Still under .500 at Word Biz

I have been playing Scrabble at Word Biz. I'm back over 500 in the rankings (I had dropped to about 390 or so for a while), but I can't get any closer to getting to .500 in games played, i.e. more wins than losses.

What really becomes clear to me is that it's the tiles. If I get good tiles, I win, if I get bad tiles, I lose. Anyone can score big if they get all the power tiles (X, Z, Q, and J) and their opponent doesn't!

I have lost a handful of times because of stupidity on my part, opening up a triple without figuring all the options. (Unfortunately, this game allows people to see the last 7 letters that their opponent has. So I look at 'em, think, oh, they can't get to the triple if I spell this. I spell it, they get to the triple! With a common word, mark you , not one that I don't know.

About 3 months ago I'd talked about how I'd have to start studying seriously for the upcoming spelling bee (August 11) and the upcoming Scrabble Tournament in Irvine Texas (Sept 1).

Well..I still have to start studying seriously for them!

Scrabble and my return to hearing

From New York Times:  Scrabble and my return to hearing

I’VE NEVER BEEN A JUNKIE, but I feel like one when I play Scrabble. My husband, Ethan, and I are recent addicts. Every night after dinner the ancient box comes out, held together by rubber bands, filled with the board, wooden tiles, and scores from bygone games. Our new 8-pound American Heritage Dictionary is rapidly showing wear.
This Scrabble addiction is serious play. Two years ago, after a decade of deafness, I had a cochlear implant. It’s one of the few miracles in my life. I was very lucky — as soon as the implant was turned on, I could hear.
The worst parts of being deaf were losing words and not being able to hear either my own voice or other peoples’. And a third of my speaking vocabulary disappeared. I could read and understand words the way I always had, but not retain them in my brain’s dictionary. Even with the magic implant, I had to struggle to recall words. They came back gradually, and I was ecstatic at their return, but I wanted faster progress. That’s when we started to play Scrabble every night, hoping it would help me re-create and enlarge my inner dictionary.

For us, Scrabble is not just therapy or just a game. It’s a sweet way to repair a relationship decimated by the loss of hearing. My husband was probably a candidate for sainthood as he lived with me and my deafness, but it was impossible, even for him, not to feel annoyed at times and, even worse, disconnected from me, having lost the serious conversations we’d had in the past. 

At first Ethan was very generous with our games. I played with eight letters rather than seven. I could trade in tiles without losing a turn. If I said, “Don’t you dare use that open triple word square,” he graciously moved somewhere else. He let me use abbreviations (hundreds of them) — even the two-letter ones for the chemical elements. As my hearing and vocabulary returned, the game became more competitive. Just like in the old days, Ethan felt entitled to play all seven tiles at once (for a 50-point bonus). I knew I was getting stronger when I didn’t throw a tile at him.
Our competition is also intimate. We take turns asking, “Is this a legal word?” or “May I borrow an ‘E’ from you if you have one?” and complaining, “Damn it, I was going to put something great in that place you just stole!” I’ve been pushing lately to claim extra points for obscene words — my husband grew up with parents who cursed like sailors, so he went to the opposite extreme and never swore, but I could help him enjoy some “dirty words.” Although we still sometimes come to each other’s aid now, our delight in winning overcomes graciousness at other times. Very occasionally I’m generous to Ethan, but not nearly as often as he is to me.
This is a story of my return to the world of hearing. My fingers and my eyes helped give me back my words. The indentations on Scrabble tiles remind me of Braille, even while I both see and hear them touch the board. But it’s also the story of how the strength of a long healthy marriage helped make that return possible — via an old game in a torn box, but with board and tiles intact. Like us.
We’ve been married for more than 50 years, and Scrabble — and the ways we use (and misuse) it — is a good test of how we’re doing. We’ve both discovered that an ancient Scrabble game can also repair. Its give-and-take enriches the many other things we share together.
We do, of course, have other pleasures, but that’s another story.

 

Tourney News: Nigeria: Hallmark School Wins Scrabble Tourney

From All Africa:  Nigeria: Hallmark School Wins Scrabble Tourney

Hallmark School in Ikeja, Lagos has emerged winner of the second edition of the Winifred Awosika Scrabble Tournament for schools (WASTFS) held at the Victor Awosika Hall, Opebi, Ikeja.

Mofetoluwa Lawal of Hallmark School came tops out of over 104 pupils who participated at the 2-day tournament held last Thursday and Friday and went home with a cash prize of N250, 000.00, a trophy and a certificate. Also, second position went to Samuel Enegbuma of Saint Peter's Anglican Pry School while Pese Alo also of Hallmark School finished in 3rd position with a cash prize of N100, 000.00.

Lanre Fajoyomi of Chrisland School, Ikeja came 4th. The tournament was organized by the protégé centre and the scrabble in schools initiative and sponsored by the Winifred Awosika Foundation chaired by Doctor Winifred Awosika.

 

Take a look at my new business: Scrabble Event Planners

My main idea is to perform this service for folks in Cheyenne, Denver, and areas around here, but depending on the urgency I'll do it for anyone who cares to renumerate me adequately.

Basically, if you want to hold a Scrabble Fundraiser, birthday party, wedding with a scrabble theme, etc. I and my Scrabble Event Planners will do it for you. I provide the boards - regular or specialty, the scorecards, the oversight and judging, the prizes, etc - you just provide the participants.

http://volcanoseven.com/CheyenneScrabbleClub/ScrabbleEventPlanners.html

At 390 now...

My goal is to get up over 400 by the end of tonight (playing Scrabble on WordBix) and back up to 500 by the end of this weekend.

One thing that I must stop doing is playing people who have the "Validation" function turned on. If that is on, the computer tells you automatically if what you've spelled is a word or not, which gets you in to bad habits!

Shouldn't count my chickens before they hatch...but

Here in Cheyenne we have a bi-monthly newspaperish type newspaper in which people put in ads for sale, want ads, etc. And it also features community announcements.

I emailed them last week asking if they'd care to run regular column on building one's vocabulary using the Scrabble dictionary. The guy who is in charge said to send him some examples, I did so, and he said that they'd start running it in their next issue.

But he'd have to contact me later to work out details.

So, I'm thinking I'm going to have my name up in lights! Or at least, in print.

Of course it's a free gig, but that's all right.  I'll have my byline and hopefully a little explanatory thing at the end of each column saying that I"m the President of the Cheyenne Scrabble Club, which meets every Thursday at the library.

So free advertising for my club - which is what I want.

Also a byline in an actual print paper (as opposed to the web) which could help me get future, paying gigs.

So hopefully it doesn't fall through, and will start with the next issue in two weeks....

I'm Just Above 300 rating points at WordBiz

I have had a very bad couple of days...losing to people I should have beat... hate it when that happens.

Still haven't been able to study properly for the upcoming Spelling Bee or Scrabble Tournament...I've got to get my girdle in gear.