The Last Word 2 - Portland Scrabble® Clubs

Transcription

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The Last Word
The Independent Tournament SCRABBLE® Newsletter
A Monthly Newsletter
Issue 2 - December 2009
Player Profiles
Online Play
This Month’s Special:
Tournament Results
Book Reviews
Humor
Holiday Bazaar
The Last Word is an independent publication for tournament SCRABBLE® players. It is not is
affiliated with Hasbro, Mattel, the North American SCRABBLE® Players Association (NASPA), or
the National SCRABBLE® Association (NSA). Our mission is to provide content of interest to all
tournament SCRABBLE® players, so please let us know if there are topics you would like us to
add. We welcome contributions: stories, artwork, etc. Contact [email protected].
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
Monthly Columnists: Joe Bihlmeyer, Cheryl Cadieux, Diane
Firstman, Stu Goldman, James Leong, Katya Lezin, Art Moore,
Ember Nelson, Larry Sherman, Chris Sinacola, Siri Tilleterakne,
Joe Bihlmeyer, Katya Lezin, Diane Firstman, Linda Wancel.
The Last Word is a volunteer effort. We
appreciate your donations.
Editors-at-large: Robin Pollock Daniel, Joe Edley, Stefan Fatsis,
Ted Gest.
Contributors: Jeff Clark, Angela Dancho, Bennett Jacobstein, Thea
McGivney, Thomas Patton, Juraj Pivovarov, Ann Sanfedele,
Michael Tang
Support our Advertisers:
Visit the Holiday Bazaar!
A special thanks to Aaron Daly and Keith Hagel for their enormous
contributions.
Copyright©2009 GuessWhat! Some data copyright©1999-2009 NSA; copyright©2009 NASPA; and copyright© 2005-2009 Seth Lipkin and
Keith Smith.
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Table of Contents
From the Editor
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Holiday Bazaar
5
Tournament News
12
Rocky Mountain Rumble by Angela Dancho
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Second Annual California Open by Bennett Jacobstein
November Results
New Faces
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SUM Clabbers Tournament
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Causeway Challenge: 12/2-6
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The Wordsmith by Chris Sinacola
Video Joe by Joe Bihlmeyer
SCRABBLE® in the News
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Player Profile: Heather Steffy and Michael Bassett by Katya Lezin
Diane’s DEFALTS by Diane Firstman
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The Mad Scrabblers by Cornelia Guest
Linda’s Library by Linda Wancel
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The Art of Strategy by Art Moore
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Ann Sanfedele: Photographer, Poet, Artist, SCRABBLE® Player by Cornelia Guest
Stell’s Racks of Mirth by Cheryl L. Cadieux
The Tile Bag James Leong, Editor
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Anagram Tunnel Quiz by Juraj Pivovarov
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Book Review: Everything SCRABBLE®, 3rd Edition by Cornelia Guest
Club News Larry Sherman, Editor
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Word Trivia Quiz by Siri Tilleterakne
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Historic Moments: SCRABBLE® Throughout the Years by Stu Goldman
Fill in the Blanks by Darin True
Passages Larry Sherman, Editor
SCRABBLE® Resources
Tournament Calendar
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From the Editor
Wow! Thanks to the many, many readers who sent praise for the November issue of The Last Word.
We now have a strong subscriber base, which includes NASPA members, casual players, online
players, and Youth Players. We hope to provide articles, artwork, humor, quizzes, and games of
interest to all these readers. (If you would like to join this group and have The Last Word emailed to
you directly, please send your email address to [email protected].)
Noah Walton’s SCRABBLE® Crossword in the last issue was extremely popular--thanks, Noah!
While word puzzles are hard to do online, they can be easily printed. We’d love to be able to offer
more puzzles in the future--if other contributors are out there, please let me know!
This month’s Newsletter includes popular features by monthly columnists Chris Sinacola (“The
Wordsmith”), Katya Lezin (“Player Profile”), James Leong (“The Tile Bag”), Siri Tilleterakne (“Word
Trivia Quiz”), and Stu Goldman (“Historic Moments”). Their columns now have a strong following,
and I appreciate their continued support. We also welcome seven new faces to the editorial pool:
Larry Sherman, who will be editing “Club News” and “Passages”; Cheryl Cadieux, whose humorous
look at SCRABBLE® will be showcased in “Stell’s Racks of Mirth” (we wish her the best after her
recent surgery); Art Moore, who will be sharing his Facebook discussion-board tips in “The Art of
Strategy”; Diane Firstman, whose amusing “alternative” word definitions will be featured in “Diane’s
DEFALTS”; Joe Bihlmeyer, whose popular YouTube SCRABBLE® rants will be posted in “Video
Joe”; and Linda Wancel, who will be reviewing her favorite fiction and nonfiction in “Linda’s Library”.
Thanks to Keith Hagel and Aaron Daly, whose workloads are demanding they step aside for the
time being; their contributions have been enormous.
With the holidays weeks away, we have gathered a collection of must-have items for SCRABBLE®
players in our “Holiday Bazaar.” We hope you’ll take the time to look through our many offerings-and support our advertisers. We also welcome contributions--The Last Word is a volunteer effort.
Among this month’s features are stories on the California Open and
the Rocky Mountain Open; a look at the popular new online
tournament group, Mad Scrabblers; a book review of the longanticipated third edition of Joe Edley and John D. Williams, Jr.’s
Everything SCRABBLE®; a profile of Heather Steffy and Michael
Bassett, a couple who met online; and a profile of Ann Sanfedele,
longtime photographer of SCRABBLE® history.
The big news, of course, is the recent World SCRABBLE®
Championship in Malaysia, won by Pakorn Nemitrmansuk of
New World Champion Pakorn
Thailand. In the next issue we will be featuring a story on the WSC
Nemitrmansuk (Photo by Sam
from Sam Kantimathi, one of the U.S. team players, who is now at
Kantimathi)
the Causeway Challenge. For details on the WSC go to http://
www.wscgames.com/2009/index.html. Congratulations to Pakorn Nemitrmansuk, the new World
Champion--and all the other superb players who competed!
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Our recent survey indicated that readers would like more information on upcoming tournaments.
We’ve now added a short tournament calendar, with links to flyers when available. However, for the
most up-to-date tournament news, consult the NASPA Calendar; and for information on players
entered, visit cross-tables.com, a treasure chest of useful SCRABBLE® information.
Readers would also like to see more strategy and game analysis. Players who are interested in
contributing in these areas are invited to contact me at [email protected].
Cornelia Guest
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 Holiday Bazaar 
Welcome to the Holiday Bazaar, where you’ll ﬁnd items galore for holiday giving--equipment, books,
software, notecards, calendars, jewelry, games, apparel, and much, much more! Support our vendors
this holiday season! (Use code: TLW)
Please note: Be sure to mention ordering code TLW when you order. The Last Word makes no representations about our
advertisers and we will not respond to queries about the products. If you have questions, please contact the advertisers directly.
If you would like to advertise in the next issue please send an email to: [email protected]
Boards
Books
SamBoards: SamBoards come in round, Bananagrams! The Official Book: A
square or apple shapes. Green or beige
playing surface is amazingly nonreflective; in Wood, Acrylic, Steel.
www.samtimer.com
Bob’s Bible, School Edition: For School
Scrabblers and players using the Official
SCRABBLE® Players Dictionary. $14.50.
Available at Amazon.com.
complete guide to the anagram game
sensation by word master Joe Edley.
$8.95. Available at Amazon.com.
Brow-Raisers II: A brilliantly organized
Custom SCRABBLE® Boards:
Creative custom boards for the
SCRABBLE® afficianado since 2001.
www.customscrabbleboards.com
study guide geared towards the success
of beginning and intermediate players.
$22.00. http://www.browraisers.com.
Bob’s Bible: The ultimate guide to
building word power. $14.95. Available at
Amazon.com.
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Everything SCRABBLE, Third Edition: The Official SCRABBLE® Players
The ultimate guide to winning at
Dictionary, Illustrated Edition:
SCRABBLE@ by 3-time National
Champion Joe Edley and John D.
Williams, Jr. Completely updated to
include all new words. (See review this
issue.) $11.55. Available at
Amazon.com.
Illustrated hardcover edition of the
OSPD4; $23.10. Available at
Amazon.com.
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SCRABBLE® Puzzles Vol. 1: A great
collection of SCRABBLE® puzzles by 3time National Champion Joe Edley.
The Part of Fortune: Poems and
Letterati: An Unauthorized Look at
Scrabble and the People Who Play It:
photographs by Ann Sanfedele (see story
in this issue).$10.96. http://
stores.lulu.com/annsan
Paul McCarthy’s fantastic history of the
development of tournament
SCRABBLE®. $11.53. Available at
Amazon.com.
The Race Toward the Light:
Hardscrabble: SCRABBLE® player
Ember Nelson’s moving story of her
extraordinary daughter Genevieve, who
faced severe physical challenges.
The Official SCRABBLE® Players
Dictionary, Fourth Edition: The official
word source for School SCRABBLE® and
casual play. $7.50. Available at
Amazon.com.
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SCRABBLE® Tournament & Club
Word List (C. Collins): The official word
list for international tournament play.
SCRABBLE® Wordbook: The ultimate
word book for SCRABBLE® players by
Mike Barron. OSPD4 words. $9.95.
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Word Freak: Heartbreak, Triumph,
Genius, and Obsession in the World
of Competitive Scrabble Players: The
best-selling book on the world of
SCRABBLE® by acclaimed author Stefan
Fatsis. $10.88. Available at
Amazon.com.
signs along the byways of North America
by Ann Sanfedele (see story this issue).
$23.65. http://stores.lulu.com/annsan.
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Clothing
The OWL and the Pussycat: For the
word lover in your family: Shirts, sweats,
caps, etc. designed by Ann Sanfedele
(see story this issue). http://
www.cafepress.com/annsanstuff.
Calendars
Ann Sanfedele’s Calendars: A year’s
worth of original rebus puzzles, Sign
Language, Son of Sign Language, and
many more (story in this issue). http://
The Official SCRABBLE® Page-ADay 2010 Daily Boxed Calendar: With
Signs Gone By: 73 color photographs of
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T-shirts: T-shirts for word game players.
http://www.cafepress.com/cornysstuff/
4036798
Cookies & Treats
its clever mix of puzzles and plays, this
calendar offers the fun of a new move
every day while honing skills for the next
Treats for All!: Serving treats at holiday
game. $12.99. Available at Amazon.com. parties? Want a delicious way to include
people with food allergies? Need a gift for
someone with a food allergy? HomeFree
cookies make it easy!
www.homefreetreats.com
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DVDs
DVDs: Akeela and the Bee, Word Wars,
Scrabylon, Spellbound. http://
www.samtimer.com/st-dvds.html
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Home Furnishings &
Kindle: Wireless reading device (6”
display, global wireless, latest
generation). Join the many readers
whose books travel with them on a
Kindle. $259.00 (Eligible for FREE
shipping). Available at Amazon.com.
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Accessories
Giant SCRABBLE® Rug: 78” x 78”
100% Nylon area rug. http://
www.samtimer.com
SCRABBLE®: The updated
Scrabbalution: 90-minute DVD, with fun
and information about America’s favorite
word game--and more than a dozen
insights to the way the champions see the
board and look for high-scoring plays.
$49.95 & $5 shh. www.wordgifts.net
Starbucking: A quirky documentary
(2005) following Scrabbler Winter on his
quest to visit every Starbucks in the
world. $17.99. Available at Amazon.com.
SCRABBLE® game for PlayStation
Portable. $19.99. Available from
Amazon.com.
SCRABBLE® Wine Charms: With
Scrabble wine glass charms, you'll never
again ask "Is that my glass?" Pick up two,
three, or more sets for larger gatherings.
SCRABBLE® SCR-228 Players
Dictionary from Franklin Electronics:
The popular Franklin hand-held
dictionary, updated to include latest
words. $50.82 (eligible for FREE
shipping). Available at Amazon.com.
Jewelry
Equipment: Look under
Boards, Racks, Tiles,
Electronics &
Videogames
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Tile Bags, Timers, Toys
& Games
SCRABBLE® Tile Jewelry: The perfect
present for SCRABBLE® lovers! Give
them their initials, name or a special
message with authentic scrabble tiles set
in sterling silver. As a necklace or
bracelet, this Personalized Gift will
definitely score points!
www.personalizedgiftsinc.com
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SCRABBLE® Tile Jewelry: They may be
tiny, but they are FULL of style! Our
SCRABBLE® Tile Jewelry looks great on
any neck chain, key ring, or cell phone
strap. Tile earrings, too.
www.sandists.com.
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Photographs & Posters
SCRABBLE® Sets
Photographs: Pick from a large selection
(Look under Boards,
of Ann Sanfedele’s photographs of
Scrabblers through the years--or from
Ann’s many other photos (see story this
issue). [email protected].
Toys & Games, Racks,
Tiles, Tile Bags, and
Timers)
Tiles
Name Word List
Personalized Name Word List:
Racks
Personalized list, including 60 of the
highest scoringlegal words, using only the
letters in the recipient's name. A fun
SamRacks: Beautiful wooden long racks
conversation piece for home or the office. with rubberized feet to prevent slipping.
$25 + $6shh. www.wordgifts.net
In two colors of wood.
www.samtimer.com
Notecards
Notecards: Notes for word game players
in a wide variety of designs by Ann
Sanfedele (see story this issue). http://
SmoothTiles: Official tiles of NASPA
NSC09. 25 different color combinations,
including multiple choices of images on
the blanks. http://
www.SmoothTiles.com
SamTiles: Featuring silk-screened
Rugs
Giant SCRABBLE® Rug: 78” x 78”
SamTiles and SamTiles Universal which
fit virtually every board in the world.
http://www.samtimer.com/sttilesWCPRO.html
100% Nylon area rug.
www.samtimer.com
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Tile Bags
Tile Bags: Various styles and colors with
single and double drawstrings.
www.samtimer.com
Timers
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Bananagrams JUMBO Set: Jumbo
double-tile set of the popular
Bananagrams game, with Banana Leaf
score pad. $36.51. Available at
Amazon.com.
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SCRABBLE® Brand Crossword
Game Diamond Edition: This Diamond
Anniversary Edition features sleek black
and silver tiles, a rotating board splashed
with color, curved letter racks and much
more. Folds into a carrying case--for
players 8 and above. $29.00. Available at
Amazon.com.
Bananagrams Set with Banana Leaf
Score Pad: The classic Bananagrams
game with a Banana Lear score pad.
SamTimers: "The King of scrabble
timers" -- SCRABBLE@ News. A choice
of World Championship SamTimers,
inexpensive pocket SamTimers and mini
SamTimers. http://www.SamTimer.com
Super SCRABBLE® Deluxe Edition:
The game with more spaces, more points,
and more tiles! $43.36. Available at
Amazon.com.
Boggle®: The popular wood game-classic edition. $20.45. Available at
Amazon.com.
Toys & Games
Bananagrams: The fast and furious
SCRABBLE® Upwords: The popular 3-
word-building game for all ages. $14.25.
D version of SCRABBLE®. $18.16.
SCRABBLE® Brand Crossword
Game: The standard SCRABBLE®
Brand Crossword Game. $15.27.
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Spanish Edition SCRABBLE® Brand
Crossword Game: Spanish-language
version of the popular game. $24.75.
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SCRABBLE® Apple: A new anagram
tile game that is fun for all ages. $12.16.
Boston Red-Sox SCRABBLE® Brand
Crossword Game: For Boston Red Sox
fans. $29.99. Available at Amazon.com.
Star Trek SCRABBLE® Brand
Crossword Game: Combines Star Trek
and SCRABBLE®. $29.99. Available at
Amazon.com.
Shrek SCRABBLE®: Combines Shrek
3 and SCRABBLE®. $29.99. Available at
Amazon.com.
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Tournament News
For the most up-to-date tournament results and the official calendar of upcoming tournaments,
players should consult the NASPA results and calendar. Detailed information about past and
upcoming tournaments is also posted at www.cross-tables.com. Here we will feature a
tournament or two each issue, plus list winners of recent tournaments. Directors who would like to
submit results and photographs from their tournaments are welcome to send them to
[email protected].
______________________________________________________________________________
2009 Rocky Mountain Rumble
by Angela Dancho
Is hosting a tournament in Denver in November crazy? It hasn’t been for the last two years! We
have had great weather since the revival of the Rocky Mountain Rumble (I hope I didn’t just tempt
fate or doom us for next year by mentioning our luck). This year it was sunny and 75 degrees when
we started at noon on Friday, and the great weather continued throughout the weekend. Of course,
only ten days before we had a foot of snow; but as the joke goes, “If you don’t like the weather in
Colorado, wait 10 minutes and it will change.”
Our tournament was held at the lovely Crystal Inn in Aurora, which is near the airport. The hotel
offers a free airport shuttle and a complimentary hot breakfast buffet, and rooms are equipped with
a fridge and microwave. Our tourney was in the same room as this year’s Can-Am Challenge, and
we hope that some of the word knowledge from the expert players is still lingering around the room.
New Yorker Barbara Epstein took advantage of the great weather to visit the John Denver memorial
in Aspen before playing in the main event.
The Division 1 Early Bird winner was local player Dominick
Mancine, who is currently the top rated player in the state.
Dominick’s record was 4-1 +469, but it is estimated that he
will lose 2 rating points. Hopefully the $100 prize will ease
the pain. Division 2 winner Nancy Druskin (sister of
Denver’s club director Laura Scheimberg) also took home
$100. Newcomer Thomas Patton from Boulder was
undefeated in Division 3. Congrats to Thomas for his
outstanding tournament debut! This was the first
tournament for Julia Van Arsdale and Kim Pettit also –
welcome to the tournament SCRABBLE® scene!
Early Bird winners
Competition in the main event was fierce after a round robin in each division. In Division 1, it went
down to the last game between Laura Scheimberg and Ken Kasney. Ken bested Laura in that final
game, winning the division with a record of 11-6 +477. Dave Johnson took second with a record of
10-7 +636, and Laura came in third, finishing up 10-7 -174.
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Peter Michel dominated Division 2 with a final record of 15-2
+1150 (he was Gibsonized after the 15th round). Ruth Hamilton
and Carlynn Mayer battled for second place, with Ruth
prevailing (11-6 + 549) and Carlynn taking third (10-7 +367).
There were several contenders going into the final round of
Division 3. Local player Rob Siegelca came out on top with a
14-3 +943 record. Another local player, Early Bird Division 3
winner Thomas Patton, was second with a record of 13-4 +763.
Zana Anderson came in third, finishing 12-5 +860.
Div. 1 winners (Missing: Ken Krasney)
Complete results can be found at the NASPA website.
Saturday night there were no games, so players got a chance to explore Aurora. Twelve players plus
the director ventured to DiCiccio’s Italian restaurant for dinner. DiCiccio’s is home to a giant 20-foot
TV screen with opera music videos. The décor is kitschy, but the food is good and reasonably priced.
A few tournament highlights:
• Six bingos were played in a game between Laura
Scheimberg and Dave Johnson, three each. Laura
pointed out that her outplay was OVERKILL.
• Division 1 High Play Award: SEMBLAGE*, 176 pts. by
Wally Schultz.
• Division 2 High Play Award: ZOOIEST, 112 pts. by
Barbara Epstein.
• The Division 3 prize was shared by Zana Anderson
and Marie Irvine, who both scored 98 pts. with
DEFACING and FACTOIDS, respectively.
Local players Scott Newcomb, Div. 3 winner Rob
Siegel, and Early Bird Div. 3 winner Thomas Patton.
A few words from the pile of challenge slips: ROSINOL, OURN*, AZAN, ANEURON*, WRISTERS*,
BREAMED, TENSINGS*, INFESTOR*, MADERIZE, EMOTIC*, UPWING*, REHEATER, POKERING*,
ZEROTH, TERANNES*, UNTILED*, SUBROOT*, FEUS, YEALINGS, MOXA, NABSTER*,
ENOSISES.
Hope to see more of you at next year’s Rumble!
--Angela Dancho, director
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Second Annual California Open
by Bennett Jacobstein
The Second Annual California Open was held in San Francisco on a beautiful, sunny Halloween
weekend. Participants came from 23 U.S. states, 1 Canadian province, and Israel. Wisconsin’s
Peter Armstrong came in first, joining Oregon’s Dave Wiegand (winner of the First California Open
2008).
Continuing the tradition started at the First California
Open, the first, second, and third place finishers and the
first, second, and third place performance finishers were
given medals and serenaded with the California state
song, I Love You, California.
The Sheraton on Fisherman’s Wharf offered
an ideal welcome to San Francisco.
Joining Peter Armstrong on the winners’ podium were
Chris Cree of Texas (2nd), Joel Sherman of New York
(3rd), Wesley Eddings of Texas (1st, Performance),
Paula Catanese of California (2nd, Performance), and
Jim Burlant of Arizona (3rd, Performance).
The tournament was held at the Sheraton located right on
San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf. Many attendees
enjoyed a traditional seafood dinner at Cioppino’s
Restaurant on the Wharf and a post-tournament dim sum
luncheon.
Saturday night featured casual SCRABBLE® play mixed
in with a murder mystery. Who would have believed that
mild-mannered Pat Diener would be the “killer” and that
Jesse Wornum could be a “secret Chippendales dancer.”
Miraculously, after being “murdered” on Saturday night,
John Karris reemerged to go 3-1 on Sunday!
Christiane Tran, Mike Frentz, John Wiley, and
Andrea Michaels dressed in Halloween garb.
Sunday morning once again featured 10-minute massages, helping to relax everyone for the final
four games. Although not yet set, we are hoping to have next year’s California Open back in San
Francisco.
Special thanks to co-directors John Aitken and Ruth Hamilton.
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Tournament
Results 10/21-11/29
CALGARY AB CAN 10/21
1. Eric Tran
2. Gene Rawlins
3. Dave Krook
CALGARY AB CAN 10/22
1. Eric Tran
2. Wendy McGrath
3. Andrew Twiddy
CALGARY AB CAN
10/23-25
1. Jason Hlady
2. Jarett Myskiw
3. Dion Saldanha
4. Sunshine Gudlaugson
ANNAPOLIS MD 10/24
1.
2.
3.
4.
Jeff Cook
Louis Berney
Thomas Ensey
Ruth Shilkret
FT. LAUDERDALE FL
10/24
1.
2.
3.
4.
Ron Tiekert
George Rogers
Claire Ullman
Greg Coons
PLYMOUTH MA (CAPE
COD)10/30-11/1
1.
2.
3.
4.
Richard Buck
Bradley Robbins
Prashanth Seetharam
Katie Christianson
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SAN FRANCISCO CA
(CALIFORNIA OPEN)
10/30-11/1
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BAYSIDE NY 11/7
1. Peter Armstrong
1. Verna Richards Berg
2. James Curley
3. Nancy Konipol
BRANDON MB CAN
10/31-11/1
BRANTFORD ON CAN
11/7
1.
2.
3.
LAGUNA WOODS CA 11/1 4.
5.
1. Bruce D. Ambrosio
1. Brian Williams
2. David Smith
Lou Cornelis
Craig Rowland
Geoff Gibson
Joyce Spalding
Ann Elwood
TAMPA FL 11/7
AURORA CO EARLY
BIRD (ROCKY MOUNTAIN 1. Steve Glass
RUMBLE) 11/6
BERKELEY CA 11/8
1. Dominick Mancine
2. Nancy Druskin
3. Thomas Patton
AURORA CO (ROCKY
MOUNTAIN RUMBLE)
11/7-8
1. Ken Kasney
2. Peter Michel
3. Rob Siegel
FT. LAUDERDALE FL
11/6-8
1.
2.
3.
4.
Ron Tiekert
Larry Gradius
Ralph King
Marilena Souza
ASHEVILLE NC 11/7-8
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
David Gibson
Gerry Smith
Davd Rauppius
Betsey Wood
Emma Garrett
1.
2.
3.
4.
Leesa Berahovich
Isaac Apindi
Jon Demeter
Bharat Sampath
AKRON OH 11/8
1. Pete Ziegler
RHINEBECK NY 11/8
1. Bradley Whitmarsh
2. Jo Anne Cohen
TORONTO ON CAN 11/8
1. Lou Cornelis
WILMINGTON DE 11/8
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
David Koenig
Edward Stewart
Christian Jurlando
Jeffrey Jacobson
Joe Geibler
Mike Johnson
Jan Feidel
Kenneth Hansen
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3. Robin Gates
1. Pakorn Nemitrmansuk
1. Dean Scouloukas
EDMONTON AB CAN
11/21
BATTLE CREEK MI 11/28
BLOOMINGTON MN
(TWIN CITIES) EARLY
BIRD 11/13
1. Juraj Pivovarov
2. Dorothy Klovan
1. Steve Grob
2. Mason Shambach
3. Gary Skowronski
LEXINGTON KY 11/21
DURHAM NC 11/28
INDEPENDENCE OH
(LCT) 11/10
1. David Herfel
ESSEX VT EARLY BIRD
(NAST) 11/13
1. Bradley Whitmarsh
ESSEX VT 11/13-15
1.
2.
3.
4.
Bruce Adams
David Engelhardt
Denise Mahnken
Linley Bingham
BLOOMINGTON MN
(TWIN CITIES) 11/14-15
1.
2.
3.
4.
Joey Mallick
Susan Rhea
Jason Vaysberg
Aaron Mayerson
PITTSBURGH PA 11/14
1. Dorcas Alexander
2. Eileen Narvin
TUCSON AZ 11/14
1. Laurie Cohen
2. Richard Martin
VICTORIA BC CAN 11/14
1. Michelle Eisele
2. Sean McCool
3. Georgianne Fiorini
ROCKY RIVER OH 11/15
1. Marc Broering
2. David Meredith
3. Margaret Pozgay
1. Quentin Read
2. Noah Lieberman
3. Matthew Bernardina
MANCHESTER CT 11/21
ELMHURST IL 11/28-29
1.
2.
3.
4.
Bradley Whitmarsh
John Cheras
Jeffrey Scranton
Neva Slater
PINELLAS PARK, FL
11/21
1. Daniel Hellmann
OSHAWA ON CAN
11/21-22
1.
2.
3.
4.
SOMERS NY SCHOOL
SCRABBLE 11/29
1. Paolo Federico-Omurchu &
Conor McGeehan
2. DeeAnn Guo & Quinn Vissak
VANCOUVER VS.
SEATTLE (RESTRICTED)
11/21
1.
2.
3.
4.
Rafi Stern
Murray Weber
Edward Walton
Lilia Murnane
EAST LANSING MI
(CLABBERS, UNRATED)
11/22
1. Paul Epstein
DALLAS TX 11/21
WORLD SCRABBLE
CHAMPIONSHIP
(MALAYSIA) 11/16-29
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Alan Helfgott
Michael Garner
Bill Rexhausen
Marlena Cannon
Sam Hollington
Trevor Sealy
Shan Abbasi
Norma Lovett
1. Pete Zeigler
1. Michael Early
2. Karen Dacosta
1.
2.
3.
4.
Glenfield Middle School 7th graders
Conor McGeehan and Paolo
Federico-Omurchu won all 6 of their
games to win Div. 1 at the 11/29
Somers NY School Scrabble Tourney.
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New Faces
Since our last issue, 35 new faces have competed at NASPA tournaments. Four of these players
won their divisions at their first tournament: Matthew Bernardina, Division 3 winner at the Durham
NC Tournament 11/28 (8-0 + 683); Aaron Mayerson, Division 4 winner at the Twin Cities MN
Tournament 11/14-15 (10-2 +812); Kenneth Hansen, Division 8 winner at the Wilmington DE
Tournament 11/8 (6-1 +303); and our featured “new face,” Thomas Patton, who actually was playing
in his second sanctioned tournament (his first was in 1997). Patton’s auspicious return was in the
Early Bird Division 3 at the Rocky Mountain Rumble in Aurora CO Friday, November 6th, where he
won all of his games to win with a 5-0 + 541 record--earning a 1529 rating.
______________________________________________________________________________
Thomas Patton
Thomas Patton, 59, a recently retired Postmaster, is not entirely new to the tournament
SCRABBLE® scene. Until 2008 he had worked for 20 years at a small country Post Office on the
island of Maui in the Hawaiian Islands. While living in Hawaii, Patton played SCRABBLE® for a few
years with the now-disbanded Maui Club, and he
played in one tournament--in 1997.
In 2008 Patton moved to Boulder, CO, where his
daughter is attending the University of Colorado (he
also has a son who recently graduated from the
University of California at Santa Cruz).
Prior to playing at the Maui club, Patton had just
been a sporadic “living room” player. The club
opened his eyes to what a totally different world the
competitive SCRABBLE® culture was. The club met
once a week, and Patton would play 3 or 4 games.
His first tournament experience--in Lahaina in 1997-was another eye-opener. “I recall being told before
the tournament that this guy named Joel Sherman
was going to be there, and that he was the ‘World
Champion of SCRABBLE®.’ At the time I had never heard of Joel Sherman and remember being
amused that there was such a thing as a SCRABBLE® world champion! Now I have a much
deeper appreciation of his accomplishment.”
Thomas Patton at the summit of Mt. Chapin,
elevation 12,454 feet, in Rocky Mountain National
Park, Estes Park, CO.
The Maui club disbanded shortly after that tournament, and Patton didn't play at all for about 9
years. “I was raising a family and my job was very time-consuming.” But as his children got older
and he neared retirement from the Post Office, Patton rediscovered SCRABBLE®.
“Around the autumn of 2007 somebody turned me on to the ISC website and I rapidly got rehooked. I've played about 3000 games on line over the past two years. About a month ago I
started going to the local club here in Boulder, CO and found out about the Denver tournament and
thought what the heck, I'll give it a go.”
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Patton made quite a splash in his reentry to tournament SCRABBLE® at the Rocky Mountain
Rumble: In the Early Bird he won all of his games to win his division, and in the Main Event he
finished second in Division 3, 13-4 +763. He looks forward to playing more live SCRABBLE® at the
Denver/Boulder CO Club #185 and at other tournaments.
“I must say it is nice to be playing ‘real people’ and not wondering if they've got an anagrammer
cranking away on the side. The Word Biz site [ISC] is convenient, but it's also cold. I do need to
work on my tile tracking and score tallying skills--the computer made all that so easy.”
Patton’s primary passion in life is mountaineering and "peak bagging." Right now he is working on
climbing/hiking to the summits of the of the 87 highest ranked peaks in Boulder County, which range
from 6000' to 14255'. “I believe that as long as we are alive and able to do so, we were meant to
exercise our minds AND our bodies, so for me SCRABBLE® and mountaineering make a nice one/
two punch.”
Look out SCRABBLE® players--you may be Patton’s next punching bag!
_______________________________________________________________________________
Welcome to Thomas Patton, Matthew Bernardina, Aaron Mayerson,
Kenneth Hansen, and the following other new faces:
BRANDON MB CAN 10/31-11/1: Krista Piche
SAN FRANCISCO CA (CALIFORNIA OPEN) 10/30-11/1: Tom Graim
AURORA CO EARLY BIRD (ROCKY MOUNTAIN RUMBLE) 11/6: Kim A. Pettit, Julia Van Arsdale
ASHEVILLE NC 11/7-8: Jacob Cohen, Ellie R. Dixon, Greg Hatem, Donetta Pedroza, Brandon
Zitzman
BAYSIDE NY 11/7: Emily Lichtman
BRANTFORD ON CAN 11/7: Leighton Campbell, Linda Cockell, Agnes Link, Hugh Middleton
RHINEBECK NY 11/8: Mike Iglinski, Tim Iglinski
TORONTO ON CAN 11/8: Jackson Smylie, Tara Smylie
BLOOMINGTON MN (TWIN CITIES) 11/14-15: Matt Carlson, Haley Golz, Ben Guzik, Emmamarie
Haasi, Mina Le, Michelle Pavleck
PITTSBURGH PA 11/14: David York, Aaron LeClair, Colleen Mackin
VICTORIA BC CAN 11/14: Jordan Campbell, Bryan Haugh, Joanne Leslie
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LEXINGTON KY 11/21: Janet Scheeline
OSHAWA ON CAN 11/21-22: Diane Stanish
VANCOUVER VS. SEATTLE (RESTRICTED) 11/21: Hilary Johnson, Simon Spicer
BATTLE CREEK MI 11/28: Ryan Beeson
DURHAM NC 11/28: Ritchie Hearne
ELMHURST IL 11/28-29: James Nalepka, Willie Smith
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SUM Clabbers Tournament
Tournament winner Paul Epstein with Rodney
Nivison, co-organizer and 3rd place finisher.
Six players competed in a 5-game Round Robin clabbers tourney
at Michigan State University Sunday, November 22. Organized by
Jeff Clark and Rodney Nivison, the event attracted a small but starstudded entry, including Peter Morris, the winner of the first World
Scrabble Championship (1991) and one of the outstanding 5 who
have won both that and a National Scrabble Championship (1989).
Other top players who made a return after almost a decade away
from tournament play were Rod Nivison and Tom Bond. They
were joined by Paul Epstein, Jeff Fiszbein, Margaret Sutherland,
and Diane Craynak, a clabbers “newbie.”
Despite posting the tourney high average score (650) and the 3 highest scores (718, 716, 696),
Peter Morris was not able to beat Paul Epstein (Polyp Stain).
Jeff Clark does not think we will see Peter back on
the scrabble circuit. “We designed this clabbers
tourney to encourage Peter to attend,” said Clark.
“We picked a site less than 10 miles from his
house. Peter admitted his scrabble is rusty. He
played (and got away with) a phoney 4. He played
EDUX thinking that DEUX might be a new word.
But he still has great bingo knowledge. He played
ILEZIBNE for 137 and added YR to IZENCIT for 69.
Paul Epstein is a great player as well, but I believe
the numbers show that it was a fluke that Peter did
not win the tourney. Had this been more than a 5game tourney we would have had different results.
Tournament co-organizer Jeff Clark welcomes back Peter
Morris, one of SCRABBLE®’s all-time greatest players.
“Paul had a nice 10-letter bingo. Thru FYE, Paul played PtUFYERGIN 2x2 for 122 points.
“Kudos to Diane Kraynak who had never played clabbers before. She arrived
thinking that clabbers was ‘collaborating scrabble,’ a version where players help
each other out. She was given a brief intro before she was thrown to the
wolves. She handled the new experience like a veteran.”
For those readers not familiar with clabbers, the game is a variation on
SCRABBLE® popular with tournament Scrabblers. The name derives from the
fact that the words CLABBERS and SCRABBLE are anagrams. The rules are
identical to those in SCRABBLE®, except that valid plays are only required to
form anagrams of acceptable words--the letters can be in any order. If a word
“Newbie” Diane Kraynak
is challenged, the player who played the word must name an acceptable word
that anagrams to the tiles played.
Because the number of "words" that can be formed is vastly larger than those in the OWL2, the
board usually ends up tightly packed in places, and necessarily quite empty in others. Game scores
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will often be much higher than in standard SCRABBLE®, due to the relative ease of making highscoring overlap plays and easier access to premium squares.
After the tourney, 9 of the group went to Pizza House for dinner and drinks.
Here are the tournament results:
Name
Wins
Losses
Spread
Average Score
High Game
High Loss
1. Paul Epstein
5
0
770
599
648
NA
2. Peter Morris
4
1
1056
650
718
528
3. Rodney Nivison
2
3
-243
465
625
441
4. Margaret Sutherland
2
3
-434
471
532
476
5. Jeff Fiszbein
1
4
-184
479
597
466
6. Diane Kraynak
1
4
-965
400
520
430
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Causeway Challenge: 12/2-6
December features two outstanding SCRABBLE® events in Johor Bahru, Malaysia: The Causeway
Scrabble Challenge on December 2-6 and the World Youth Scrabble Championship on December
8-9 (see story in our last issue). These tournaments are part of the Iskandar Malaysia World
Scrabble Festival, which started with the exciting World Scrabble Championship that was just
completed. Both tournaments are being held at the Zon Regency Hotel.
The Causeway Challenge, a world-class event, features 50 of the world’s top SCRABBLE® players,
including Pakorn Nemitrmansuk, the new World Champion. Conceived in 2002 as a challenge
between the top 10 players from Singapore versus the top 10 players from Malaysia, the Causeway
Challenge now features top players from around the world in a Premier Team event. In 2009, as in
2008, the Premier section consists of 10 teams of 5 where each team member plays 45 rounds
against all 45 players from the other teams. This section is strictly invitational and represents the
cream of world Scrabble (to see the teams, go to http://www.causewayscrabble.com/premier/
pplayers.html). First prize is $20,000 (U.S.)
In addition there is an Open Division, with 150 players from 28 countries, including Mark Kenas and
Nicholas Vasquez from the United States. Last year the open section enjoyed the longest
tournament many have ever played, 33 games over 4 days. At the end of the tournament,
tournament organizer Michael Tang asked players if they enjoyed such a long tournament, and
whether they would like to have even more games. The answer to both questions was a resounding
yes, so this year the open section will have 45 games over 5 days, matching the premier section's
timetable.
To follow the coverage of the Causeway Challenge (at least 500 of the Premier Team event games
will be annotated) go to www.causewayscrabble.com.
The mayor of Johor Bahru presenting the 2008 premier winner,
David Eldar from Australia, with 10,000 US dollars. This year’s
prize money is doubled.
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The Wordsmith
Unearthing Anglo-Saxon Treasure
by Chris Sinacola
Among the more delightful stories in the news this last month was one detailing the discovery
in July, on a farm in western England, of more than 1,500 pieces of Anglo-Saxon treasure
dating to the 7th century.
Now it really isn’t true, as some friends have suggested, that we SCRABBLE® players
perceive in every aspect of our daily lives - particularly in everything we read, hear or see some connection to our favorite word game.
This, however, surely is such an instance. Notwithstanding the enormous and welcome
additions to our game from the 3,600 or so other languages and dialects on the planet, it
remains true that ours is a game rooted in English, whose development centered on the
British Isles, no matter that it has grown in time to become a worldwide language for
business, aviation and so many other endeavors.
Whatever method of study one adopts, acquiring a large vocabulary and putting it to good use
necessarily involves the patient and sometimes serendipitous unearthing of words, many of
which may have lain for years or decades just below the surface of our reading and our daily
lives – unused, neglected, and perhaps unknown by all but the most specialized researchers
in academia.
The treasure discovered by an unemployed Englishman armed only with a metal detector is a
once-in-a-lifetime occurrence that will make him a wealthy man. I like to think that our word
excavations, while hardly making headlines, provide a lifetime of riches, whether they come
back to us because of a search on the Internet, greet us from the pages of a short story or
novel, or leap off the newspaper page.
New and interesting words might, of course, derive from any of the world’s languages, but I
find that those rooted in English or its linguistic ancestors hold particular resonance. Perhaps
they return us to the earliest sounds and memories of our youth, when speech patterns were
laid down in our English-speaking brains. Perhaps it is the echo of the Victorian language of
nursery tales, or the dark visions of the Brothers Grimm (in translation), or the lilting cadences
of poems we loved as a child, even if we did not understand every word, or bother to look up
the hard ones until much later in life.
Whatever the case, such words form, least in my mind, part of a subterranean (and
submarine) network whose roots tap into Ireland and Wales, surface in Scottish lochs, touch
the shores of Brittany, and slip beneath the North Sea to reach the fjords of Scandinavia and
the headlands of Jutland.
Let us turn to a few examples.
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“September,” a Boston Globe story informed me one day, “…is often the early bellwether of
how the fiscal year is shaping up.”
Never mind the finances, a grim enough topic these days. There’s one of those words –
BELLWETHER. For me, this word has always evoked the image of a tolling bell portending a
storm, only I had to remember to drop the “a” from the weather part.
The Oxford English Dictionary soon sets the record straight.
A BELLWETHER is simply the leading sheep in a flock, around whose neck the shepherd
hangs a bell. This may be obvious enough if one knows that a WETHER is a gelded male
sheep – which anyone who has studied their six-letter words assiduously, with meanings,
could tell you. But experience suggests that most SCRABBLE® players don’t spend all that
much time on six-letter words, and many do not go out of their way to learn meanings.
Our family had a very modest flock of sheep while I was growing up, and even a few that
wore bells, but I never made the BELLWETHER connection. In any case, I have to wonder
what good it did the sheep, as at least one of the bell-bearing beasts was slaughtered by a
pack of rather uncivil German shepherds - “ding! ding!” in this case meaning their doggie
dinner was ready.
The derivation of WETHER, and its spelling variations, occupies the better part of a page in
the OED, but it will suffice to illustrate my English-and-Anglo-Saxon-centric point if I note that
the various linguistic references thereon encompass Common Teutonic, Old English, Old Low
Franconian, North Frisian, Old Middle German and so forth.
Moving to the kitchen, everyone knows what a dishcloth is, even if some young folks seem
puzzled as to what to do with such an item. But what’s a DISHCLOUT? And could it be used
to sop up dull old dishwater, or its close cousin, ditchwater?
DISHCLOUT is, indeed, a dishcloth by another, older name. CLOUT has very deep roots in
Old English and Old Teutonic, meaning, variously, a clod of earth, a cloth, or, as a verb, to
patch something with cloth or metal, or to simply club someone, usually on or about the head
and shoulders.
The OED offers several instances of DISHCLOUT in literature, the most amusing being from
the “Diary and Letters of Madame D’Arblay,” by the English playwright Fanny Burney, in which
a maid laments having failed to properly tidy up the table, and exclaims, with reference to a
certain visiting dignitary: “Only think what a slut Mrs. Ord must think me, to put a dish-clout in
my pocket!”
Needless to say, slut in that context meant a kitchen maid or drudge, no doubt one inattentive
to the niceties of keeping a clean house, but did not always carry the implications of loose
moral character that have today come to monopolize the word. Indeed, among the other
usages of the word now forever lost to us is the one “in playful use, or without serious
imputation of bad qualities,” as in this line from Samuel Pepys’ famous diary: “21 Feb. Our
little girl Susan is a most admirable slut, and pleases us mightily.”
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One presumes Pepys was pleased with Susan's skill in wielding a dishclout, but, on the other
hand, Pepys was a famous womanizer, and is not known to have had children.
But to return to the DISHCLOUT, yes one could use it to sop up dishwater, but not
DITCHWATER*, a particularly interesting word that is, like so many interesting words,
unacceptable in North American SCRABBLE®.
Finally, let’s stay with the theme of domestic servants as we encounter a third word from
across the pond and centuries: TIREWOMAN. This was another of the nine-letter bunker
busters dropped upon me by Quackle, played, appropriately enough, through my WO.
As I have tried to be a good citizen of this egalitarian world – and really, with three daughters,
what choice did I have? – I immediately assumed that TIREWOMAN was a woman who sells
tires. Moreover, I happened at the time I met this woman to be in need of tires, but got so
sidetracked that I am still in need of tires, which is among the reasons I am planning to win
my next tournament.
But then I got to thinking that TIREMAN* had never crossed my consciousness, for the very
simple reason that AEIMNRT yields MINARET and RAIMENT only, as any novice
anagrammer could tell you.
It turns out that a TIREWOMAN is a lady’s maid. One skilled in the use of the dishclout, no
doubt.
I'd write more, but I am a tired man and must away to some WITAN or FOLKMOOT or other. If
you don't know what those are, well, by all means look them up.
Chris Sinacola is co-director of the Worcester MA SCRABBLE® Club #600, and a huge fan of
English Breakfast tea.
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Video Joe
by Joe Bihlmeyer
Joe Bihlmeyer, a top Connecticut SCRABBLE® player, has been posting his SCRABBBLE® rants
and lessons on YouTube and cgp. We are pleased to offer Joe’s humorous take on the world of
tournament SCRABBLE® to readers of The Last Word.
Scrabble is about emotional control
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
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SCRABBLE® in the News
See something about SCRABBLE® or a SCRABBLE® player in the news? Let us know! Send your
stories to [email protected].
Ask Marilyn?
In the November 15 issue of Parade Marilyn vos Savant gave SCRABBLE® playing advice to a
reader who wrote into her “AskMarilyn” column: http://www.parade.com/askmarilyn/2009/11/
Sundays-Column-11-15-09.html. Thanks to Thea McGivney who sent in this look at SCRABBLE®
concerns of Parade readers.
Nelkon preview to the WSC
Philip Nelkon, one of Britain’s top SCRABBLE® players, wrote a preview to the 10th World
SCRABBLE® Championship for thestaronline: http://www.thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/
2009/11/20/lifeliving/5093447&sec=lifeliving.
Afraid of drawing bad tiles?
Canada’s Most Fearless Person was crowned on November 19th in a contest put on by Virgin
Mobile’s Richard Branson. The first challenge was to shift through a pile of maggots to find
SCRABBLE® tiles and spell “fearless.” The National Post covered the bizarre contest: http://
network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/toronto/archive/2009/11/19/toronto-timeline-richard-bransongoes-totally-off-script.aspx#ixzz0XPdnWsSI .
School SCRABBLE® program on TV
The Eastern Greene (IN) Middle School SCRABBLE® club, which has won several state
championships, was featured in a local News 10 segment: http://www.wthitv.com/dpp/news/
local_wthi_bloomfield_eastern_greene_scrabble_200911131742_rev1
SCRABBLE® “play dates”
Singles are meeting at “PlayDate” events to play SCRABBLE®: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/
expatnews/6613231/US-singles-look-for-soulmate-over-a-game-of-Scrabble.html.
India’s supreme court ruling on SCRABBLE®
India’s supreme court rules that SCRABBLE® is a game, not a puzzle, and thus subject to excise
tax: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Scrabble-not-a-puzzle-or-educational-toy-but-a-gameSC/articleshow/5230903.cms
Online SCRABBLE® in the news
A story on the growing interest in online Scrabble: http://www.canada.com/story.html?id=54d3b900bab4-46e9-ab9a-87966f850a0a
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Maine Event coverage
The Maine Event SCRABBLE® Tournament got a nice write-up in the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sun
Telegram: http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=281582&ac=PHnws
Oklahoma Tourney in the news
A short piece in the October 7 Oklahoma Gazette featured the SoonerSCRABBLE® SCRABBLE®
Tournament in Oklahoma City Tournament and Oklahoma City Club #631: http://www.okgazette.com/p/
12776/a/4780/Default.aspx?
ReturnUrl=LwBEAGUAZgBhAHUAbAB0AC4AYQBzAHAAeAAslashAHAAPQAxADIANwAyADkA. (Plea
note that Matthew Hodge was misquoted “a lot” in the article.)
A very large game of SCRABBLE®
Primary and Intermediate school students flocked to Auckland’s Mt Smart Stadium November 2nd to
witness New Zealand’s largest game of SCRABBLE®: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/CU0911/S00006.h
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Player Profile: Heather
Steffy and Michael Bassett
by Katya Lezin
Look around
the room at
any
SCRABBLE®
tournament,
and you’re
likely to spot a
few couples.
Heather Steffy
and Michael
Bassett are
one such couple, but unlike so many of the
other SCRABBLE® sweethearts, they did not
meet at a tournament or at a club or online.
Well, that’s not actually true. They did meet
online, but it was not through an online
SCRABBLE® game. SCRABBLE® does get a
lot of the credit, though, for their relationship.
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weekend, however, Michael decided they were
up to the challenge. “Let’s do this,” he said,
and Heather agreed. They treated it like
training for a marathon, playing 7 games in one
day to see if they could handle it.
Their first tournament was a 7-game
tournament in Battle Creek, Michigan in
September 2007. They each won two games.
Since then, they’ve often had to face each
other across a SCRABBLE® board at a
tournament. Heather usually prevails in casual
games, but Michael is usually the victor in
tournament games. “Michael is my
SCRABBLE® Daddy,” Heather notes,
chuckling. She has lost more rating points to
him than anyone else, but she is actually rated
higher.
Heather, who was living in Ann Arbor, Michigan
at the time, decided to give online dating a try.
Wanting to make clear that she enjoyed the
game of SCRABBLE® but wasn’t particularly
good at it, she included in her Match.com
profile, “I’m trying to learn my 2-letter words to
be better at SCRABBLE®.” Michael, who lived
2 hours away in Port Clinton, OH, responded
within six hours. “I’m not any good either,” he
assured her. They agreed to meet. For their
third date, they went to a bubble tea café and
played their first SCRABBLE® game. Heather
won.
Asked if SCRABBLE® ever causes any friction
in their relationship, they both insist it actually
brings them closer together. “With
SCRABBLE® to discuss,” Heather says, “we
never run out of things to talk about.” Michael
adds that they haven’t gone to the movies
together in a very long time because “we’d
rather play SCRABBLE® or talk about it or do
stems or check out words on our Franklins.”
Heather’s best SCRABBLE® moment is her
first triple triple, a Hail Mary that was
challenged and stayed on the board:
DUETTING with 2 T’s for 158 points. Michael’s
favorite SCRABBLE® moment is when he won
the door prize at the Albany, NY New Year’s
tournament last year. The prize? A free hotel
stay for this year’s tournament.
As their relationship developed, so did their
SCRABBLE playing skills. They played games
in coffee shops just so they’d get out of their
respective apartments, which has its perks
since they are both now relatively immune to
noise levels around them. Heather, who had
read Word Freak, gave a copy to Michael.
They both agreed that the world of competitive
SCRABBLE®, which they had not even known
existed, was too daunting and scary. One
And just in case you see Heather and Michael
at the Albany New Year’s tournament, or any
other tournaments where they happen to be
strolling together hand in hand, try to refrain
from asking the inevitable question, “So when
are you two getting married?” Michael would
like it duly noted that it’s not that he hasn’t
broached the subject. Heather, a speech
language pathologist who works with kids, is
still trying to figure out her career. She has
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moved one hour closer to Michael, who is an attorney, so that they at least both live in the same
state now. “But make sure you put in there that it’s not me holding things up,” Michael insists, “so
that these ladies will get off my back!”
Katya Lezin lives in Charlotte, North Carolina with her husband and three children (Noah, Hannah,
and Eliza). She is the author of Finding Life on Death Row, which profiles six individuals sentenced
to death, and has written numerous articles for magazines and other publications. When she is not
on the tennis court or competing in a SCRABBLE® tournament (two of her passions, which her
husband would argue border on obsessions), she enjoys cooking, reading, and spending time with
her family.
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Diane’s DEFALTS
by Diane Firstman
Diane Firstman published her first book of DEFALTS,
Generous to a DEFALT: Vol. 1-3, in 2006. Since then, she
has published a second volume of her humorous
alternative definitions to common (and not-so-common)
words--DEFALTS Vol. 4--and selected DEFALTS have
appeared in SCRABBLE® News and on the online
SCRABBLE® discussion groups crossword-games-pro
(cgp) and OSPD. The Last Word is pleased to offer the
following selection of DEFALTS.
CAVY: Mr. Crockett, "King of the wild spelunkers"
CELT: 1) a unit of animation in Ireland; 2) the cartoon
representation of a leprechaun, as in ads for "Lucky Charms"
CERO: zero degrees Celsius
CESS: waste in search of a pool
CHAM: finishing 2nd in an event, not quite the champion
CHAO: a single unit of chaos?
CHIA: a "pet" you can't buy in any pet store
CINE: a movie to which you can't take your "ma"
CIRE: frustration at the lack of vitamin C in one's diet
CIST: one who programs in "C"
CLAG: slow-footedness as a result of wearing ill-fitting clogs
Diane Firstman is a lifelong New Yorker and has been playing SCRABBLE® competitively since
1994. When not thinking up DEFALTS, she attends crossword puzzle tourneys, and writes on the
New York Yankees for www.bronxbanterblog.com. She is adept at math, can reach items on top
shelves in supermarkets, and does a dead-on impression of a sea lion. The collected “DEFALTS”
are available at http://stores.lulu.com/dianagram.
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The Mad Scrabblers
by Cornelia Guest
As was clearly demonstrated when Scrabulous ruled
Facebook, there are many more SCRABBLE® players
out there than the members of NASPA and the NSA
combined (there were more than 2 million active
Scrabulous users when it was shut down, with several
hundred thousand playing every day). With the demise
of Scrabulous, many of these players turned to the
officially sanctioned SCRABBLE® game on Facebook,
offered by Entertainment Arts (EA).
Six months ago, Martin LaGrow, a 39-year-old IT
program coordinator from Kaukauna, Wisconsin, was
talking on the online SCRABBLE® discussion board with
Art Moore and Brian Galebach about the possibility of
holding tournaments on the SCRABBLE® site. Within a
few hours, Mad Scrabblers was created and held its first
tournament--with 8 players. Galebach was the winner of that inaugural tournament, and he
continues to offer LaGrow regular suggestions for tournament formats. Art Moore does not play in
Mad Scrabbler’s tournaments, but noted: “Martin's tournaments have garnered a lot of interest and
board traffic. It was a great idea.”
Since then the group has grown close to well over 200 players--most learning about Mad Scrabblers
by word of mouth. “Just about everybody who has joined had at least
one friend already in the group,” said LaGrow, who has 114
SCRABBLE® players among his Facebook friends. The most recent
tournament, USA vs. Canada, had 96 players entered (Canada won: 35
games to 30).
LaGrow, father of five, has had help from two volunteer administrators,
Cory Christopher Smith and Dani Baldwin. If the site continues to grow,
more administrators may be added.
The online SCRABBLE® game has appeal for many reasons, one of
which is that it can be played at any time one wants. Many of the
players on the site have never played in a sanctioned tournaments, yet have skills that rival
seasoned experts. Smith is rated in the 2000s, LaGrow over 1600--but these are online ratings.
They do not have NASPA ratings.
LaGrow says he studies word lists and probability letter combinations, but notes, “I learn more by
playing good players, and I take notes when I get burned by a good hook.” Unlike in live games, all
of the games in Mad Scrabbler tournaments are played in a “void” mode, where phonies are not
permitted. There is also no time limit to the games, which can sometimes be a problem when a
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tournament game stretches out for many days. There is a “force forfeit” option where a player can
force a slow player to make a move or lose the game (slow in this case means
a player who has not made a move in over a day). “What I have learned, though,” says LaGrow, “is
that 90 percent of slow players tend to get eliminated early.”
Do any of the Mad Scrabblers play in NASPA tournaments? Yes. Brian Galebach, one of the
founders, is a tournament regular, and other NASPA members play as well. However, most of the
star players are unknown to the live tournament scene. Do the names Cathy Feleky, Sally
Everding, or Curran Eggerton ring a bell? These are all top online players--unknown at NASPA
tournaments.
Galebach believes many of these players would enjoy live games, and thinks Mad Scrabblers could
be “a bridge between some of these more enthusiastic Facebook Scrabblers and tournament
Scrabblers.” He proposed on cgp that NASPA court Mad Scrabbler members and other online
players with special incentives such as trial memberships or special tournaments. “If they did that
we could explode the membership--double it easily,” suggests Galebach.
Is LaGrow concerned that players use the “Teacher Feature” offered in a side ad “to help find the
best play” (an anagram of “teacher” might be a more appropriate name for this feature)? “I’m sure
some do,” he said, but it doesn’t worry him. Also, because there is no time limit as in live
SCRABBLE®, players have the opportunity to consult anagrammers and dictionaries. But LaGrow
believes the better players don’t. “What’s the point? There’s no prize money.”
Although Mad Scrabblers is a free group, LaGrow has kept it invitation-only. Facebook members
can visit the site by typing “Mad Scrabblers” in the search window.
Mad Scrabbler tournaments are held approximately once a month, with elimination brackets in each
division winnowing a large field down to the two finalists. The players are grouped by online
ranking--your actual NASPA rating has no bearing. Consolation tournaments are sometimes offered
for players who are eliminated early. LaGrow also likes to divide the tournaments into fast and slow
rounds.
Want to try a game with the Mad Scrabblers? Contact LaGrow at the Mad Scrabblers page on
Facebook. And get ready for some serious online competition!
If you search “Mad Scrabblers” on Facebook you’ll find more information about the group’s
members and tournaments.
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Linda’s Library
by Linda Wancel
As an avid reader and book lover, I have found
that many other SCRABBLE®rs 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 nearly ten years. I hope that the
book lovers among you may find their interest
piqued by some of these books.
Non-fiction:
Auschwitz: A New History
by Laurence Rees
When one thinks of the labor and death camps
instituted by the Nazis during World War II, the
notorious concentration camp at Auschwitz
comes immediately to mind. One cannot help but
wonder what kind of mind set would devise such
an infamy. How could Germany, a nation that
was noted for its richness of culture, have
devised a plan of genocide that was so farreaching and so inherently evil?
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The author attempts to answer that question and
succeeds in doing so brilliantly. This is a very
well written book that will appeal to those who
are interested in the general human condition, as
well as those interested in the holocaust itself. It
is scholarly, yet, at the same time, immensely
readable. This is because the author has put a
very human face on the dreaded death camp of
Auschwitz. The stories and experiences of more
than a hundred people are integrated throughout
the narrative, which delves into the historical
backdrop of the Nazi political machinery and its
leadership. Survivors of Auschwitz, as well as
Nazi perpetrators, tell of their experiences in the
hell that was known as Auschwitz, and they tell it
from their own unique perspectives. The
symbiosis that often existed between prisoner
and prison guard is quite unsettling, as are the
attendant moral and ethical issues.
The author attempts to help the reader
understand how it was that the "final solution"
came about. It is an unsentimental, intellectually
objective, critical analysis of one of the most
infamous episodes in modern history and
warfare. The author carefully delineates how the
Nazis developed their reprehensible strategy for
global genocide, and how it came about being
implemented. The creation of Auschwitz was
crucial to Nazi Germanys' desire to rid itself of
Europe's Jewish population; however, that desire
may not have been entirely ideologically driven.
From his extensive research, the author
postulates that there may have been a practical,
more pragmatic component that dictated the
actions of the Nazis in the final, waning days of
World War II that was no less immoral than the
ideological one.
This is simply a stunning and authoritative book
by an author whose expertise in this area is
undeniable. It is a comprehensive and insightful
look at one of the most notorious death camps in
the history of Nazi Germany. The author carefully
explains the rise and fall of Auschwitz within the
context of the Nazi mentality and ideology, as
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well as within the broader context of historical
and military pragmatism. It is a devastating
portrait, indeed, and with its sixteen pages of
vintage black-and-white photographs, it is a book
that will keep the reader riveted to its pages until
the very last one is turned.
Fiction:
The Story of Lucy Gault
by William Trevor
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father, though Irish, was Protestant and had
served in the English Army. He was married to
Heloise, an English woman. These facts had
evidently not gone unnoticed by the locals. When
the Gaults find that their home has been targeted
for destruction and the threat of arson is all too
real, they reluctantly decide to leave their
beloved home in the care of their two faithful
family retainers and relocate to England for
safety's sake. This is a decision that leaves their
nine-year-old daughter, Lucy, heartbroken.
Lucy is loath to leave her home with its
resplendent land and rolling acres of lush
greenery, as well as its lovely beach and a dog
for which her feelings run deep. Lahardane is,
indeed, a child's paradise. Just before they are
due to leave, a distraught Lucy, desperate to
change the way things are going, decides to run
away in hopes of having her parents see things
her way. Instead, what occurs is a tragedy of epic
proportions, one that would have far-reaching
ramifications, changing the lives of many. It
would certainly impact profoundly upon Lucy.
This is truly a gloriously written, thematically
complex book in which the author examines the
way that love and calamity can shape destiny. Its
complexity is belied by its simple, yet rich and
lyrical, prose. The author lovingly tenders the
delicately nuanced words that express the strong
undercurrent of emotion that ripples beneath the
surface of this haunting novel, drawing the
reader into its heartbreaking story of love,
This is a beautifully written book, rife with
forgiveness, and redemption. The fatalism of its
emotion and feeling. It is a book that will keep
the reader enthralled, so absorbing is the story. It characters aptly mirrors the historical fatalism of
the Irish. This is a literary gem that the reader
is, as the title of the book says, the story of one
will, undoubtedly, read in one sitting, as I did,
Lucy Gault. Her story begins in Ireland in 1921,
in the shadow of the Partition of Ireland. Feelings loath to break the careful cadence of the words
against the English and Protestants were running that tell so compelling a story.
high, and many of the manorial estates were
being targeted for destruction by the local
Catholic peasantry in that time of unrest.
Linda Wancel loves reading, writing, watching
The Gault family lived in a lovely ancestral home, films, traveling, and Scrabbling. She is the
mother of 27-year-old twins and has been a
Lahardane, tucked away in the remote Irish
criminal prosecutor for the last 23 years.
countryside. Captain Everard Gault, Lucy's
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The Art of Strategy
by Art Moore
A popular feature of the Facebook SCRABBLE® Beta application is the
discussion board. With many of the online players new to one-on-one
SCRABBLE®, the most popular conversation threads have been those on
strategy--and Art Moore, a NASPA tournament player, has emerged as the
strategy guru. The Last Word is pleased to offer Art’s lessons as a new monthly
feature.
The Basics
Tip 1: Conserve good letters, play off the bad.
Trying to score a bingo? It helps to hold on to bingo prone tiles! Succinctly put by former national
champion Joel Sherman, the letters in the word CANISTER affords you the best chance to bingo. If
you can rid yourself of ugly tiles such as U, V, W, Y while making a good score, leaving behind some
CANISTER letters, you'll increase your chances of hitting a big one soon after.
Tip 2: Rack Balance.
Again, deferring to Mr. Sherman, there is a ratio of 4:3 of consonants to vowels in the tile pool.
Strive for that type of balance as well on your rack. CANISTER is a great rule of thumb, but don't
make a play leaving AIE on your rack, because you've got to draw 4 consonants to balance things
out. Not likely to happen.
Tip 3: Beware of fishing.
Don't often try to play off just one tile hoping to score the one you need. Occasionally this works, but
it alerts your opponent that you're close to a bingo and they will likely play defensively to block. In
addition, your average score over the two (or three, or four...) turns doesn't usually make it
worthwhile.
Tip 4: Blanks are good. Really.
Don't waste your blank on a 20 point play. Many use the blank only for a 50 point or better score.
They score 0 points but their value is immeasurable.
Tip 5: ING is a trap.
Don't get too caught up holding -ING for a bingo. Yeah it works, but often you find yourself
frustrated. Try it for a turn or two at most, remembering that G is not one of the CANISTER letters.
SCRABBLE® being his mother's favorite game, Art Moore played a lot of it growing up. After
playing online for a number years, Art made the jump to club (and tournament) play three years ago.
Art lives just outside of Orlando, husband to an incredibly patient woman and father of four equally
tolerant children. He is co-director of Club #438 in Casselberry, Florida. Find him on ISC under the
moniker "Werds".
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Ann Sanfedele:
Photographer, Poet, Artist, SCRABBLE® Player
by Cornelia Guest
Readers of Paul McCarthy’s Letterati, a highly recommended book
documenting the roots of organized tournament SCRABBLE®, have
seen a glimpse of the many wonderful moments captured on film by
Ann Sanfedele, a New York photographer and SCRABBLE® player.
Her photos also adorned the walls at the Comfort Diner for most of Ira
Freehof’s New York City tournaments.
Ann has been a photographer for over 40 years, traveling all over the
United States and Canada with her camera. She has had numerous
solo exhibits in New York galleries, and her work has been included in
many group shows. Her first book of photographs, Sign Language,
Ann and her cat, Ashley
was published by Citadel Press in 1992. The sequel, Signs Gone By, is
available at Amazon.com or directly from her lulu storefront: http://stores.lulu.com/annsan. Ann’s
professional photography web site is [email protected]
Ann is also a skillful designer with a strong sense of humor. You’ll find her SCRABBLE®-related
designs at her online store, The OWL and the Pussycat, at Cafe Press (http://www.cafepress.com/
annsanstuff), where she sells such tournament player favorites as the “Rack of Lambdas” (a
concept requested by Jack Eichenbaum) and the SOWPODS T-shirts pictured below. Her design
for “The Tiles Are Out There” has been a perennial favorite.
Ann started playing SCRABBLE® in the 1950s in Chicago, where she was involved in the local
theatre scene. “I was hanging out at The College of Complexes, a bar on North State Street where
we’d go after rehearsals at the Chicago Stage Guild down the street. I was even going there before
I got out of high school. It was an arty, intellectual scene--chess, quizzes for bar tokens, etc. We
did one-act plays there as well. It was one-on-one SCRABBLE®, even then, in that environment.
“But it wasn’t until the mid 70’s in New York that I got into tournament SCRABBLE®.” Ann saw an
article in the New York Times Metro section about a SCRABBLE® tournament in Brooklyn: The New
York City Championship. Her participation in that tournament got her on a hot list, and she was
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invited to join Manhattan Club 17, run then by the late Milt
Wertheimer. By the late 70’s she became a regular at
The Game Room as well.
“In those days every Sunday for several weeks there
would be games, with the top players from each week
making it into quarter-finals, semis, and finals.” Ann made
the quarter-finals regularly, the semis twice, and the finals
once. “If I didn’t get to the next level I would be at the
games photographing. I probably have more pictures
than anyone else from that era.” Some of them appeared
in the documentary “Word Wars,” as well as in books and
other publications. John Houle, and later, John Williams,
liked Ann’s photographs and used many of them in
SCRABBLE® News. She was the official photographer for
the 1983 National SCRABBLE® Championship.
Ann Sanfedele’s collection of SCRABBLE®
photographs documents the roots of tournament
play. This photograph is from the 1979 New York
City Scrabble Tournament at the Brooklyn War
Memorial. Front to back: Steve Tier, Steve Pfeifer,
Paul Avrin. Copyright © 1979 Ann Sanfedele.
Ann became a serious SCRABBLE® competitor. Back in
the 70’s she was ranked in the top 10 percent, and in
1991 she reached her peak rating to date of 1888. She
has been a regular for many years at Club 56 in
Manhattan, where she is always a formidable opponent.
What is less known about Ann in the SCRABBLE® community is that she is a published poet. In
1972, the year she graduated from Hunter College, Ann won the Hotchiner Poetry Prize. The judge
was the Pultzer Prize-winning poet James Wright. His admiration for Ann’s poetry ultimately
resulted in her friendship with him and his wife (now widow), Anne.
Ann’s poems have appeared in a number of publications, including The American Poetry Review.
The poem “Richard Leaving,” about Richard Gilston, Ann’s partner for thirteen years until his death
in 1993, appeared in the 2001 anthology The Cancer Poetry Project.
“I met Richard at the Game Room in 1980. He had been one of the players at the old ‘Flea
House’ [Chess and Checker Club of New York], where he convinced the others to use the Funk &
Wagnalls Standard College Dictionary for rulings.” That dictionary was the one used for the first
North American Championship in 1978. “Although he refused to play in tournaments, Richard would
would indulge me at home.”
In 2008 The Part of Fortune, a collection of Ann’s poems and black and white photographs, was
published (available at http://stores.lulu.com/annsan), and new readers are discovering her amazing
voice.
A few months ago Ann got a request from the theatre department of the Shawnee Mission School in
Overland, Kansas for permission to include “Richard Leaving" in a presentation of poetry from The
Cancer Poetry Project. It is being performed there as we go to press.
Readers will enjoy the following poem from The Part of Fortune, reprinted here with permission:
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GRAMERCY PARK
The ghost of you, my father, haunts me here;
I cannot pass this place without the spectre
Of your grossness before me. I see your
Waxen eyes, your whiskey-rouged cheek,
Cross-fading into your final pallor.
You were a tough old bird until the last;
But what I mourn in your passing is not
That your bones must now commune with worms,
But that your ornery cussedness must live on An aspect of myself.
Copyright © Ann Sanfedele
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Stell’s Racks of Mirth
by Stellacious (AKA Cheryl L. Cadieux)
I think that the funniest thing that ever happened
to me transpired at the Palm Harbor
SCRABBLE® club in Florida.
I was playing a guy from Gainesville, his name
escapes me--Mo?
He announced, "Pass," and as I glanced up,
there he sat with absolutely NO tiles in front of
him to exchange.
I pleasantly asked, "You're not changing any
tiles?"
He responded with a "No.”
I then looked at him, smiled demurely and almost
shouted: "DOES THIS LOOK LIKE A REALLY
STUPID FACE TO YOU???"
The whole room erupted into laughter. Then the
director, Myron Wilson, piped up with "Now, now,
don't anybody answer that question!”
Stellaisms for Your Day
"You know the hardest thing about having
cerebral palsy and being a woman? It's plucking
your eyebrows. That's how I originally got
pierced ears." --Geri Jewell
"The depressing thing about tennis is that no
matter how good I get, I'll never be as good as a
wall." --Mitch Hedberg.
"I haven't reported my missing credit card to the
police because whoever stole it is spending less
than my wife." --Ilie Nastase.
"Everyone has a photographic memory. Some
don't have film." --Anonymous
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“Never be afraid to try something new.
Remember, amateurs built the ark. Professionals
built the Titanic." --Anonymous
May you have a heart that never hates and a
smile that never fades.
To join OSPD, Stella's SCRABBLE® mail
group, please send a blank message to the
following URL: [email protected].
We are so delicious, that we are
DIGESTable, with the digest form of only
one e-mail a day.
At the bottom of each and every e-mail that
you receive from OSPD, you will see the
address to change your daily subscription
from receiving the e-mails as they come in
to only once a day in the digest form.
OSPD is a way for Scrabblers to
communicate. We also have a Daily Word
List: For example, one recent word list
was “N” back hooks.
Paul Epstein occasionally does Mystery
Racks and we have a quiz from time to
time.
Please join us!
Stellacious
AKA Cheryl L. Cadieux
Cheryl L. Cadieux, a congenial tournament
player better known to her OSPD group
members as “Stella,” lives in Au Gres, MI and
New Port Richey, FL.
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The Tile Bag
James Leong, Editor
Hello again everyone! I hope all you American readers are happily sated from some turkey and
good shopping. With Christmas now around the corner, maybe Bob Schoenman will come out with
green Protiles with a white and red inlay? That’d help add some festivity to tournaments (if it doesn’t
start hurting people’s eyes).
I should preface this column by mentioning that the previous PIZZAZZ question (“Why is PIZZAZZ
in the dictionary?”) does have two bona fide explanations, even if it’s not just for Super
SCRABBLE® or for the purposes of having as complete a dictionary as possible. Thanks to Ross
Brown and Jim Pate for their responses.
Per Ross Brown:
James,
I read with interest, in the recent Last Tile newsletter, your answer to a question about why the word
PIZZAZZ is in OSPD4.
I have an alternate account, based on a conversation I had about this word shortly after the new
edition's publication a few years ago. I believe it was Jim Pate, chairman of the NSA Dictionary
Committee, who reminded me that it is possible to see this word played in regular SCRABBLE® if a
non-blank tile has been played as a blank, designated a Z, and accepted as such by the opponent.
Once the play is final, the tile set now effectively has three blanks, making the appearance of
PIZZAZZ a possibility, however remote. For this reason, it was decided not to exclude any word
from OSPD4 (and, I suppose, the LWL as well) on the basis of what letters it contains.
Cheers,
Ross Brown
Per Jim Pate:
Cornelia,
Yes, when I read James' article I made a mental note to respond regarding the PIZZAZZ matter, but
I just never got around to doing so. Therefore, I am glad that Ross brought it to your attention.
It is much less likely now than before that an inverted tile would be played as a blank. However, I
suppose it could still happen within the official rules. The more likely "unlikely, but possible"
scenario is as follows. The set of tiles used in a game might inadvertently contain one extra "Z" or
one extra blank making the total number of tiles in the game 101. Or, an accidental swap of tiles of
a similar style and color could happen -- a set with eight "I's" and three blanks for example. In a
tournament I directed many years ago in Birmingham, Alabama a pair of players had two "J's" in an
official game. They had counted the tiles and checked the distribution and both agreed that the set
did not contain the letter "J". So I found a matching tile set (wooden at that time), took the "J' from
it, and gave it to the players. Of course, near the end of the game they were surprised to see a
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second "J' come out of the tile bag. They asked what should be done, and my ruling was that they
were to finish the game with the tile distribution with which they started.
Under a circumstance like those described above a four "Z" play could actually occur. Therefore,
since the dictionaries showed that spelling as an otherwise legal SCRABBLE® word the decision
was to list it in the OWL. It certainly did not take up a lot of extra paper and ink!
Hope this helps.
Sincerely,
Jim Pate, Chairman, NASPA Dictionary Committee
I have to thank both of them for pointing out my oversight! I’ll have to consult the rulebook more
often, but I think it’s interesting that a letter initially set to be something else can be re-designated if
agreed upon by both parties. Playing non-Z, non-blank tiles in this manner seems to mean that
they’ll be treated as blanks played as Z, meaning they’d score zero points and would effectively be
recognized as Zs for the remainder of the game. So, at this rate, I guess the word PIZZAZZ with no
bonuses could score at most, 15 points. Interesting…
Well, I’ll try my best to play PIZZAZZY as a bingo at a tournament now!
Now, onto some questions:
_______________________________________________________________________________
Dear Tile Bag:
In a recent friendly game, [I ended up at this position:]
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I was debating between FA(E)RIES for 40 points and FERIA for 32 down to the triple, and decided it
was a wash, or that FAERIES may be slightly favored, so I played for the extra 8 points. I wouldn't
think AS would be 8 points stronger than just A, but I was shocked to find out that Quackle liked
FERIA by at least 6 points more! What's the deal with this position? – Quackle Addict
Hi QA! Okay, so, these are the results from hitting the ‘Ask Championship Player’ button in the
position you list (up at the top).
To break it down for everyone, Quackle has two ways by which a move is evaluated: one is by ‘Win
Percentage’ or, rather, how often it projects a move will win over a specified amount of turns into the
future; the other is by ‘Valuation’, which is how much your move scores, along with the estimated
value of what tiles you leave. This means that if you hold, say, ES?, your leave is stronger than if
you hold VUW, and the valuation is adjusted to reflect that difference in how useful your leftover
letters are for your next turns.
Something to keep in mind is that every time you hit ‘Ask Championship Player,’ Quackle tries to
evaluate your potential choices from a fresh batch of samples, meaning that every time you hit that
button the numbers on the side are likely to change slightly. For instance, the screenshot I post
shows FERIA apparently winning 66.31% of the time over FAERIES, which wins with a 66.03%
frequency. Another time, it was 66.31% to 64.91%, and the valuation numbers accordingly changed
as well.
As it is, the general theme seems to be that, although FAERIES outscores FERIA by 8 points,
Quackle generally sees FERIA as better. Why? I’m not the greatest predictor of exactly why, but I
think it’s partly because, on this board, an S can equate to more than 8 points very easily (JAWS
being 14 already) and there’s enough open space that an S will likely be that beneficial to keep for
the next turn. It will be rare to draw a bingo in playing either move, but the S gives a few more
options whilst giving a very respectable score of 32, and holding it right now is not likely to penalize
you in some way. On the other hand, playing FAERIES offers your opponent a few more easy
places to score at (a TLS to play parallel to and an S to start with). If you had, say, a position where
an S would score a bonus like it does here and the S has very little residual value (an example
being a highly blocked board, or if you have multiple S’s) Quackle might evaluate the play using the
S as being far more favorable.
Please note that while there are some reasons for FERIA being stronger from the positional and
leave justification that I just explained, the valuation difference between FAERIES and FERIA seems
to be in a 1-4 point range, meaning that the extra 8 points are a strong factor and help to keep the
two moves very close together.
The theme of this question is somewhat continued in the next one. And onto it we go…
_______________________________________________________________________________
Dear Tile Bag:
How does one draw the lines for when you are putting too much importance on rack balance/leave,
and when one is giving up too much for a leave? – R2
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Dear R2,
This is, and has always been, a question that people routinely debate, and any answer I give is not
going to be the be-all and end-all of what one should do (nor do I think it should be, because I
continually ask this to myself). What I can do, however, is outline the key arguments as I personally
see them.
The first argument is, of course, that if you take the points in the present, you will definitely have that
score going into the next turns and thus are able to dictate the pace of the game. After all, a player
having a lead through the game is one of the key elements that will dictate the style of play
throughout the game as well as each party’s strategy on how to best manage his or her situation.
The second argument is that while it is true that you can take points in the present, if you don’t make
the odds favorable that you can score well for the next turns, the score of the present might not be
worth it. After all, it’s immaterial to score well for one turn if your opponent can easily catch up or
overtake you, whilst you either are forced to exchange or play for small amounts of points as you try
to rebalance your rack. Pursuant to this opinion, one has to put at least some emphasis on future
considerations, and the best ways to do that are to keep your rack balanced, to give yourself the
right leaves for the future, and in doing so shape your future prerogatives. Particularly in cases
where a bingo or some other significant play is needed, the thought is that if you don’t save up
properly, you’ll almost definitely fail to achieve what you require.
Both of these arguments have a lot of extra variables that often need to be considered when trying
to figure out what to do. How does the board look, from a positional perspective, and does that
perspective suit your objectives at the time? (Generally, when in the lead, you want to restrict the
board to keep your opponents from having chances to score, and when trailing you want to keep
options open so that you have the chance to bingo or play other high-scoring plays when you get
the materials to do so.) What kinds of moves has your opponent been playing, and what kinds of
likely responses will he or she have to your move? Do you need to really start thinking outside the
box if, indeed, by general conventions, you would be generally thought to have lost the game? If you
play with a certain objective in mind, what chances do you have of obtaining that objective? And, of
course, other potential questions might come in mind when confronting a particular problem.
In my opinion, there is no hard and fast rule about when to take points instead of leave. There are
general principles that you, as a player, need to try to develop on your own, and adopt what works
and refine or abandon what doesn’t. Tools such as Quackle and Zyzzyva can be helpful in giving
you tools with which to improve your choices (i.e., building vocabulary) or providing new ideas in
how to look at a position (Quackle). But, as discussed in the previous question, you have to start
looking at why certain things might be viewed as right by other players, by computers, and so on;
once you can explain these ideas to yourself, you can really start to figure out whether or not you
agree with them and, in doing so, develop your own strategic framework from which to play. For
example, the question involving the position above uses quite a few of these ideas, and it is
identifying these concepts that will continually help a player to make decisions in every game with a
challenging turn.
As I see it, help from outside is usually quite useful, and I think its greatest gift is in providing a
separate viewpoint that you can evaluate and use to build your own reasoning skills. It’s in this vein
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of building one’s intuition that you will likely find the best tool to help you solve these dilemmas
encountered in most games: yourself.
And with this, ‘til the next column!
____________________________
Got a question? Don’t hesitate to write, no matter how strange or silly it may sound! Just fire away to
[email protected].
James Leong is a top player from Vancouver, BC, Canada. He was the winner of the 2007 Players’
Championship in Dayton, OH.
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Anagram Tunnels Quiz
by Juraj Pivovarov
There are exactly 6 words that have maximal length anagram tunnels of 7 words.
Example:
GRIFFS
GRIFFES
GIRAFFES
FIREFANGS
RESTAFFING
AFFORESTING
OVERSTAFFING
An Anagram Tunnel is a sequence of words such that there is exactly ONE word that can be formed
from the previous word and a blank.
In our current dictionary, the maximum length of such a tunnel is 7, and it is realized by 6 different
starting words.
If you want to try them, here are the other 5:
1. BUCKO
2. BUCKS
3. PINKEN
4. PEPSINE
5. SHIPMAN
ANSWERS ON NEXT PAGE
Juraj Pivovarov is a 1400 SCRABBLE® player and a near-expert chess player. He has a degree in
Pure Math and a M.Sc. in Computer Science.
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ANSWERS:
BUCKO
BUCKOS
BUCKOES
ROEBUCKS
BUCKEROOS
SOURCEBOOK
SOURCEBOOKS
BUCKS
BUCKOS
BUCKOES
ROEBUCKS
BUCKEROOS
SOURCEBOOK
SOURCEBOOKS
PINKEN
PINKENS
PINKNESS
PUNKINESS
SPUNKINESS
PUNKINESSES
SPUNKINESSES
PEPSINE
PEPSINES
PEPPINESS
PREPPINESS
PEPPERINESS
PREPPINESSES
PEPPERINESSES
SHIPMAN
PASHMINA
PASHMINAS
SEAMANSHIP
SEAMANSHIPS
SALESMANSHIP
SALESMANSHIPS
Juraj Pivovarov is a 1400 SCRABBLE® player and a near-expert chess player. He has a degree in
Pure Math and a M.Sc. in Computer Science.
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Book Review
by Cornelia Guest
Everything
SCRABBLE®, Third
Edition by Joe Edley
and John D.
Williams., Jr.
SCRABBLE® players rejoice!
The long-awaited third edition
of Joe Edley and John D.
Williams, Jr.’s classic book on
SCRABBLE® strategy is now
available. The words added
to the OSPD4 in 2006 have
been included, and new
sample games and puzzles
have been added. Everything
SCRABBLE® is once again
the book to read for every
serious Scrabbler.
The book is divided into 5
parts, each addressing a
different aspect of the game.
Diagrams are presented
throughout to illustrate points,
and quizzes are interspersed
to help the reader develop top
competition skills.
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Part 1, “Getting Better
Quickly," is perhaps the best
introduction to winning
SCRABBLE® strategies ever
written. Readers are first
introduced to the Official
Scrabble Players Dictionary,
Fourth Edition, the word
source for casual and School
SCRABBLE® play, and the
basic rules of the game.
They then learn the important
two-letter words and Qwithout-U words. The
authors next explain basic
strategy essentials: How to
move your tiles on the rack to
find useful letter combinations
(ERS, BR, IES, for example);
how to maximize points by
using “hot spots”; how to find
50-point bonus “bingos”; and
how to manage your rack to
maximize your chances for
high scoring plays.
Part 2, “Advanced Play,”
takes the reader to the next
level. For more experienced
players, this will is the heart
of the book. Edley and
Williams explore advanced
rack management, helping
players determine whether to
go for points or a good leave.
They discuss when to
exchange, rather than play off
tiles, and when to try
phoneys. One of the most
interesting chapters in this
section shows how to take
advantage of the developing
spatial patterns on the board,
“opening” or “closing” the
board to your advantage.
Chapters 1 and 13 discuss
ways to use important “power
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tiles”: the blanks and S, J, X,
and Z. Chapter 12, “It’s Your
Word Against Mine,” gives
tips on expanding your
SCRABBLE® vocabulary,
with advice from four experts
and a list of amusing “wacky
definitions” and useful
mnemonics.
Part 3, “Puzzles,” is fun for
everyone--and gives an
opportunity to practice what
has been learned. The
puzzles will help you develop
your word-finding skills-which makes them perfect for
teachers of School
SCRABBLE®. You’ll learn
hooks, fill-ins, and
extensions, enabling you to
look at a board and see
where opportunity lies. You’ll
also learn to look for the
highest-scoring play, rather
than the first good play you
see. By listing the “Average
Score,” “Good Score,” and
“Expert Score” for each
puzzle, the authors
encourage readers to look
hard for the best play--a skill
that will be invaluable in an
actual game. Chapter 18 has
35 pages of very tough
puzzles, including difficult
“blanagrams” and “Clabbersstyle” puzzles.
Part 4 is called “Exploring the
World of Scrabble® Clubs
and Tournaments.” It gives
an insider’s view of
competitive SCRABBLE®-and includes wonderful
stories from clubs and
tournaments, plus examples
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of outstanding play from actual
games by experts. There is
also information about the
National SCRABBLE®
Association’s School
SCRABBLE® program, and
other suggestions for children
interested in competitive
SCRABBLE®. Chapter 25
closes the instructional part of
the book with 25 pages of game
diagrams, asking you to find the
best play.
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frustrated by joining the NSA
prior to a tournament, only to
find it is no longer the
sanctioning body for tournament
play. Hopefully future printings
may be able to address this
problem.
I have only a few other
criticisms of this excellent book.
Readers new to SCRABBLE®
may find it confusing when
games are shown that were
played when a different
Part 5, “Appendices,” includes
dictionary was in use, but the
information on rules, fun facts
authors always try to clarify. In
and trivia, information about the Chapter 13, the Q is cited as
NSA, word lists, how to use
often being “a difficult tile to
flashcards and zyzzyva, and
play” as opposed to the J, X,
how to calculate the odds of
and Z. With the inclusion of QI
your opponent having any given in the OSPD4, I think that the Q
letter during a game--an
is no longer the pariah tile it
interesting look at how
once was, and probably should
probability factors into success be added to this group of the
in a SCRABBLE® game.
“Heavy Artillery.” There is also
quite a bit of promoting of
It is unfortunate that NASPA
Hasbro-licensed products,
took over from the NSA just as though readers new to
this book came out. Information SCRABBLE® may appreciate
in the book about the NSA
learning about these items.
running sanctioned tournaments
and the National SCRABBLE® A note to tournament players:
Championship is no longer
Everything Scrabble omits
accurate. On the final page of
words that are in the OWL2
the book, there is an ad for
(Official Word List for Club and
SCRABBLE® News and the
Tourament Play, 2nd Edition).
NSA--and three lines have been This has been true of all
added: “For Information on
previous editions, too, and in
Official SCRABBLE®
my mind does not diminish the
tournament play and clubs,
excellence of the book in any
contact the North American
way. As a teacher of School
SCRABBLE® Tournament [sic] SCRABBLE®, I appreciate that
Association at
the “rude” words are not
[email protected]. But included. However, readers
my guess is that many readers looking for top plays in the
won’t get to these final words,
diagrams should be aware of
and may find themselves
this fact.
Kudos to Joe Edley and John D.
Williams, Jr. for updating this
extraordinary book. I can not
think of a book about
SCRABBLE® I could
recommend more highly,
particularly for the player new to
the tournament and club scene.
Everything SCRABBLE®, Third
Edition, by Joe Edley and John
D. Williams, Jr. is available at
bookstores everywhere and at
Amazon.com.
Cornelia Guest is a writer,
publisher, and editor who also
directs and plays in
SCRABBLE® tournaments.
She teaches and coaches
School SCRABBLE® at the
Ridgefield (CT) Library and the
Somers (NY) Middle School.
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Club News
Larry Sherman, Editor
If you'd like your club to be considered for an article, please send us some information on it.
Obviously, we'll need the who, what, why, where and when of the club activities: meeting times (day
of the week and hours), address, with directions if appropriate, club leaders, contact information
(phone and email), fees, and web site, if any.
But that's just the basics. We'd also like one or more paragraphs on what makes your club special.
For instance, focus of club (whether geared to casual or strong players, or both), history, club
tournaments and other special events, average number of attendees, and regular prizes. Use your
imagination, and think of the kinds of information that you would find valuable and/or interesting.
Also, if a newsworthy event has taken place at your club in the last several months, please let us
know. While we will feature one club a month, we will include highlights from other clubs as well.
All clubs—big and small, urban and rural—that submit information will be considered for publication,
and all material is subject to editing. The major criteria for selections will be appeal and variety.
Please submit material to [email protected].
Lexington MA Club #180
by Judy Cole, Judy Horn, and Mike Wolfberg
The Lexington MA Scrabble® Club #108 has been running continuously since it was started by Edie
Berman and Muriel Sands in January, 1980. Judy Horn has directed for about 24 years, with Judy
Cole joining recently as associate director. Mike Wolfberg joined the club within its first month of
existence, and took on the role of club statistician within the first year. Mike issues weekly reports
with current club ratings and newsy items. The club has operated with its own rating system,
designed primarily by Alan Frank, since early 1981. Ratings are based on the percentage of points
each of the players scores in each game.
We meet nearly every Thursday night from 7 to midnight in
a comfy basement meeting room of the First Parish
Church, situated on Lexington Green behind the Lexington
Minuteman Statue. The cost is $5 per session; seniors and
students receive a discount as do those who play only 1 or
2 games. A newcomer's first visit is free.
This past May the club lost two long-term club players:
Ellen Miller, who had served as Judy's assistant director for
many years, and veteran player Dolly Mattisen.
Norma Marshall, Wayne Yorra, and other
Lexington Club members.
(Photo by Judy Cole)
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Two of our active players, Hilda Siegel and Elaine
Patterson, moved to Southern Florida this season. They
continue to participate in SCRABBLE® clubs and tourneys
in Florida.
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In the club's Sep-08 through Aug-09 season, individuals played 4,762 games with an average score
of 387. Of the 4,762 individual games, 4,364 were played by regulars. Average attendance
throughout the season was 22.2, and with 49 sessions, competitors averaged 4.4 games per
session.
One hundred forty-seven different players have attended the club in the past two years. During the
2008-2009 season, there were 50 “active” players. Here are the top 20, ordered by decreasing club
average rating:
Player
Seth Lipkin
Rod MacNeil
Merrill Kaitz
Alyssa Faria
Richard Buck
Jamie Ryan
Brad Whitmarsh
Evans Clinchy
Mark Fidler
Joel Horn
Ben Harrison
Steven Saul
Bruce Adams
Mike Wolfberg
Leigh Bernstein
Carl Durdan
Elaine Patterson
Judy Horn
Bob Becker
Navee Angsuputiphant
Club
Rating
1783.47
1782.81
1772.55
1767.57
1760.41
1756.51
1755.57
1751.46
1750.24
1747.80
1747.50
1746.80
1740.87
1738.89
1734.13
1720.59
1711.51
1706.42
1705.17
1703.67
Average
425
438
428
416
425
440
443
421
405
417
426
413
405
422
413
410
385
402
403
422
Wins
37
32
42
35
131
78
24
49
116
164
84
110
73
111
26
22
11
153
55
14
Total
Games
50
41
55
46
188
110
32
68
165
240Scoring 100,179 points
115
173
114
165
41
39
22
264Scoring 106,939 points
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Also of note, Trx. Kt. (name abbreviated by request) played 323 games and scored 111,171 points,
and Judy Cole played 309 games and scored 113,385 points, for the most games and most points
respectively.
The full 2008-2009 Season Report can be found at the club's website: http://wolfberg.net/scrabble/
lexington. The club now has its own Facebook page: NASPA Scrabble Club #108 - Lexington, MA. If
you are a Facebook member, join the group to access the club website from within Facebook.
Search "Lexington Scrabble" to find the group or use the direct link: http://www.facebook.com/
group.php?gid=119298679388&ref=ts.
Lexington MA Club #108 meets on Thursday nights at 7 p.m. at the First Parish Unitarian Church
at 9 Harrington Rd. in Lexington, MA. For additional information go to http://www.wolfberg.net/
scrabble/lexington.
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Maddy Kamen scores 724 at Anaheim Club
Maddy Kamen of Covina, CA, had a 724 game against West Los Angeles Club
#195 director Bruce D’Ambrosio at the Anaheim Hills CA SCRABBLE® Club
#550 on Monday, November 23rd, helped by a 284 point triple-triple of
QUARtZES. There were no challenges and no phonies in the game.
Eerily enough, her husband Roy played QUARTZ for 60 points against
D’Ambrosio in his previous game. Details of the game can be found at http://
www.scrabbleclub195.net/maddy724.htm (or http://www.scrabbleclub195.net/,
then following the link “Click here for Maddy Kamen’s 724 game”.) The web page, generated from
the Quackle Quick report, includes only partial data for Maddy’s racks; however, it of course
includes the full racks for her four bingos. Not surprisingly, even Quackle thinks the 284-point play
was best!
Anaheim CA Club #550 meets on Monday nights at 6 p.m. at Denny’s Restaurant, 22611
Oakcrest Circle, Yorba Linda, CA 92887. Contact director: Yukiko Loritz, 714-713-6057,
[email protected].
West Los Angeles Club #195 meets on Saturday morning at 10 a.m. at the Felicia Mahood
Senior Center, 11338 Santa Monica Blvd., Anaheim, CA. Contact director Bruce D’Ambrosio,
310-641-2879, [email protected].
Wisconsin wizards
Scott Jackson and Steve Hartsman, both from the
Milwaukee WI area, played a 1034-point game at the
Waukesha WI SCRABBLE® Club #560 on September 3.
The game, which ended 530-504 for Hartsman (giving
Jackson his record high loss), included a 3x3 bingo, a 2x2
bingo, and a 9-letter bingo. The final board is pictured
here. To see the game on cross-tables.com’s annotated
games, go to http://cross-tables.com/annotated.php?
u=4682#0.
Waukesha WI Club #560 meets on Thursdays from 6-10
p.m at UW-Waukesha, Game Room, 1500 North
University Drive, Waukesha, WI. Contact director Jim
Frankki, 262-385-6370 (h) or 262-521-5468 (w),
[email protected].
203-point MONOXIDE play
Dee Segrest, of Grand Prairie, TX, played a 203-point bingo, MONOXIDE, against Mike Early on
November 10th at the Bedford TX SCRABBLE® Club #248. Although she did not win the game,
the high-scoring bingo made her evening!
Bedford TX Club #248 meets on Tuesdays at 6:45 p.m. at Taco Bueno, 1528 Brown Trail (corner
of Airport Fwy. and Brown Trail), Bedford, TX. Contact director Mary Rhoades, 817-718-3115,
[email protected].
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Ridgefield Club’s Scott Morese joins 700 Club
Ridgefield CT Club #603 congratulates Scott Morese of New Milford, CT for his
702-point game against Tim Iglinski at the Rhinebeck NY Tournament on
November 8. Scott finished second overall to Jo Anne Cohen in Division 2.
Ridgefield CT Club #603 meets on Fridays from 6:30-10:30 p.m at the CVS
Pharmacy Community Room, 382 Main St., Ridgefield, CT. Contact co-directors
Mike Ecsedy, 203-775-0817, [email protected] or Cornelia Guest,
203-244-5324, [email protected].
One-in-a-million event at Exeter, NH Club
Early in the evening on October 12, there were only three players at the Exeter NH Club #587--Judy
Cole, Joe Walbaum, and Mike Wolfberg, so they set up three boards in a triangular arrangement to
each play two simultaneous games. The first person to pick a letter in each of the three games drew
a Z out of the bag!
Exeter NH Club #587 meets on Mondays from 6-10:30 p.m at Riverwoods at Exeter, 7 RiverWoods
Drive, Exeter, NH 13833. Contact director in absentia Kath Mullholand, 603-834-0676 (cell),
[email protected]. For additional details go to the club web page at: http://home.comcast.net/
~exeterscrabble/.
Some words just keep coming up
Jeff Clark of the Flint MI SCRABBLE® Club #317 reported the following:
“I was playing Steve Grob in game 3 at club last September. Steve played DAIMIO. It was a word
that I was not familiar with but I did not challenge. I looked it up after the game and saw that it was
good, took an S, and had an alternate spelling. The next game I was playing Miki Sutherland when
I spotted DAiMYOS on my rack and I was able to play it for 85 points. Other words I saw with that
rack that would not play were DYnAMOS, SOMeDAY, SAMOYeD. Linda Hoggatt had played
SOMEDAY on me earlier in the week.
“On a similar note, I was playing Kathy Washburn when she played ALATIONS through a T on the
board. My rack at the time was LATINOS. Unfortunately, there were no open As on the board or I
could have played ALATIONS back at her.”
On November 9 Jeff was hot and cold. In one game he scored 607, with four bingos including the
3x3 FISHBONE natural for 194. The next game he scored 298.
Flint MI Club #317 meets on Tuesdays at 5:00 p.m. at the Carmen-Ainsworth Senior Center, 2071
S. Graham Rd., Flint, MI. Contact director Margaret (Miki) Sutherland, 810-653-0152,
[email protected].
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Word Trivia Quiz
by Siri Tillekeratne
All words are found in OSPD4/TWL2.
1.There are many species of fish whose names have as a prefix the name of another animal.
Perhaps the best known one is CATFISH. What are the others?
2. Which 1982 musical starring Julie Andrews had as its name two consecutive main entries in the
OSPD?
3. Which two consecutive main entries in the OSPD, when read together, reminds one of
Christmas?
4. Of all the many words ending with "-MENT" in the OSPD, only three don't take a S "back-hook".
What are they?
5. What is the only word which rhymes with both syllables of PURPLE?
ANSWERS ON THE NEXT PAGE
Siri Tillekeratne is a director of the Calgary SCRABBLE®® Club #374 and a former Director of the
Year.
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ANSWERS
1.TOADFISH, CODFISH,WOLFFISH, PIGFISH, DOGFISH, HOGFISH, FROGFISH, LIONFISH,
BOARFISH, BATFISH, GOATFISH, RATFISH, COWFISH, FOXFISH.
2. VICTOR VICTORIA
3. CANDY CANE
4. VEHEMENT, CLEMENT, DIRIMENT
5. HIRPLE
55
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Historic Moments: SCRABBLE® Throughout the Years
The Rest of the Story
by Stu Goldman
The above headline, used as a regular feature in the radio broadcasts of the late Paul Harvey, is
appropriate for an incident involving Joel Sherman, reported in S.L. Price’s December 18, 1995
Sports Illustrated article about SCRABBLE® players (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/
magazine/MAG1007571/7/index.htm). The article was largely criticized by SCRABBLE® players.
The article mentioned Joel storming out of the tournament room in the middle of a game in the Los
Angeles National SCRABBLE® Championship of 1994. Nothing else was written about the
incident. Joel was playing me at the time, and I had just successfully challenged a bingo of his and
played one of my own, in a game in which I already held a sizable lead.
The rest of the story is that Joel returned and finished the game. The next day, before play began,
he sought me out and apologized, saying that his departure came when he realized that if he lost to
me he had no chance to win the tournament. Although his emotional exit, caused by the plays
immediately preceding it, is certainly not commendable, the sportsmanship and camaraderie
showed in his apology certainly deserves praise, and should have been mentioned in the Sports
Illustrated article.
Yes, the magazine knew about it. I had contacted them about the article for another reason, and
they sent me a reply asking if I knew of any misstatements of fact. I responded with the account of
Joel's actions following his leaving the room, but they did not print it. And that's the rest of the story
Stu Goldman lives in California and has been playing tournament SCRABBLE® for 36 years.
56
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Fill in the Blanks
by Darin True
Fill in the blank in the following with the letter that will make it a word. Many will have multiple
answers, which will be posted below.
EXAMPLE: BUILDE_ answer: (d,r) for BUILDED, BUILDER
1) TITAN_TE
11) _AROUCHE
2) _ENOGRAM
12) _ENOLOGY
3) _ARCENER
13) _ARIOLE
4) A_IARIST
14) CASTRAT_
5) BARG_EST
15) _INERIES
6) EN_AMEBA
16) _ARLDOMS
7) CA_IOLE
17) GOMER_L
8) VENE_ATE
18) DA_EWORT
9) MA_OLICA
19) AL_HORN
10) _UTATIVE
20) ARS_NOUS
ANSWERS ON NEXT PAGE
Darin True is an on-again off-again tourney player (since 2000) from central Illinois. He has two
daughters, age 8 and 13, one of whom has done very well at spelling bees (Darin helps with
training). Darin’s most notable achievement in SCRABBLE®, posted as a record in SCRABBLE®
news, is that his rating never went down during the course of his first 15 tournaments.
57
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ANSWERS:
1) (a,i) for TITANATE, TITANITE
2) (g,r,v) for GENOGRAM,
RENOGRAM, VENOGRAM
3) (l,p) FOR LARCENER,
PARCENER
11) (b,f) for BAROUCHE,
FAROUCHE
12) (m,o,p,v) for MENOLOGY,
OENOLOGY, PENOLOGY,
VENOLOGY
4) (p,v) for APIARIST, AVIARIST
13) (c,d,v) for CARIOLE,
DARIOLE, VARIOLE
5) (h,u) for BARGHEST,
BARGUEST
14) (e,i,o) for CASTRATE,
CASTRATI, CASTRATO
6) (d,t) for ENDAMEBA,
ENTAMEBA
15) (f,p,v,w) for FINERIES,
PINERIES, VINERIES,
WINERIES
7) (r) for CARIOLE
8) (n,r) for VENENATE,
VENERATE
16) (e,j) for EARLDOMS,
JARLDOMS
9) (i,j) for MAIOLICA, MAJOLICA
17) (a,e,i) for GOMERAL,
GOMEREL, GOMERIL
10) (m,p) for MUTATIVE,
PUTATIVE
18) (m,n) for DAMEWORT,
DANEWORT
19) (p,t) for ALPHORN, ALTHORN
20) (e,o) for ARSENOUS,
ARSONOUS
Darin True is an on-again off-again tourney player (since 2000) from central Illinois. He has two
daughters, age 8 and 13, the older of whom has done very well at spelling bees (the younger will
start next year--Darin helps with training). Darin’s most notable achievement in SCRABBLE®,
posted as a record in SCRABBLE® news, is that his rating never went down during the course of
his first 15 tournaments.
58
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Passages
Larry Sherman, Editor
Each month we will be including information about SCRABBLE® players (births, deaths, marriages,
etc.) Please send your news to the newsletter editor, Cornelia Guest, at
[email protected].
_______________________________________________________________________________
BIRTHS
GIANNA MARY KING
Scrabbler Norma Marshall is happy to share the news that she is now a grandmother! Gianna Mary
King was born on Friday, November 13th at 5:08 p.m., weighing 7 lbs. and 7 ounces, while Norma
was playing in the Green Mountain Challenge in Vermont. Gianna was born with a respiratory issue
and was placed in neonatal intensive care; however, her medical team put her on antibiotics and
she made a terrific recovery very quickly. She is home now and doing very well. She is the
daughter of Christopher and Kimberly King (Norma’s daughter), who live in Virginia. Norma adds: “I
had kidded my daughter that if the baby was born while I was playing SCRABBLE® she should
have a good SCRABBLE® name like Panchax. I like Gianna better! For those interested, google
the name “Gianna” because the story of this saint is interesting, and my new granddaughter
definitely had an angel watching over her.” Click the photos below to see short videoclips of
Gianna.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
DEATHS
JOSEPH R. CAPALBI
by Susi Tiekert
Joseph R. Capalbi, 70, of Deerfield Beach, FL, died on Friday, November 13.
Scrabblers are a different sort of animal. While it's possible that chess players might walk down the
block reviewing opening gambits they've read about, only a Scrabbler will absolutely walk down the
avenue and have the street signs and store names dance and rearrange themselves before our
very eyes. We are different and we know it. And we do try to keep ourselves to ourselves, not
polluting the general population with our particular brand of "thinking."
59
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But every now and then an outsider falls in love with us and elects to stay. They happily take the
vows: For better or worse, in sickness or in health, for home sessions and away tournaments.
Joe Capalbi, 1939-2009, was essentially one of those outsiders, though he did play several
tournaments in the New York area during the 1990’s. He was married to SCRABBLE® player Mary
Capalbi for 41 years, every one of them happy. Even when his first stroke, in his mid-40s, forced his
retirement, he just took that as another opportunity to become a house-husband, with all that that
conveyed ... including catering home SCRABBLE® sessions. After all the players had arrived and
begun their first game, he grabbed his paints, easel, and brushes and set out for a day of peace and
quiet and his own brand of right-brain creativity. At which, I might add, he was very, very good!
Joe and Mary lived for years on Long Island and then in Queens before his retirement. In 2000 Joe
and Mary moved to Deerfield Beach. Joe took to Florida like a duck to water. More time to paint,
play golf, cook. At all of which he excelled. He took pride in his wife and their son, Joey, and all
their accomplishments. He never once balked when Mary attended club, went to a tournament, or
even spent the day at the beach or pool playing SCRABBLE®. He was content. He claimed that
when he was born the words, "Good Horse" got stamped on his head. He was right. A finer
specimen of man, husband, and father won't come this way again for a good long while.
A memorial service was held on Saturday, November 21, at the Saint Ambrose Roman Catholic
Church in Deerfield Beach. Share memories of Joe online memorial Legacy.com. Friends wishing
to send letters of condolence to Mary Capalbi may get her address from Susi Tiekert at
[email protected].
60
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SCRABBLE®
Resources
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“We can blame it on my greatgrandmother, who, when I was
in grade school and during one
of very few times I can
There are many study tools to
remember seeing her,
help tournament SCRABBLE®
introduced me to the game of
players hone their skills,
including a number of programs anagrams. (Of course, my
that can be downloaded for free. Virgo moon doesn't hurt.)
This section will offer
“As an undergraduate
suggestions and links, plus
experimental psychology major,
feature each month a different
I began developing the initial
SCRABBLE® resource. This
month’s focus will be on one of prototype to JumbleTime -the most popular study tools of timed jumbled words
experiments. Then, later, in a
expert players: JumbleTime.
masters program, I did my
thesis on anagram solving.
JumbleTime
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information technology, said
he could do it.
“We developed many Internet
versions of JT, until we settled
with the wall of words that is JT
today.
“Joel Sherman and Rick Wong
were probably the first
SCRABBLE® jocks to find their
way to JumbleTime. Ultimately, I
ran into Robin Pollock Daniel
there. She loved the site, and
became a confidante and
advisor.
“I attended the BAT [Boston
“Then, much later, as I was
Area Tournament] in 2002 as an
struggling to find the right
observer, and, with Sherrie’s
technical people to get
blessing promoted JT
JumbleTime on some new thing there. Soon thereafter I played
called the Internet, my son,
in my first SCRABBLE®
Oliver, who had recently
tournament in Stamford.
completed a degree in
“JT was first and foremost a
Launched in 2002, JumbleTime
(www.jumbletime.com) offers
SCRABBLE® players a terrific
site for practicing
anagramming. Players select
the length of word they want to
practice, either in their own
private “room” or in competition
with other players, and are then
presented with a “wall” of 45
anagrams they must solve
within a short time period.
Each day hundreds practice on
JumbleTime, with many trying
to win the “daily challenge.”
JumbleTime designer David
Johnson talks about the the
history of JT.
61
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game--it still has the option for
one to play others head-tohead--but it has been
transformed into a word-study
tool by the rank and file, who
typically close down their ‘room’
for their use only (that's where/
how I became somewhat
dangerous with sevens.)
“I think one of the most
interesting features we
developed is the daily
challenges. These provide a
way for you to compare how
you fare in your knowledge of
words/jumbled-word-solving
skill against the full range of
players. ‘drbing’ reigns
supreme, though that player is
rivaled by ‘Robin,’ ‘evzone,’ and
a small coterie of extraordinary
word people.
A
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WalMart employees she knows
who play JT at work each day.
“I would love to make a bunch
of changes to JumbleTime, and
have been attempting to get
serious about learning Java
(Oliver's time is now taken up
pretty much with a relationship
-- god, am I impressed with all
the coding labor he did). I know
that I need to be able to learn
words in a way to make them
more accessible to me during
SCRABBLE® play, and I know
ways to do it, but it would
require some interesting
revisions --and we will see if I
am up to it.
“I am really gratified that my
little word hobby has been
helpful and interesting to so
many of you.”
“I don't count the number of
players who come in and
To play JumbleTime, go to
practice and/or compete each
www.jumbletime.com.
day; but the number of
individuals who play the sevenletter word daily challenge is
OTHER
usually somewhere between 75
SCRABBLE®
and 60 (barring a major
SCRABBLE® tournament
RESOURCE LINKS
weekend). Many more play
fours and fives.
“New people continue to
discover JT all the time, and not
just in the SCRABBLE®
community. At a recent
Minnesota tournament, I met
and played a guy who goes by
‘Woody’ who plays pretty evenly
with me on the sevens daily
challenge. Just the other day
my sister told me about some
62
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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.
NASPA CLUB LISTINGS
Lists clubs throughout North
America with their meeting
times and locations.
NSA CLUB LISTINGS
Lists casual clubs throughout
North America with their
meeting times and locations.
Free Anagramming
and Practice Tools
JUMBLETIME
A web site for practicing
anagramming skills.
AEROLITH
A free application for practicing
Play SCRABBLE® On anagramming skills and
Line
learning words.
QUACKLE
POGO SCRABBLE®
The official SCRABBLE® online A free application for playing,
simulating, and analyzing
game. Created under
agreement with Hasbro in 2008. games.
SCRABBLE® ON
FACEBOOK
Select the SCRABBLE®
application on the Facebook
home page to play the official
ZYZZYVA
A free application for practicing
anagramming skills and
learning words. Also has Word
Judge capabilities.
S
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SCRABBLE®
DICTIONARY
Type a word to check for
acceptability. OSPD4 words.
A
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Players’ Dictionary, offers lighthearted humor, daily word lists,
and more. Admission is to all
SCRABBLE® lovers. Details
can be found in the NASPA
Tournament SCRABBLE®
Newsletter #1.
.
CLICK HERE TO HELP
END WORD HUNGER AS
YOU LEARN WORDS
A free vocabulary testing site.
For every correct word, grains
of rice are donated through the
United Nations World Food
Program. Help feed hungry
people as you expand your
vocabulary!
Online SCRABBLE®
Discussion Groups
CGP ([email protected])
This group, for tournament
players and directors only, has
the largest membership of any
online tournament
SCRABBLE® discussion group.
Most important events and
changes in the SCRABBLE®
world are discussed on cgp.
Admission is by approval only.
Details can be found in the
NASPA Tournament
SCRABBLE® Newsletter #1.
OSPD ([email protected]
om)
This group, dedicated to players
using The Official SCRABBLE®
63
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Tournament Calendar
Many readers have asked us to include a tournament calendar. The most accurate tournament
information is posted on the NASPA Calendar, which includes all regular sanctioned tournaments to
date. Additional tournament information is posted at cross-tables.com, which often includes
tournaments not on the NASPA Calendar: Local Club Tournaments (LCTs), School SCRABBLE®
Tournaments, and special invitational and/or unrated tournaments. Cross-tables.com also provides
for most tournaments a list of participants, both confirmed and tentative, with their ratings. Many
unrated fundraiser tournaments and School SCRABBLE® tournaments can be found on the NSA
website. Additional international tournaments can be found on the WESPA calendar.
Here we will be listing tournaments scheduled for the next two months. However, readers are
recommended to consult the NASPA Calendar and/or cross-tables.com first before making plans.
DECEMBER TOURNAMENTS
Causeway Challenge, Malaysia: 12/2-6
Atlanta, GA: 12/5-6
Austin, TX: 12/5-6
Bayside, NY: 12/5
Calgary, AB CAN: 12/5
Cleveland, OH: 12/5-6
Durham, NH: 12/5
Ft. Lauderdale, FL: 12/5
WEST
Berkeley, CA: 12/6
Laguna Woods, CA: 12/6
Mountain View, CA: 12/20
MIDWEST
Cleveland OH: 12/5-6
NORTHEAST
Bayside, NY: 12/5
Durham, NH: 12/5
Philadelphia, PA: 12/13
Rhinebeck, NY: 12/13
Albany, NY: 12/29-1/3
SOUTH
Atlanta, GA: 12/5-6
Knoxville, TN: 12/5-6
Tampa, FL: 12/5
Safety Harbor, FL: 12/20
World Youth SCRABBLE® Championship
(CWS), Malaysia: 12/8-10
SOUTHWEST
Austin, TX: 12/5-6
Guelph, ON CAN: 12/13
CANADA
Calgary, AB: 12/5
Guelph, ON: 12/13
Knoxville, TN: 12/5-6
Tampa, FL: 12/5
Berkeley, CA: 12/6
Philadelphia, PA: 12/13
Rhinebeck, NY: 12/13
Safety Harbor, FL: 12/20
Albany, NY: 12/29-1/3
64
INTERNATIONAL
Causeway Challenge, Malaysia: 12/2-6
World Youth SCRABBLE Championship
(CWS), Malaysia: 12/8-10
JANUARY TOURNAMENTS
Albany, NY: 12/29-1/3
Dallas, TX: 1/9-10
Tampa, FL: 1/9
Berkeley, CA: 1/10
Rhinebeck, NY: 1/10
Brandon, MS: 1/15-16
Reno, NV: 1/15-18
Bayside, NY: 1/16
Bryan, TX: 1/16-18
Twin Cities Redeye, MN: 1/16-17
South American Cruise: 1/17-30
Hudson, OH: 1/23-24
Seattle, WA: 1/23
Tucson, AZ: 1/23
Winnipeg, MB CAN: 1/23
Atlantic City, NJ: 1/30-2/1
Calgary, AB CA: 1/30-31
Kissimmee, FL: 1/30-31
WEST
Berkeley, CA: 1/10
Seattle, WA: 1/23
Moutain View, CA: 1/24
MIDWEST
Twin Cities Redeye, MN 1/16-17
Hudson, OH: 1/23-24
NORTHEAST
Albany, NY 12/29-1/3
Rhinebeck, NY 1/10
Bayside, NY: 1/16
Atlantic City, NJ: 1/30-2/1
SOUTH
Tampa, FL: 1/9
Brandon, MS: 1/15-16
Kissimmee, FL: 1/30-31
SOUTHWEST
Dallas, TX: 1/9-10
Reno, NV: 1/15-18
Bryan, TX: 1/16-18
Tucson, AZ: 1/23
CANADA
Winnepeg, MB: 1/23
Calgary, AB: 1/30-31
CRUISE
South American Cruise: 1/17-30
65

The Last Word 2 - Portland Scrabble® Clubs

Transcription

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