Mark and I competed in the Niagara Falls International Open over the Victoria Day weekend. We stayed again at the Rex Motel. We always bring food for breakfasts and lunches and since we had ninety minutes each lunch break, I had plenty of time to walk back to the hotel to eat it. We arrived on Friday afternoon and ate dinner at Shelby’s Legendary Shawarma, where we went last year. The restaurant was directly across the street from the hotel. On Saturday we joined Steve and Sophia Ozorio, Dean Saldanha, Yvonne Lobo and Jean Barinque for Chinese dinner at Phong’s Court and on Sunday we ordered a pizza from Gambler’s since we wanted to stay in to watch the final game in the best-of-seven between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Florida Panthers. The Leafs suffered another crushing defeat, losing 6-1 and were eliminated.
I have included my bingo count for each round as well as any notes. 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 LOOSENeR (78) / TAMABLE (72) NATURALs (59) 396-371 Billy Nakamura
I challenged off SACROID*, and then blocked the spot to prevent Billy from playing SARCOID or CARDIOS.
02 BeNADRYL (89) RISSOLe (76) / CHEERED (77) 370-389 Steve Grob
I was delighted to find BeNADRYL, which I built along the top TWS row from Steve’s B. My bingo was the only 8LW with that rack. With an open -EN- I attempted to look for a 9LW to the lower right TWS with my second bingo rack, provided the -EN- were the second and third letters. There are two possible words: SENSORIaL and SENSORILy. I definitely knew the former word. The point difference didn’t matter much, as each 9LW scored 77, only one point more that what I eventually played, RISSOLe. I would have earned more style points for the flashy nine, though.
03 ADVANcE (78) / WOoPIES (100) ALKENES (84) 338-451 Jackson Smylie
My opening rack was EEILMTX and I was playing second. I hoped that Jackson would put down an F to enable me to play FLEXTIME, the only possible 8LW with that rack. Jackson exchanged on his first move so I opened with TELEX (40). I asked Jackson if he did have an F in his first rack and he didn’t. One of my racks was ADEEEV? and I saw DElEAVE, which BTW is the only 7LW in that rack. I could have played it from another D to make DElEAVED, but chickened out because I was sure the word was DELEAF and not DELEAVE. Turns out both are acceptable, and they mean different things. I had seen DELEAF repeatedly as I studied the list of new words so I had the -LEAF part etched in my memory.
04 PALiSADE (70) GuESSER (88) OCREATE (73) QI (64) HALuTZ (59) / MANDATES (74) 482-382 Patrick Beatrez
“If I do say so myself”, in the words of the legendary Stevie Nicks, my HALuTZ play was quite flashy. I played it through the two vowels, making EH and slotting the Z on the centre TWS.
05 WUSSIEsT (68) OLESTRA (72) / none 385-361 Marcela Kadanka
I played my first bingo through an I. There are no 7LW with ESSTUW?, but three other 8LW: STEWBUMS, UNWISEST and WETSUITS. After my second bingo I drew the horrible rack EEIIITT. Triple duplication of letters must be attracted to me. I played through it, nevertheless, with TEIID (7) and then my next racks balanced out.
06 FLINTIER (63) / CASERNS (74) GUTSIER (88) 327-487 Agnes Kramer
With the rack AEENNOM I missed ANEMONE, which would have played. The double duplication threw me and I didn’t look hard enough.
07 GAUDIEST (70) ORANGEs (70) UNSPENT (86) MURALED (86) / UNSOCIAL (62) ApHOLATE (74) JIBED (88) 481-487 Mack Meller
Mack opened with OTITIC (18) yet did not place the C on the DLS. My first rack was ADEGISU, which makes GAUDIES but that was unplayable since Mack placed his word such that the second I was on the star. Fortunately the only letter ADEGISU plays through to make an 8LW is a T, and I suddenly had two places to play it. Had Mack placed OTITIC such that the C was on the DLS, then I would have had GAUDIEST extending to the TWS. I should have looked harder with my second bingo rack because I could have played along the bottom TWS row if I found a 7LW starting with A. I definitely knew AcROGEN, but dismissed the blank as a c. Turns out ORANGEs gave Mack the snapback play of JIBED for 88.
08 PECTINs (76) INGRATE (80) / RESTUFFs (92) 405-400 Christopher Sykes
Now this was a game that involved a lot of daring and luck. My first dare was the phony sIDEROOM (69)*, played from the s in PECTINs, which Chris challenged off. That rack anagrams to MOIDORES, which I knew. My rack was DEIMOOR but there was no place for any of its three 7LW and the only 8LW with that rack is, surprisingly, MOIDORES.
I unsuccessfully challenged Chris’s bingo. The score then brought him ahead, 322-320. I know that I have been burned by Chris’s phonies so I wasn’t about to let a questionable 92-point play go that brought him into the lead. I held him on it, then challenged. When I did I held AEGINRT, which had three places to go down, yet the two highest-scoring options were as INGRATE next to the s in RESTUFFs, either making Is or sI. Fortunately Chris left the spot open when he played again, getting rid of the dreaded Q he picked up, to make QUAD for 42. The score was now 364-320 in his favour. I then had to think about what I was going to do. Do I play INGRATE for 80, from the centre right TWS, leaving the bottom right TWS open? There were by now only three tiles in the bag. Among the ten unseen tiles, one was an S. Or do I play INGRATE to the left of the s for 69? That play seemed risky as well, because also among the unseen tiles were ALOTX. If I played INGRATE to the left of the s Chris could come back with the overlap of LAX, LOX or TAX alongside the ATE of INGRATE to score 42 to bring the score to 406-389 in his favour. I decided that the X comeback would certainly do me in, so I chanced it that he didn’t have the S and took the eleven extra points to score 80, which brought the score to 400-364.
What it came down to was what three tiles were left in the bag, and I was preoccupied with the feeling that I absolutely had to go out with them. The three tiles I pulled out were NRS. I had no outplay. The remaining tiles on Chris’s rack were AATOLLX and he had to block my easy 27 points for INGRATES with AE / AL for 8. The score was now 400-372. I was so focussed on going out and trying to use two tiles instead of just one, as well as blocking Chris’s easy XI play for 25, that I did not even consider that I could have played MOPES / AYES for 16 or SQUAD for 15. I did have a play for my NR that scored 5, RIN. The score was now 405-372 and Chris went out with TAXOL (which I did not see) to take him to 398 plus two points for my unplayed S to end with 400. Can you imagine if Chris had the S when I played INGRATE to the TWS? He could have played TAXOLS / INGRATES for 90!
I wonder what would have happened if I had not challenged RESTUFFs. If I had played my bingo then I would have emptied the bag of five tiles, as I would have chosen the two that Chris picked up after playing QU on top of AD.
My bingo rack of AEGINRT also yields other bingos, all of which would have fit under BI, yet both placements of INGRATE scored higher than BIG / GRANITE and GRATINE or BIT / TANGIER and TEARING. I never considered playing any of those anagrams since INGRATE in either of its two spots scored more, although I took a huge risk in having INGRATE in either position.
In this game I had the rack CINORTY and arranged it to form CITRONY* (and didn’t like it). The rack does make a 7LW, TYRONIC. It only builds through an A to make CARYOTIN. I used that rack to play YONIC (53).
My thanks to Chris for recreating the board and sending it to me.
09 FILIGREE (64) DIVESTED (67) ATaXY (66) / SPIRIER (72) INSTATEs (64) 449-321 Letitia Sears
I had the rack ACEEKLT and saw an open R to play RETACKLE, but doubted it. As it turns out, the only 8LW with that rack is RETACKLE.
10 IsATINE (69) TOnNEAU (63) SHOWERS (89) / none 453-342 Lydia Keras
I had the rack AGINSWW and wish I had an X to play WAXWINGS!
11 ETOILES (70) GLADDESt (86) NOBbLIER (77)* / none 493-273 Julia Bogle
My second bingo was played to Julia’s t. I held the rack AADEITZ and considered playing AGATIZED through an open G. The word was familiar to me and I don’t recall oddball words like this out of nowhere, yet I was afraid Julia would certainly challenge it because her demeanour during our game was to hold my plays. I didn’t want to risk her challenging it off. She held me on NOBbLIER as well, and kept me on hold for several minutes. I drew my provisional tiles, but she didn’t challenge. She didn’t announce that she was releasing the hold and with a flourish laid down her next play, LIEU (6).
12 DIRTIeR (73) / none 351-352 Ben Lam
13 RESPLIT (76) FORMErS (93) OROTUND (72) / OUTBIDs (73) 434-328 Anita Rackham
I see that my first bingo rack could have played down to the Y, which was on the star, to make SPRITELY (92).
14 GROTTIER (61) / DURATiON (66) 358-300 Jean Barinque
My opening rack was DEINRTY and I chickened out of TINDERY, despite writing it down on the back of my score sheet and liking it to some degree. I went for RINDY (26) as my opening play instead.
Near the end of the game Jean had the rack EILLNS? and tried to play a bingo twice, hooking an -S onto ANAL. She first tried LENtILS and I challenged both words. I left the spot open and on her second attempt she tried ILLNESs. When I only challenged ANALS she then realized that it was that word that was the phony. This is a lesson that one should always challenge the entire play, even if any of the words seem obvious to you. Had I just challenged ANALS after Jean’s first bingo attempt, she wouldn’t have tried to play there again. Obviously she doubted her spelling of LENtILS. There was one legitimate bingo spot available, provided she could slot her S in fourth position. Jean didn’t see aINSELL (nor did I) and after losing two turns in a row, she fished off an L and got an R. I knew her final rack because the R was the last tile in the bag. I saw only one possible bingo that fit: pILSNER. If Jean played this I would lose, so I made a blocking play that scored 5 yet sealed the win. Jean ended up going overtime and lost forty points.
15 LUVVIES (82) TINDERING (86)* DODGiEST (64) / UNDERBET (69)* XANTHINE (92) MOQUETTe (70) ANALGIAS (131) 421-538 Hank Hees
What a game this was. The bingo barrage began with LUVVIES (it was not my opening play but my second) and then Hank played his bingo from my U. I held him on it, since there are so few 7- and 8LW that begin with UNDER and it didn’t seem familiar. (There are 36 of them, which in my opinion is not that many.) I let it go, reasoning that if you can OVERBET then you could certainly UNDERBET. With the rack DEGINNR I couldn’t play GRINNED or RENDING yet built my 9LW from TI- down to the centre TWS. It was now Hank’s turn to hold me on it, and he eventually accepted it. Had I checked the validity of TINDERY in my previous game I would have noted that TINDER was not a verb and thus TINDERING wasn’t acceptable. My ignorance of its part of speech gave me the courage to try it and I got away with it. Hank’s second bingo was the brilliant XANTHINE, which, if I remember correctly, is the first initial-X bingo ever played against me. I held him on it and lost a challenge. It was a gutsy play since the space to the right of the E was a DWS and I held an S at the time. Hank blocked the spot on his next turn. My third bingo attempt was LODGiEST (83)* as I genuinely thought it was acceptable. Hank held the play then challenged it off. There was a D available the whole time and I could have safely played DODGiEST instead, but it scored only 64 versus 83. Hank did not block the D spot. The next two of Hank’s bingos were dazzlers as well, getting the Q down for MOQUETTe and then slotting the triple-triple ANALGIAS around the G. I knew that Hank’s pick after MOQUETTe was going to be A-heavy. I just never would have dreamed that he would triple-triple with AAAILNS. I had to challenge it, and lost. The only 8LW those tiles play through is a G.
16 RIALTOS (80) DAnGEST (80) / NIGHTIES (78) ERASION (64) 403-358 Mad Palazzo
I was happy to get down UNKEMPT (32), playing it to a T.
17 RELIGION (70) / HEALInG (93) IMPOSeR (91) 285-498 Arie Sinke
18 DeXTRANS (65) SINCERER (62) DEVELoP (72) / none 380-377 Agnes Kramer
It’s amazing how close this game was when Agnes didn’t even play any bingos. My first bingo attempt was MADCHENS (74)*, which Agnes held me on then challenged off. DeXTRANS was built through an A, so my rack DNSTRX? had no vowels.
19 RUNTIER (65) REAwOKEN (83) OFfERERS (70) / BATEAUS (63)* 485-327 Arie Sinke
20 MURALIsT (70) / OVERSEEN (65) aMBONES (85) 380-360 Hank Hees
This is a game I should have lost. I emptied the bag and drew the J on my final pick. I had six letters. There were three possible places to play the J, all close to each other. All Hank had to do was block the spots and I would end up being stuck with it and would certainly have lost. I was thus surprised to see him play TWIG (24) across the centre TWS. Had he used his S to play TWIGS, he would have blocked the third possible J spot. I was expecting to lose the game by the bad luck of being J-stuck, but by retaining the S Hank enabled me to play JUT (26) to seal the win.
At this point in the tournament my record was 13-7 before the lunch break. Out of the eighteen players in my division, I was ranked tenth going in. Since I was not in the top half of the group I was placed in Class B, and there was a $200 prize for the best performance by a Class B player. Even before the final two games I was well ahead of anyone else in Class B. The second-best performances were by Marcela and Ben, who were tied at 8-12. So I felt good going into my final two games knowing I was going to come out $200 richer no matter what happened. That doesn’t mean that I slacked off during my final two games, but I was beaten badly. I couldn’t play any bingos in either game and drew no blanks. You can always tell how good or bad my racks were by the amount of writing on the back of my score sheets. Great racks mean plenty of possibilities and I write down a lot. For these last two games, however, I hardly wrote down anything:
21 none / POETICS (78) REMINTED (65) TWINIng (66) 275-442 Christopher Sykes
22 none / ACRObAtS (77) 247-361 Hank Hees
I was dealing with some pretty awful racks like EEOOSTT and I struggled through an abundance of E’s which always found a Y to cling to. Couldn’t do much of anything with that.
42 for me / 30 for my opponents
I was expected to win 11.8 games and won 13, so my rating increased 35 points and I won the Class B prize of $200. My final record was 13-9 +93.
I am proud of Mark for playing his first tournament triple-triple, uNCRATED for 149 in game twelve. He won the game 449-401. Mark’s opponent was left with four I’s on her rack:
