Mark and I played 29 games while on Réunion, Mauritius, during the cruise of the southern Indian Ocean and in Cape Town. Mark played exceptionally well and won nine games.
01 I played MAUsIER (78) and Mark played ENROlLS (75). I held the rack AEEHMSU and I see that it makes HEAUMES, which I did not know. There are no 8LW with that rack. 452-341
02 I played TUNNELS (78) and INDIGOs (67) and Mark played KITTENS (67) and COSINEs (89). 429-368
03 A big win for me–in relation to Mark’s score–yet I did it without the blanks. I played GRANDEES (64), OVERSET (85) and ATOMISER (66). 474-224
04 Going second, I opened with OPUNTIAs (62). I also scored 81 for SLEaZY. Mark played RESONATE (62). 411-335
05 Both bingos came very late in the game. Mine was aSTERNAL (74) and Mark’s was IMPRiNT (66). 301-393
06 I played DATARIES (60), MISEAtS (77), RAWHIDe (70) and I got 81 for playing BRUHS, slotting the B on the DLS and the S on the TWS, all while making ZITI plural, thus scoring 39 (BRUHS) + 42 (ZITIS). 491-271
07 I played aSTONIED (79) and Mark played tRULLED (65)*. I believed TRULL was a verb, but it is only a noun. The only 7LW Mark had with that rack were aLLURED and DUELLeR. 334-339
08 I played ANTLErS (73), ZANY (69) yet it was my turn to phony Mark with REINERS (65)*. I don’t even like the look of that word. It has only one legitimate anagram, RERISEN. Mark played OFTENEST (65). 432-320
09 I got down TARTEST (75) near the end but Mark had a flurry of bingos with SEAMIER (81) and FLUrRIES (83). My rack before TARTEST was AERSTTY and I saw YATTERS but didn’t like it, so I fished off the Y for 6 and then drew another T. With AERSTTT I could also have made STRETTA or TATTERS. 336-397
10 One bingo each: TABoRETS (80) for me and INdICATE (70) for Mark. 379-348
11 I played SLATERS (72) and HEALINGs (67) and Mark played CLEARING (62). 357-311
12 I played TOTALER (77)*, EGESTION (60) and DARSHAN (68). I knew RETOTAL but it wouldn’t fit. Mark played CReATeD (66). 473-255
13 I opened the game with ANTENNA (66), and I told myself as I played it, that it took the rear hooks ELS. My replacement draw was EIJLORT. I saw JOLTIER and moaned that there was noplace to play it, so I looked for any 8LW and couldn’t find one (there aren’t any). I then had a facepalm moment when I realized that I had not one but two possible hooks, making ANTENNAE or ANTENNAL. I finally played JOLTIER for 82. I also got down REDECIDE (66). Mark played UNSOILeD (60). 476-324
14 I played ORIENTAL (68), SOLATeD (94) REIFIED (82) and JUDO (60). Mark played WaVIEST (82). 473-378
15 A close one: I played SAGGIER (85) and Mark played DEFLAtER (71). 350-356
16 I played RETSINA (87), COLLaRED (61) and SEX (61). Mark opened the game with POInTER (72). 442-314
17 I opened the game with ARIETTE (66) and Mark played THIEVINg (67) and LACKERS (73). I was cursed with seven O’s and all four U’s, and my score showed it. 324-407
18 I played SUnWISE (75) and Mark played MINGLED (66) and TARTANED (70) £. 343-438
In this game Mark opened with ADO (8) vertically, thus:
A
D
O
My response was to stack LAX (26) next to it:
AL
DA
OX
And as Mark’s next move, he played ADO (26), again, so the board looked like this:
ALA
DAD
OXO
19 I played WoMANISE (77) and CURATES (88) and Mark got down TrEATIES (78). I extended my first bingo to WoMANISER. 498-323
20 I played DONATiON (83) and Mark played two: MINTERS (76) immediately followed by another 76-pointer, CrULLERS. Neither of us could play out and we had to subtract the values of our unplayed tiles. I was stuck with II and Mark had RR. Before we did this, I was leading 391-379. The scored ended up 389-367, as Mark lost ten points for going over.
21 I played OUTUSES (72)* and DAiNTIER (70) and Mark played MINTIER (68). 391-310
22 Going second, I opened with RAINIER (66) and also played COLLARED (64, which I had also played in game #16) and PARITIES (64). Mark played aNNOYER (74). 414-396
23 I played the game’s only bingos, CREOSoLS (63) and STORInG (71). 341-321
24 I played AVULSES (97) and gRAINIER (72). Mark played out with CRUELEsT (61), getting ten points from my rack to win 373-367. I was struggling this game getting six I’s and only three E’s.
25 I opened the game with ALLEGER (68) and then later played ATOMISE (79). Mark played DEViSER (88). 423-333
26 I played VESTIGE (78) and Mark played MESsIeR (71). 347-354
27 I played TOOlBARS (86) and Mark got down ROUSTED (69) and LOANERs (62). 327-404
28 I played UNDrEST (82), OVERSIZE (80) and PILlAGES (83). 467-286
29 In our final holiday game I played some weirdies: FALdEROL (70), SIMAZINE (137) and APLITES (77). Mark played SCORINg (67) as his opening play (going second) and REWROTE (77). 538-383