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Visit Donald Sauter's Scrabble II for word lovers! page.
wherein it is shown that various Members of the
Dover Scrabble Clubbe in the Regione of Delaware
in the United States of America
do outperform e'en the greatest Players of the Gayme
of Scrabble on Earthe
using naught but their own
Vocabularys and Wittes, and the attempt
is made to lead Scrabble Players of the
Tournament style to this more prideful waye
of Playe, or at least bringe some Shayme uponne
them, and perchance to give Diversion to Non-Scrabble
Players who looke in uponne this Payge.
In case you're inclined to scamper around this page without assimilating the introductory material, you at least need to know this:
All the words you see in RED are not acceptable in the Dover Scrabble Club. Generally, this means that the word is not recognized by the American Heritage 4th Edition. There is also a small handful of words now included in the American Heritage which I have specifically banished as Scrabble junk. See the appendix at the bottom.
You must also understand that, for each game, the board is presented twice, side-by-side. The second, "flipped" board shows the same tiles, but flipped across the diagonal. This makes words that were originally vertical now horizontal.
Thus, you can easily see all the words played in a game by reading left to right and simply ignoring anything going on vertically.
You might be aware that I have put no little effort into convincing the world what a great game Scrabble can be drawing upon our own vocabularies, as opposed to using obscure words on lists developed by people who view Scrabble mainly as a point-scoring exercise. Since the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary is the only show in town, and since it is crammed to overflowing with unfamiliar - but useful! - letter sequences, even the most casual Scrabble players quickly get sucked into the "Scrabble is all about points!" mentality.
No, there's not much response to, "Maybe you don't know that word, but somebody . . . somewhere . . . does!" All I can say is, I've been around long enough, and have read a wide enough variety of material, to know the difference between words that are unusual, or archaic, or obscure, or useful jargon in various fields . . . and just plain, downright far-fetched.
But don't take it from me. Scroll down to the bottom of this page and back up, taking note of all the words you see in RED. They were all played in the final rounds of the 2008 National Scrabble Championship. They are so useful to us (sarcasm) that even our most highly respected dictionary, the American Heritage Dictionary, doesn't know what they mean.
My claim is that, not only can vocabulary-based Scrabble be good, it is positively exhilarating. For some time I have been trying to engage conventional Scrabble players in a discussion of my proposal of opening the game up to longer, more natural words. The finished boards that we produce in the Dover Scrabble Club (Delaware) are most impressive, and I regularly post lists of the words we play to the rec.games.board discussion group and challenge Scrabble players to post their own lists to shoot me down.
There have been no takers.
Then it occurred to me to grab the bull by the horns and track down some finished boards from Scrabble tournaments. Only recently has this borne fruit. The National Scrabble Championship was held in Orlando, Florida, in July 2008 (a month ago, as I write this.) They posted the "Table 1 game" (presumably, the game between the top dogs of the moment) for each of the 28 rounds of the tournament.
At the same time, in my club, we started a new season. The first four games of Season 6 went particularly well, and I got the notion to place those four games side-by-side with the final four "Table 1" games of the the National Scrabble Championship (NSC) in a sort of four-round match between us . . . and them. Where they happen to be the top Scrabble players on the planet. (Nobody ever said I didn't need my head examined!)
As you look the games over, ask yourself which style of play looks more satisfying? More interesting? More exciting? More intelligent? More fun? I'll admit it's not exactly like reading a novel (especially, the National Scrabble Championship boards!), but I hope you can slow down enough to let the boards and play lists sink in a bit, and make sense of some of the interesting statistics presented in each round. In any case, there is a handy summary at the bottom.
The Dover Scrabble Club (Delaware) plays a purified Scrabble with a few very small, very natural, long overdue fixes which steal the game back from the tiny, high-powered words which have flooded Scrabble's official word lists in the decades since the game was invented. I call it Scrabble II, and it busts things wide open to the longest Scrabble words ever played, anywhere. In a nutshell, Scrabble II is . . .
In addition to those corrections, we abide by the original challenge rule in effect from 1948 to 1976 which permits only valid words to remain on the board. I call this the Good Words Only rule, and it is part and parcel of the Scrabble II rules. Bluffers can now go back to playing poker.
Moreover, we use a conventional dictionary, the American Heritage Dictionary 4th Edition, to get further away from the inscrutable character strings that Scrabble players live and die by. Scrabble II rules do not prescribe a conventional dictionary, but you would find that the power of those weird little letter sequences is largely nullified by the Scrabble II fixes, anyway. Why not get the junk off the board completely?
There are a few words now included in the American Heritage which I have specifically banished as Scrabble junk. See Appendix 2 at the bottom. [Note, Aug 2009: AG and ED, which were not acceptable in the Dover club when this page was created, have since been accepted. I still can't stand them, though.]
A few words about the notation and terminology used below:
* = unused Triple-Word Score square.
A lower-case letter on a board indicates a Blank was used.
NSC = National Scrabble Championship
Total Points is the total points scored by all the players in the game.
Average Length Of Main Word In Play is, well, it's hard to say it any more clearly. The point is, if you play HUNGER, incidentally forming HE and OR, the smaller words shouldn't diminish your accomplishment. Skipped turns and removed plays do not figure in this average (as they do in Average Points Per Turn.)
Power Tiles shows all the power tiles (J Q X Z _ S) in the game, played and unplayed.
Anomalies shows the cases where there was less than half, or more than twice, the frequency of a given letter in the standard 100-tile set.
Percent Expected Vowels shows the deviation from the expected number of vowels (A E I O U) in the bag, based on 42 per 100 tiles in the standard set. So 105% would indicate slightly vowel-heavy; 94% indicates slightly consonant-heavy.
Base Points On Tiles is the sum of all the point values on the tiles in the bag. For the standard set of 100 tiles the point values add up to 187.
Deviation From Well-Worn 100-Tile Set gives the tile count for each letter of the alphabet. If no number is shown, it is the same as the frequency of the given letter in the standard 100-tile set.
Again, every game board is presented twice. The second board shows the same tiles, but flipped across the diagonal.
This allows you to see every word played by simply reading horizontally.
And don't you forget, words in RED would not even be allowed in the Dover Scrabble Club.
Now, gentlemen, load your Scrabble racks . . .
National Scrabble Championship Dover Scrabble Club
Brian Cappelletto vs. Robin Pollock Daniel Elsie vs. Don
Round 25; Orlando, Florida; July 2008 Season 6, game 1; August 27 2008
B C
(board flipped) A H
S P A E
* DARIOLE F * * * * P T AtTIRED * C Q
T B OKA I U WRIST I A U
W E Id RID WORMY R z QUARK SPURT TWINED E
OUZOS TINCTS U PALEA G TOE E O T NOGS
R OM N H ZOA V U HITS EH L J I
IMPAIR G ED D OMIT BI A N W INFERNO V
YA TAJ I O ATES RAX AGE N F C R T W EL
* L XU E V R JUST REIF CATTLE U FARMED BAPTIzES CUDDlY O
E SUQS E I U O N W R D O S E FA
A BAT N OBIT Q s I N DETOURED AT F T AN
VIG W L L dINGIES WEPT N JOWl B t A O IS
EROsELY E N LEA EN Y LICHEN T Q R U L R
E PEND ORC LYNCH DO D A I U MORBID
GUANIN TACO KITHE DOE GIVE FAIR T ARIA E E C
* F HER FADS DOVEN R CHEQUES LOANS E E R D D HATE
D K E
N
Total Points: 781 vs. 835
Average Points Per Turn: 781/28 = 27.9 vs. 835/24 = 34.8
8-Tile Plays: (none - not possible) vs. BAPTIZES
7-Tile Plays: DINGIES EROSELY DARIOLE vs. DETOURED ATTIRED CHEQUES
6-Tile Plays: IMPAIR vs. CUDDLY INFERNO
Average Length Of Main Word In Play: 4.3 vs. 5.3
Q-Words: SUQ SUQS vs. QUARK CHEQUES
Total tiles played: 99 vs. 107
Unplayed tiles: E A T E I
Power Tiles: (always J Q X Z _ _ S S S S) vs. (11) J Q Q _ _ _ S S S S S
Anomalies: (none - not possible) vs. 1G no X no Z
Percent Expected Vowels: (always 100%) vs. 94%
Base Points On Tiles: (always 187) vs. 196
Deviation From Well-Worn 100-Tile Set:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M
10 4 7 14 3 1 3 3 1
(none - not possible) vs.
N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z _
6 2 8 5 10 5 1 3 0 1 0 3
NSC Play-By-Play: Dover Play-By-Play:
18 XU * 52 CUDDLY
15 SUQ US 26 JOWL
31 TAJ JUS 34 INFERNO
0 (trade) 12 HIT
77 DINGIES SUQS 123 BAPTIZES HITS
22 BAT JUST 27 CATTLE
21 VIG BI AG 11 TOE EH
14 TINCT 18 WRIST
28 IMPAIR IT RAX 64 DETOURED
36 FADS TINCTS 24 MORBID
43 KITHE KA ID 76 ATTIRED AT
30 DOVEN ED 39 FARMED
74 EROSELY AGE 30 LICHEN
34 WORMY 28 TWINED
26 OUZO 15 NOG EN DO
18 WEPT 21 HATE
21 REIF 122 CHEQUES NOGS
38 OM ZOA OMIT 8 ARIA
26 LYNCH 36 QUARK
18 HER 16 GIVE
9 GUANIN 17 LOANS
12 BIT ID 20 FAIR FA AN IS
83 DARIOLE OBIT 14 SPURT
25 ORC OKA RID
16 TACO OE
19 ATES OUZOS
13 PALEA YA
14 PEND LEA DOE
Words in RED disallowed in the Dover Scrabble Club.
* Play violates Dover Scrabble Club "three letter minimum" rule.
Elsie used a blank for a Z in BAPTIZES - cool!
National Scrabble Championship Dover Scrabble Club
Nigel Richards vs. Brian Cappelletto Don vs. Elsie
Round 26; Orlando, Florida; July 2008 Season 6, game 2; August 27 2008
(board flipped) B
L f O F T
AW InDORSED AM U V T * WIDENED E *VAT *O O
MOOCH D E WO K N APPEAR V N BIZ T r HO
WHEATS O OW I T S I BOATING SHERIF I G R UT
U N QI CHUFF R OBJET T UT A O W N BY I E N
FATALLY l HE A U AXE O BAR TUNNEL LINGUA V N G
KIF I A CION ANTIMERE GIRN Y A NO AB D TRAMPER THEM
M Z N T A E M HATS XI E A ORA
UNTRUE EL G * IDS LAZED OBIAS * P AS L O* N T HAJJ P R
R DELT n L LEVYING FOrGIVE J UH E SAUNAS P E
VAS AE V D Y L E RAJ WRENS D H NOT W E
P OX OYER O Q C T R RE H E N SLURRED
P BEG BI REOIlING RENT EL O ROE HEEL
E J I IN S O HOPPED O BI LAX N
A E R AG E N HUNGER TI IF BIO SHOOT
TRITONES * D * * TOOT MARE C fEZ * ICILY
I
L
Y
Total Points: 827 vs. 823
Average Points Per Turn: 827/25 = 33.1 vs. 823/32 = 25.7
8-Tile Plays: (none - not possible) vs. (none)
7-Tile Plays: ANTIMERE LEVYING TRITONES vs. SLURRED
INDORSED REOILING
6-Tile Plays: FATALLY vs. SAUNAS HUNGER TRAMPER LINGUA WIDENED
FORGIVE BOATING
Average Length Of Main Word In Play: 4.9 vs. 4.7
Q-Words: QI vs. (none)
Total Tiles Played: 99 vs. 115
Unplayed Tiles: U A
Power Tiles: (always J Q X Z _ _ S S S S) vs. (10) J J X Z _ _ S S S S
Anomalies: (none - not possible) vs. 6H no K no Q
Percent Expected Vowels: (always 100%) vs. 92%
Base Points On Tiles: (always 187) vs. 212
Deviation From Well-Worn 100-Tile Set:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M
10 4 1 3 13 6 8 2 0 5
(none - not possible) vs.
N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z _
9 10 3 0 8 9
NSC Play-By-Play: Dover Play-By-Play:
26 LAZE 0 (trade)
26 FATALLY 0 (trade)
64 ANTIMERE 26 HAJ
21 UNTRUE 36 SAUNAS HA AS
26 HUFF 24 SHERIF
40 MOOCH CHUFF 12 TUNNEL
68 LEVYING 42 BIZ BI IF
32 AW AM WO * 15 NOT HAT HA
39 WHEAT OW HE 73 SLURRED HATS
39 BIAS BI IN AG 27 HEEL UH RE RE EL
21 OYER OBIAS 15 WREN
20 DELT LAZED 0 (trade)
77 TRITONES 18 HOPPED
24 IDS WHEATS 53 HUNGER HE OR
24 APPEAR 19 TOOT HO UT
80 INDORSED 29 MARE HEM ORA
28 OBJET 17 RENT THEM
0 (trade) 33 RAJ HAJJ
44 AXE AE OX BE 33 TRAMPER
70 REOILING 40 LINGUA
13 GIRN BEG 68 WIDENED
11 QI * 33 FEZ
20 KIF 12 BY BAR
8 CION 6 ROE
6 VAS 30 SHOOT WRENS
0 (trade)
32 ICILY TI
18 LAX
30 BIO AB XI
35 FORGIVE
40 BOATING
Words in RED disallowed in the Dover Scrabble Club.
* Play violates Dover Scrabble Club "three letter minimum" rule.
Ok, so SHERIF was my stupid misspelling of SHERIFF. But it was in the dictionary, so there!
National Scrabble Championship Dover Scrabble Club
Brian Cappelletto vs. Nigel Richards Elsie vs. Don
Round 27; Orlando, Florida; July 2008 Season 6, game 3; August 27 2008
(board flipped) R A
I I
* H OUTDO * * PETIOLAR * IDEA MOVING * P D JOUSTER
AJEE I BAG A Q U MOW Q E OAKS E V
AL AMUS JAGGIEsT W U BARN L W E
GLEE CYTOSINE HELLOS H N QUAVERs C SPY E L
GOLFER P E EL DAVY BI C U B COPY L T
QIS DANK T EF FIX ON CORRALS SOUL R V WE
E ZOA I ED V A O P ROOF HA I R O H
PUsH F I C O CRAZIER N PALSY T U IT D QUARTZ L WEDGE
E T DIVERTS U Y NO R E K P ZARF ME E U LO A I E
T AX R RE TI T KA TRUDgER AIDS Y A ID AQUA SOUR T Z
I V UN D O SEN VOLITION V F FAIRLY
OM Y D OBAS JEWEL R T M BE O
LOWN g AMI O W L Y O AR MINTY
AW BO E GUN U WHEEZY RIVERs SHIED
R INANER * * SEPTIC * SVELTE D * I N BOAT *
T G N U
E E G L
R
Total Points: 906 vs. 815
Average Points Per Turn: 906/30 = 30.2 vs. 815/30 = 27.2
8-Tile Plays: (none - not possible) vs. (none)
7-Tile Plays: CRAZIER CYTOSINE JAGGIEST vs. VOLITION
PETIOLAR TRUDGER
6-Tile Plays: (none) vs. RIVERS SVELTE JOUSTER
Average Length Of Main Word In Play: 4.6 vs. 4.9
Q-Words: QI QIS vs. QUART QUARTZ QUA AQUA
Total Tiles Played: 99 vs. 111
Unplayed Tiles: I E N N
Power Tiles: (always J Q X Z _ _ S S S S) vs. (11) J Q Q Z Z _ S S S S S
Anomalies: (none - not possible) vs. no X
Percent Expected Vowels: (always 100%) vs. 94%
Base Points On Tiles: (always 187) vs. 229
Deviation From Well-Worn 100-Tile Set:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M
13 2 8 7
(none - not possible) vs.
N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z _
5 3 2 9 5 6 4 3 0 4 2 1
NSC Play-By-Play: Dover Play-By-Play:
0 (trade) 48 QUART
0 (trade) 41 ZARF QUARTZ
0 (trade) 0 (trade)
92 CRAZIER 24 FAIRLY
78 CYTOSINE 36 QUAVER
22 AMU AS MI UN 54 RIVERS QUAVERS
20 GOLFER 52 WHEEZY
86 JAGGIEsT 61 VOLITION
0 (lost sULPHITIC) 30 WEDGE
30 BAG BAS AMI GUN 45 MOVING
36 PUSH 0 (lost CRAPPY)
31 QI * 32 QUA
36 SEPTIC AMUS 10 CORRAL
21 GLEE LO EL EF 11 ROOF LO
14 DIVER 22 COPY
22 AJEE 0 (lost SVELT)
28 OUTDO OBAS 33 PALSY
22 DANK ED 55 SVELTE
83 PETIOLAR 42 JOUSTER
32 MOW OM LO AW 30 JEWEL
14 LOWN 26 MINTY
22 ZOA NO KA 7 OAK
29 FIX 20 BARN BE AR
31 DAVY AX 23 HIED ME ID
71 TRUDGER DIVERT 29 BOAT IT HA
27 HELLOS AL QIS 25 IDEA AQUA
18 INANER 17 SOUR CORRALS
14 BO BI ON * 17 SOUL SHIED
4 TI * 8 SPY
23 SEN DIVERTS RE UN 17 AIDS OAKS
Words in RED disallowed in the Dover Scrabble Club.
* Play violates Dover Scrabble Club "three letter minimum" rule.
Elsie's WHEEZY for 52 points is the highest-scoring single-word play, not involving a double- or triple-word premium or a bonus, I have ever seen. Decades ago I played QUICK for 50.
Regarding a certain attempted Dover Scrabble Club play, words denoted "vulgar" or "offensive" are disallowed in the club.
National Scrabble Championship Dover Scrabble Club
Brian Cappelletto vs. Nigel Richards Elsie vs. Don
Round 28; Orlando, Florida; July 2008 Season 6, game 4; August 27 2008
H
(board flipped) S O
U R K O
* T PENATES * * SERRYING Z L M N E PA MUMPS E BRAYED
JO H BATHER GOX O EYE U S R V AT I DOZE
GOT O EAU U JO N PAW M A T A O RE SANDING DRYING
SO EFT L TOTE LI ID HOOPING W T T I G En E
EX U N FUCI R S D I ENERVATEd E V
R C MM PHOT BE D I D D D I TWIDDLE H
R LIBIDO E IN SI N D E D U
YONI ENOWS * N E DO K n EDGE L AMOEBAS* UNRATED AI L *
I A ABA MOW QI N O nEEDIER N ME AY
N R F TAU M SARCInAE Z ARRIVAL REVOTED ORA O
G C O ET G R BED HULA I R E R U
QI AVA SHULN AL V R REV YOUNGER V B R N
ZEP KInGLET E FOVEAE A Y M A A I G
YAIRDS A A R AT D Y I A PARITIES V E
LEWD InNERVED* * * * E N * I SKATE E * AIRMAIL
D G L d L
Total Points: 809 vs. 985
Average Points Per Turn: 809/24 = 33.7 vs. 985/21 = 46.9
8-Tile Plays: (none - not possible) vs. PARITIES ENERVATED
7-Tile Plays: SERRYING SARCINA INNERVE vs. NEEDIER ARRIVAL
PENATES
6-Tile Plays: LIBIDO YAIRDS BATHER vs. AMOEBA SANDING HOOPING AIRMAIL BRAYED
DRYING YOUNGER UNRATED REVOTED TWIDDLE
Average Length Of Main Word In Play: 4.8 vs. 5.9
Q-Words: QI QI vs. (none)
Total Tiles Played: 98 vs. 112
Unplayed Tiles: I U T A U T
Power Tiles: (always J Q X Z _ _ S S S S) vs. (7) Z _ _ S S S S
Anomalies: (none - not possible) vs. no C 9D no F no J no Q no X
Percent Expected Vowels: (always 100%) vs. 103%
Base Points On Tiles: (always 187) vs. 186
Deviation From Well-Worn 100-Tile Set:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M
13 0 9 16 0 4 10 0 4
(none - not possible) vs.
N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z _
6 0 10 7 5 4 1 0 3
NSC Play-By-Play: Dover Play-By-Play:
14 ENOW 46 AMOEBA
27 LIBIDO BE IN DO OW 69 NEEDIER AI ME OR
20 MM MOW 23 EDGE EN
54 YONI LI 115 PARITIES AMOEBAS
63 SERRYING 40 SANDING
22 GOX SO EX 102 ENERVATED
24 JO GO * 43 SKATE
18 FUCI 75 ARRIVAL ORA
70 SARCINA ENOWS 52 HOOPING
98 INNERVE SARCINAE 50 AIRMAIL
33 TOTE JO GOT EF 34 DOZE
24 FOVEAE 63 BRAYED BE
30 YAIRDS SI 48 DRYING BED
45 LEWD YE AW ID 42 YOUNGER
50 ZEP EYE PAW 0 (trade)
20 HOT EFT 47 UNRATED
25 QI QI IN * 33 MUMPS
89 PENATES PHOT 43 REVOTED
41 BATHER AB TA ET SH 36 TWIDDLE
11 KINGLET 12 HULA AY
18 AVA AL AT 12 REV
16 SHULN
13 EAU ABA TAU
11 InNERVED
Words in RED disallowed in the Dover Scrabble Club.
* Play violates Dover Scrabble Club "three letter minimum" rule.
Hey, one of those NSC plays suggests a great retronym for the official, tournament-style game: Qiqi Scrabble!
Pronounced "chee-chee".
(Ooh, that's mean!)
Lumping the games together, here is a summary of the most
interesting points of comparison between National Scrabble Championship
play and Dover Scrabble Club play.
Average Points Scored Per Turn:
NSC: 3323 points/107 turns = 31.1 ppt DSC: 3458 points/107 turns = 32.3 ppt
We score more than a point per turn higher than the best Scrabble
players on earth - and we do it with real words from out of our
own vocabularies!
Average Length Of Main Word In Play:
NSC: 4.6 letters DSC: 5.1 letters
On the average, our words are half a letter longer - and that in spite
of the pros playing about twice as many bingos!
Use Of The Q:
NSC: SUQ SUQS QI QI QIS QI QI DSC: QUARK CHEQUES QUART QUARTZ QUA AQUA
It's beyond me why Scrabble players would ever let the public see what they do with their Q's. I'd die of shame. Lest you think there is something anomalous about those last four tournament games, here's a rundown. In the 28 "Table 1" games of the tournament, the word(?) QI or QIS was played 24 times; the word(?) QAT was played 6 times; while the word(?) SUQ or SUQS was played only 3 times. But it's not as bleak as all that; they did occasionally come up with an honest-to-gosh, down-to-earth, yankee-English Q-word: QAID, QOPH, and QANAT.
Wait! Don't leave yet! Here's another one: TRANQ.
Oh, dear.
Look, men, the Q was meant to be a hot potato. If it makes you
quake and quiver so, and you can't quite quash those qualms, maybe you should
quickly and quietly quit. Eat a quiche.
8-Tile Plays:
NSC: (none - not possible) DSC: BAPTIZES PARITIES ENERVATED
Notice that the possibility of playing 8 tiles also brings
9-letter words into the Scrabble fold on a fairly regular basis!
7-Tile Plays (Bingos):
NSC: (17) DINGIES EROSELY DARIOLE ANTIMERE LEVYING TRITONES INDORSED REOILING CRAZIER
CYTOSINE JAGGIEST PETIOLAR TRUDGER SERRYING SARCINA INNERVE PENATES
DSC: (7) DETOURED ATTIRED CHEQUES SLURRED VOLITION NEEDIER ARRIVAL
It's hard to depreciate the Scrabble champs' skill at crafting
seven-tile plays. I stand in awe. But wouldn't it be nice if
a few more of their bingos didn't come from study lists?
6-Tile Plays:
NSA: (5) IMPAIR FATALLY LIBIDO YAIRDS BATHER
DSC: (22) CUDDLY INFERNO SAUNAS HUNGER TRAMPER LINGUA WIDENED FORGIVE BOATING RIVERS
SVELTE JOUSTER AMOEBA SANDING HOOPING AIRMAIL BRAYED DRYING YOUNGER UNRATED
REVOTED TWIDDLE
ATTENTION! This may well be the most striking statistic. At a glance,
you see the profound effect of the modest bonus for laying down 6 tiles.
In tournament Scrabble, that's no man's land. If you can't unload all
7 tiles (and the average player does so infrequently), you're better off
pushing your widdle bwocks in twos and fwees awound on the color squares.
(Hmmm, that doesn't sound like a very intellectual pursuit, does it?)
Surviving Plays That Would Be Disqualified By A Real Dictionary:
NSC: 39 plays - out of just 107 plays total! DSC: (none - can't happen)
Not to mention, an additional 12 plays if you'll let me throw out a few pieces of junk like JO, QI, SUQ, ZA, ZEP, etc., and disallow squirt plays of 2-letter words only. That would disqualify very nearly half of all the NSC plays in the four games!
Winner and new champeeeen . . . the Dover Scrabble Club!
Well, them NSC guys played a heckuva match, sure did, sure did. Of course, on any given day any scrabble club can beat any other club, but everybody did their job and everything fell into place for us this time. I bet they know what "Dover Scrabble Club rules" means now, heh heh!
The DSC team and all of Dover, a heckuva town, feel proud and humble.
Nigel Richards is a heckuva player and he showed it by winning the 2008 National Scrabble Championship in July. I feel bad snatching the crown away after only a month.
I take a 10 3/8.
But don't take it too hard, Nige, old bean. Here's a few words of advice.
Don't give up.
Think of the breathtaking Scrabble masterpieces you will be creating once you turn that awesome Scrabble analyzer on an 8-tile rack and an extended board, and not forgetting . . . real words from a real dictionary!
Then stand back and listen as the subdued snickers from an international audience of English speakers swell into a deafening ovation!
Here's my main page describing Scrabble for Word Lovers (Scrabble II).
For more Scrabble II boards created by the Dover Scrabble Club:
The Columbia Scrabble Club (Maryland) sent me some completed boards for a similar study. See my Columbia Scrabble Club vs. Dover page.
Here's a quick rundown of all the Q-words played at Table 1 at the National Scrabble Championship. Read it and cringe - or laugh your head off, depending on how you view big, public embarrassments.
If, after all of that, you still maintain that the funny little OSPD words are where it's at, man, I've invented the perfect Scrabble game for you: Goo-Goo Scrabble!
In moving up from the second to the fourth edition of the American Heritage a few years ago, I found a few words were added which I couldn't bear fouling up my Scrabble boards. While I was rejecting those words, I took the opportunity to "retire" all the Hebrew letters (letters aren't words; Hebrew is foreign) and a few old-timers, including AZO and ZOA, which never pop up in real life and which have long since worn out their welcome on the Scrabble board. See my Dover Scrabble Club rules page for a list of charges against the condemned:
AA AE JO PE QI SI WO ZA
AZO DEX DIS HOS IGG JEE MEM POO SUQ TAV VAU VAV WAW ZAG ZIG ZEP ZOA
QOPH
May they rest in peace.
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Helpful keywords not in the main text: ospd = official scrabble players dictionary. Ultimate Scrabble (former name for Scrabble II).
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