Dictionary Defs: ACARI

Continuing your browsing through the As, you come across ACARI, which has the definition, "plural of ACARUS."

An ACARUS is a mite, so ACARI are lots of mites.

Dictionary Defs: ABOULIA

Continuing to browse through the As of your Scrabble Dictionary, you come across ABOULIA, and the definition given is ABULIA.

ABULIA:  the loss of willpower

Conjugated
ABULIC
ABOULIC

Dictionary Defs: ABOUGHT

If you're browsing through the As of your Scrabble dictionary, and come across the word ABOUGHT, the definition is that it is the past tense of ABY and ABYE.

ABY means "to pay the penalty for. It is also apelled ABYE.

Conjugations:
ABY
ABOUGHT
ABYING
ABYS
ABYES

1552 words used to date

Last year I had started my project to use every word in the Scrabble Dictionary - but I restarted it from the very beginning on 8/28/2012 for various and sundry reasons.

So in the last 60 days (give or take a couple of days here and there where I played no games) I have used 1552 new words (plus probably another thousand duplicate words.)

Now that I'm all caught up with inputting all the words I use in each game into an Excel file, I still have to highlight them in my Scrabble dictionary. Sometimes I do this as I play - along with writing them down in a notebook dedicated to the purpose, but sometimes I'm just not in the mood, and write them down but don't highlight them.

I've got about 10-20 games where I need to highlight the words in my dictionary.

And what I will try to do is list here, every day, which new words I've used.

I've only got a little over 99,000 words to go!

Dictionary Defs: ABACA and ABAKA

If you're browsing through your Scrabble dictionary, in the As, and come across the word ABAKA, you'll find that the definition directs you to ABACA.

ABACA: a Phillipine plant

Learn:
ABACA
ABAKA

Words with Friends at WAlmart

I saw this yesterday as I was walking around the toy aisles at my local Walmart - a physical Words with Friends game. The only difference is they don't seem to have triple word scores in the board corners.

I don't know how they can get away with it. It's so clearly a variation of Scrabble - it's got to be copyright infringement! It's one thing for it to be a phone app...but to have it be an actual physical board?

Strange!

The quirks of computer tile selection

I think I've blogged about this before but I'm going to blog about it again.

In my goal to use every single word in the Scrabble Dictionary, I play a lot of games online at Wordbiz.com.  (You play real people from around the world, but it's the computer that hands out the tiles.)

And whenever I win, 90% of the time, it seems that I win because I get all the good letters - that'd be the power letters, and my opponent gets nothing. And whenever I lose, it's the other way around. Very rarely...maybe 5 to 10% of the time, if that, are the tiles distributed evenly so that it really comes down to skill and knowledge as to who is going to win.

Yesterday I challenged a guy ranked 100 points above me. I wasn't worried. I've got the knowledge to be ranked 100 points higher than I am. Plus I'd won 5 games in a row.

So I'm playing a guy ranked in the 600s while I'm in the 500s...and I get nothing. 6 vowels and 1 consonant or vice versa. I'm reduced to playing very simple words because that's all I could play. He beat me by a hundred points. VERY ANNOYING.

But, I don't get too upset... after all my main goal is to cross off word after word in the dictionary. (Indeed, on more than one occasion I've passed up a high-scoring word in order to play something off another word - a conjugation of it - to make sure I can cross that word off. So that plays havoc with my scores on occasion!)

What's it to you???

In my profile at the Word Biz scrabble playing website, I say two things, one that I'm trying to use every single world in the Scrabble dictionary, and two, that I challenge everyone to participate in the 2013 AARP spelling bee in Cheyenne.

People whom I'm playing against can look up that profile and see what I've got to say.

So I was playing a game iwith a guy yesterday, ranked about 100 points higher than me. And he sends me a message (we can type to each other while we play) and says, "It's impossible to use every word in the Scrabble dictionary."

I point out that the Scrabble dictionary is a finite document, so of course it's possible to use every single word -it just might take a long time.

But he kept going on and on about it not being possible.

I didn't ask him, "What's it to you?" but I thought about doing that. (All I said was, "Oh, well, I"m still going to try.")

But I did think it was odd. Why even bother to say something like that - regardless of what "dream" I'd put in my profile, why try to poor cold water on it?

But some people are just weird.

Bananagrams Is the New Scrabble

I find this very difficult to believe - it's too hard to play and keep all those tiles in order! (Having said that, Bananagrams was one of the sponsors of the AARP spelling bee, so got to give props to them for that!)

From UMassMedia : Bananagrams Is the New Scrabble

An addicting phenomenon is sweeping the nation, and chances are you may have already been under its influence at least once. This new hit is Bananagrams, where anyone who can spell can play, regardless of his or her vocabulary. It is a simple yet addictive word-building game that uses your mental dexterity and creativity to form words out of scattered letters. But don’t let its Scrabble-like appearance fool you. This is a contest of speed, not point-count.
In 2005, Rhode Island native Abraham Nathanson created the game when he grew frustrated with the slow pace of Scrabble. He wanted to invent “an anagram game so fast, it’ll drive you bananas.” He tested the game on his family, and his wife designed the hallmark banana-shaped pouch. In 2006 they sold the 50 prototype copies, half to the London Toy Fair, the other half to the U.S. The game has been growing in popularity ever since, its aficionados ranging from grade school kids to adults. The Toy Industry Association awarded Bananagrams “Game of the Year” in 2009, and over 3 million have been sold.
As the name suggests, players put together as many words as possible from a set number of letters, just like forming anagrams. There is a catch, however, for you Scrabble-veterans and anagramists who may think that competing in this game will spell easy victory. Winning isn’t decided by the words you can spell, or by the difficulty of composing them. Instead, the victor is the first person who successfully uses up the last distributed letter piece from the bunch.
The breakdown: Place all 144 tiles face down in the center of the table. This is called the “bunch.” After shuffling, each player grabs a number of tiles determined by the number of players present. As soon as someone shouts “Split!” the race begins, and the players turn their tiles over to form words in a Scrabble- or crossword-like grid. Once a player has connected all of their pre-distributed tiles, he or she yells “Peel!” and every player must draw another tile. If you don’t like the tile you picked up, you can holler “Dump!”, discard the tile back in the bunch and pick up three more tiles.
This process is repeated until there are fewer tiles than there are players. The first player to use all of his or her tiles exclaims “Bananas!” and the words must be examined for accuracy and legitimacy. If any word in the player’s “hand” is illegal, that player is a “rotten banana” and must discard all of his or her tiles back into the bunch. The game then continues as before until a winner is decided.
Bananagrams is the perfect way to peel out of a routine day and have some fun. Quit monkeying around; invite your friends and family and play!

CT: Scrabble Challenge Nov. 14

From Litchfield County Times:  Scrabble Challenge Nov. 14

WATERBURY—Local Scrabble enthusiasts are invited to team up for this year’s popular competition Wednesday, Nov. 14, at 5:30 p.m. at Chase Collegiate School, St. Margaret’s Hall, 565 Chase Parkway, Waterbury. The evening will include a light supper, teacup auction, plus coffee and dessert.

Each team will receive a Scrabble game to use during the competition. Master of ceremonies Larry Rifkin of WATR-1320AM will reveal a mystery word at the start of play and teams will have 30 minutes to work together to achieve the highest score in the main round.

There will also be a 15-minute bonus round. Trophies and prizes will be awarded to the winners.

Scrabble game rules apply, but cheating is allowed and encouraged … for a price. Dictionary peeks and extra letter tiles are available for purchase. Event sponsors are the Naugatuck Savings Bank Foundation and Chase Collegiate School. Visit www. Lvgwct.org to register.
Proceeds will benefit the educational programs of Literacy Volunteers of Greater Waterbury, a nonprofit organization that teaches local adults to read, write, speak, and understand English through the dedication of trained volunteer tutors.

For more information, including volunteer opportunities, call Literacy Volunteers of Greater Waterbury at 203-754-1164.

Spelling Club Monday

Well, it's been a little over 2 months since the Spelling Bee when I vowed that I'd start studying immediately for next year's spelling bee.

Finally doing something about it.

Meeting at one of my Scrabble Club  member's houses to spend an hour going over spelling birds. Not sure why she wants to do it - she's too young, but I guess it gives her something to do.

Trinidad & Tobago: Girls dominate BPTT scrabble competition

From Newsday: Girls dominate BPTT scrabble competition

TAMARA John of the University of the West Indies and Alissa Noel, St Augustine Girls High School have qualified as the top ranked players for the finals of the 2012 BPTT National Secondary Schools Scrabble Championships set for November.

The two came out on top of their respective categories in the East Zone qualifying round which was dominated by females as they captured 15 of the 20 spots at stake for the grand finals. ASJA Girls College and Tunapuna, topped the standings with five finalists covering the senior and junior divisions at the East Zone play-offs at Bon Air Secondary School, Arouca, on Saturday. St. Augustine Girls High School and Hillview College also did well securing four finalists each. Now in its 26th year, the championships are being organised by the Trinidad and Tobago Scrabble Association (TTSA), in association with the Rotary Club of Arima. On board as sponsor in 2010, energy company BP Trinidad has increased its corporate partnership with increased prizes in 2012.

The championships are divided into five zones — East, South, Central, North and Tobago — with ten seniors and ten juniors from each zone advancing to the grand finals carded for City Hall, Port-of-Spain, on November 3. Top schools in both divisions will receive trophies and cash prizes of $10,000, with the top students winning iPADs, PlayStations, netbooks and Kindles. TTSA President, Kurt Ross, said the championships presented a golden opportunity for the students to qualify for selection on the national team for the World Junior Scrabble Championships to be held in Birmingham, England, in December. He lauded bpTT for “your full support” of these championships which help to nurture the minds of young people. Margaret Warner-Julien, Government and Stakeholder Relations Adviser, bpTT, told TTSA officials, teachers, parents and students that the energy company was pleased to continue its partnership with the association.