| Player 1 |
|
#player1 Lloyd_Mills Lloyd Mills
#player2 Joshua_Sokol Joshua Sokol
>Lloyd_Mills: JLO 8G JO +18 18
#note Lloyd had been playing in a separate room, but the table was way too low for my legs, as much as I like minimizing distractions. After a few minutes of speaking with the director, Sue Tremblay, we were put in the CSW room, which had fewer players in it. Not ideal, but this way 11-year-old Noah Slatkoff wasn't going to finish his game in 20 minutes and start wandering around the room, looking at every game with morbid curiosity.
>Joshua_Sokol: ?AAISWZ I7 AWA +21 21
#note Still, maybe we should have been forced to play with the Collins dictionary, in which case JOL# probably comes down.
>Lloyd_Mills: ADEGGLN J4 GANGLED +85 103
#note wow, don't make mistakes folks
>Joshua_Sokol: ?AILNSZ 4C SLeAZIN. +86 107
#note :-)
>Lloyd_Mills: EIVW 3B VIEW +30 133
>Joshua_Sokol: ABINQTV 3H QI +26 133
#note Also saw 6J (N)IQAB, but that seemed rather insane given that the game wasn't out of reach for me. I don't need to set up such a dangerous hook. 5E TIAN scores the most and wins a sim, but that seems to be in the prospect of exchanging next turn. I guess ABNTV isn't that much better. I really try to hard to remain as balanced as possible against Lloyd, don't I. I should just make the right play.
>Lloyd_Mills: BK 5I K.B +25 158
>Joshua_Sokol: ABILNTV 2D TAV +22 155
#note I dunno, also considered 5E BI
>Lloyd_Mills: CEIISTT H8 .STEITIC +86 244
#note damn it
>Joshua_Sokol: ?BIILNT 11A sTILBIN. +68 223
>Joshua_Sokol: ?BIILNT -- -68 155
#note I couldn't see anything else so I just played this painfully. I was about to draw tiles when he said "hold", and then I realized this might not be a word. Then he challenged, and I realized this definitely isn't a word. STILBITE STILBENE. I was mostly painfully admitting to myself that I couldn't find the anagram of STILBINE*, that's because there is none. STILBENE and TENSIBLE were what I was thinking of. Crushing.
>Lloyd_Mills: DOTU G11 DOUT +16 260
>Joshua_Sokol: ?BIILNT 2I LI +12 167
#note With my inability to find valid 8s, I definitely saw INABILITY with these tiles way too fast. And don't pout, there will be many more notabilia in this game to come. This game was quite the nailbiter. I really needed a hail-mary now. Playing LIB was better in general, but this was a threat Lloyd was probably going to have to address. I could then work on hopefully hitting the C. Really LIB is fine because he just needs to block the C anyway.
>Lloyd_Mills: ADEOTU 1J AUTOED +26 286
>Joshua_Sokol: ?BINOTU O1 .OUBTINg +89 256
#note AUTOED was really not great for me, but there was no doubting that for this game to be as exciting as the result shows, I had to draw something crazy lucky like this to start things off.
>Lloyd_Mills: EEGINSY F4 .YE +8 294
#note Lloyd was possibly quite tilted at this point. It was still a game after I had lost a turn when behind 90 points. Quackle prefers 7M YE(N), which sets up E(YEN), but I would probably not fish here and play K10 EYING.
>Joshua_Sokol: EHIOPRY K7 OY +27 283
#note I was completely shocked by Lloyd's last play. We were probably both on tilt, or at least I was. AYE just seemed totally outrageous from my perspective, but learning of his leave it made much more sense to me. Still, I was taken aback in the game itself. He must have some sort of weak bingo leave that I can't do anything about, so I just have to play my own game now. He mustn't have had an O or an A, as then my play would have been blocked. 13F E(UT)ROPHY for 34 is of note. It scores well, bringing the game almost to a tie, and digs deep into the bag for the huge X-bomb at N6. However, OY has the benefit of maximizing my chances at a bingo, and I might need it considering Lloyd's last play. I can hit a few things from the C with certain draws, but also 7s like HERRIED will play from E6 if Lloyd doesn't go there.
>Lloyd_Mills: EEGNSS L5 SEG +20 314
>Joshua_Sokol: EEHIMPR E6 HEMPIER +83 366
#note wow.
>Lloyd_Mills: E 8D E. +5 319
>Joshua_Sokol: CFOORRR F9 OF +30 396
#note I think I should really try to block something here. Even though it's quite likely that EM is partially a dversion, I need to at least attempt to keep him from getting a bingo down here. The score is too close for comfort, and the X is still out there. I wish I could play more tiles but 4 is the maximum here. Playing two was a mistake. I should play D11 FOR, definitely, even if it doesn't end up blocking him. I also should not keep three R's in a consonant-heavy pool. Big mistake.
>Lloyd_Mills: AEINPRS C8 RAPINES +75 394
>Joshua_Sokol: CEOORRR D11 COR +23 419
#note +OE draw! I get bailed out again! This is still a game, folks.
>Lloyd_Mills: HU N5 UH +28 422
#note Success, Lloyd doesn't have the X and I have just blocked a big overlapping scoring play on column B. Now, did I draw the X?
>Joshua_Sokol: AEEFRRX 2L AFR. +25 444
#note I did! But I missed G4 (Z)AX! And under time pressure, I make a play that loses with an N or R draw, so long as Lloyd sees his only winning play either time, also under time pressure! Champ says G4 (Z)A but that doesn't make any sense at all. Quackle messes up this endgame. I need to play B13 FER, or something else that leaves ZAX, or just ZAX itself here.
>Lloyd_Mills: ALMNNOR B9 NOM +23 445
#note This gets him close if I miss my best play, but B9 NOR is optimal, to just keep scoring instead of going out.
>Joshua_Sokol: DEERX K10 EXED +27 471
#note 14A DE(S)EX not only scores 5 more, but also blocks his only out.
>Lloyd_Mills: ALNR A10 LARN +19 464
>Lloyd_Mills: (R) +2 466
#note Score initially 465-470, after recount Lloyd got 2 more points and I got one more, fault of reviewing GANGLED as scoring 86 because we failed to omit the S in SAE in the rescore. Wow. Tense. Lucky. How did I pull this one off? This put me back on top in first place on spread. Definitely going to need to beat Lloyd again to win the division, and I'd better bring my best game.
|
