there was no coming back from my second phony bingo against Eric this tournament, and I lose 284-365 (after we both lost 10 points for going over).
I chat with Eric a bit after the game and talk about how unprepared I was for the stamina aspect of multiday tournament playing. Though I was prepared for some amount of mental strain, the degree to which it was affecting me was becoming quite evident in my play. I also let him know how brilliant his call to challenge both PICE and GAITIES* was, and he acknowledged that he wasn’t 100% sure on PICE but figured he could probably get me to question one or the other word and hopefully catch me again.
Game 13: It’s Gamey
“Godless? Why, Aeron, I am the godliest man ever to raise sail! You serve one god, Damphair, but I have served ten thousand. From Ib to Asshai, when men see my sails, they pray.”
-George R.R. Martin
I have another rematch against Jesse, which isn’t good news for my fading intellect. I’m determined to finish the tournament strong, though, and my first rack of EHOOPTW gives me a strong start of WHOOP for 34 to appropriately give me an energy boost.
I get the first bingo down with PATTIES for 76, and then after Q(U)IM for 35 I hit another bingo in DELATOR(S) for 61. This does float an E right next to the triple for a potential big J or X play, it’s also going to put me up by over 100 points so I decide to just go for it. As soon as I hit my clock and before I’m even finished drawing my tiles, Jesse begins quickly placing his tiles down, responding with VENISoN for 97, bringing us effectively even.
I make an apropos play of HECK hooking HAW, and then Jesse back to back bingos with TERRORS, hooking WHOOPS just as I pulled an S bingo to hook it myself with GOLDIES. Sadly, after WHOOPS was taken, there’s no where it plays. The board is quite open, however, and I begin scanning the board for potential 8s.
I land on the T, and it holds me there. I start at it, and LODGIEST* comes to mind. I stare at it spelled out on my rack, and desperately search my mind for whether or not it was good. I think back to my game with Eric, and decide I don’t want to risk losing another turn in a game this close, and end up playing GO(E) for 15. As if to rub salt in the wounds, Jesse plays JAY for 46, now taking a commanding lead.
As if to add insult to injury, I end up pulling DAMAGES for my final rack with absolutely zero room on the board for it to play, and I fail to find an out in 2, losing 402-457.
I immediately compliment Jesse on VENISoN as an amazing play, and told him that he blocked GOLDIES. I also asked him if LODGIEST* was good, and he thought about it for a second before pulling up his phone to check. He chuckles, turns his phone around to me to reveal:
GODLIEST
My face sank immediately, another miss in the same vein as NOVELISE. I absolutely should have seen GODLIEST, but got so stuck in my head with LODGIEST* that I didn’t even think to keep anagramming. What’s worse is I basically had the tiles laid out on my rack, if I merely transposed the D and L I probably would’ve seen it. Unfortunately, there’s no time to mourn, as it’s now time for the final game of the tournament.
Game 14: Rocky II
“It ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward; how much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done!”
-Rocky Balboa
Final game of the tournament. It’s down to me and the remaining newcomer our fourth game overall. We’re both sitting at a record of 5-8, and whoever wins this game will cash out with a newcomer’s prize so it’s all down to this final game for me. My tournament life effectively hangs in the balance of this one, final game of the day. I take a deep breath, and start the clock as Opponent draws her tiles.
After not much much thought at all, she puts down ZOAEA for 48. The next turn she hits JO for 28, and then DEX for 36 after that, and after only 3 turns is at 112 points. Even worse, I draw the Q early on, and DEX just barely blocks me from playing QEEM(A). I hang onto the Q for a couple of turns, before deciding to ditch it along with the V when I’m down 93-168, reasoning I need to bingo and this board keeps shutting me out from playing the Q productively.
The exchange proves fruitful, and I’m able to hit a one two punch of TENSEST and PASTIER to go up 244-199, renewing my hopes. I catch a further break when opponent, holding both blanks, plays HaNGiNG hooking DEH*. This particular set gives me a lot of trouble in study, but I still instantly recognize it as incorrect, and challenge it off. I take a look at the board, and notice the only other place that a HaNGiNG would play is hooking CH from the C in FOLIC, so I play (I)O for 4 points to block the spot and force opponent into finding a different bingo.
With surging confidence, I have EKLOSTV, and see both VOLKS and VOLTS as big scoring words on my rack. I see HONING stopped one tile short of the last column, and see that I could play VOLKS there for 62 points, which would put me in an untouchable position I could likely cruise to the end game for my tournament win. As I hit my clock, opponent challenges the play, and the air is sucked from my lungs as I see that HONINGS* is invalid. We return to the board, and I’m now I’m the one who’s rattled.
Fortunately, Opponent has drawn the Q and has to dump it for 12 with QA(T), giving me a great spot to play VOLTS for 50, but then she immediately hits with sTAYiNG for 77 to go ahead by 10 points. At this point, I start to panic, but try to calm myself down and keep my head on straight.
I get another lucky break a couple turns later in Opponent challenging REEKY for an extra 5 points, putting me up 368-325. Though she hits back with (A)BODE for 30, I dump my W for 20 to keep me ahead.
I get third and final lucky break of the game when opponent tries to go out with DRIAD*, which I successfully challenge, and then fight tooth and nail to the end game. After all is said and done, we recount to verify our final scores.
418-413. A 5 point victory for me. I’m too shellshocked to celebrate, and simply sit back in my chair and exhale the breath I’ve been holding since the beginning of the game. I congratulate Opponent on a great game, and we chat about how hard that endgame was for both of us, and it wasn’t even until I made a comment about REEKY did I realize that the 5 points I won by came from that failed challenge, making the victory even more dramatic. What is even MORE dramatic than that is when I finally got around to annotating this game, it actually should have been a loss for me by 5 points instead.
That was my very first official Scrabble tournament, and it was amazing fun. It really did feel as dramatic as I retold it, and despite making just about every kind of mistake you can make - phonies, missed bingos, mislabeling blanks, misscoring, mistracking, going overtime, not being first person in line for lunch - I felt like I held my own against an incredibly difficult player pool and I have a much better idea of my weaknesses and what I need to improve on for my next tournament. Because there will be another.
Afterwards, a few of us went to a Dim Sum slash Indoor Golf restaurant for dinner. There was a robot waiter with a cat face.