July 2012 - The Last Word Newsletter

Transcription

July 2012 - The Last Word Newsletter
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The Last Word
The Independent Tournament SCRABBLE® Newsletter
A Monthly Newsletter
SCRABBLE® Equipment Collection
Issue 30 - July 2012
ArdenCup Results
Tarrytown Results
The Last Word is an independent publication for tournament SCRABBLE® players. It is not
affiliated with Hasbro, Mattel, the North American SCRABBLE® Players Association (NASPA),
the Word Game Players’ Organization (WGPO), or the National SCRABBLE® Association (NSA).
Our mission is to provide content of interest to all SCRABBLE® players, so please let us know if
there are topics you would like us to add. We welcome contributions: stories, artwork, etc.
For the time being, we are hoping to provide this Newsletter at no charge; however, since it is a
100% volunteer effort, we would appreciate any donations. Advertisers are encouraged, too. If
you would like to have The Last Word emailed to you, please send a request with your email
address to [email protected] and we will add you to our mailing list.
Editor in Chief: Cornelia Guest
Columnists: Jan Cardia, Timothy Cataldo, Judy Cole, Joe Edley, Stu Goldman,
Jeff Kastner, Joan Mocine, Tony Rasch, Lester Schonbrun, Larry Sherman,
Chris Sinacola, Siri Tillekeratne, Linda Wancel
Editors-at-large: Robin Pollock Daniel, Joe Edley, Stefan Fatsis, Ted Gest
The Last Word is a volunteer
effort. We appreciate your
donations.
(PayPal or snail mail--contact
[email protected])
Photographer-at-large: Betsey Wood
Contributors: Mike Baron, Brian Cappelletto, Laurie Cohen, Curran Eggertson,
Troy Frost, Robert Gillis, Jeremy Hildebrandt, Dan Horowitz, David Klionsky,
David Koenig, Matt O’Connor, Larry Rand, Carol Ravichandran, Joel
Sherman, Barbara Van Alen, John Venditti, Mike Wier, Meg Wolitzer
For advertising rates,
please email
[email protected]
Copyright © 2012 GuessWhat! Some data copyright ©1999-2012 NSA; copyright © 2010-2012 NASPA; and copyright © 2005-2012 Seth Lipkin and Keith Smith.
SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark of Hasbro, Inc.in the USA and Canada. Elsewhere it is the trademark of J.W. Spear & Sons, Ltd.
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Table of Contents
From the Editor 3
Emails to the Editor 4
Advertising Section: Equipment, Tournaments, Organizations, Books 5
Tournament News 12
Bobbie Sageser Memorial Tournament, Durango, CO by Larry Rand and Barbara Van Alen 12
The 11th Annual ArdenCup Memorial by Cornelia Guest 14
Tarrytown Memorial Day Weekend Tournament by Matt O’Connor; photos by Betsey Wood 16
Fifth Annual Three Rivers Revival by David Koenig 18
SWILLLNS 2012 by Mike Baron 21
Washington, D.C. Summer Tournament by Ted Gest 23
Michigan Madness by Carol Ravichandran 25
Tournament Results 30
New Faces: Troy Frost 32
Joe Edley’s Puzzle Corner by Joe Edley 34
SCRABBLE® Equipment Collection by John Venditti 38
The Wordsmith: Shining up to Collins by Chris Sinacola 44
Book Reviews: Bob’s British Bible & Bob’s Color-Coded British Bible reviewed by Cornelia Guest 48
Word Trivia Quiz by Siri Tillekeratne 49
SCRABBLE® Strategy Video Guide: Know your “S” back hooks by Curran Eggertson 51
David Klionsky on “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?” 52
Scrab-doku by Jeff Kastner 53
Club News edited by Larry Sherman 56
One Up! Cup for July by Timothy Cataldo 58
Linda’s Library by Linda Wancel 59
Historic Moments: SCRABBLE® Through the Years by Stu Goldman 60
Fill in the Blanks by Jeff Kastner 62
SCRABBLE® and Scrabblers in the News edited by Judy Cole 64
New Record Set for Low Combined Score 69
Know the Rules by Jan Cardia 70
Word Star by Jeff Kastner 71
Passages edited by Larry Sherman 74
SCRABBLE® Resources 78
Tournament Calendar 81
Archives 89
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From the Editor
At most of the tournaments I attend I am the director, so I tend to look at tournaments from a
director’s point of view. I like games to run smoothly, with few directors calls; for players to finish in
a timely fashion; for noise to be minimal; and for results slips to be accurate and legible.
I direct regular tournaments, School SCRABBLE® tournaments, and unrated tournaments for newer
players. I’ve come to appreciate the School SCRABBLE® rules regarding recounts and time limits,
both of which keep games on schedule. I’m sure I’m not alone in applauding the new rule regarding
overtime, which gives an automatic loss to any player going 10 minutes over the time allowed.
While many players might wonder how that could happen, believe me: When it does, the whole
tournament schedule is disrupted.
Recently I’ve been playing more often, and last weekend at the Albany tournament I found myself
siding with the players for a change when I made a mistake on a results slip. I’d lost a close game,
uncharacteristically going over on my clock in an effort to find a winning bingo (I didn’t find it). When
my opponent and I filled out the results slip, we both forgot to include my 10-point overtime penalty.
Later he mentioned it to me, and I tried to see if the slip could be corrected. It couldn’t.
Luckily, the 10 points didn’t make a difference in my opponent’s final placing, but I still felt bad that
I’d submitted an inaccurate slip. Recently another player had a similar incident, turning in a slip that
didn’t include the points for tiles from her opponent’s rack. The director’s ruling followed the book:
No change was allowed.
As a director I agree that slips should be filled out accurately; however, I see little harm to a change
that both players agree should be made. Yes, it’s a nuisance. Yes, it requires changing the
submitted results in the computer. Yes, it might mean pairings that were based on the slip might be
wrong. However, it seems that the correct score should be what is entered. In the past I’ve
corrected slips with the agreement of both players, and it hasn’t been that much trouble.
I feel allowing a results-slip correction is not as extreme as allowing a recount. A recount slows
down the tournament--and might not even be accurate. While the likelihood is that a recount finds
mistakes if they were made, who’s to say that the recount is always correct? If players are held
accountable for the results they submit, why not make them accountable for the score they reach at
the end of the game? Usually the errors involved are small, both on results slips and in recounts,
but fixing the results slips has a much smaller effect on the smooth running of the tournament.
Being vociferously against recounts, I often hear, “Don’t you want the correct result?” If we wanted
correct results, shouldn’t we recount every game? Who knows how many math errors are made in
games that are not recounted--probably quite a few. And if we wanted the correct result, why would
we turn away two players who agree they’ve made an error on the results slip?
I’m happy to see the new rule changes that went into effect June 27th (http://
www.scrabbleplayers.org/wiki/images/3/32/Rule-changes-20120627.pdf). They show careful
thought to improving the tournament experience for all players. But I worry sometimes that the
many rules players now have to know--no talking, the 6-zero forfeit, the new courtesy tile rack
clarification--may make the game less attractive to newer players. Let’s be sure that players feel the
game is still fun--and fair.
Cornelia Guest
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Emails to the Editor
Should you wish to send an email to the editor comment on any of the Newsletter articles—or make
suggestions or corrections—please email Cornelia Guest at [email protected]. Snail mail
is welcome at 135 Codfish Hill Road, Bethel, CT 06801. Emails chosen for publication may be
edited at the editor’s discretion.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Cornelia:
Haven’t had a chance to read the rest of the newsletter yet, but an interesting thing caught my eye
after a rapid glance. In the article “What’s Your Play,” Carl Twickler could have played pINTANO at
11E for a double-double and 99 points, instead of his actual 10-letter bingo play for 86.
Jeff Kastner
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OLD GREENWICH
July 27-29, 2012
Come play SCRABBLE® this summer at the Old Greenwich, CT tournament July
27-29 at the beautiful Hyatt Regency Greenwich. Five tournament options:
NASPA TWL & Collins Main Events: 16 games Friday night-Sunday afternoon
NASPA TWL & Collins Early Birds: 5 games Friday afternoon
Unrated Newcomers Tournament: 3 games Saturday morning
PLUS JEOPARDY! GAME SHOW SATURDAY NIGHT!
Saturday buffet lunch included for all Main Event players. Free parking for all players. Gym,
pool, shuttle bus to nearby shopping. Special nightly hotel rate for Scrabblers including
Internet. Prizes galore!!! Directed by Jason Keller & Cornelia Guest.
Sign up using our flyer at cross-tables.com. Contact: Cornelia Guest (914-772-6535).
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Come Join Us!
Come celebrate SCRABBLE® and New York City this Labor Day Weekend at the first multi-day
NYC tournament since 2008! On Museum Mile, across the street from Central Park’s beautiful
Conservatory Gardens. Special rates for Scrabblers at nearby hotels.
Division A (>=1700)
Division B (>=1400)
Division C (>=1100)
Division D (<1100)
Collins Division* (Open)
UNLIMITED PLAYUPS as
long as top three divisions
remain even. Director
reserves the right to adjust
pairings to even divisions.
*8-player minimum
required
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Early Entry (postmarked by 6/15): $125
Regular Entry (postmarked by 8/15)
$150 Late Entry (postmarked after 8/15)
$175 No Refunds after 8/29
Saturday 9/1
9-10 am: Registration
10 am: Games 1-4
3 pm: Games 5-8
Space is limited. Enter early to avoid
being shut out. NO WALK-IN ENTRIES.
Sunday 9/2
NO COMMUTER FEES!
10 am: Games 9-12
3 pm: Games 13-16
CONTACTS (No calls before 11am EDT)
Paul Avrin, [email protected],
212-799-6092; Cornelia Guest,
[email protected],
203-244-5324
Monday 9/3
10 am: Games 17-19
2 pm: Games 21-22
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& Awards
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Bobbie Sageser Memorial Tournament: Durango, CO
By Larry Rand and Barbara Van Alen
Twenty-two players from seven different states came to Durango
Memorial Day Weekend to honor the memory of Bobbie Sageser, a
SCRABBLE® "fanatic" in the very best sense of the word. On display
for all the players was a poster with old pictures and Bobbie's
obituary, plus one of her old SCRABBLE scrapbooks and one of
Barbara Van Alen's.
The Bobbie Sageser Memorial tournament results in both divisions
were resolved in the final round. David Weiss won division A with a
14-4 +998 record, finishing 374 points ahead of Larry Rand (14-4
+614). Jeff Martin won his final game and finished third. In division B,
Keith Hagel came from way back in the pack and edged David
Goldberg in the final round, finishing 14-4 +1772 over Dave’s 14-4
+915. Barbara Van Alen took third place honors.
Best Over Seed (BOS) winners were Leslie Millard and Anne
McCarthy. Leslie also won the Best Upset by defeating the top seed,
Wally Schultz, and Julia Swaney beat Keith to take the honors in division B. The high losses in each
division were Lee Brook’s 433, and Leslie’s 446. The high wins were spectacular: Keith (613) and
David Weiss’s (625).
Division A winners David Weiss, Larry Rand, and Jeff Martin
Division B winners Keith Hagel, David Goldberg, and Barbara
Van Alen
Saturday morning a Fun Prize was awarded for the lowest winning game, with copies of Bob's Bible
going to Nancee Mancel (311) and David Goldberg (331). In the afternoon the “Bibles” were
awarded for the highest scoring game. Jeff Martin (481) and Keith Hagel (613) bested their
respective fields.
On Sunday morning the winners of Bob’s Bible went to the players with the highest scoring play
starting with “D”: Barbara Van Alen (DEARIES, 80) and Glenda Short (DEDICATE, 74). The
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afternoon winners were those with the highest Double/Double or Triple/Triple. Barbara Van Alen
scored an 81-point T/T, ODONATES, through a DO on the board to take the Division B prize, and
Jeff Martin scored the D/D BURGEONS to win the Division A prize.
Two special prizes were donated by Mike Baron (a singed copy of his SCRABBLE® Wordbook) and
Caesar Jaramillo ($25). Mike's prize, for the high play beginning with "B," went to Glenda Short
(BAROQUE, 112). Caesar's prize, for the high play containing "B" and "S," went to Larry Rand for
STABBED (96).
Everyone had a good time honoring the memory of Bobbie Sageser and playing her favorite game
over the Memorial Day weekend in Durango.
The final results and prize money follow:
Division A
Rank Name (seed)
Wins Spread
1. Weiss, David (A004) 14.0 998 ($240) (HG-$20)
2. Rand, Larry (A002)
14.0 614 ($160)
3. Martin, Jeff (A005)
11.0 597 ($100)
4. Schultz, Wally (A001) 11.0
49
5. Barrett, Ryan (A003) 10.0
71
6. Millard, Leslie (A010) 9.0 284 (BOS-$80) (UPSET-$50)
(HG-$20)
7. Mancel, Nancee (A007) 8.0 -328
8. Short, Glenda (A008)
5.0 -520
9. Beard, Susan (A006)
5.0 -811
10. Wayne, Patty (A009)
3.0 -954
Division B
Rank Name (seed)
Wins
1. Hagel, Keith (B013)
14.0
2. Goldberg, David (B014) 14.0
3. Van Alen, Barbara (B012) 13.0
4. Johnson, Mike (B011)
12.0
5. McCarthy, Anne (B016)
11.0
6. Brooks, Lee (B015)
9.0
7. Readle, Robert (B018)
8.5
8. Saylors, Louanne (B017) 8.0
9. Swaney, Julia (B020)
7.5
10. Savadge, Gertrude (B021) 7.0
11. Ashe, Julie (B019)
4.0
12. Bocaz, Kimberly (B022)
0.0
Spread
1772 ($230) (HG-$20)
915 ($150)
974 ($100)
711
828 (BOS-$80)
516 (HL-$20)
-165
-179
-144 (UPSET-$50)
-371
-1044
-3813
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The 11th Annual ArdenCup Memorial
By Cornelia Guest
Director Tom Tremont with ArdenCup winners (L-R): Penny Sitler, Div. E; Don Rathberger, Div. D; Lisa Odom, Div. A; Lou
Cornelis, Div. B; and Doug Lundquist, Div. C.
Eighty-nine players attended the 2012 ArdenCup Memorial SCRABBLE® tournament, held for the
first time this year at a new venue: the Holiday Inn in Elmhurst, IL. Started by the late Bob Denn in
2002, this Memorial Day Weekend tournament is one of the largest in the Midwest, drawing top
players from across North America.
Director Tom Tremont made all players feel welcome with his warm smile and enthusiasm.
Throughout the tournament he helped raise money for Zyzzyva, Director!, and Cross-tables by
encouraging players to donate at least a dollar each. Players were treated to minimuffins and
coffee, thanks to Liz Berman, Club 518, and Tom. The tournament also offered a plethora of prizes,
with the first winner, Alan Helfgot, winning $75 in a drawing from early entries.
The top prize in Division A went to Lisa Odom, who finished with a 15-5 +985 record over three
players with 13-7 records: Marty Gabriel (+775), Scott Jackson (+517), and Paul Epstein (+334).
Melissa Routzahn, seeded 21st, won the prize for Best Over Seed, placing 7th with a 12-8 +207
record. Lisa Slankard, seeded 22nd, won the prize for Best Upset Win, beating Joey Mallick in the
opening game. Other prizes were awarded for High Play (Lisa Odom: CLIQUING, 230), High Loss
(Scott Pianowski, 467), Low Win (Ed De Guzman, 338), and High Win (Joey Mallick, 587).
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Lou Cornelis was the Gibsonized winner of Division B, finishing with a 17-3 +979 record. Behind
him with 13-7 records were Scott Garner (+1080), Marty Marcus (+507), and Kevin Schutz (+404).
Best Over Seed went to bottom seed Harriette Lakernick, who finished 8th, and Best Upset went to
Mason Shambach, seeded 11th, who beat top seed Lou Cornelis in Game 2. Other winners were
Jacquelyn Fyr (High Loss, 458), Kit Morehead (Low Win, 340), and Carol Dustin (High Win, 522,
and High Play, LEFTISTS, 149).
Division C came down to the wire, with Doug Lundquist beating Lynda Finn in the KOH game to
take the division, 16-4 +1570. Lynda finished with a 15-5 +787 record, over Tobey Roland, with a
13-7 +854 record. Tasha Asberry, seeded 13th, finished 9th to win the prize for Best Over Seed,
and Lesley Salas, seeded 15th, won the prize for Best Upset for her win against 2nd seed Tobey
Roland. Other prizes went to Worapol (“Golf”) Ratanapitasuk (High Loss, 439), Cornelia Guest
(Low Win, 289), Doug Lunquist (High Win, 580), and Danny Kidd (High Play, PARTAKES, 176).
Don Rathberger was Gibsonized in winning Division D, finishing with a 17-3 +1004 record over
Susan Hoehn (13-7 +606) and Tom O’Laughlin (13-7 +606). Best Over Seed was a three-way tie
between Julia Bogle, Chris Sitler, and Ruth Jacobsen. Brad Williams, seeded 13th, won the prize
for Best Upset for his win over top seen Susan Hoehn. Other winners were Kirk Troutman (High
Loss, 453), Ellen Levine (Low Win, 320), Charles Hounmenou (High Win, 603), and Ellen Levine
(High Play, CHEERERS, 158).
Penny Sitler was the winner of the largest division, Division E, besting 24 other players with her 16-4
+1956 record (the highest spread of the tournament). Second was Janice Konkol (15-5 +776) and
third Dave Fischer (13-7 +931). Best Over Seed was 20th seed Anthony Canzoneri, who finished
11th; and Best Upset went to 23rd seed Willie Mae Smith for her win over 2nd seed Greg Graf.
Other prizes went to Roberta Krenek (High Game, 525), Jim Nalepka (High Loss), newcomer Rob
Riddle (Low Win), and Victoria Bledsoe (High Play, JINGLES, 107).
The ArdenCup for Highest Scoring Word with the letters in “ArdenCup” was shared this year by Paul
Epstein (ENDEAVOR, 89) and Cornelia Guest (MARGINED, 89). Both of their names will appear
on the plaque on this perpetual trophy.
Cornelia Guest and Paul Epstein shared the ArdenCup prize
for their 89-point plays MARGINED and ENDEAVOR.
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Tarrytown Memorial Day Weekend Tournament
By Matt O’Connor; photos by Betsey Wood
This past Memorial Day Weekend Linda Wancel held a four-day tournament in Tarrytown, NY. The
venue was the Doubletreee Hotel by Hilton, a great location just off the Hudson River and next to
many restaurants and shops. In between the 20 games players had plenty of time to eat, sleep, and
mingle with other Scrabblers.
There were fun events held on Saturday and Sunday nights. On Saturday night, there was a
SCRABBLE® Blanks Gone Wild Tournament. The rules were that if you played a blank and your
opponent had on his/her rack the natural letter that you’d designated for your blank, your opponent
can swap the natural letter for the blank. On Sunday night there was a trivia contest held by Mark
Berg, which was a lot of fun for all.
Winning Division 1 in the Friday afternoon Early Bird
was Brian Galebach, who finished 5-1 +298. Second
place went to Andrew Friedman, who finished 4-2 +248.
In Division 2, top honors went to Charles Rohrmann, Jr.,
who went undefeated. His spread was 479. Marshall
Resnick was 3-3 +178 and took second place.
Early Bird winner Brian Galebach
In the main event, the winner of Division 1 was
Joel Sherman. Ben Schoenbrun was second,
and they had a laugh because of how
ridiculously well Joel drew in their last game.
They were doubly Gibsonized in their last
game, with Joel 99.9% guaranteed first and
Ben almost certainly second. Will Anderson
finished third and Stefan Rau fourth.
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Director Linda Wancel with Division 1 winner Joel Sherman
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Linda Wancel with Gibsonized Division 2 winner Judy Cole
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Division 2 was similarly not hotly contested. Judy
Cole had already won the tournament after 18
games. Second place, however, was a fight. In
the last game Marie Puma, Marjorie
Schoenboom, and I fought for second. I had to
win by 68 more than Marjorie, 80 more than
Marie, or have them tie to attain second. Marie or
Marjorie simply had to win by as much as they
could. Coincidentally, I won by exactly 68, and
Marjorie won by 69, meaning that Marjorie won
second place by 69 spread points. I took third 69
spread points behind. Marie Puma took fourth
and David Engelhardt fifth. Cheryl Allen-Munley
took the class prize for beating expectations the
most. She was seeded 19th but finished 8th.
There was also a four-game Late Bird on Monday for those who needed a
little bit bigger SCRABBLE fix. Will Anderson won the first division, with
Terry Kang Rau second. In Division 2, Marshall Resnick was amazingly
Gibsonized after 3 games when he was 3-0 and everyone else was 1-2.
He then lost the last game and finished 3-1. Linda Wancel came in second
place with a 2-2 +84 finish.
All in all I believe this was a great tournament!
Top right, clockwise: The author, Matt O’Connor, with
his third-place check in Division 2; Ben Schoenbrun,
second in Division 1, was Gibsonized with Joel
Sherman for the top two places going into the final
game; Kieran O’Connor managed data input; Sue
Gable and Verna Richard Berg; Nancy Konipol and
Adam Townsend; Bernie McMahon won a
SCRABBLE® Flash game for “Best Memorial Day
Word”: GLORIES. Bernie notes: “In another game
against Marjorie Shoneboom there were actually
three Memorial Day Bingos. First I played SOLDIER,
but then she had FUNERALS, and her outplay was
INTOMBED!”
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Fifth Annual Three Rivers Revival
By David Koenig
For the fifth year in a row, Terry Schroeder and
Stan Angrist of the Pittsburgh SCRABBLE®
Club organized the Three Rivers Revival
tournament in early June. I have been
fortunate enough to attend in three of the five
years, including this one, held June 2-3. For
the fourth consecutive year the site was the
Pittsburgh Airport Marriott. The venue is
spacious, comfortable and well-lit, and
codirector Terry tells me that she gets positive
comments about it every year.
This tournament is always a pleasure on multiple accounts. Terry and Stan run everything efficiently
and smoothly. The weather in Pittsburgh this time of year is in my experience always pleasant. The
tournament often coincides, as this year, with the Arts Festival in downtown Pittsburgh. Local
Pittsburgh player Karen Smith organizes a cadre of volunteer bakers and provides the tournament
with many tablesful of homemade cookies, including delightful little ones that look like Scrabble tiles
with all different letters etched in them. And the tournament location bridges the geographical gap
between the East Coast and the Midwest, bringing together many players who otherwise would see
each other much less frequently.
51 Scrabblers competed in this year's edition of the Three Rivers Revival, an increase over the 46
participants of the previous year. It also included the tournament's first ever division using the
Collins SCRABBLE Words (CSW) lexicon for international tournament play. Though this small
division included only four players, among them this writer, all of us were very excited for this new
beginning and hope to continue growing CSW play at this and other stateside tournaments in future
years.
Three of the four CSW participants, Chris Lipe of Rome, New York, Brian Bowman from Villa Hills,
Kentucky and I, hailing from Silver Spring, Maryland, also played in the 2011 World SCRABBLE
Championship in Warsaw. The fourth, Medina, Ohio player Pete Zeigler, was kind and brave
enough to even out the division although all of his games would be against players rated
substantially higher than he was. Pete was a very good sport, and if he ever did get frustrated about
his results, he certainly did not show it. He managed to win one game on each of the two days of
the tournament and had several other close matches.
The other three CSW players fought a hard battle, each of us finishing with an 8-5 record. I won the
division on the strength of a +1142 spread, which was nearly 800 points higher than second-place
finisher Chris Lipe's +346. I had to defeat Brian Bowman in the last round on Sunday to do
it. Sunday was also Brian's 30th birthday, and the entire group sang "Happy Birthday" to him during
the closing ceremony.
In the TWL A division, 2010 tournament champion Jason Keller of Highland Park, New Jersey was a
heavy ratings favorite, with a 100-point rating edge on the rest of the field. For a while it looked like
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he would run away with it, as he gained a two-game lead on Saturday by jumping out to a 7-1 start.
However, local Pittsburgh player Mike Yowonske, who was playing in only his second tournament,
five years after his first, gave Jason a run for his money. After Mike defeated Jason in the
penultimate round, they both stood at 9-3. The winner of their fourth match of the tournament would
take the title. In the final game, Jason put up a decisive 522 points to Mike's 373, for a final record
of 10-3 +889, and won the A division at Pittsburgh for the second time. Mike had to settle for second
place with his 9-4 +254 record, but as a consolation he earned an 1800+ rating for the first time.
The TWL B and C divisions were both won by local Pittsburgh players named Smith. Cookie queen
Karen Smith's 10-3 +578 performance clinched the division B title. Muskegon, Michigan's own
Cheryl Melvin was right in it until Karen bested her in the final game. Cheryl’s 9-4 +169 record was
good enough for second place. The C division was won by Jenny Smith, no relation to Karen. Her
11-2 +353 was the best win-loss record of the tournament, and she was the only player to clinch
before the last round. Joe Larson, also of Pittsburgh, finished 9-4 +682 for second place. If you
haven't been counting, that's four Pittsburgh players who finished in either first or second place of
their divisions.
I leave you with these creative verses that codirector Terry used to greet all the players before the
first round of play:
Good morning and welcome to the fifth edition
Of what has become a Revival tradition.
I humbly ask a small piece of your time
To make some announcements in doggerel rhyme.
We’re actually going to play eight today,
And we’ve provided cookies to munch while you play.
I would like to request Karen Smith to please stand
Guys and gals, she’s the cookie queen; give her a hand.
When submitting the slip with results of a game
Please help me by writing both number and name.
If it's confidence in that last play that you lack
Then flip the slip over and write on the back.
The word judge computers, of which there are four,
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Can be found in the alcoves across from each door.
The pairings and standings I’ll post for you all
On the colored division boards up on the wall.
If you’ve just played a game that was under duress
And you’re craving a ciggie to relieve the stress,
Leave the room, make two rights, and you’ll find the solution
Contributing to local outdoor pollution.
If the duress you’re under is a different kind,
And bathrooms the answer that you need to find,
Leave the room, take two lefts, and proceed down the hall,
Then bear left, choose your door, get in line for a stall.
Keep a lid on your beverages so they don’t splash.
When you have cookies, please clean up your trash.
And some of you will have forgotten, I wager,
To silence or turn off your cell phone or pager.
There’s good stuff for the raffle, the proceeds will go
To those the guys on the net that keep us in the know:
That Zyzzyva guy helps us study our stems,
And those cross-tables folks who report on our games.
That’s it for the rhymes, without further ado
Let the word play begin, and good tiles to you.
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SWILLLNS 2012
By Mike Baron; photos by John Chew
"KUDOS to" was a list I posted at the Southwest International LLL-Note Special (SWILLLNS)
tournament June 9-10. People could write whatever they wished about another player (or
themselves, I guess). Here were a few:
CC: Lisa Odom found AHMNRSU, Jerry Lerman JARGONIZE!
Mike T: I like everyone here. Seriously, you people are awesome!
Jerry: Mike Thelen played HOGSHEAD for a ton!
MikeB: To John Chew for *not* hanging from the chandelier after last night's escapades.
Anyway, I thought we might start something positive, by suggesting a "KUDOS to" sheet to be
posted at future tournaments. It should yield some entertaining results and have at least a few
people feeling pretty good. :)
For more info about SWILLLNS 2012, please take a look at John Chew's incredible site devoted to it
(especially the pics). I couldn't imagine how he served as Director, Photographer, Results and
Pairings Poster, *AND* Player.
http://poslarchive.com/swilllns/2012-swilllns/html/
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Kudos to John, and top finishers 1. Chris
Cree 13-5, 2. Jerry Lerman 12-6, 3. Mike
Thelen 12-6 [1], and 4. Lisa Odom 12-6.
Also to Top <1700 finishing player Steve
Pellinen, and SCRABBLE® Wordbook prize
(signed by all players) for high J or W play
(in honor of the late Jim Wait) Susan Beard
(WATERING 89 pts), who also was the
biggest ratings gainer, +70. As well, I think
we broke the record for greatest weightgain per tourney player for a weekend
event.
Two-time SWILLLNS winner Chris Cree (1984, 2012) and his friend
Mike Baron, the tournament organizer and host.
All the best,
Mike Baron
[1] Who may, with Brian Cappelletto, be the only two humans to ever prevail upon NSC winner Dave
Wiegand three times in one tournament.
Click here for complete results.
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Washington, D.C. Summer Tournament
By Ted Gest
Jason Bednarz, Chris Lipe, Gwen Stewart, and
Dustin Dean won divisions of NASPA Club #171‘s
annual club summer tournament June 23-24 in
Bethesda, Md. The 14-game event was directed by
Ted Gest and Carole Denton. Bednarz also won
the top division in the club's last summer
tournament in July 2011. The victory by Dustin
Dean in Division C was notable because it was
Dean’s first tournament.
Besides prizes for the first three places in each
division, prizes were given for high word and high
game, and special prizes were awarded in
Tournament directors Carol Denton and Ted Gest
anticipation of the presidential campaign for the
best Obama word and best Romney word. An
abbreviated results list follows; the complete results are on cross-tables.com.
Division A
Jason Bednarz 12-2 924
Brian Galebach 10-4 647
Stefan Fatsis 8-5-1 242
HIGH GAME Erica Norris Bodrazic 588
HIGH WORD PIEBALDS 95 Grant Guenzel
Collins Division
Chris Lipe 10-4 635
John Van Pelt 8-6 408
Lucas Freeman 8-6 96
HIGH GAME Bob Linn 570
HIGH WORD HYPOGEA 121 Marcia Richards
Div. A winner Jason Bednarz
Collins winner Chris Lipe
Division B
Gwen Stewart 10-4 721
Woody Chen 10-4 365
Ted Mast 9-5 432
HIGH GAME Aaron Gilary 515
HIGH WORD RANKEST 109 Nandini Dickens
Division C
Dustin Dean 12-2 858
Tim Kwan 10-4 956
Matthew Rupert 10-4 418
HIGH GAME Carol Tillson 532
HIGH WORD JELLING 104 Paula McMartin
Div. B winner Gwen Stewart
Div. C winner, newcomer
Dustin Dean, with Ted Gest
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Youth Division winners (6 games)
Jacob Radack 6-0
Bryson Torgovitsky 4-2
Michael D’Arcangelo 3-3
BEST OBAMA WORD MESTINO Marty Gold
BEST ROMNEY WORD POLARIZE Dan Milton
For everyone’s entertainment, here were the entries in each contest:
OBAMA: RESIDER, SEXIEST, SCORNED, SILVERS, NERD, ABOMA, DRIP, FINESSE, FAKER,
VAULTING, AMOK, VEXED, REB, ROPY, TRANQUIL, ELECTION, LAURELS, MESSIAH,
BENEFITS, COLORED, URBANISE, LAME, VOTER, FANCIERS, OUTSIZE, BOZOS, BRO,
SPIRITED, JEFE, VERBOSE, PEAK, TANKER, AGITA, COST, IGNITES, DORKIEST
ROMNEY: SEXISTS, FORBODE, ANAL, RUDE, MITT, FOLLIES, SATANIC, TRAINEE, FINESSE,
SEIZER, FOISTING, VANITIES, MOBSTER, STOOGE, UNEASES, OVERTURN, DEVOURS,
DICIEST, SCARIES, OVERTURNED, NIX, ZERO, MUNDANE, SOBER, BIBLE, SPIELED,
ELECTION, MILLION, NOISE, SQUIRE, CONNIVES, FORMENT,SADISTIC, STILING, ELASTIC,
ENTITLED
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Michigan Madness
By Carol Ravichandran
TAILSKID NOT APPROPRIATELY NAMED
GLOWNIAK TAKES DIVISION B IN HER 329TH TOURNAMENT
AVERY IS NOT LAST OF THE MOJICANS
NEWBIES COME FROM FAR AND WIDE
I AM NOT ONLY THE HAIR CLUB PRESIDENT, I AM ALSO A CLIENT
TOURNAMENT VENUE HAS SEEN BOTH MAYHEM AND MADNESS
OLDEST GAME ON RECORD?
ITS DEJA VU ALL OVER AGAIN AS DIRECTOR GETS CAPALLETTOED AT KARAOKE
HIGH LOSS NOT FOR THE SQUEAMISH
ONE MAN'S OOM IS ANOTHER WOMAN'S JOOM
I'm #1!, I'm #1, I'm.........Oh, I'm not?
MULTIPLE MM CHAMP DROPS IN FOR APRES FESTIVITIES
This years Michigan Madness, June 23-24, was almost called US Madness as players from 10
states and provinces apart from Michigan were in attendance. Not bad for a sample size of 46. Five
newbies decided to try their hand at their first Carol Ravichandran event. They were:
1. Elizabeth (Liz) Davis - Dayton, OH
2. Avery Mojica - Overland Park, KS
3. Ruchi Batra - Columbus, OH
4. Tom Graim - Fort Collins, CO (my alma mata)
5. Lourdes (Lou) Calip - Flint, MI (first tournament ever....her kids signed her for a Mother's Day
present)
Also of note......due to the team-management directing style of the tourney, I was able to play in my
first one ever. Unfortunately, I did better at directing this time out.
With tournament sites few and far between, we were fortunate to obtain the same hotel that hosted
Jason Idalski's May Mayhem (aka, the tournament formerly known at February Fury). Nothing calm
about Michigan. We were very near the airport, whose wooshing jets inspired contestants to vie for
the Best Air Travel Word category.
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Now I am no Joey Mallick, but I just want to say that if the next stat I am about to reveal isn't a
record, it is close. We had two veterans of the circuit square off a few times against each other, and
I was just wondering what the record is for the highest combined age of players in a tournament
game. The undercard consisted of Sophia Murzin vs Eunice Smith. A lady never tells her age, but
suffice it to say we are talkingat least 175 if not more.
This years karaoke location was a bar inside of Taylor Lanes (not the name of a country artist). We
pretty much had the place to ourselves, and we weren't hounded to buy $3000 worth of booze so it
was a win-win situation. We were treated to some great performances of Michigan Madness
Karaoke standards by a bunch of liquored-up Ohia people and Paul Epstein. Even Dorcas
Alexander graced the stage for the first time after she picked from random one of Dan Stock's
parody songs from his 300-song repertoire. But the biggest surprise of the night came as I was
waiting patiently for my turn to do my parody--when Dan Stock gets up and does the exact song I
was going to do! This was reminiscent of the time when Brian Cappelletto was going to sing
Comfortably Numb when Dan Stock beat him to it, forcing him to perform his B material of Pinball
Wizard. Originally, Carolyn Easter and I were going to do the song with Denise Mahnken but she
had to bow out due to family obligations. We asked Dan Stock to sing with us since he obviously
knew the song! The name of my group was Carrell and the song is from my upcoming album "51":
I COULD HAVE PLAYED VAN TOL
Lyrics by Carol Ravichandran
(to the tune of Rolling In the Deep by Adele)
There's a bingo hiding in my rack
Two minutes left, I ain't got time to track
Finally, I see it crystal clear
But I can't play it, it really isn't fair
Why did I play up, competition's steep
If I had played down, I wouldn't play that creep
There's a tension hanging in the air
My mind is saying, "Get me outta here!
The scars of losing remind of pain
They keep me thinking that I could have played Van Tol
The scars of losing, they leave me insane
I can't help feeling
I could have played Van Tol
Play Division B
I played with heart and soul in A
But now today, I got beat
Maybe I have no business being here
Despite all my studying
To try to end my fear
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Think of all the fun that I have missed
Playing with fire is a sure way to get dissed
The scars of losing remind of pain
They keep me thinking that I could have played Van Tol
The scars of losing, they leave me insane
I can't help feeling
I could have played Van Tol
Play Division B
I played with heart and soul in A
But now today, I got beat
I could have played Van Tol
Play Division B
I played with heart and soul in A
But now today, I got beat
Next time I will stay where I am put
Count my blessings when the game's afoot
Play in comfort with all of my friends
What do ratings matter when you get to the end
I could have played Van Tol
I could have played Van Tol
Van Tol, Van Tol, Van Tol
I could have played Van Tol
Play Division B
I played with heart and soul in A
But now today, I got beat
I could have played Van Tol
Play Division B
I played with heart and soul in A
But be quiet
Be quiet
Be quiet
Shhhh, Eunice is asleep
I believe that Joyce Stock plans to put it out on You Tube. Dan Stock already started on his parody
for next year while in the bar...stay tuned for that performance.
The next day the tournament rolled on as games were won and lost (What an insightful recap!) as
some of us were a little woozy. One of the most interesting games of the day was Steve Grob's 502
loss to Magic Mike Stafford's 509 score. Dan Stock was kind enuf to prepare a synopsis of the
tournament results complete with comments for the prize ceremony. Some of the prizes were
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notated as High Game OOM (Out of the Money: Place-prize winners are not eligible for these
prizes). Now, I have always been of the school that the correct term was JOOM (Just out of the
Money), which I learned at one of Luise Shatfritz's tournaments in Pittsburgh.
It was predetermined that the winner of the tournament would have to play previous multiple MM
winner, Evan Berofsky, fresh from his many social engagements with fiancee Amanda Hubble on his
arm. Then we decided not to, and all went to Long Horn Steakhouse for some serious aftertournament partying, including bacon-wrapped steak fries with a cheese, sour cream, and
green onion dipping sauce. Yum!
Coming in 3rd in division C was the Cincinnati kid, Joe Roberdeau, with a 9-5 +350 record. First and
second were wrapped up wayyyyyyyyyy before the end of the tournament. Second place was
snatched up by 4-digit Henney (11-3 +893). His 10-0 start was very impressive. His other claim to
fame was his 106-point phoney "FISHTANK.” We think he was all wet to play that one. Best in show
was newcomer Avery Mojica, whose amazing record of 12-2 +1350 catapulted him to success. It
won't be long before we label him an expert and he won't be in Kansas any more.
The comfort zone, known as Divison B, was highly contested, with the first three places decided
solely on cume. Placing third with a record of 9-5 +226 was our highly migrational North Carolinian,
Susan Blanchard. Coming in 2nd was that great man of song and 1/2 of the renowned brother team
of Van Tol, Hubert Van Tol, 9-5 +387 (maybe I shouldn't have been so hasty with my parody). This
was not her first rodeo for our first-place finisher. With 328 previous outings to her name, this was
just another day in the garden. Congrats to Elaine Glowniak for maintaining a high enough cume to
edge out the competition (9-5 +426).
Division A was our largest group, with 20 players. Fourth place went to a man
who is not uncomfortable with the sound of his own voice. His ability to
ascertain the correct score at any given moment during the game is
legendary. Of course, I refer to Mr. Branford himself, Glenn Dunlop,
sporting a record of 8-6 +362 (and 3 sweaters). Coming in third by way of the
back door was that Georgia peach, Ms. Heather Steffy, with a record of 9-5
+369. This has been her biggest victory since the drumstick incident of 2008
during a Lifehouse (phoney word) cruise. Our bridesmaid of the day was
Paul Epstein. Although unable to beat Jason in the final game to obtain the
title, he still managed to bolster his rating enough to maintain his overall top
ranking in the state of Michigan....a fact that Mr. Idalski is having a hard time
coming to terms with. Our winner of Division A was Jason Idalski with a record of 12 -2 +990. We
are all proud of him for his continued success. Now if he could only clean up his room.
Please see cross tables for the full slate of results.
I would like to thank our team for all their great efforts in pulling this thing off:
Dan Stock - Director and Computer Czar....he kept the tourney running like a well-oiled machine.
Joyce Stock - Even-upperer and Karaoke Videographer....also designated driver
Miki Sutherland - Committee chair, door-prize organizer, procurer of ducks
Jason Idalski - Site finder by virtue of Mayhem
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Linda Hoggatt - Karaoke organizer and all around enthusiasm promoter
I would also like to thank everyone who pitched in setting up computers, policing the area and
drawing door-prize slips. Many hands make light work.
Last, but not least, I would like to thank the players for joining together in the spirit of competition.
Every year our little gathering gets smaller and smaller due to whatever factors you would care to
name, but one thing always stays the same......the enjoyment factor. I like to think that the
ultimate goal of a tournament organizer is to achieve the highest AGTWHBA standard as
possible...a sort of Beuhrle Meter (see ESPN's Baseball Tonight for explanation) if you will, for the
SCRABBLE® world. I mean " A Good Time Was Had By All". You can't put a price on that. Everyone
who attends is part of that formula that contributes to the overall success of an event, and I say
thank you for doing your part! Without you, we are nothing.
Carol Ravichandran
Michigan Madness Founder
Northville, MI
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Results
JUNE 1-JULY 4
BRANDON MS 6/1
1.
2.
3.
4.
Scott Garner
Danny Gatlin
Callie Dunavin
Erica Stutzman
BRANDON MS 6/2
1. Scott Garner
2. Ruth Patrick
3. Queen Ester Lewis
CALGARY AB CAN 6/2-3
1. Thomas Randall
2. Ben Settle
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AKRON OH 6/7
1. Stephen DeBacco
HANCOCK MA 6/7
1. Brian Galebach
HANCOCK MA 6/7-9
1. Evans Clinchy
2. Ed Liebfried
3. Wayne Yorra
HANCOCK MA 6/8
1. Terry Kang Rau
2. Andrea Hatch
CHARLOTTE NC 6/9
1. Matthew Bernardina
2. Erik Salgado
HUDSON OH 6/9
1. Jason Keller
2. Karen Smith
3. Jenny Smith
KANSAS CITY MO 6/9
1. David Koenig
BERKELEY CA 6/3
1.
2.
3.
4.
Lester Schonbrun
Bruce Ward
Paula Catanese
Peter Smith
LAGUNA WOODS CA 6/3
1. Maddy Kamen
PHILADELPHIA PA 6/3
1.
2.
3.
4.
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Joel Sherman
Jeffrey Jacobson
Jeanne Gannon
Glenn Filzer
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5. Teri Peppe
6. Jeanne Gannon
CORAOPOLIS
(PITTSBURGH) PA 6/2-3
CORAOPOLIS
(PITTSBURGH) PA
(COLLINS) 6/2-3
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1. Daniel Stock
1. Matthew Hodge
2. Michael Arnold
TUCSON AZ 6/9
1. Winter
2. Robert Readle
SWLLLNS, CORRALES NM
6/9-10
1. Chris Cree
CHARLOTTE NC 6/10
1. Ryan Fischer
COVINA CA 6/10
1.
2.
3.
4.
Winter
Richard Strick
Jacqueline Heller
Diane Kerner
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ARCATA CA 6/10
1. Michael Machi
2. Della Mulvihill
BIRCH ISLAND LAKE WI
(WGPO) 6/15-17
1. Zbigniew Wieckowski
DALLAS TX 6/16
1. Chris Cree
2. Linda Villarreal
3. Nancy Bratcher
EDMONTON AB CAN 7/17
1. Wesley Yocom
2. Debra Bates
HUDSON NY (COLLINS)
6/16
1. Evans Clinchy
KNOXVILLE TN 6/16-17
1. David Gibson
2. Katya Lezin
3. Thomas Michaels
MISSISSAUGA ON CAN
6/16
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Geoffrey Newman
Trevor Sealy
Matt Schlegel
John Apissoghomian
Troy Frost
GUELPH ON CAN 6/17
1. Steve Ozorio
MOUNTAIN VIEW CA
(WGPO) 6/17
1. Lester Schonbrun
MT LAUREL NJ 6/17
1. Ted Barrett
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ICELAND CRUISE
(WGPO) 6/20-7/2
1. Jan Cardia
2. Barbara Van Alen
BAYSIDE NY 6/23
1. Jeremy Hall
2. Jim Fonti
CARY NC 6/23
1. Erickson Smith
2. Flora Taylor
3. Amalan Iyengar
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ALBANY NY 6/28-7/2
1.
2.
3.
4.
Robin Pollock Daniel
Daniel Citron
Roger Cullman
Julia Bogle
ALBANY NY (COLLINS)
6/28-7/2
1. Andrew Golding
ALBANY NY EARLY BIRD
6/28
1. Marlon Hill
2. Noah Lieberman
FORT LAUDERDALE FL
6/23
ALBANY NY EARLY BIRD
6/29
1. Ron Tiekert
2. Larry Gradus
3. Merlene Weithers
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
MICHIGAN MADNESS,
ROMULUS MI 6/23
1. Jason Idalski
2. Elaine Glowniak
3. Avery Mojica
OKLAHOMA CIT OK 6/23
1. Darrell Day
2. Mary Rhoades
3. Carl Solomon
WASHINGTON DC 6/23-24
Jason Keller
Wallace Schultz
Ricky Sirois
Lilla Sinanan
Daniel Milton
Kevin Gauthier
Shauna Petrie
Dan Horowitz
WASHINGTON DC
(COLLINS) 6/23-24
LA GRANGE PARK IL
6/30
1. Nigel Peltier
2. P.K. Gott
3. Laurie Coatney
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(WGPO) 6/30
1. Vincent Van Dover
WEST COAST
CHAMPIONSHIP, RENO
NV (WGPO) 6/30-7/3
1. Ian Weinstein
ALBANY NY LATE BIRD
7/2
1. Marlon Hill
WEST COAST
CHAMPIONSHIP, RENO
NV LATE BIRD (WGPO)
7/3-4
1. Ian Weinstein
1. Ian Weinstein
2. Mary Aline Stevens
AUSTIN TX 6/30
SALEM OR (WGPO) 6/24
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CHAMPIONSHIP, RENO
NV EARLY BIRD (WGPO)
6/29
1. Jason Bednarz
2. Gwen Stewart
3. Dustin Dean
1. Chris Lipe
U
1. Becky Dyer
2. Craig Sjostrom
1.
2.
3.
4.
Morris Greenberg
Roberta Krenek
Wesley Underwood
Florida Jones
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New Faces
Since our last issue, 28 new faces have competed at NASPA, NSA, and WGPO tournaments. Two
players won their divisions first time out: Dustin Dean, who won Division 3 at the Washington, D.C.
Tournament on 6/23-24 with a 12-2 +858 record to earn an initial NASPA rating of 1304; and our
featured “new face,” Troy Frost, who won Division 5 of the Mississauga, Ontario Tournament on
6/16 with a 6-2 +613 record to earn an initial NASPA rating of 903.
_______________________________________________________________________
Troy Frost
The Mississauga SCRABBLE® Tournament on June 16th
attracted a whopping 65 players, including two first-time
tournament players. One of those players, 26-year-old Troy Frost
from Caledon, Ontario, was the winner of Division 5, with a 6-2
+613 record.
But Troy is no newcomer to competitive play. For the last couple
of years he’s been a regular at the Mississauga NASPA
SCRABBLE® Club #422, so he was familiar with scorekeeping,
using the clock—and playing hard against tournament regulars.
“This tournament was very much like club. The people were
friendly and passionate about the game.” Troy, who has played
SCRABBLE® with his family and friends since elementary
school, teaches English as a Second Language, so he works with
words on a regular basis.
Troy suggests other players follow the advice he received from
fellow Mississauga Club member Craig Rowland: “Avoid fishing
for a couple tiles to get a bingo and focus on getting twenty or thirty points a turn and keeping good
tiles.”
In preparing for the tournament Troy studied the OUT and OVER prefix words. “Those letters come
up frequently. I must have been overdoing it, though, since I played a phony one at the tournament:
OVERNESS*”
His toughest opponent was Merran Dunlop, from Brantford, who finished second. Going into the
final game she had six wins. Troy had a bye in the last game, giving him six wins and a +613
spread. All he could do was wait to see what happened. But Merran, a veteran tournament player
who has played in close to 200 tournaments over the past 20+ years, lost her final game, and her
+372 spread was not enough to catch Troy.
Troy enjoyed the tournament, and he was particularly happy to get his best game score of 502. He
hopes to play in another tournament this year, but he hasn’t yet decided which one to enter.
His advice to others considering trying a first tournament: “Give tournament play a try! New players
shouldn’t feel intimidated.”
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Welcome to Troy Frost, Dustin Dean, and the following other new faces:
CALGARY AB CAN 6/2-3: Curran Eggertson
COROAPOLIS (PITTSBURGH) PA 6/2-3: Deborah Gawryla
COROAPOLIS (PITTSBURGH) PA (COLLINS) 6/2-3: David Koenig
PHILADELPHIA PA 6/3: Jeffrey Kahn, Jr.; Johan Scheinerman
CHARLOTTE NC 6/9: Alex Zhuang
COVINA CA 6/10: Francina Bailey
KNOXVILLE TN 6/16-17: Carrie Petrocelli
MISSISSAUGA ON CAN 6/16: John Apissoghomian, Jr.
BAYSIDE NY 6/23: Wanda Sanchez, Jasper Williams
CARY NC 6/23: Elisa Diehl (2nd), Matthew Milliken
OKLAHOMA CITY OK 6/23: Sharon Caudell, Rebecca Nance (2nd)
MICHIGAN MADNESS, ROMULUS MI 6/23-24: Lourdes Calip
WASHINGTON DC 6/23-24: Vijaya Lakshmi Lnu, Tim Weiss
SALEM OR 6/24: Carol Currie
ALBANY NY EARLY BIRD 6/28: Pat Rothaupt
ALBANY NY EARLY BIRD 6/29: Mireille Huneault
LA GRANGE IL 6/30: Whitney Gordon, Jeff Rohrsen, Brenda Yeatman
MINNEAPOLIS MN 6/30: Margaret Knowles, Christopher J. Nelson, Nancy Novack
WEST COAST CHAMPIONSHIP, RENO NV 6/30-7/3: Heidi Hugli
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Joe Edley’s Puzzle Corner
By Joe Edley
Word Screens
A word screen is a rectangle of letters such that all of the letters of the rectangle can be rearranged to spell a
word.
For instance, in the grid below:
a b c d e
1
2
3
4
5
A
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P
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The words CANTOS, GIRDLE, BELONG, BOILER and LURING are all wordscreens, or “screens” for short,
in the above grid, found in 2x3 rectangles, designated by their diagonally opposite corners as: a1-b3, c1-d3,
c3-e4, b4-d5 and d1-e3. BLEED is at c1-5, down the third column. GLOB, GONE, GILD, COLD and DIRE
are all found in 2x2s, while BORE, LIKE and RATE are in 1x4s.
The numbers in parenthesis represent: (a)number of wordscreens (b) total number of words, including all
anagrams (c) number of common words.
Find all six-letter screens. There are 21 screens, 36 total TWL words and 19 common words.
E
D
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A
(21, 36, 19)
ANSWERS at end of puzzles.
______________________________________________________________________________________
Blanagram Phrases
Replace one letter of each word with the letter next to that word, rearrange, and find the first and last names,
respectively, of famous American female historical figures, who represent a variety of milieux.
1. (A) CORAL TURBAN (O)
2. (A) ADVISOR CANNED (U)
3. (H) DATED GOPHER (P)
4. (R) ANIMAL GRANDSON (E)
5. (E) NINJA KEYPAL (O)
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6. (A) RELLENO LEFTOVERS (O)
7. (A) IMPALE TRACHEA (R)
ANSWERS at end of puzzles.
______________________________________________________________________________________
Wordlocked
The object of Wordlocked is to fill in the blank spaces with the correct letters so that the words
accompanying the grid can all be found in screens on the grid. You may choose ONLY from the pool of the
following TEN letters to add to the grid:
AEIOULNRST
Add as many or as few of these letters (with repeats) as required. You may notice that these are all of the
one-point tiles in that very popular crossword game. The consonants are all of the letters given in the last
puzzle at the end of that popular major network TV word game show.
Example (with complete solution):
A B C
1 D _ _
2 _ H _
3 P _ _
HALO HEED
HEAL HELP
Solution: Since you cannot add any extra D, H or Ps, we can use those letters already in the grid to help
deduce what letters to add where. The H and P must be used to create HELP, and so must outline the 2x2
HELP defined with opposite vertices at A2-B3, So we know where an E and L must be placed (A2 and B3)
though not yet which specific square. Since the D and H outline HEED, the A2 and B1 squares must both
have Es, which means the L of HELP must be at B3. So, now we have:
D E _
E H _
P L _
HALO
HEAL
Since HALO doesn’t have an E, the A and O of HALO must be placed at C2 and C3 to complete it with the H
and L of B2 and B3. And since HEAL doesn’t have an O, the O of HALO must be at C3, the A at C2 and the
remaining letter, the L of HEAL, must then be at C1. And so the completed grid is:
D E L
E H A
P L O
Add only as many of the one point tiles (AEIOULNRST, repeating as needed) that you need to ensure that
all words show up in screens. The more stars at the top, the harder the puzzle.
1. **
Y
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D
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G
_
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Y
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B
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BOATYARD
ARTERY
DEARLY
GAOLED
GOODLY
LADY
TED
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B
ANNOTATE
ANGLED
DATING
RATION
TOEING
BRIO
LOBE
NEAT (3)*
*NEAT appears in three different wordscreens.
3. **
_
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D
C
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C
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ACTING
AORTIC
NOTICE
TRAGIC
UNITED
CIAO
ORCA
TO
4.***
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H
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D
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ALLURING
THEURGIC
CODGER
COILED
DETACH
GROUCH
INHAUL
LARIAT
THREAD
AORTA
AAH
LIN
TAO
ANSWERS on next page.
Joe Edley is a three-time National SCRABBLE® Champion and the author of numerous books, including the
bestselling Everything SCRABBLE®.
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ANSWERS
WORD SCREENS:
LIEDER,
BONACI,
ISOHEL,
GRINCH,
RELIED,
IMPACT,
GLIMED,
LENDER,
BIONIC,
HANGAR,
MIDLEG,
RELEND,
NIOBIC,
REIGNS,
ARIELS,
ALMUDS,
NARIAL,
RENIGS,
RESAIL,
OLEUMS,
PELITE, RHINAL, BINERS, BRINES, ALOHAS,
RESIGN, SERING, SINGER, HELIOS, HOLIES,
SAILER, SERAIL, SERIAL, HAVING, HEROIN,
MUESLI
BLANAGRAM PHRASES:
1. CLARA BARTON (FOUNDER OF RED CROSS) 2. ISADORA DUNCAN (DANCER) 3. HEDDA
HOPPER (COLUMNIST) 4. MARIAN ANDERSON (SINGER) 5. ANNIE OAKLEY (SHARPSHOOTER)
6. ELEANOR ROOSEVELT (FIRST LADY) 7. AMELIA EARHART (FLYER)
WORDLOCKED:
1.
Y
A
D
O
R
E
L
G
R
T
Y
O
B
D
A
A
E
N
G
E
A
T
I
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N
O
R
B
C
N
I
T
I
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C
O
A
G
R
A
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T
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H
A
A
D
E
T
D
O
2.
T
A
D
L
3.
O
E
U
D
4.
A
L
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A
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SCRABBLE® Equipment Collection
By John Venditti
I've been a member of the National SCRABBLE® Association since 1994 and have played in
tournaments from 1996 thru 2003. I belong to the Albany Capital Region (NY) SCRABBLE
Association, Dave Goodman, Director.
In the last year or so, I have collected six SCRABBLE boards of various designs and colors plus
twenty or so SCRABBLE tile bags, racks, rack bags, and tiles of many designs and colors. I’m
pleased to share photos of my collection with readers of The Last Word.
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John’s wife Dominga has lots of patience regarding John's activities during the week...bridge on Tuesdays, SCRABBLE® on
Thursdays, and golf league on Fridays. Oh, Wednesday is bowling night--but that's their night out together!
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The Wordsmith
Shining up to Collins
By Chris Sinacola
A few months ago, when I embarked on some regular Collins play, I felt a bit like Jack Nicholson’s
character in “The Shining,” Jack Torrance, when he is interviewing for the position at the hotel for
the winter.
“Do you really want to go and live in that… dictionary… for the winter.”
“Sure I do.”
After all, what could possibly go wrong?
“The… tiles … can be fantastically cruel…”
“That sounds fine to me.”
Indeed, I figured that the tiles were that much crueler in OWL2 play, where we are forever
finding bingoes that simply won’t play. Just by adding the 23 Collins-only twos, I would now able to
put a lot more of those bingoes on the board.
Of course, no one will last long in the heat of SCRABBLE® battle without the threes, some
high-probability sevens, and the short, high-value words containing J, X, Q and Z.
I added all those, more or less, thanks in large part to Richard Buck’s homemade cheat sheet.
A few weeks went by, and I was having a grand time, battling with Richard and some others at
the Worcester club and ekeing out a .500 record. But then, what about the five-vowel eights? I
simply had to learn those, and after a few weeks, my patience was rewarded when I was able to
play (J)EALOUSE# to a triple-word score.
Win? Lose? Who cares? It was the joy of playing words I had not only never seen, but hadn’t
even imagined existed in English.
“How about your wife and son (and daughters)? Do you think they’ll take to it?”
“They’ll love it.”
In fact, they didn’t really care all that much, and one evening, in the middle of making up
flashcards for the 1,052 Collins-only fours that I didn’t yet know (and, to be honest, still haven’t
finished), daughter Lucy suggested a game of SCRABBLE.
It was only OWL2, but I figured I’d be OK, especially when I played DETAINED and took a
76-4 lead.
Soon, however, I found myself doing exactly what Evans Clinchy had warned me might
happen: I was seeing Collins and while I understood I couldn’t actually play those words under the
lexicon in effect, neither could I stop seeing Collins.
I lost 508-285.
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“…he must have sufered some kind of a complete mental breakdown. He ran amuck… and
killed his family with an ax.”
Actually, I just laughed the whole thing off, and proceeded to load the top 200 Collins-only
sevens into Zyzzva. By now, you see, the one-day Collins tournament in Hudson, NY was only a
few weeks away. I don’t invest a lot of money or time in tournament SCRABBLE, and try not to
invest too much ego, but you know how it is – most of us game players have more fun if we can at
least take care of ourselves. No one wants to be embarrassed.
Having only played about 50 Collins games against humans, I figured Quackle would be the
best way to gain some experience and humility. I tried to write down all the new words I saw, which
within a few days yielded a list of more than 300 words, all with the #, including ATHENOR#,
CORNACRE#, FUNDY#, MAHEWU#, SPAEMAN#, THREENESS#, WATERPOX# and so many
more.
For a while, I even kept track of wins and losses, figuring that I could track my progress and
see how much improvement could be made as I reached each goal, learning so many fours, so
many sevens and so forth.
But when it got to 18-102, I gave that up. Obviously, playing a computer that has the entire
dictionary at its disposal – and which, in spite of all the codemonkeys in the world swearing on a
stack of computer manuals and probability algorithms to the contrary does in fact, at least when I
play, deal me an inordinate quantity of Qs – is not the same as playing humans. It is, in any case,
not the kind of thing I needed to keep track of…
A June Saturday arrived, and John Cheras, Brad Whitmarsh and I drove west for our Collins
battle. The conversation was something like this:
“What was the Donner party?”
“They were a party of settlers in covered wagon times. They got snowbound one winter in the
mountains. They had to resort to… SCRABBLE … in order to say alive.”
“You mean they ate each other up?”
Actually, the day turned out a lot better than it had for the Donner party. Stefan and Terry
Kang Rau were very gracious hosts, Chris Lipe did his usual outstanding job running the
tournament, and the dozen players were all sporting.
I discovered that, whether its Collins or OWL2, the computer is rarely far from the mark. It
called for me to win three games, and so I did. I was more than a bit lucky to take the first one from
Jason Keller – drawing four S’s and a timely blank late in the game – and probably a bit unlucky to
drop the next four, two of which might have gone into the win column but for obsolescence.
Ah, maddening obsolescence, who can fathom ye?
You may recall – and can read along if you still have the original SCRABBLE rules or the box
cover from the old pasteboard sets – the days before official word lists.
“Before the game begins, the players should agree upon the dictionary they will us. All words
labeled as a part of speech (including those listed of foreign origin, and as archaic, obsolete,
colloquial, slang, etc.) are permitted with the exception of…”
Well, that was the theory.
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In practice, matters stand somewhat differently, and very imperfectly.
I am certainly now a convert to the Collins word list, for the simple reason that it is so very
much more inclusive, embracing so many more of the wonderful words that fill the great literature of
English – literatures, I suppose I should say, in a nod to the diverse cultures that write in our mother
tongue.
I simply can’t see the logic of excluding ASKARI#, for example, which I met many years ago
reading Stanley’s books on Africa, and once played to my chagrin and loss of turn. For every silly
Maori word I must learn, like HAKA#, there are easily dozens of other charming words like
DARKMANS# that I would miss if I were to go back to OWL2. And the Scottish, British, and
Australian words add immense richness to the game, and juice the scores not a little!
But on the Saturday in question, I twice tried to go further than even Collins was prepared to
go.
The first gamble came in the second game of the day, trailing 320-329 against Richard Buck.
The game was late, at that point where it’s time to decide whether to play it safe and probably lose,
or bet it all on a longshot. I figure it’s only a game and played O(V)ERWAIT.*
Richard thought it over in his usual calm fashion and decided to challenge. Off it came. And
down went his R(A)CQUETS for 93 points. Game, set and match, Mr. Buck.
And yet, if you turn to Page 334 of the O volume of the Oxford English Dictionary, there you
will see “OVERWAIT. Verb. Obsolete. To watch over, supervise.”
Gamble No. 2 arrived in game five, with John Cheras. Things were looking pretty hopeful until
his late MUX# for 38 points put him up 375-344, with a sure outplay on his next turn. I held EIINS
and decided that NISEI would fit so very nicely in front of COWERING, and produce 31 points and
six points from John for the win. Provided, of course, that the lovely and entirely plausible
SCOWERING* was good.
It was one of those “Hey, it’s Collins!” moments that I had heard about.
Of course, this being for the win, John was like “Here’s Johnny!”, challenged in a heartbeat,
and broke down the door for a 48-point win.
And yet, once more, if you’d be so kind as to turn to page 259 of the S volume of the OED,
you’ll see SCOWER listed as an obsolete form of the verb SCORE or SCOUR.
I’m not really complaining, mind you, but I was sort of promised back when I was 10 that
obsolete words would be OK, and you know how it is with promises made when you’re 10…
“Is Collins the one that tells you things? How does he tell you things?”
“It’s like I go to sleep and he shows me things. But when I wake up, I can’t remember
everything.”
But heck, who can?
Feeling rather obsolete by now, I took my next two games to get to the requisite three wins,
and finished up by scoring 429 points against Evans, including winning $20 for playing EUTEXIA#,
and lost by a mere 165 points.
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That didn’t bother me so much, but I really was hoping to use the $20 for fresh-baked pies,
except that the first orchard stand in Kinderhook had closed at 5, and the second one, at the New
York State border, had apparently closed even earlier.
Instead, I put the $20 toward a Collins SCRABBLE dictionary from tilefish.com.uk, whose
proprietor cheerfully and promptly shipped it across the pond from Edinburgh – home to so many
charming Scots words! - and I have by now been happily immersing myself in it for the better part of
two weeks.
It’s a lovely book. But I have noticed that there aren’t quite as many obsolete words in there
as I would like. Maybe that’s why the Collins dictionary is the official dictionary of the Overlook
Hotel…
Chris Sinacola is director of the Worcester, Mass. SCRABBLE club, and promises to (mostly)
change the topic from Collins next month. He can be reached at his new email address,
[email protected].
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Book Reviews
Bob’s British Bible & Bob’s Color-Coded British Bible
Reviewed by Cornelia Guest
The timing of the release of these two new books by Robert Gillis, of
Bob’s Bible fame, could not be more perfect. For the first time ever,
the National SCRABBLE® Championship is offering a Collins division,
and as we publish, more than 40 players have signed up--including 11
with ratings above 1900. Increasingly more tournaments are offering a
Collins division, and the number of entries are growing. Here are two
books that can make the transition easier for players interested in
trying this expanded lexicon.
Both books are designed for those who play both Collins and TWL
games. They are perfect for helping players keep the two lists
separate in their minds. For those who have been playing Collins for a
while, the books are helpful in that they include the new words added
in January, 2012.
Guide words and thumb tabs on every page make it easy to locate
words by length and category. Both books include every 2- to 8-letter
CWL12 word, listed alphabetically and accompanied by all hooks and
anagrams. Collins-only words are indicated in italics, as are Collins
hooks and anagrams. The table of contents includes, by length, then
alphabetically, Deleted Words (in 2007 and 2012); Special Q Words;
All New Words 2012; All Vowel-Heavy Words; All No-Vowel Words;
Words having Front Hooks; Interesting Back Hooks; British-unique
JQXZ Words; and Complete British Unique Words (2-8 letters long).
These are followed by a complete list of 2- to 8-letter words with hooks
and anagrams, and “Crucial New Hook Words” that are 9 letters long
and made by adding a front hook or back hook to old CWL 8-letter
words.
Bob’s Color-Coded British Bible uses color to make it even easier to quickly see which words are
acceptable in which lexicon. However, at a price of $67.50 as opposed to $19.95 for the gray-coded
version, I can’t imagine the majority of players will opt for color.
Undoubtedly these two new books will become as indispensable to new Collins players as Bob’s
Bible has been to TWL players through the years.
Bob’s British Bible and Bob’s Color-Coded British Bible are both available at Amazon.com
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Word Trivia Quiz
By Siri Tillekeratne
The following words whose unique meanings are given were added to the OSPD in 2006. What are
those words?
1. An alcohol containing three or more hydroxyl groups
2. Something with many legs
3. A postmodern movement
4. Muscles on the back of knees
5. Flavored water frozen on a stick
6. A thick pork soup
7. A patient after undergoing a surgical operation
8. To place (a word or phrase) after a grammatically related word
9. Having grown too large for its container
10. A climbing plant with glossy variegated leaves
ANSWERS on next page.
Siri Tillekeratne is a director of the Calgary NASPA SCRABBLE® Club #374 and a former Director
of the Year.
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ANSWERS
1. An alcohol containing three or more hydroxyl groups POLYOL/S
2. Something with many legs
3. A postmodern movement
POLYPED/S
POMO/S
4. Muscles on the back of knees
5. Flavored water frozen on a stick
6. A thick pork soup
POPLITEI only
POPSICLE/S
POSOLE/S = POZOLE/S
7. A patient after undergoing a surgical operation POSTOP/S (opp. PREOP/S)
8. To place (a word or phrase) after a grammatically related word POSTPOSE/S/D/SING
9. Having grown too large for its container
POTBOUND only
10. A climbing plant with glossy variegated leaves POTHOS only
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SCRABBLE® Strategy Video Guide
Know your “S” back hooks
By Curran Eggertson
This is the fifth video in a series of SCRABBLE® strategy tutorials. It is important to know your
hooks. If your opponent plays BIND, knowing BINDI can open up a large portion of the board, but
not knowing it won’t hinder you. However, with the S, it is likely you may just assume words can take
an S-suffix since most of them do. Erroneously guessing will get you into a lot of trouble. Other
words which you will assume don’t take an S, including past tense verbs and words ending in -IC,
may indeed take an S. You should know all of these!
Click photo below to watch the video.
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Click here to see other videos in the series.
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David Klionsky on “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?”
David Klionsky, a SCRABBLE® coach, player, and director
from Durham, NC, appeared on “Who Wants to be a
Millionaire?” on June 27th. He answered tough questions-including the name of Katy Perry’s cat--to reach the $22,500
mark, but then chose to stop and take home $11,250 rather
than risk losing all but $1,000 on the next question.
A teacher and technology supervisor at Seawell Elementary
School in Chapel Hill, David founded the school’s
SCRABBLE® Club, which has boasted some of the top
competitors in School SCRABBLE®. He has also organized
a number of tournaments, including the annual Triangle
SCRABBLE® Club Charity Tournament for the benefit of the
Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center’s Pediatric and Bone Marrow Transplantation Family Support
Program. David was the featured “Player Profile” in the January, 2010 issue of The Last Word.
SCRABBLE® brought David to be a “Millionaire” contestant, as he auditioned for the show in New
York City last summer on his way to Annette Tedesco’s Albany tournament. He passed the written
tests and was interviewed, both on and off camera. He later received a postcard saying he was in a
pool of contestants being considered; in September he was notified that he’d been selected.
David taped the show in early October, then had to be quiet for eight months till it aired. In an article
for newsobserver.com, he said, “It’s been a hard secret to keep. It’s bad enough with friends and
family, but with little kids...they’re constantly asking ‘Did you win a million dollars? Did you win? Did
you win?!’”
The Seawell kids gave David a great sendoff, the whole school surprising him in the courtyard,
holding banners and signs wishing him good luck and chanting “Go Mr. K!”
On the show David scored $10,000 on his first question, correctly saying that NSFW stood for Not
Safe For Work. He answered several other tough questions, but also dodged some. With his
lifelines all used up, he faced the question: “Of these slogans used by different U.S. presidents to
describe their policies, which came first?”
A) New Frontier
B) New Freedom
C) New Covenant
D) New Deal
He wasn’t sure of the right answer (B), so he chose to stop playing and take home half his winnings:
$11,250.
David plans to donate part of his winnings to local charities, including the Blue Ribbon MentorAdvocate program in Chapel Hill.
“I had a great time doing the show,” said David, “but am a little relieved that I can get on with my ‘real
life’ now. Eight months is a long time to keep a secret!!”
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Scrab-doku
By Jeff Kastner
In a standard Sudoku, your object is to fill in every square of the grid so that all nine rows across, all nine
columns down, and all nine 3-by-3 boxes contain the numbers 1 through 9, with no repeats.
Same rules apply to this Scrab-doku, but I’ve added a few twists to help you solve it. First of all, I use letters
to replace the numbers. These letters are part of a “Keyword” which I’ve scrambled below. I’ve also provided
a clue to help you find the correct anagram. Once you’ve unscrambled the Keyword, one of the rows or
columns will contain all of its 9 letters in the proper order.
This week’s “Scrambled” Keyword: LACKED FIB
Clue:
Use the alphabet from A thru L,
Find the only word that you can spell,
With 9 separate letters – none repeat,
It’s where NFL teams put their fleetest feet.
SOLUTION on the page after next.
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Word-Finder Challenge:
Here’s an additional test of your anagramming ability. Your object is to find as many 5-letter words as
possible, using only the 9 letters of this month’s (Scrambled) Keyword: LACKED FIB.
Words must be exactly 5 letters long and must be OWL2 acceptable. Each letter of the Keyword may be
used only once within any word you find. So, for instance, BAKED is acceptable, but not BAAED.
Par Scores for this month’s Word-Finder Challenge:
16 Words (Novice); 24 Words (Intermediate); 30 Words (Advanced)
Once you’ve compiled your list, check out my SOLUTION on the next page.
See you next month with another Scrab-doku puzzle and Word-Finder Challenge! …Jeff Kastner
Jeff Kastner, originally from New York City, has been living in Phoenix, AZ since 1985. Jeff is one of
a handful of players who has ever been ranked in the USA-top-50 in both SCRABBLE® and chess.
He is the 2010-2011 Phoenix SCRABBLE® Club champion, the 2011-12 Phoenix “Floating” Club
champion, as well as the 2011 Scottsdale SCRABBLE® Club champ.
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SOLUTION
Word-Finder Challenge Solution:
Keyword (Unscrambled): BACKFIELD (40 Words Total)
ABIDE
ABLED
AILED
ALCID
ALIKE
ALKIE
BAKED
BALED
BIELD
BIKED
BLACK
BLADE
BLEAK
CABLE
CAKED
CALIF
CEBID
CEIBA
CLADE
DECAF
DECAL
FABLE
FACED
FAKED
FECAL
FELID
FIELD
FILED
FLACK
FLAKE
FLECK
FLICK
FLIED
IDEAL
ILEAC
KALIF
KIBLA
LACED
LAKED
LIKED
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Club News
Edited by Larry Sherman
If you'd like your club to be considered for an article or if a newsworthy event has taken place at
your club in the last month, please submit material to [email protected].
________________________________________________________________
“Four Corners” night at Albany Club
By John Venditti
This spring we had a "Four Corners" night one Thursday at our club, Albany (NY) NSA Club #404. I
was inspired by my trip out west, where I visited the "four corners" area of Arizona, New Mexico,
Colorado and Utah. I wore my 4-corners T-shirt to the club that night. Another item of inspiration
was my favorite pizzeria in Rotterdam, NY, called Four Corners Pizza. I brought some pizza to the
club along with the decorative box. Well, Kevin Gauthier was my opponent in the game in which we
played all four corners! We split the $14 prize money happily and were told by director Dave
Goodman the chances were slim that anyone would get those in one game. The backup plan was
that whoever scored the highest 3-corner game would win. Anyway, although I had three bingos
(PANNIERS, sWARMED, and SIxPENCE) and Kevin had only one (MELODIES), I lost 400 to 428. The lowest scoring play Kevin had was 25 while I had a bunch of teeners and single digits along
with an exchange of tiles. But, did I enjoy the game? You betcha...FOUR CORNERS!
Albany NY NSA SCRABBLE® Club #404 meets on Thursdays at 6:15 p.m. at the Third Reform
Church (Kate St. Entrance), 20 Ten Eyck Avenue, Albany, NY 12209. Contact: David Goodman,
518-459-1584, [email protected]
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The Floating SCRABBLE® Club of Phoenix
By Mike Wier, Director
The Floating SCRABBLE® Club of Phoenix meets at the convenience of its members.
Times and locations vary, with the SCRABBLE® sessions usually held at Barnes and Noble
Bookstores or fancy resorts.
Last year (ending May 31st) we had 127 meetings attended by 31 players.
The 2012 Champion was Jeff Kastner with a winning percentage of exactly 80%. Jeff was also the
Phony King with 9.3% of his bingos unacceptable but unchallenged.
Patrick Hodges was the 2012 Bingo King averaging 1.83 bingos per game. Patrick also established
the all-time record of 21 bingos in one session (8 games with no phonies).
Jim Lamerand established the purest bingo record with 149 consecutive bingos with no phonies.
Mike Wier played a total of 1297 bingos, 76 of which were phony.
Phoenix “Floating” Club meets several times each week in a different Phoenix metro area
location. Contact: Mike Wier, 602-789-0337, [email protected].
_______________________________________________________________________________
12-letter word at Ottawa Club
On Wednesday, June 6, in a game
between Emilie Henkelman and Sean
Baizana at the Ottowa Club, the 12letter word PHoTOGRAPHIC ended
up on the board, in all likelihood an
extention from GRAPHIC.
Ottowa (ON, CAN) NASPA Club
#263 meets Wednesdays from
7:00-10:15 p.m. at the Gloucester
Public Library, Meeting Room “A,”
2036 Ogilvie Rd., Ottawa, ON, CAN.
Contacts: Emilie Henkelman,
613-723-1999,
[email protected]; Sue
Tremblay, 613-822-0792,
[email protected]; Matthew
Tunnicliffe, [email protected].
Club website: http://
www.ottawascrabbleclub.com/
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One Up! Cup for July
By Timothy Cataldo
Calling all vocabularians! Just like last year, we'll post a One Up!® “game situation” every month so
all you doubledomes out there can show everyone how brilliant and quick you are.
Here's all you need to know now to play: Take one or more letters from the center and add them to
an existing word to make a new word.
Since there won't be a 'right' answer, we'll be looking for originality, wit and wow! The winner will
receive a One Up!® and have his or her name put in the drawing for the Grand Prize at the end of
the year.
JUNE WINNER
Lotta great entries for June, but we're going to
make it 2 in a row for the hometown favorite Jeff
Kastner. Congrats, Jeff, and thanks to everyone
for all your entries — keep 'em coming,
doubledomes!
Hi Tim,
Thanx for making me the May contest winner. I
donated the One Up! game you sent me to the
June 20th SCRABBLE® cruise prize fund. Any of
the other 23 players in the tourney who wins a game by "one up" over their opponent (or closest
point margin to it) wins the prize.
For the June contest, I will start with SEAR. Then, I'll add all 5 letters from the central pool of tiles
(which, by the way, anagram to spell the letter "AITCH"), and produce the new word: THERIACAS.
Theriacas (n, pl.) are gooey pastes that were formerly used as antidotes for snake venom.
Hope it's a strong enough antidote to make it two in a row for me!
Jeff Kastner
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Linda’s Library
Nonfiction:
By Linda Wancel
The Hot Zone
As an avid reader and book lover, I have found that
many other Scrabblers also share my passion for
books and for reading. So I am happy to have this
opportunity to share some of my favorite books
with you. These reviews, for the most part, were
written for Amazon.com, where I have been writing
reviews under a pseudonym for over ten years. I
hope that the book lovers among you may find your
interest piqued by some of these books.
_____________________________________
Fiction:
The Thirteenth Tale
By Diane Satterfield
This is a brilliant, elegantly
written debut novel. Although
it seemed to start off a little
slowly, before I knew it I
found myself reading through
the night, loathe to put the
book down, so engrossed
was I by the story. Somewhat
gothic in feel, the plot will
draw the reader in, like a
spider to the fly.
Margaret Lea, a young bookish woman with a
secret that haunts her and a penchant for writing
biographies of obscure literary figures, is
commissioned by beloved, popular author Vida
Winter to be her authorized biographer. Ms. Winter,
who has never before said anything about her life
that was truthful, now wishes to set her story
straight for posterity. While Ms. Lea is initially
suspect at the author's request, upon meeting Ms.
Winter she feels a connection and agrees to the
commission.
Thus, Ms. Lea is led into a labyrinth of mystery,
secrets, and a very unusual cast of characters. For
her it is a journey that will prove most cathartic and
will unlock her own closely held secret. With welldeveloped, interesting characters and a plot that
Y
By Richard Preston
This book keeps readers on
the edge of their seats,
compulsively turning the
pages. In it the author gives an
education on the possible
origins of different deadly
hemorrhagic viruses and the
devastation that they cause in
both animals and humans. The
author describes actual
outbreaks that occurred
between 1967 and 1993. This
is done in an engaging,
straightforward narrative that reads like a medical
thriller.
The nucleus of the story focuses on a 1983
outbreak of Ebola virus in Reston, Virginia, in the
tony county of Fairfax, just outside of Washington,
D.C. A special, highly trained team of Army
specialists and scientists secretly converged on
that hot spot to try and stop the spread of this
deadly virus, which has a kill rate of ninety percent.
The author’s account of the mission is riveting, as
is the vivid description of the rain forests and caves
of Africa where these hemorrhagic viruses are
suspected of originating. The devastation these
viruses cause to both animals and humans is
horrifying, shocking, and, unfortunately, all too true.
The author has managed to make science both
accessible to the general public and eminently
readable.
The Hot Zone is available at Amazon.com.
Linda Wancel loves reading, writing, watching films,
traveling, and Scrabbling. She is the mother of 28year-old twins and has recently retired after having
been a criminal prosecutor for nearly 25 years.
is simply ingenious, this beautifully written book
was completely riveting.
The Thirteenth Tale is available at Amazon.com.
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Historic Moments: SCRABBLE® Through the Years
The Joy of Kibitzing
By Stu Goldman
As in many games, a SCRABBLE player can have fun just watching. The cardinal rule, of course, is
do not by words, expressions or actions interfere with the play. One can even pick up pointers for
play with an enlightened kibitz.
For example, I first learned to let a blank be a Q in a vowel-heavy rack containing a U in my first
year as a club director. Walking around the room I saw an inexperienced player with the rack
EEIRTU? I saw REQUITE imediately; QUIETER is also possible, as well as several words not
containing a Q. That player exchanged tiles.
Another time when I saw a blank as a high-point tile on a kibitzed rack occurred as I was leaving the
Game Room, that glorious place where a player could pick up a game with a good player almost
any afternoon or evening. I noticed a crowd around a game between two good players. One had
the rack EEINST?, which should produce a bingo. The board, however was quite full, and
openings were limited. After studying the situation for several minutes I whispered very softly to one
kibitzer, "The word she's looking for is SIXTEEN," and left to catch my commuter train without
waiting to see if the problem would be solved.
Kibitzing a "kitchen table" player can sometimes result in the pain of seeing a great play without
being able to use it or share the joy of the actual player finding it. The epitome of that for me was
seeing a player not find AGAZE when the G had just been dropped on 15b. I believe I have seen
SEALION* played, but cannot remember the actual circumstances of the player who did not know
ANISOLE.
The most fun I ever had kibitzing was also the time when it was most difficult for me to keep a
straight face. It was in the Game Room, with an analog clock, and the players were Linda Gruber,
one of the first female experts, and the late Steve Pfeiffer, known for his efforts to disguise any
motivation. This is how I described it in Confessions of a Compulsive Tile Pusher:
"Rather than taking a decent 30 points with his Z, Steve placed an F six spaces above a TWS
square. Experts know that many words having a Z begin with F. When he picked up his new tiles
we both saw that he could play FOZIER . . .
"Linda [blocked] FOZIER. As she hit the button of her clock she drew back her hand, saying, 'I'm
not sure I want to do that.'
"She looked to see if she had started Steve's clock . . . We all saw that the clock was neutralized,
making it problematical whether she could do something different. 'Can I take it back?' she asked.
"Any other player would have assented, being careful only not to appear too eager. For Brooklyn
Steve, not seeming too eager involved a full coffeehousing minute of head-scratching, weightshifting, arm-twitching, leaning-of-the-chin-on-the-hands and other gestures designed to simulate
deep thought over the strategic considerations and ethical principles involved in taking it back.
Finally, waving his arm in a gesture of resignation, he said 'Do wot ya want.'
"Linda played elsewhere and Steve cashed his 84 points . . ."
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Playing on line can sometimes relieve the kibitzer of the necessity not to comment. Recently I
logged onto ISC and found a frequent opponent playing an expert we both know. My friend opened
an S-spot on a TWS row, and I saw almost immediately that her opponent had SNOWMEN, quite
playable. After maybe half a minute, when he hadn't played, I typed a message for my friend that
her opponent missed a big bingo. When he played SOWN, I hit enter.
A game last night gave me the ending for this piece. I was playing on ISC, and my opponent often
made good plays, but also made huge mistakes. The tiles were all used except for 7 on each of our
racks. With a small lead, I had EIILRTU; a G in the top left corner of the board gave me GUILTIER.
But my opponent had EINORTU, and an M on row 3 was open for a word ending in E. I held my
breath. My opponent played RAINOUT off an A near the bottom of the board, letting me go out and
win.
My friend had logged on to see this and messaged me, "Strange that she missed such a ROUTINE
play." I gave her the reqjuired LOL, and we began our game.
Stu Goldman lives in California and has been playing tournament SCRABBLE® for 38 years.
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Fill in the Blanks
By Jeff Kastner
Here’s a fun game that will put your bingo-finding and anagramming skills to the test.
Every one of these seven racks contains six letters and a blank (represented by the “?” symbol). There is
one (and only one) bingo in each. What letter do you make the blank in each case and what is the bingo?
(All words must be OWL2 acceptable.)
Secret Word: Once you’ve filled in all the blanks correctly, unscramble those seven letters to form another
unique bingo (the “Secret Word”). Even if you have only a few of the letters, you may still be able to uncover
the Secret Word with the following clue: “Worth 120 points, it’s one of the highest scoring opening plays you
can make in a Scrabble game.”
AEIOUS ? =
FLAIRS ? =
YOUBAN ? =
WHOMSO ? =
PAYIDS ? =
OUTBNG ? =
KANTOR ? =
ANSWERS on the next page
Jeff Kastner, originally from New York City, has been living in Phoenix, AZ since 1985. Jeff is one of
a handful of players who has ever been ranked in the USA-top-50 in both SCRABBLE® and chess.
He is the 2010-2011 Phoenix SCRABBLE® Club champion, the 2011-12 Phoenix “Floating” Club
champion, as well as the 2011 Scottsdale SCRABBLE® Club champ.
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ANSWERS
AEIOUS ? = SEQUOIA
FLAIRS ? = FRAZILS
YOUBAN ? = BUOYANT
WHOMSO ? = SOMEHOW
PAYIDS ? = DISPLAY
OUTBNG ? = GUNBOAT
KANTOR ? = OUTRANK
Secret Word:
QZTELAU = QUETZAL
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SCRABBLE® and Scrabblers in the News
Edited by Judy Cole
See something about SCRABBLE® or a SCRABBLE® player in the news? Let us know! Send your
stories to Judy Cole ([email protected]).
_______________________________________________________________________________
Clock Watcher
During a recent talk at the Tenley-Friendship
Library in Washington (DC), Word Freak author
Stefan Fatsis described why he prefers live
SCRABBLE® to the online version: “There's
something very engaging about sitting across from
someone with a clock determining how much time
you have left to play.”
WTOP 103.5 FM
(05/15/2012) http://
www.wtop.com/
41/2864938/WordFreak
JUNE/JULY MILESTONES
EVANS CLINCHY reached 2000 for the first
time at the Jiminy Peak (MA) tournament.
SCOTT GARNER reached 1800 for the first
time at the Albany (NY) tournament.
JASON LI reached 1800 for the first time at
the Albany (NY) tournament.
MICHAEL THELEN reached 1800 for the
first time at the Corrales (NM) tournament.
MIKE YOWONSKE reached 1800 for the
first time at the Pittsburgh (PA) tournament.
DANIEL CITRON reached 1700 for the first
time at the Albany (NY) tournament.
________________________________
Hi Ho, Silver!
Two-time National School SCRABBLE® champion
Matt Silver was named valedictorian of his senior
class at Staples High School in Westport (CT).
TERRY KANG RAU reached 1700 for the
first time at the Jiminy Peak (MA)
tournament.
TED BARRETT reached 1600 for the first
time at the Mt. Laurel (NJ) tournament.
TOBEY ROLAND reached 1500 for the first
time at the Albany (NY) tournament.
Matt, who captained
the math team,
WESLEY YOCOM reached 1500 for the
explained the appeal
first time at the Edmonton (AB) tournament.
of SCRABBLE® to
problem solvers such
as himself: “Every turn is a different experience. The placement on the
board, analyzing your tiles, figuring out your opponent’s options — it’s
all very interesting and stimulating.”
Matt will attend Princeton University in the fall.
!
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Westport Minuteman (06/05/2012) http://minutemannewscenter.com/
articles/2012/06/05/westport/news/doc4fce2e9cddd76769909725.txt?
viewmode=default
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Train Tracks
Queens (NY) borough historian and
SCRABBLE® player Jack
Eichenbaum was interviewed in a
New York Times (05/22/2012) article
about Harold Interlocking, a centuryold intersection of 14 train tracks in
Queens.
According to Jack, the junction was
named in 1910 for Harold Avenue,
one of the streets that approach the
expanse of tracks in Queens. After
Long Island City was absorbed into
New York City at the end of the 19th
century, Harold Avenue was
renamed 39th Avenue.
New York Times (05/22/2012) http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/22/guiding-hundreds-oftrains-a-junction-named-harold/
Word Watchers
The Telegram and Gazette (06/19/2012) dropped by a
recent session of Worcester NASPA Club #600, which
meets every Tuesday evening at the Nu Café.
http://www.telegram.com/article/20120619/NEWS/
106199893/0/SEARCH
Big Boards
Students at Ashley Academy in Johnsonville (TN) can
now enjoy a game on a large outdoor board, complete
with plastic tiles the size of books and wooden letter
holders the size of a fireplace mantel.
The playground honors former school director Boyd
Smith who helped to form the SCRABBLE® club, among
other achievements, in his 26 years of service to the
school.
Johnson City Press (05/16/2012) http://
www.johnsoncitypress.com/Living/article.php?id=100337
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Middle school students at the Arts and Technology
Academy in Eugene (OR) built a huge, 15-by-15 foot
game board in the school's courtyard.
KVAL (06/11/2012) http://www.kval.com/news/local/
Eugene-school-unveils-life-sized-Scrabbleboard-158501505.html
Tile Romance
First time author Falguni Kothari explores the zany world of virtual romance and
mind boggling games of SCRABBLE® in her book It's Your Move, Wordfreak!
The story revolves around a couple, Wordfreak and Worddiva, who indulge in a
flirtatious relationship while playing SCRABBLE® online and what happens to
them when they finally take it offline.
The Hindu (06/07/2012) http://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/metroplus/
article3500802.ece
Block Party
Alabama SCRABBLE® player Eric Harshbarger has been
focusing on puzzle and game design for the past six years
but still continues to design Lego models and sculptures.
His current commission is his third small-scale model of
Auburn University’s Samford Hall landmark. Each model
requires over 5,000 bricks and is 19 inches tall and sits on
two 48-stud baseplates.
The Auburn Plainsman (05/31/2012) http://
www.theplainsman.com/view/full_story/18778525/articleOne-block-at-a-time?instance=home_news_lead_story
Hear Ye, Hear Ye
Clinical psychologist and writer Joan Bolker describes how nightly games of SCRABBLE® with her husband
of 50 years helped to restore her speaking vocabulary after a cochlear implant restored her hearing.
The Boston Globe (06/24/2012) http://www.bostonglobe.com/magazine/2012/06/23/scrabble-andreturn-hearing/7B1zFnuPsmFLnvDXhZN6SN/story.html
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SCRABBLE® Celebrities
Celebrities share our love of the game.
• Welsh rapper Elro teams with JME and Manga to rap about SCRABBLE® over an animated
board where the tiles come to life.
!
Chart Attack (05/17/2012) http://www.chartattack.com/watch/2012/05/17/elro-feat-jme-mangascrabble/
•At the Cannes Film Festival, Lawless star Tom Hardy said that he prepared for his
role of America’s most dangerous bootlegger, Forrest Bondurant, by playing
SCRABBLE®: “It made me pretty tough because my co-star Jessica Chastain
beat me. I also played Battleship.”
The Sun (05/20/2012) http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/bizarre/
4327563/Lawless-actor-Tom-Hardy-prepares-for-tough-film-roles-by-playing-boardgames.html
• Sisters Aly and AJ Michalka met up with their mother and fellow
actress Alexa Varga to lunch and play SCRABBLE® at The Farm
at The Grove in Los Angeles (CA) on May 16, 2012.
Just Jared Jr. (05/19/2012) http://www.justjaredjr.com/2012/05/19/
aly-aj-michalka-lunch-with-alexa-vega/
•Scottish tennis professional
Andy Murray, currently
ranked 4th in the world, hates
to lose in any sport –
including SCRABBLE® – and recently tweeted about a
recent win over his girlfriend, Kim Sears: “HERNIAS.
Always good to finish off the game with a 7 letter 88 pointer
to beat the missus.”
Daily Record (06/05/1012) http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/
news/scottish-news/2012/06/05/andy-murray-reveals-nighton-the-tiles-with-girlfriend-kim-sears-86908-23886307/
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• Actor Mark Duplass, starring in Your Sister’s Sister, admits to being okay at
SCRABBLE® but not as good as those who study the dictionary as in Word
Wars.
Salon (06/12/2012) http://www.salon.com/2012/06/13/
he_slept_with_a_lesbian_summers_hottest_rom_com/singleton/
•Maya Soetoro-Ng, an education specialist with the
East West Centre (EWC) in Honolulu (HI), sees her
brother, Barack Obama, at least once a year at
Christmas but mostly keeps in touch by playing
SCRABBLE® on the iPad.
New Straits Times (06/17/2012) http://www.nst.com.my/life-times/sundaylife-times/chat-with-the-first-sister-1.95230
•Tom Cruise likes to play SCRABBLE® and Yahtzee
at home but declines to identify the best
SCRABBLE® player in his family: “Oh man, you’re
gonna get me into trouble if I say who it is. Pass!”
People (06/25/2012) http://www.people.com/people/article/
0,,20603688,00.html
•
Tennis champion Chris Evert used to play SCRABBLE® to relax before a
big match and to pass the time during the long rain delays at Wimbledon.
“You’ve no idea when it’s going to stop – you need to relax but you can’t
leave the locker room. We’d end up spending a lot of time playing
SCRABBLE® in the early stages of the tournaments. There was me,
Margaret Court, Martina Navratilova and Virginia Wade. It was good fun.”
Financial Times (06/22/2012) http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/ee161e70-ba6f-11e1aa8d-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1yaFfXTBK
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New Record Set for Low Combined Score
On Sunday, June 3, Dan Horowitz and Carolann Atene set a new
record at the Philadelphia (PA) Tournament when Dan beat Carolann
Atene in Game 2 with a score of -12 to -25 for a low combined score
of -37.
Both players were playing in the Division 3. Dan finished third in the
tournament, with a 5-2 +272 spread, and Carolann was twelfth, with
a 0-7 -482 record.
The previous record of -26 was set on May 29, 2010, at the Atlanta
(GA) Tournament, when Denise Mahnken beat Marie Gier -10 to -16.
Dan reported the moves on cgp:
“Here's how it played out:
1. Carolann was first, and she passed on her first turn.
2. Naturally, I decided to exchange a few tiles [4] rather than give my opponent the opening she was
looking for (especially since I didn't have any high-scoring plays in my own rack).
3. My opponent then exchanged 1 tile.
4. I followed suit and exchanged again [3 tiles]. At this point, the total point value of the tiles in my
rack was 12. I had a bit of a dilemma, as my opponent theoretically could have had as few as 5
points on her rack (if she had both blanks and five 1-point tiles).
5. Fortunately, Carolann ended the suspense when she briefly placed the Z on the board, but then
removed it before hitting her clock and instead decided to exchange 2 tiles.
6. Now that I knew my opponent had the Z, my decision was a no-brainer, as the minimum number
of points she could have in her rack became 14 once the Z was factored in. I then passed to end the
game.
When my opponent exposed her tiles, I discovered that not only did she have the Z, but she also
had the J, the two blanks, and a few other tiles that I didn't recall.”
Had Dan considered that his opponent might have traded in the Z she’d exposed? He had: “Based
on my opponent’s rating and level of experience [Carolann, rated 613, was playing in her second
tournament], I assumed she wasn’t going to throw [the Z] back (and that she probably wasn’t aware
of the ‘6 zeros’ rule).”
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Know the Rules
By Jan Cardia, NASPA Rules Committee Chair
Jan Cardia, a longtime expert player and chair of the NASPA Rules Committee,
writes this monthly column on rules for The Last Word. We are thrilled to have
Jan sharing her rules expertise with our readers, and we encourage you to
email any questions you may have about tournament and club rules to
[email protected]. (Photo credit: Jill Jarrell)
________________________________________________________________________
Question:
Why is there a rule that ends the game after six zeros?
Answer:
There are some situations that just can't have a perfect remedy. There are situations where
the absolute best decision is to pass zero. Perhaps your opponent played a phony, but you
see that their rack makes a bingo with every vowel. Of course, you don't want to give them a
vowel. Furthermore, you have a nice rack that makes plenty of sevens and eights. With the
information available, it is strategically correct to let your opponent play first. So, what would
happen if you both kept passing? There has to be a finite ending to this stalemate... hence
the six-zero rule.
Armed with this information, a new strategy develops. Do you think you have fewer points
on your rack then your opponent? If not, you should consider trading tiles on the ultimate or
penultimate move.
On the other end of the spectrum, you can have a very tight board at the end of the game. If
you both have unplayable tiles, there needs to be a way to end the game.
Jan Cardia has been playing competitive SCRABBLE® for 32 years and in tournaments for 29
years. She has been a member of the Rules Committee since its inception. She divides her time
between New York City with her husband, Aldo, and Delaware, where her children and
grandchildren all reside.
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Word Star
By Jeff Kastner
Play Word Star, a word game with similarities to Boggle, created and presented each month by Phoenix, AZ
expert Jeff Kastner.
The puzzle grid is in the shape of a hexagram…also known as the “Star of David.”
Your object is to find and list as many words as possible, using only the 7 letters contained in the Word Star
puzzle. All words must be OWL2 or Long List acceptable.
There are 3 basic rules to finding words within a Word Star puzzle:
1. Words must be at least 3 or more letters long (with no limit on how long the word can be).
2. Words are formed by using letters that adjoin each other. For example, the words NEW and
VIE are acceptable, but not WIN, because the “W” and the “I” are not neighboring letters.
3. Letters within a word may repeat as many times as possible, as long as such letters are
repeated twice (or thrice) in a row, or as long as Rule 2 is followed. So, for example, EWE and
INNER are acceptable. But, TREE would not be acceptable because the “T” and the “R” are not
adjoining.
•
Note that the Center Star, located in the white middle portion of the puzzle, is the most important
letter. It is the only letter that adjoins each of the 6 others in the puzzle. In addition, there are bonus
points awarded for using the Center Star as often as possible. The Center Star in this month’s puzzle
is the letter “E.”
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Multiple forms of the same word are acceptable (for example, RATE, RATED, RATER, RATERS, and
RATES would all be fine, if they were in the puzzle). No points are awarded (and no penalty points are
assessed) for any entries on your word list that are not in OWL2 or the Long List, or that do not adhere to
the above rules.
Points are scored as follows:
•
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2 Points for each WORD found.
5 Bonus Points for each BINGO (7 or more letters) found.
1 Point for each LETTER of every word found.
1 Bonus Point for each CENTER STAR of every word found.
Example of Points Scored:
Let’s say a Word Star puzzle has an “S” as the Center Star letter, and your list consists of the following
words:
ATTIRE
ATTIRES
SAT
SATE
SATIRE
SATIRES
TIRE
TIRES
Your score would be:
•
•
•
•
16 Points for the 8 WORDS found.
10 Bonus Points for the 2 BINGOS (ATTIRES and SATIRES) found.
42 Points for each of the 42 LETTERS used in the 8 words.
7 Bonus Points for each CENTER STAR used (the letter “S” is used 7 times).
TOTAL SCORE in this imaginary example = 75 Points.
Par Scores for this month’s Word Star:
600 points (Novice); 850 points (Intermediate); 1050 points (Advanced)
Once you’ve compiled your list, check out my SOLUTION on the next page.
See you next month with another Word Star puzzle! …Jeff Kastner
Jeff Kastner, originally from New York City, has been living in Phoenix, AZ since 1985. Jeff is one of a
handful of players who has ever been ranked in the USA-top-50 in both SCRABBLE® and chess. He is the
2010-2011 Phoenix SCRABBLE® Club champion, the 2011-12 Phoenix “Floating” Club champion, as well
as the 2011 Scottsdale SCRABBLE® Club champ.
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Word Star Solution for: The Last Word July 2012
ENTENTE
ENTER
ENTERER
ERE
ERR
ETWEE
EVE
EVEN
EVENER
EVENT
EVER
EWE
EWER
INN
INNER
INNERVE
INTENT
INTER
INTERVENE
INTERVENER
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEWEE
INTERVIEWER
NEE
NENE
NERVE
NERVIER
NERVINE
NET
NETT
NETTER
NEVE
NEVER
NEVI
NEW
NEWER
NEWT
NIEVE
NINE
NINETEEN
REE
REENTER
REEVE
REI
REIN
REINTER
REINTERVIEW
REIVE
REIVER
RENEW
RENEWER
RENIN
RENNET
RENNIN
RENT
RENTE
RENTER
RERENT
REREVIEW
RET
RETE
RETENE
REV
REVERE
REVERENT
REVERER
REVET
REVIEW
REVIEWER
REVIVE
REVIVER
REWET
TEE
TEEN
TEENER
TEENIER
TEETER
TEN
TENET
TENNER
TENT
TENTER
TERETE
TERREEN
TERRENE
TERRET
TET
TETTER
TEW
TWEE
TWEEN
TWEENER
TWEET
TWEETER
VEE
VEER
VEIN
VEINER
VEINIER
VENEER
VENEERER
VENENE
VENIN
VENINE
VENT
VENTER
VERVE
VERVET
VET
VETTER
VIE
VIER
VIEW
VIEWER
VINE
VINIER
VINTNER
VIVE
WEE
WEEN
WEENIE
WEENIER
WEER
WEET
WEEVER
WEEWEE
WEINER
WEN
WENNIER
WENT
WERE
WET
WETTER
WREN
PAR SCORES: 600 points (Novice); 850 points (Intermediate);
1050 points (Advanced)
BEST SCORE:
2 Points for each WORD found:
134 Words = 268 points.
5 Bonus Points for each BINGO found:
30 Bingos = 150 points.
1 Point for each LETTER of every word found:
715 Letters = 715 points.
1 Bonus Point for each CENTER STAR of every word found:
267 E’s = 267 points.
TOTAL = 1400 Points
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Passages
Edited by Larry Sherman
Each month we will be including information about SCRABBLE® players (births, deaths, marriages,
etc.) Please send your news to Cornelia Guest at [email protected].
______________________________________________________________________________
DEATHS
JIM WAIT
Jim Wait, 83, of Phoenix, passed away on June 2, 2012
after a courageous battle with cancer.
He began playing competitive SCRABBLE® following his
retirement in 1988. SCRABBLE cruises and wanderlust
offered Jim and his wife, Dorrene, the opportunity to travel
extensively to varied locales in Russia, South America,
Europe, New Zealand and Australia among others. Jim's alltime favorite trip with Dorrene was to Africa, where they
went on safari in Kenya and Tanzania. According to crosstables.com, he competed in at least 122 tourneys from 1983
to 2010, achieving a peak rating of 1873.
Larry Rand and Barbara Van Alen write:
"Nothing stopped Jim from playing SCRABBLE. During the
entire time that he was undergoing treatments, it never
mattered how he felt, he was always at club for at least a
few games. Never once did anyone ever hear him complain.
"Barbara knew Jim for about 30 years, when she first started playing tournament and club
SCRABBLE in Phoenix. In 1996, I met Jim for the first time at the Phoenix SCRABBLE Club. He
was at times ornery, and often intimidating over a board, but we became fast friends. When I first
started playing, Jim invited me to his home and helped me progress with my game, and he was a
mentor to his teenage neighbor, Brian Cappelletto.
"Jim actually coaxed me into asking Barbara out and then he served as our 'reverend,' when the
judge did not show up to do the wedding nuptials. Jim pronounced us 'virtual' man and wife. Jim and
Dorrene traveled extensively, and they took three SCRABBLE cruises with us. During the summer
months, the Waits and their family generally spent most of their time up in the Prescott National
Forest, where they had a beautiful cabin. The trip from Mayer, AZ over the potholed dirt road,
through the woods, through the creek, and over the mountains was a real adventure!"
From Mike Baron:
“Jim was a wonderful man who often had a bit of that Cheshire Cat grin. I believe he was the
videographer of the 10th Annual Grand Canyon event in 1990, always willing to help out and add a
smile in any way he could. He was a frequent attendee to the Albuquerque events, and it was
always a pleasure to see and chat with him there. He certainly was a sweet soul who made the
SCRABBLE (and non-SCRABBLE) world a better place."
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From Joel Sherman:
"I was introduced to Jim by my dad on the same night that Brian Cappelletto made his club debut, at
Barbara Van Alen (then Glass)'s Scottsdale home in 1985. I was warned that Jim played a lot of
phonies, and it was even a point of joyful pride to him to get them by. That was definitely one of the
things that put that twinkle in his eye, and back then, it was good enough to make him an expertlevel player. Brian and I sniffed them out, tho, and as more players became capable of doing so, his
division status dropped a bit, but he was still wily, competitive and warm as long as dad and I knew
him. His smile will be missed."
From Laurie Cohen:
"I liked Jim a lot. One moment comes to mind. Probably about 10 years ago, we were playing at the
Phoenix club and after the game, he told me that I missed a really good play with the word
VERVAIN. The very next game, I had the same letters on my rack and played VERVAIN! I excitedly
pointed the play out to him. He didn't say anything, but just smiled and gave me that characteristic
wink. Since then, I've always thought of him (and the wink!) whenever I've seen that word. I'll
always have fond memories of the games I played against him at club and at tournaments in
Phoenix, the Grand Canyon, Tucson, Albuquerque, and others. He was always a tough opponent -intense, but then always complimentary of your good plays, whether he won or lost. Nice to read
everyone's fond remembrances. I'll miss him!"
From Brian Cappelletto:
"Jim Wait is the one who introduced me to the tournament scene, back in 1985. I grew up with his
kids, and lived a few houses down and across the street, 10th Place. His two older kids, Charlie and
Laura, babysat me on numerous occasions, and I often hung out with his two younger kids, Scott
and Holly. Jim and his wife Dorrene always looked out for the neighborhood and those who lived in
it.
“My mom started taking some classes when I was 9 or 10 years old or so (this is 1979-1980 or so),
ones that would be integral to starting her career in architecture a couple of years later.
“I seem to remember Monday night was the usual night that she would be at classes, and on those
nights, I would go over to the Waits' house and they would watch me until my mom came back from
her classes. At some point during that period, I learned that Jim played tournament SCRABBLE. I
was intrigued, because I had started playing with my mom and my grandparents when I was about 7
years old. I got to a point where I rarely lost to them. I thought I could beat anybody, but in reality, I
had no idea.
"It didn’t take long for me to know why his kids never wanted to play SCRABBLE with him. I was
absolutely destroyed in many games, and it took me a long time to finally win my first game against
him. He never let anybody win, and it was my job to challenge off the phonies. I must have been
crazy to want to keep playing. I’m sure his kids thought so, anyway, though they would often implore
me to crush him. I became their proxy. He would spot me the book but it didn’t matter. I started
figuring a few things out along the way, and I did start winning occasionally. After my mom had
finished her courses and started her career, I didn’t go there on Monday nights as before, but at
subsequent neighborhood gatherings, Jim and I would sneak off to play a few games. Jim Wait has
the best lifetime record against me. (Sorry, Nigel.)
"About the time I started high school he mentioned the Wednesday night club at Barbara Van Alen’s
house. In the second half of my sophomore year, in 1985, I finally took the plunge. I was paired with
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Jim Lamerand in my first game, and having been forged by my experiences in those earlier games, I
was determined to not allow any phonies to stand. Big mistake, that was. I would go 1-3 that night.
And yes, I did play Joel Sherman that night at club, also his debut, as he mentioned in his post.
Joel beat me by 6 or 7 points, and it was a close and exciting game. So yeah, after that night, I was
hooked, and I was determined to get better. Jim would honk the horn every Wednesday night
outside our house and off we went to play at Barbara’s house.
"Reading Larry Rand’s post, I could definitely see that story happening as he told it. If Jim had
some advice or wisdom to share, he didn’t hesitate. He did warn me from time to time not to let the
game take over my life, but at the same time I think he got a kick out of seeing me do well. It is a
fine line, and he could see that keeping balance was hard if one wanted to reach the pinnacle of the
game. He himself had great balance in his life with family, business, and extensive neighborhood
and community involvement. In some strange way, it all worked out, and I wouldn’t trade the overall
experience for anything. Maybe I would have eventually found the game if I never grew up on 10th
Place, or maybe not, but I think it would have been less likely had I not found someone early on who
was willing to keep letting me try until I finally succeeded. Larry and I are living proof of Jim’s
generosity of spirit. Where would we be today if not for him?
"We lost one of a kind, and anybody whose life was touched by Jim knows this too well. I’m going to
miss showing up at the same events and catching up, whether it’s hearing about what his family
was up to, and otherwise discussing what was going on. May Jim rest in peace."
Friends of Jim Wait are asked to please consider a donation to Hospice of the Valley, 1510 E.
Flower St., Phoenix, AZ 85014; Camelback Kiwanis Memorial Fund, 1426 W. Luke, Phoenix, AZ
85013; or All Saints Church.
______________________________________________________________________________
ALLAN SHOEBRIDGE
Allan Shoebridge, from Surrey, British Columbia, died in June after
a long battle with cancer.
A talented SCRABBLE® player, Allan befriended many Scrabblers
online playing in “Mad Scrabblers” games. His online friend Jean
Le Duc remembers Allan fondly:
“Allan and I met via a random game on the Internet around 3-4
years ago and became FB friends because we enjoyed playing
with each other, but we never met in person. Over the years we
had some fierce games where banter was the norm--especially as
to which team, the Giants (me) or the Bears (Allan) was the best
football team. We often talked about how fun it would be to meet
one day at a game and have a tailgate SCRABBLE game. Unfortunately that never happened. This
morning I realized that we still had a game going in which he was kicking my ass. His last posting to
me (which I only saw a few minutes ago) said, "I hope to meet you before I die.” I'm so sad that this
won't happen either. RIP Allan, I miss you already.”
Allan is survived by another Facebook SCRABBLE player: his son Bryan Shoebridge.
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NORA EPHRON
Writer and filmmaker Norah Ephron died on June 26 in
Manhattan from pneumonia brought on by acute myeloid
leukemia. She was 71.
Widely known for her hit films “Sleepless in Seattle,” “When
Harry Met Sally,” “You’ve Got Mail,” and “Julie & Julia,” Epron
was a journalist, an essayist, a playwright, a blogger, a
screenwriter, and a movie director. She was also an excellent
SCRABBLE® player, and her 2007 New York Times column
“Addicted to L-U-V,” which chronicled her addiction to online
SCRABBLE®, touched home with many: http://
www.nytimes.com/2007/05/13/opinion/13ephron.html?
_r=1&ref=noraephron
The first film Ephron directed, in 1992, was “This Is My Life,” based on the novel of the same title by
Meg Wolitzer, also a Scrabbler. Wolitzer remembers her good friend:
"The first time I played SCRABBLE with Nora, on her first move she blithely laid down
HOME(R)ING. I was impressed. She had an eye for Bingos, books, films, food, and friendship,
among many other things. What a loss."
Nora Ephron is survived by her sons Jacob and Max, her husband Nicholas Pileggi, and her three
sisters, Delia, Amy, and Hallie.
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SCRABBLE®
Resources
There are many study tools to
help SCRABBLE® players
hone their skills, including a
number of programs that can
be downloaded for free. This
section will offer suggestions
and links for both players and
directors.
Play Online
SCRABBLE®
POGO SCRABBLE®
The official SCRABBLE®
online game. Created under
agreement with Hasbro in
2008.
SCRABBLE® ON
FACEBOOK
Select the SCRABBLE®
application on the Facebook
home page to play the official
SCRABBLE® game. Various
groups hold tournaments at
this site, including a group
called “Mad Scrabblers”.
INTERNET
SCRABBLE® CLUB
A Romanian-based site and
application for interactive
games. A favorite site for
many of the top players.
Play Live
SCRABBLE®
CROSS-TABLES
Lists all upcoming
tournaments, as well as
results of past tournaments.
Has SCRABBLE®
tournament aides.
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NASPA CLUB LISTINGS
WORDLIST PRO 2.0
Lists competitive clubs
throughout North America
with their meeting times and
locations.
Android 2.2+ app for
practicing anagramming skills
and learning words. Also
functions as Word Judge.
Lightning fast word searches.
Supports TWL06, OSPD4,
CSW12, and CSW12 unique
words.
NSA CLUB LISTINGS
Lists casual clubs throughout
North America with their
meeting times and locations.
WGPO CLUB LISTINGS
Lists clubs throughout North
America with their meeting
times and locations.
Apps for Scrabblers
ZARF
A free multipurpose iPhone/
iPad utility for SCRABBLE®
players in any language. It
provides word list lookup,
pattern matching,
tournament-style adjudication
and a timer customized for
tournament SCRABBLE®
play.
ZYZZYVA/ZYZZYVA
LITE
iPhone app for practicing
anagramming skills and
learning words. Zyzzyva
includes Quiz, Search, and
Judge functions; Cardbox
Managment; Dropbox Sync;
Custom Lexicon Support; and
Lexicon Symbols. Zyzzva
Lite (free) includes Search
and Judge functions; Custom
Lexicon Import; and Lexicon
Symbols. You can sync quiz
data between the iPhone app
and the desktop program.
CROSSWORD GAME
SCORESHEET
This app keeps track of
scoring in crossword games
such as SCRABBLE®.
SCRABBLE®
Play SCRABBLE® on your
iPhone/iPad. Teacher feature
allows you to see what your
best word could have been
after every turn. Now also
available for Android devices:
click here.
SCRABBLE® TILE
RACK
Turns your iPhone or iPad
Touch into a SCRABBLE® tile
rack. For use with an iPad.
WORDS WITH FRIENDS
The popular SCRABBLE®
variant for your iPhone/iPad.
Anagramming/
Practice Tools
JUMBLETIME
A free web site for practicing
anagramming skills.
MAC USERS: After you do a
Jumbletime quiz on a Mac,
the scroll bar to view the
results is missing. To make it
S
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appear, go to the lower right
corner and grab the striped
triangle and shrink the window
all the way to the top left corner.
When you pull it back, the scroll
bar to the right of the answers
to the quiz appears.
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An electronic handheld
dictionary and anagrammer,
with many helpful options and
games. Includes the latest
word lists, and can be adjusted
from OSPD4 to OWL2 lists with
a code.
AEROLITH
A free application for practicing
anagramming skills and
learning words.
QUACKLE
A free application for playing,
simulating, and analyzing
games.
ZYZZYVA
A free application for practicing
anagramming skills and
learning words. Also has Word
Judge capabilities.
SCRABBLE®
DICTIONARY
Type a word to check for
acceptability. OSPD4 words.
CLICK HERE TO HELP
END WORD HUNGER AS
YOU LEARN WORDS
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Players’ Dictionary, offers lighthearted humor, daily word lists,
and more. Admission is to all
SCRABBLE® lovers.
WGPO Listserv
([email protected]
m)
This group, open to all
members of the tournament
community, is a forum for issues
of interest to SCRABBLE®
players. No approval of any
kind is needed to join, and
readers need not be members
of the Word Game Player’s
Organization (WGPO).
A free vocabulary testing site.
For every correct word, grains
of rice are donated through the SCRABBLE® Blogs
THE BADQOPH
United Nations World Food
Program. Feed hungry people
DIRECTORY
as you expand your vocabulary! This is a database of blogs by
known SCRABBLE® bloggers,
Online SCRABBLE®
primarily tournament players.
As of March 29th there were
Discussion Groups
196 blogs in the directory.
CGP ([email protected])
This group, for NASPA
LEXIFIND SCRABBLE®
HELPER AND WORD GAME tournament players and
directors only, has the largest
WIZARD WORDFINDER
membership of any online
FOR GOOGLE CHROME
tournament SCRABBLE®
A full-board SCRABBLE® worddiscussion group. Most
finder program that shows you
important events and changes
every word that can possibly be
in the SCRABBLE® world are
made on an entire
discussed on cgp. Admission is
SCRABBLE® board, and
by approval only. Details can be
continuously updates its results
found at http://sasj.com/cgp/
as you type letters onto the
join.html.
board or into the rack. Full
version available at http://bit.ly/
OSPD (ospdecwHPt
FRANKLIN SCRABBLE®
PLAYERS DICTIONARY
R
Cheat Sheets
MIKE BARON’S CHEAT
SHEET
A great cheat sheet with 2s, 3s,
vowel dumps, short high-pointtile words, and good bingo
stems. Includes useful front
and back hook letters to make
3s from 2s. Adapted from Mike
Barron’s SCRABBLE®
Wordbook and the Official
Tournament and Club Word
List, 2nd Edition.
MIKE BARON’S CHEAT
[email protected] SHEET (for School
om)
SCRABBLE® and home
This group, dedicated to players play)
using The Official SCRABBLE®
79
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S
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A great cheat sheet with 2s, 3s,
vowel dumps, short high-pointtile words, and good bingo
stems. Includes useful front
and back hook letters to make
3s from 2s. Adapted from Mike
Barron’s SCRABBLE®
Wordbook and the Official
SCRABBLE® Players
Dictionary, 4th Edition.
John Chew’s software for
managing tournaments.
COOL WORDS TO KNOW
For School SCRABBLE® and
home play.
A terrific cheat sheet from the
National SCRABBLE®
Association for School
SCRABBLE® and home play.
Gives useful information on how
to find bingos, plus the 2s, 3s,
vowel dumps, and short highpoint-tile plays.
COLLINS WORD LISTS
Useful links to Collins word lists
can be found at the following
websites: http://
www.absp.org.uk/words/
words.html; http://
www.math.utoronto.ca/jjchew/
scrabble/lists/; http://
www.scrabble.org.au/words/
index.htm; http://
members.ozemail.com.au/
~rjackman/.
Books
BOB’S BIBLE
A terrific book to build word
power for tournaments.
BOB’S BIBLE, SCHOOL
EDITION
BOB’S BRITISH BIBLE
The ideal book for learning
CWL12 (Collins) words.
(Reviewed in this issue.)
BOB’S COLOR-CODED
BRITISH BIBLE
The ideal book for learning
CWL12 (Collins) words, with
color-coded entries for easy
identification. (Reviewed in this
issue.)
BROW-RAISERS II
A brilliantly organized study
guide geared towards the
success of beginning and
intermediate players.
HOW TO PLAY
SCRABBLE® LIKE A
Tournament
Management Software CHAMPION
A new guide to winning
DIRECTOR!
SCRABBLE® from World
Marc Levesque’s software for
managing tournaments. Also
has a Yahoo user group you
can join as a support option.
TOURNEYMAN
Jeff Widergren’s software for
managing tournaments.
TSH
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vocabulary, organized by word
length, familiarity, and part of
speech.
EVERYTHING
SCRABBLE®, THIRD
EDITION
The ultimate guide to winning at
SCRABBLE@ by 3-time
National Champion Joe Edley
and John D. Williams, Jr.
Completely updated to include
all new words. (See review in
the January issue of The Last
word.)
THE OFFICIAL
SCRABBLE® PLAYERS
DICTIONARY, FOURTH
EDITION
The official word source for
School SCRABBLE® and
casual play.
THE OFFICIAL
TOURNAMENT AND
CLUB WORD LIST, 2ND
EDITION
The official word source for
NASPA tournament and club
play.
SCRABBLE®
TOURNAMENT & CLUB
WORD LIST (COLLINS)
The official word list for
international tournament play.
(Available at SamTimer.com.)
SCRABBLE® Champion Joel
Wapnick. Fantastic insights into
expert playing techniques. (See SCRABBLE®
review in the October issue of
WORDBOOK
The Last Word.)
A great word book for
SCRABBLE® players by Mike
ENGLISH LANGUAGE
Baron. OSPD4 words. (POO
WORD BUILDER
Lists available with words
Bob Jackman’s guide to
excluded from the OWL2.)
building a strong Collins
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Tournament Calendar
Our new calendar format addresses two concerns: 1) Readers wanted as complete a list as
possible of tournament dates, not just two months worth of dates; 2) Readers wanted to know easily
whether a tournament was sanctioned by NASPA, WGPO, or the NSA (or was unrated).
However, because new tournaments are constantly being added to the schedule, it is difficult to be
all-inclusive. Please be sure to refer to the Websites of the organization sanctioning the tournament
for a complete list. Click NASPA, WGPO, or NSA for the most up-to-date calendars. Links to
NASPA and some NSA tournaments are also posted at cross-tables.com.
Thanks to Henry Leong, who permitted The Last Word to adapt his calendar from the WGPO
Website.
Dates
Organization
Tournament/Location
JULY
7/3-4
WGPO
RENO NV (LATE BIRD)
7/3
NASPA
WILMINGTON DE -- LCT
7/5-8
NASPA
WILMINGTON DE (TWL)
7/7-8
NASPA
NACOGDOCHES TX
7/7-8
NASPA
TCC -- OAKLAND CA
7/7-8
NASPA
OMAHA NE
7/8
NASPA
BERKELEY CA
7/10
NASPA
INDEPENDENCE, OH - LCT
7/13-15
NASPA
LINDEN MI
7/14
NASPA
SAN ANTONIO TX
7/15
NASPA
GUELPH ON CAN
7/15
NASPA
PHILADELPHIA PA (TWL & COLLINS)
7/15
NASPA
PORTLAND OR
7/20-22
NASPA
TORONTO ON CAN (TWL & CSW)
7/21
NASPA
TCC-CLARKSBURG WV
7/21
NASPA
DALLAS TX
7/21-22
NASPA
TCC & TWL -- FINDLAY OH
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7/21
WGPO
MADISON WI
7/27-29
NASPA
OLD GREENWICH CT (TWL & COLLINS)
7/28
NASPA
AUSTIN TX (TWL & COLLINS)
7/28
NASPA
FORT LAUDERDALE FL
7/29
WGPO
DETROIT MI
AUGUST
8/2
NASPA
AKRON OH - LCT
8/3-8
WGPO
WGPO WORD CUP - BLOOMINGTON MN
(TWL & EB & PAIRS & CLABBERS & SPEED
& TAG TEAM)
8/5
NASPA
ASHEVILLE NC
8/5
NASPA
BERKELEY CA
8/5
NASPA
BRATTLEBORO VT
8/11-15
NASPA
NATIONAL SCRABBLE CHAMPIONSHIP ORLANDO FL (TWL & COLLINS)
8/18
NASPA
DALLAS TX
8/18
NASPA
EDMONTON AB CAN
8/18-26
NASPA
IRELAND TOUR AND TOURNAMENT
8/18
NASPA
LEVITTOWN PA
8/19
NASPA
GUELPH ON CAN
8/19
WGPO
MILL VALLEY CA
8/25
NASPA
AUSTIN TX (TWL & COLLINS)
8/25
NASPA
BAYSIDE NY
8/25
NASPA
FORT LAUDERDALE FL
8/25-26
NASPA
TCC -- RICHMOND BC CAN
8/25
NASPA
STRATFORD ON CAN
8/31-9/3
NASPA
PORTLAND OR
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SEPTEMBER
9/1-3
NASPA
ALPHARETTA GA
9/1-3
NASPA
IRVING TX
9/1-3
NASPA
NEW YORK NY (TWL & COLLINS)
9/8-9
WGPO
ALBUQUERQUE NM
9/9
NASPA
BERKELEY CA
9/9
NASPA
NEWARK DE
9/11
NASPA
INDEPENDENCE, OH - LCT
9/15
NASPA
DALLAS TX
9/15
NASPA
HUDSON OH
9/15-16
NASPA
NEW ORLEANS (KENNER) LA
9/15
NASPA
MILLBURN NJ
9/16
NASPA
GUELPH ON CAN
9/21-23
NASPA
TORONTO ON CAN
9/22
NASPA
NORWALK CT (REGULAR & YOUTH
DIVISIONS)
9/22
NASPA
REGINA SK CAN
9/23
NASPA
PHILADELPHIA PA (TWL & COLLINS)
9/24-10/3
NASPA
EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN CRUISE
9/27-30
WGPO
GRITS III, SAVANNAH GA
9/27-30
WGPO
GRUNTS, BENZONIA MI
9/28-29
NASPA
BLOOMINGTON MN
9/28-29
NASPA
CHARLESTON WV
9/29
WGPO
PHOENIX AZ
9/29
NASPA
ASBURY PARK NJ
9/29
NASPA
AUSTIN TX (TWL & COLLINS)
9/29
NASPA
FORT LAUDERDALE FL
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9/29-30
NASPA
NACOGDOCHES TX
OCTOBER
10/4
NASPA
LCT - AKRON OH
10/6
NASPA
CAMBRIDGE ON CAN
10/6-20
WGPO
NEW ENGLAND & CANADA CRUISE (TWL &
COLLINS)
10/6
NASPA
NORWALK CT (REGULAR & YOUTH
DIVISIONS)
10/7
NASPA
BERKELEY CA
10/7
NASPA
BETHEL CT
10/7
NASPA
GUELPH ON CAN
10/7
NASPA
LAGUNA WOODS CA
10/10-14
NASPA
CALGARY AB CAN
10/12-14
WGPO
WISCONSIN DELLS WI
10/13-14
NASPA
INDEPENDENCE OH
10/13
NASPA
PHILADELPHIA PA (TWL & COLLINS)
10/14
NASPA
BAYSIDE NY
10/14
NASPA
TCC- GREATER TORONTO ON CAN
10/18-21
NASPA
LAKE GEORGE NY (TWL & COLLINS)
10/20-21
NASPA
ASHEVILLE NC
10/20
NASPA
DALLAS TX
10/27
NASPA
AUSTIN TX (TWL & COLLINS)
10/27
NASPA
BERLIN NJ
10/27
NASPA
CHICAGO IL
10/27-28
NASPA
TCC - CAN-AM CHALLENGE, MILLBURN NJ
10/27
NASPA
FORT LAUDERDALE FL
10/27
NASPA
SOUTH LYON MI
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NOVEMBER
11/2-4
NASPA
CAMBRIDGE MD
11/2-4
NASPA
FALMOUTH MA
11/2-4
NASPA
CALIFORNIA OPEN, SAN FRANCISCO CA
11/3
NASPA
BRANTFORD ON CAN
11/3
NASPA
EDMONTON AB CAN
11/3
NASPA
PITTSBURGH PA
11/4
NASPA
LAGUNA WOODS CA
11/4
NSA
(SCHOOL)
TERROR OF THE TILES SCHOOL SCRABBLE,
STAMFORD CT
11/10
NASPA
NORWALK CT (REGULAR & YOUTH
DIVISIONS)
11/11
NASPA
BERKELEY CA
11/11
NASPA
GUELPH ON CAN
11/13
NASPA
INDEPENDENCE, OH - LCT
11/17
NASPA
BAYSIDE NY
11/17
NASPA
DALLAS TX
11/17
NASPA
FORT LAUDERDALE FL
11/23-25
NASPA
TARRYTOWN NY
DECEMBER
12/1
NASPA
CALGARY AB CA
12/1-2
NASPA
FORT LAUDERDALE FL
12/2
NASPA
BERKELEY CA
12/2
NASPA
LAGUNA WOODS CA
12/2-18
WGPO
MALAGA TO RIO DE JANEIRO CRUISE
12/6
NASPA
AKRON OH - LCT
12/9
NASPA
GUELPH ON CAN
12/9
NASPA
PHILADELPHIA PA (TWL & COLLINS)
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12/9
NASPA
STRONGSVILLE OH
12/15
NASPA
DALLAS TX
12/15-16
NASPA
LAGUNA WOODS CA
12/22-25
NASPA
WILMINGTON DE (TWL & COLLINS)
12/27-1/1
NASPA
ALBANY NY (TWL & COLLINS)
JANUARY ’13
1/16-28
WGPO
AUSTRALIA-NEW ZEALAND CRUISE
1/12
NASPA
BAYSIDE NY
1/19-21
NASPA
NEW ORLEANS LA (TWL & COLLINS)
1/26-28
NASPA
ATLANTIC CITY NJ
FEBRUARY ’13
2/9-10
NASPA
NORWALK CT (REGULAR & YOUTH
DIVISIONS)
2/9
NASPA
NACOGDOCHES TX
2/10
NASPA
PHILADELPHIA PA (TWL & COLLINS)
2/13-18
NASPA
LAS VEGAS NV (TWL & COLLINS)
2/15-18
NASPA
TENTATIVE - EASTERN CHAMPIONSHIP,
CHARLOTTE NC
2/15
WGPO
PHOENIX AZ EARLY BIRD
2/16-18
WGPO
PHOENIX AZ (TWL & COLLINS)
2/22-24
NASPA
SARATOGA SPRINGS NY
MARCH ’13
3/8
WGPO
INDIALANTIC FL
3/9
NASPA
BAYSIDE NY
3/10
NASPA
PHILADELPHIA PA (TWL & COLLINS)
3/15-17
NASPA
HOUSTON TX
3/15-17
NASPA
POUGHKEEPSIE NY
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3/22-24
NASPA
PRINCETON NJ
APRIL ’13
4/13-14
NASPA
EDMONTON AB CAN
4/20
NASPA
NORWALK CT (REGULAR & YOUTH
DIVISIONS)
4/21
NASPA
PHILADELPHIA PA (TWL & COLLINS)
4/27-28
NASPA
WEBSTER NY
MAY ’13
5/2-11
NASPA
BERMUDA & CARIBBEAN TREASURES
CRUISE
5/3-5
NASPA
NEW YORK NY
5/18
NASPA
BAYSIDE NY
5/19
NASPA
PHILADELPHIA PA (TWL & COLLINS)
5/23-27
NASPA
SACRAMENTO CA
5/23-27
NASPA
TARRYTOWN NY
5/25-27
NASPA
IRVING TX
JUNE ’13
6/8
NASPA
NORWALK CT (REGULAR & YOUTH
DIVISIONS)
6/15
NASPA
BAYSIDE NY
6/15-26
WGPO
ITALY - CROATIA CRUISE
JULY ’13
7/2-7
NASPA
ALBANY NY (TWL & COLLINS)
7/19-21
NASPA
OLD GREENWICH CT
7/27
NASPA
BAYSIDE NY
AUGUST ’13
8/31-9/2
NASPA
WILMINGTON DE
SEPT. ’13
9/21
NASPA
NORWALK CT (REGULAR & YOUTH
DIVISIONS)
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9/28
NASPA
BAYSIDE NY
OCT. ’13
10/17-20
NASPA
LAKE GEORGE NY
10/26
NASPA
NORWALK CT (REGULAR & YOUTH
DIVISIONS)
NOV. ’13
11/16
NASPA
NORWALK CT (REG. & YOUTH DIVISIONS)
10/23
NASPA
BAYSIDE NY
11/29-12/1
NASPA
TARRYTOWN NY
DEC. ’13
12/21-25
NASPA
WILMINGTON DE
MARCH ’14
3/21-23
NASPA
POUGHKEEPSIE NY
MAY ’14
5/22-26
NASPA
SACRAMENTO CA
5/23-26
NASPA
TARRYTOWN NY
JULY ’14
7/18-20
NASPA
OLD GREENWICH CT
AUGUST ’14
8/30-9/1
NASPA
NEW YORK NY
NOVEMBER ’14
11/28-30
NASPA
DECEMBER ’14 NASPA
12/23-28
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WILMINGTON DE
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Archives
To download previous issues of The Last Word click here.
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