The tile Gods were guiding me yesterday at the Mississauga Scrabble Club and I am happy to report that I won all three games, and set a record for this season for high game with a 645. This game included five bingos, the first of which was my opening play of 104 for PIAzZAS, followed by PEMmICAN for 92, ENTRANCE for 74, TAWNIEST for 80 and SOLERET for 71. (These were not five back-to-back bingos, however PEMmICAN and ENTRANCE were, as well as TAWNIEST and SOLERET.) 

As Club Director, my games are always the last to start at the beginning of each Round, as I am busy pairing people up, repeating the announcements to all those who didn’t listen, and finally finding a free moment to go out and get myself a coffee. When you score a bingo-blaster game of 645, the tiles play themselves. There is really no thinking involved, as all you’re doing is placing the tiles on the board. No shuffling required. My opponent and I were the first players to finish, even though we were by far the last ones to start playing. 

I got away with a phony in Round #3, and I swore I thought it was good, as did my opponent, who never even held me on it: UNMOWEd for 85. Only UNMOWN is acceptable. Other bingos I played yesterday were the pedestrian SETLINE for 72 and ABRADINg for 86. My opponent held me on that word forever, and I was praying for a challenge which never came.

The boyfriend slogged it out to Mississauga in order to throw me another Scrabble party, and brought an ice cream cake with a Disney theme (since we are going to Orlando) and he brought my present: a round Tyszka board. Isn’t my honey the sweetest? The board was decorated with a birthday greeting spelled out in wooden tiles that were taped to the grid. Since I had spent the beginning of that Round opening my present and admiring the board and thanking Mr. Sweetness, I had already eaten a chunk of the time we had for Round #3, so I decided against playing my first game on the new board then and there since it would have entailed me to peel off all the taped-on tiles. I told my Mark that I will save the first game on the new board for him and me.

In spite of my promising opening game and three wins, my three-game total was not as high as my fantasy projected. I scored 1480 points after three games. My record is 1654 against three expert opponents in three phony-free OWL1 games.