| Player 1 |
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#player1 Mina Mina
#player2 Carl_Durdan Carl Durdan
>Mina: EGILMNS 8D MINGLES +76 76
#note After opening with MINGLES, I yearned to draw the COM- extension. The other M ended up going to Carl, alas.
>Carl_Durdan: NPU 7I PUN +17 17
>Mina: AAIKLOS L6 OKA +18 94
#note Didn't know LAIKA 30 or SKOLIA 36!
>Carl_Durdan: DEEINTW F3 ENTWI.ED +74 91
>Mina: AAILOST 4B AILA.TOS +68 162
>Mina: ?AENOTZ (challenge) +5 167
#note OMG! I saw SOLATIA making (A)S for 68, but turns out SOLATIA was available for 80 points making (PUNK)A! I even knew PUNKA.
>Carl_Durdan: MOT 6J MO.T +25 116
>Mina: ?AENOTZ M8 ENTOZoA +84 251
#note Didn't know ZONATEd, but it was by far the highest-scoring available bingo at 96 points!
>Carl_Durdan: DORY N11 DORY +41 157
>Mina: AGINUWX O7 WUXIA +49 300
#note WhoOoOoOA, I didn't know GUANXI, which was available at B2 for 60 whopping points!
>Carl_Durdan: ABC L11 CAB +49 206
>Mina: GILNQTY D8 .INGY +22 322
#note Huh! To my surprise, the top-simming play is QIN hooking (ENTOZoA)N. The reason I played MINGY is that there were a fair number of I's left in the bag, and I was making a Q setup.
>Carl_Durdan: AIJ H1 JIA. +33 239
>Mina: ADELQTV 3A QAT +30 352
#note Highest-simming is O13 DEV, but I didn't know BORD.
>Carl_Durdan: OO C12 OO +9 248
>Mina: DEEHLRV 9I HER +28 380
#note Highest-simming play is 5J EDH for 39, which I didn't see! HER sims fourth or fifth.
>Carl_Durdan: EU E3 E.U +12 260
>Mina: BDEFILV B2 F.. +12 392
#note I realize with a frisson of excitement that I'm one letter off from BEDEVIL / (ENTOZoA)L for 108 points, and there are five E's unseen. Since I'm up 120, why not live on the edge and fish for this amazing play?! I might even impress him with a hook he didn't know! This is the decision that started my downfall. It sims in eleventh place. Highest-simming is B10 VILDE for 43, and Cesar also suggested 15I DEVIL for 26 to kill the big bingo lane, which sims in seventh.
>Carl_Durdan: ?AEIRRT 15G RETRAIn +86 346
#note After fishing off that F, with five E's unseen for BEDEVIL, I drew... THE OTHER F. "OH MY GOD," I say out loud. Then Carl puts down RETRAI?, and my first thought is, RETRAIL* is so phony! But then he writes N instead of L on the challenge slip (I knew both back hooks).
>Mina: BDEFILV B11 BLIVE +28 420
>Carl_Durdan: PRV 15A P.RV +39 385
>Mina: DFLORSU O13 OUD +23 443
>Mina: DFLORSU -- -23 420
#note Now there are four tiles left in the bag, and I'm up 420-385 despite my ridiculous fixation on fishing for BEDEVIL. It's still mine to lose. And that's when I decide BORO is a word, because I see it on highway signs in New Jersey EVERY SINGLE DAY. Boro of Paramus, boro of Teaneck.
>Carl_Durdan: CDE 12A C...ED +15 400
>Mina: DFLORSU A8 DURO. +28 448
#note One tile in the bag. I'm up 420-400 despite a dumb fish AND a phony. Quackle Championship Player likes N2 ROLFS, but I wasn't 100% on MOOTS. My choice of DURO(C) is still associated with a 100% win percentage! Yay!
>Carl_Durdan: EEGHINS 5K SHINE +35 435
#note According to Quackle, Carl now has a 0% win probability. Buuut............... At this point, my good friend Kate has shown up, and my fiance has come over, and I brag to them, "I'm about to play for first place" [in the next game after this one]!
>Mina: EFLS O1 LEFS. +27 475
>Mina: EFLS -- -27 448
#note I hadn't scoured the board for all of my available out plays yet. So far, I had found F(I)LES for 10. But when Carl played SHINE, I noticed excitedly that he had given me a supercute out play of LEFS(E). I didn't bother to go through the rest of my possibilities because this guaranteed the win and it was so stylish. I put it down. He says, "I'll give you five extra points for that!" and I say, "Sure!" Imagine my horror and shock when it came back invalid. "But I learned that word in first grade," I say, too loudly. I'd been guaranteed to win this game, which would have meant that I'd go on to play for first place, even though I'd been bottom seed in a field that included Winter and Jason Broersma. My win probability had been 100%. All I'd needed to do was play F(I)LES. "Every Minnesotan learns that word by first grade," I repeat. Stunned. Humiliated in front of others. Heartbroken.
>Carl_Durdan: EG O3 GE. +5 440
>Carl_Durdan: (EFLS) +14 454
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