I won two out of three last night, taking my record to 5-4:
382-301 against Mad. I played TRaVOIS (71) and Mad played LEsSONS (73).
401-425 against Eric. I played TREATISE (66) and Eric played RADIATES (61), NAILINg (71) and AUNTLiER (78). There was a good chance I could have won this game had I played MIAOWED for 39 instead of just MIAOW for 30. MIAOWED would not have made AUNTLiER possible. It was near the end of the game and the score, had I played MIAOWED, would have been 343-271. I kept the DE because at that late stage in the game the Q and all four U’s were still unplayed, and I didn’t want to risk getting a rack of them if I had to choose six new tiles. Yet in retrospect, even with a lead of 343-271, I could have safely dealt with an abundance of U’s. Whether or not I would have been able to play the Q is another matter, yet Eric did eventually pick it and play it. I did pick one U in my replacement draw of four tiles after MIAOW.
409-321 against Mark E. I played MENTeES (72) and GRADINES (70) and Mark played ROISTER (95). After my second bingo I emptied the bag: ABEJLO? where the last tile I drew was the blank. For a while the board was closed where one could only play an 8LW bingo if it ended in I or U. Although the vertical plays of MENTeES, GRADINES and Mark’s FLING thwarted those bingo chances, I could see that my final draw gave me the supremely flashy kABELJOU if the U was still open.