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#character-encoding UTF-8
#player1 Tim_H Tim H
#player2 BJ BJ
>Tim_H: FOR 8G FOR +12 12
#note This game was played in round 5 of the 2019 Catamount Cup, the Vermont club championship tournament. The tournament was unrated.
>BJ: ABEHIIY 7F HIYA +26 26
>Tim_H: LORU 6I LOUR +9 21
>BJ: BEIINOY L1 BONIE. +22 48
#note M3 INBYE for 30 was probably best.
>Tim_H: AHIO 6C OHIA +16 37
>BJ: AIJLNNY 3J JI.N +22 70
>Tim_H: DEIMU 1J IM.UED +33 70
>BJ: AILNRSY 5E AY +23 93
#note Missed N1 EASILY for 46
>Tim_H: WZ K5 W.Z +40 110
>BJ: DILNNRS C3 IND.L +14 107
>Tim_H: ?AEENPU B7 EUPNoEA +62 172
#note EUPNEAs at B7 or J7 are less volatile.
>BJ: EINORST 14B STONIER +86 193
#note I considered A1 ORIENTS but it seemed better to leave two volatile spots than just one. C9 OESTRIN is interesting too, though I didn't see it at the time.
>Tim_H: ETV H12 VE.T +33 205
>BJ: ADEGOST A1 DOTAGES +83 276
#note Lucky draw. Had to spend a moment convincing myself that DOTAGES was good, hadn't seen it in a long time. Playing it at 11E for the 2x2 is better!
>Tim_H: RVW D12 VR.W +28 233
>BJ: CDFLOPT 13G P.LF +20 296
#note 13D ROLFED for 29, didn't see that. I put DEFLT down first and then talked myself out of it (doubting the word itself for some reason), but Quackle likes PELF better anyway. I like keeping the T.
>Tim_H: EG 9B .EG +7 240
>BJ: ACDEOTT 11E ACTED +24 320
#note Given Tim's previous play and an unseen blank, I figured he had it and so I wanted to shut down some lanes, specifically the one I overlooked myself earlier in the game. Q prefers several other blocking plays, such as 11F COATED or 11G COTTAE.
>Tim_H: BX 11A B.X +11 251
>BJ: AELORST 10I OESTRAL +64 384
#note So this is where it gets interesting, sort of. It probably wouldn't be that interesting if I had just seen and played (D)ELATORS for 80, but all I saw was OESTRAL# and OLESTRA at 10I, and I totally thought both were valid in NWL. Figuring Tim had a bingo-prone rack, I thought about whether it would be better to put an A or L in the danger zone of column O. I chose ... poorly. Tim held for a while before finding his triple-triple and accepting the play.
If he hadn't been thoughtful enough to look for the triple-triple first and just challenged off my phony, I probably would have been in much better shape, since I think that every possible bingo he could play (and there are a lot) give me a bingo back. Holding EGINST?, he could bingo at 10I leaving me several 8s to choose from (or DELATORS still, if I don't overlook it again). If he plays DINGIEST at O1, I get OLESTRA. If he plays from the T at 15H (TIGHTENS, TANGIEST, and more), it puts an S out there for my OLESTRAS. His best bet would probbaly be an S word starting at M6, which would clog things up quite a bit and force me into an overlapping bingo, or finding DELATORS again. Anyway, what could have been ...
>Tim_H: ?EGINST O8 GE.aTINS +131 382
#note Oh dear, he's practically even with me again!
>BJ: CEIKMOR M8 CO.KIER +28 412
#note As I do my tracking I'm shocked and amazed that he has drawn AQUA and has multiple places to play it. What a turn this game has taken!! I can't believe it. I have lots of time and eventually see that CO(R)KIER at M8, amazingly, blocks all of the AQUA spots! (Well, I thought it did, anyway.) I think I can squeak this one out, barely. (I didn't seem M7 RIM(R)OCK, which was an even stronger play.)
>Tim_H: AAQU 4F AQUA +24 406
#note At this point Tim can't believe I blocked so many AQUA spots, but he saw one that I didn't t -- 4F for 24 points. By the score that we both had, he would lose by 2. So he spent several minutes looking for an alternative. Finally, he played it and we recounted ... surprise, we found a two-point error that brought the game into a tie! A fitting end to a game that seemed really epic as it was unfolding through those last few plays, which constituted about half of the game in wall-clock time. Kudos, Tim, it was a lot of fun!!
>Tim_H: (M) +6 412
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