I won two out of three last night to take my record to 85-14:
418-309 against Noah. I played PIASTRES (83) and Noah played ROTAtES (71) and ENTAILS (66). Good for Noah to out-bingo me but our board situation, late in the game, was such that it permitted only one bingo lane at a time. I held the second blank and had plays set up but Noah would always block that lane. A setup would be immediately thwarted. Not a bad strategy to adopt if you’re ahead, but I won by over a hundred points anyway. I explained to Noah that if you’re that far behind you can’t count on winning by blocking the board.
443-447 against Shan. I played PROTEASE (83), VIRTUOSE (63) and ALIENERs (74). Shan played SaLTING (76) yet his first bingo was the dazzlingest: QUINTETTE (122) through the disconnected first and third T’s:
Shan and I had just been talking before our game about my previous game with Noah. Noah tends to be chatty and sometimes seeks advice about words from his opponent. I told Shan that I never talk during my own games about anything other than bare-bones Scrabble talk. Most of my opponents, in fact, are the same way. I can recall a game at the Mississauga Club years ago when my opponent played a natural EMCEEING onto a TWS for 92. I had no reaction, and just recorded her score and continued the game. While my clock was running she said something to the effect of “You’re not going to say anything after a play such as that?”. No, and I retained my composure. Only after the game did I congratulate her, which is my modus operandi. Thus after Shan’s spectacular QUINTETTE, I was a man of my word, and said nothing. However, I certainly felt as if I should exclaim to the whole Club right then and there “Look at this freaking amazing play!”. I knew the word and never held him on it and the game proceeded as normal. I congratulated Shan as soon as the game ended. Shan might have taken a photo of the board anyway but I asked him to snap a pic for this blog post.
402-354 against Sid. I played EUROKIeS (86) and Sid played OLEINES (71) and ETESIAnS (74). One of my racks was CHIKOSU which makes only one 8LW, through a B for CHIBOUKS. I did not know the word but look at all those high-point consonants. I held UN at the end and had two places to go out for 4 yet chickened out of two far more lucrative spots to go with the safest bet of an unchallenged sure out. BID and CLEFT were on the board and I wrote down what seemed familiar: UNBID and UNCLEFT, yet shied away from both. Yes, I was right: both are acceptable. Had the win depended on a higher outplay score of 4, then I would have tried either.