| Player 1 |
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#player1 Mina Mina
#player2 Bob_Linn Bob Linn
>Mina: BGNOTTV 8G BONG +14 14
#note SCRABBLE IN THE BIG APPLE, MAY 25-26, 2019.
Sniff! I screwed up from the very first move of this tournament. Quackle says to play VOG or else exchange (keeping NOT or NT). I had amateurishly figured that keeping three consonants is better than keeping four consonants, and I had also figured that B is about as clunky as V. Of course I thought about the O back hook on BONG, but I hadn't thought about giving him spots for ZIG or JIG.
>Bob_Linn: IJ J6 JI. +27 27
>Mina: AHOTTTV K5 HOT +23 37
#note I made an even bigger mistake on the second turn: forgetting that JA is a word, not just JO! Otherwise I would surely have played the best move, which is VAT! Sob!!!
>Bob_Linn: ENRVY 9C NERVY +27 54
>Mina: AEINTTV L4 VITA +32 69
#note Ugh Mina! The best move, by far, is L1 VITTAE for 41, and I totally knew this word, but didn't consider it. At least my move is second-best with its nice balance of score and leave, but hmph.
>Bob_Linn: ?AEESTU E4 fEATU.ES +78 132
>Mina: EEFGNRT D4 ERF +21 90
#note I'm surprised that Quackle prefers EFT to ERF so strongly (#1 best move versus #13 best move): they score the same, EFT keeps EGNR, and my move keeps EGNT. Is the synergy of EGNR really that superior, I guess??
>Bob_Linn: FY F5 FY +39 171
#note Oh I see, It's because ERF sets up a massive hot spot for FAX or FAY. Ugh. I would never have thought about it if I hadn't Quackled it.
>Mina: EGIMNRT D8 G.M +17 107
#note Oh Christ almighty, now my mistakes are becoming criminal. I missed the common-word bingo M(E)TERING because its three overlaps made it hard to see. I did see and note the unplayable TERMING. I also made a fishing mistake: if you're going to fish, you should just fish off the M, because EGINRT is a stronger leave than EINRT.
>Bob_Linn: EILP 8L LIPE +30 201
>Mina: DEEINRT 11E .INTERED +68 175
#note César says I could've hoped to bingo earlier if I'd managed my rack better :_^(
>Bob_Linn: ADNORRS O7 R.ADORNS +60 261
#note ADORNERS would have been more defensive.
>Mina: CEEHKLW 14J WHELK. +48 223
>Bob_Linn: ILLW H11 .WILL +36 297
>Mina: CENSSUU -SUU +0 223
#note I wrote "uncuses?" on my scoresheet; good thing there wasn't a spot to try it, as the only plural of UNCUS turns out to be UNCI. Surprisingly, Quackle recommends G1 UNCUS and 3A ECUS as its favorite plays, even both openings can easily be instantly closed by Bob. Frankly, the game is all but over for me (even though Quackle notes a win percentage of 10.21% for UNCUS), because the board is going to be too hard to open. My best hope is to keep the A(VITAL) hook open, with six A's unseen.
>Bob_Linn: Q 13G Q. +21 318
>Mina: CEEINSU N6 CU. +15 238
#note It's all academic at this point, with my win percentage below 5% from here on. Still, the "best" play is clever, 10J UNICE(D).
>Bob_Linn: MOO 15H .OOM +18 336
#note The same three tiles scored more if moved one space to the right!
>Mina: EEEINST C2 EEN +8 246
#note Again from the annals of clever playfinding, 12H (W)EENIE for 30 was the best available. I tend to not be as good at finding these multiple-baby-overlap plays that make the most out of small tiles. And yes, of course it would have been ideal to keep EINST instead of EIST, but I didn't see how to do so and also open the board.
>Bob_Linn: CDEOP 1A COPED +39 375
>Mina: AAEIOST C9 .AOI +9 255
#note Of course I knew he'd play something like COPED, but my strategy had been to force him to do so, in order to create two bingo lanes for me (the vertical lane starting with C, and the horizontal line starting under the D of COPED).
>Bob_Linn: BD 2B B.D +23 398
#note I noticed that BED did not actually block the vertical lane starting with C, because A(BED) is a word.
>Mina: AERSTXZ 3K ZAX +47 302
>Mina: AEIRSTT (challenge) +5 307
#note Yup, I hate to block my bingo lane on row 3, but ZAX is the move.
>Bob_Linn: GI B10 GI +20 418
>Mina: AEIRSTT M1 TI. +10 317
#note I wrote "citrates, scattier..." on my scoresheet. No C bingos available, alas. There are three tiles in the bag, so I must fish two. The fish I chose is also Quackle's favorite fish, and Quackle surprisingly gives it a win percentage of 18.87%!
>Bob_Linn: AOSU 1K AU.OS +18 436
>Mina: AAERSTU G3 EATS +22 339
#note I missed 10I AURATE(D) because of its four overlaps. I wonder if I can mindfully look harder for these kinds of plays in the future.
>Bob_Linn: ?AIN 14D sNAI. +17 453
#note Bob went over on time, so the final score was 449-339.
>Bob_Linn: (ARU) +6 459
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