The Buffalo Nationals was my first Nationals since 2008, and I was looking forward to it for months. Mark and I arrived in Buffalo on Thursday night, in order to take advantage of the city’s sights and stores on the Friday before the official start of the tournament. I spent Friday morning and early afternoon at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, while Mark went to Frank Lloyd Wright’s Martin House Complex, joining me at the art gallery after. We didn’t check in at the Buffalo Niagara Convention Center until 6 p.m. I was very happy to see the paperback edition of the OSPD5 in my swag bag. Players also received a choice of new tiles and tile bag. I chose a yellow set with a green bag. We were advised to check the tile distribution and my set indeed had one hundred tiles, but five L’s yet no J. I exchanged the fifth L, thereby depriving me of the chance to play POLYSYLLABICALLY naturally in Super Scrabble. I got the Scrabble Tile Lock edition as my Plinko prize. During the evenings Mark and I had a riot of a time playing Cards Against Humanity with our friends from the Rack of Lambda. Our hotel had a common area with a long table that we were able to use each night we played this wicked card game. Free coffee and cards made the nights hilariously fun.
I have included my bingo count for each round. My bingos are listed first, separated from my opponents’ by a virgule.
01 none / cORNIEST OUTPrEEN
02 HANDiEST kETONIC / SIGNORE GOALIES
03 AiRSHOT ERASION / WOOdIER MEASURE
04 GOODLIER AGITaTED ETESIAN / BARONGS
05 ClIENTS SOLATIA / none
06 LUsTIeR / IOLITES
07 ThIEVING GODETiAS / DIVINER
08 STERNesT / BANGLED#
09 RANCHERO / BuRTHEn SAPONITE
10 PROFANE RELATING sUEDING / none
11 SEnOpIA / BERYLIUM*
12 RALLiNE EMODINS / none
13 GIRASOLS / OUtRACE SHAiTAN
14 AERIEST / COINAGE ANTHeRS NeONATAL OUTDRANK
15 none / REBATEs rELOOSEN
16 none / TEaRiNG POLARIZE INSANEST WINDIEST
17 OVERRATES / dOTAGES
18 DOUBTER cOOEEING / CREAmIER SPINTOS
19 nOISIER / LOUSIeR INCANTS
20 NOTICES / BOArDING MODERATE
21 RESTING POETICAl TArWEED / FANNERS
22 DECANAl fRISKILY / RETUNES
23 mANIFEST / EOLIPIlE OAKIEST
24 EATErIES STEAMILY / CHATTER
25 none / FOIBLEs VANITiES
26 ATTAInS OARSMEN / WETTESt
27 ALIENER MESTEES / LEANEsT CUTTERS
28 ANTElOPE sCRAWLED / none
29 TRoTTED SANiCLE / RETINOID BACKDATE
30 AUDITOR TRESSED CANNIEST / gAVOTTED NONPEAk
31 DOTTLeS GLASSIEr / ALGINATE
48 for me / 47 for my opponents
Interesting notes (the numbers pertain to the round played):
02 I hooked kETONIC onto AS- making ASk along the bottom TWS row. I could just as well have played kENOTIC or sECTION but with the final N two spots away from the lower right TWS, I was afraid of sECTIONED or sECTIONAL. I don’t recall if NEpOTIC would have fit, but ENTOpIC was not possible.
03 My highest play in the tournament was AiRSHOT for 98. It was a double-double that could only be a double-double if I made a word plural with my S in fourth position.
04 My highest losing score, 489-447.
05 A one-point win for me with one second left on my clock, 362-361.
11 My final two racks were laden with five vowels and two blanks. I could not play a bingo, so fished off an E to open a second bingo line by making PEE, exposing the bottom TWS row. I emptied the bag by fishing off that E, yet of the eight unseen tiles, four were clunky vowels (A I O O) which would have cost me the game had I picked one of them. Luckily, the last tile in the bag was an S, giving me a walkoff bingo in two places and the win.
I had just studied the elements before this tournament, and held my opponent on BERYLIUM*, believing that it was spelled only with two L’s. I thought my opponent was going to play NE as the last two tiles, so I was surprised to see the UM come down. I held my opponent, but typical me, I let it go. I always let everything go. 🙁
15 At the end of the game my opponent asked me if CONJOINT took the -S. I stated confidently, “No.” Then I looked the board. He had played REBATEs hooking the -s onto CONJOINT. How could I have been so blind to let that one slip by? And I even knew that the word didn’t take the -S.
17 Played through -ER-
29 Three T’s and one vowel gave me TRoTTED for 67; that initial T on the TWS line gave my opponent a 140-point triple-triple. Sigh.