I played four games with Mark this past weekend and won all of them. By far, the most interesting game was the first:
424-421. Let’s talk about the bingos first. I played RECEIPTED (78) after RE-, RETAXING (67) and FLOORAgE (70). Mark played SIDINgS (72) and the whopper DOZIEST (140):
I had the lead 348-281 when I played VUM. The top TWS row was clear and I held the blank and one of the last two O’s. I paid dearly for my setup when Mark slapped down DOZIEST, placing the Z on the DLS and the entire word tripled. His score soared to 421 and my jaw hit the floor. I could only scan the board and look for any way the layout could give me a win. I found two out of the three possible 8LW with my rack through the bottom L (I first saw FALdEROL and then FELLAtOR; the third bingo is LEAFROLl, which wouldn’t have fit anyway) yet they wouldn’t have yielded enough points to win. I had to focus on the row second from the bottom where if I could slot the F onto the TLS only then would I stand a chance of winning. Doing the math before I even found a word that fit, I could see a score of 70 if I placed the F on a TLS and any other letter on the other TLS, and a score of 68 if I had to slot the blank on the other TLS. I was drawn to FLOOR and then with only AE? to work with, the remainder of the word came easy, but I was hesitant because I was not 100% sure that it was good. I kept on searching for other words, but none came to me. Turns out there are three others: AEROFOiL, FOvEOLAR and sEAFLOOR (only the first two would have fit) yet I found none of them. I knew all of those words, but my mind had to place the F on one of the two TLS squares and as long as I was concentrating on that restricted layout, those other 8LW didn’t occur to me. I decided to go with FLOORAgE, and ended my turn, with about ninety seconds to spare. I was thankfully not in time trouble. Mark challenged my outplay, which ended up being acceptable. My score advanced from 348 to 418, and I got six points from his final rack of EET to win by three. Look at the wacky words on that board! What a game!
408-312. I played LODEsTAR (60) and ANSAtED (73). In successive moves I played -EAU onto a B to make BEAU, and then Mark himself played EAU elsewhere. He was going to play in that same spot.
395-276. I played ANTIHERO (65) and SAUCiNg (72). I played BRAZIL (27) down from the top right TWS. I could see a 57-point extension to the centre right TWS with BRAZILIN. My next rack was ACNSU?? and I had drawn the last N. There were still four or five I’s left and I considered forgoing playing a bingo to play off some letters to fish for an I, but decided against that and played SAUCiNg. Good thing I did, because my fishy play would have only used two letters, and the first two I drew out of the bag after SAUCiNg were the saucy F and U. I wonder now if it would have been worth playing BRAZILiN for 54 while holding onto one blank. I would have struggled with my replacement rack though, as FU certainly weren’t bingo-friendly.
455-379. I played ANTERIOR (66), TONLETs (74) and SANTIMS (86). Mark played ANODISE (76).