Mark and I competed in an unrated twenty-game tournament organized by our friend Howard Pistol. Howard rented a large house in Wilton Manors and all the out-of-towners (including Howard, who lived in nearby Oakland Park) slept there over the duration. The place had a large pool and deck and I lounged and read in the sun. Our bed however creaked something awful and every movement, no matter how slight, disturbed the other. It also didn’t help that one of the players left his phone on all night playing music–because he found it easy to fall asleep to?–while everyone else in the house could hear it. We started play on Saturday morning and finished one week ago on Tuesday afternoon. After dinner we also enjoyed playing Codenames and CatchPhrase. The highlight evening activity was a water taxi trip along the internal waterway the New River, where we saw enormous mansions and yachts. We had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory and enjoyed the evening boat ride back, when all of the mansions were lit up.
We played with the unpurged list which included all the offensive slurs. My opponents and I never played anything longer than a three-letter slur. The only one I played was ABO. I have included my bingo count for each round. My bingos are listed first, separated from my opponents’ by a virgule. My score is listed first followed by my opponent during that round.
01 HURTLeS (79) PoLICER (104) / none 421-344 Curtis Lee
02 CHAISES (97) / MAlTIER (67) GENiSTA (81) 338-370 Howard Pistol
03 SeLLING (68) BOORISH (81) UNREELS (77) / UPROAREd (72) * 519-325 Marla Riff [1]
04 AVERRiNG (74) SCOTTIES (64) / PREsAGE (83) 385-383 Jack Eichenbaum [2]
05 VEtTERS (76) GARRISON (68) ORGANDIE (72) / ORDERING (64) UNCHOSEN (78) 502-392 Richard Popper
06 TROlLISH (140) / AVERAGES (65) PRANCERS (64) 429-365 Susi Tiekert [3]
07 UNsEATS (73) PALEFACE (68) DOTTIER (64) REBOReS (84) / none 525-263 Don Poulin
08 OUTRIDE (83) STORaGES (74) TARDILY (92) ELUsIVE (69) / BEWARES (82) 512-321 Teresa Schaeffer
09 NARROWER (71) / none 306-362 Bruce Adams
10 UPSoARS (68) / BUNNiES (64) 385-350 Will Cody
11 AMuSING (88) / none 396-319 Mark Hamilton
12 bye
13 UNSEEINg (66) GOATIER (75) COINFERS (64) / VANITAS (78) STROKINg (71) / 357-498 Ed Roth [4]
14 ViNEGARS (62) / SAUTeED (75) 375-400 Curtis Lee
15 POdIATRY (98) ETCHERS (80) SEDATION (80) / HINDErED (66) 450-404 Jack Eichenbaum [5]
16 STAVINg (80) / IMPARTED (80) 367-386 Howard Pistol
17 SWEARING (64) CHiLLiER (86) / SVELTER (88) PENITENT (78) 473-450 Bruce Adams
18 PIRATED (76) SAUTOIR (73) / none 406-338 Ed Roth
19 GAMIEST (71) / TENORITE (62) sEEDBeD (86) 391-461 Ed Roth [6]
20 AGUELIkE (82) / TRIBALS (70) VINTAGE (80) CRIMSoN (83) 388-500 Howard Pistol [7]
37 for me / 22 for my opponents
I finished in third place in division one, 13-7 +797 and won $20 for the highest play in my division (140 for TROlLISH).
[1] I questioned UPROAREd but did not hold the play. It sounded somewhat plausible yet I had such a commanding lead that I left it.
[2] In my previous game with Marla I had the rack CIOSSTT and since I had my laptop with me, I checked my racks after every game. I learned that while that rack made no sevens, it made eights through a K (STOCKIST) and an E (SCOTTIES). During my very next game I had the same rack: CIOSSTT and I knew what I had to look for. There were no 8LW opportunities yet Jack played a short word with an E to the bottom centre TWS and I slapped down SCOTTIES immediately.
[3] Susi had opened a triple-triple lane when she slotted an L in fifth position. I took a lot of time with my rack HIORST? yet once I made the suffix -LISH I found it easily.
[4] I challenged VANITAS unsuccessfully.
[5] With the rack DEEIOST and the unseen tile pool AEEILSUU I spent a good long time looking at the best opportunity to play a bingo if I cast off one tile. I realized I had a 50-50 chance of drawing a bingo if I played off one of my E’s. I slotted it above a W to make EW, exposing the top TWS row. I could theoretically play a bingo ending in E or S (to make EEW or SEW, the only hooks that would work). Thus I had a chance of drawing the A for IODATES or TOADIES, or one of the two U’s–which I figured Jack would not want to keep duplicates of–for OUTSIDE or TEDIOUS. There was also an N on the lower right TWS, making -TION bingos a possibility. I saw SEDATION if I drew the A and SEDITION if I drew the I. Jack blocked the -EW row and since I had luckily drawn the A, I was able to bingo out and win. In this game I had the first move and opened up with MOMZER for 44.
[6] With Curtis sneezing up a storm on the final day I found it quite appropriate to have the rack EEINRSZ (but not in a game against him). I was hoping to play it through an E for SNEEZIER.
[7] I was overloaded with vowels during this game. Even my only bingo was a five-vowel eight. Had I won this game, I would have ended up in second place.