My time in Romania began when, most unexpectedly, I played in the Continental Scrabble Championships. I wasn’t planning on playing any tournaments for at least another 6 months, but when I realized Friday morning that I would be in Bucharest at precisely the right time, it felt like the Universe was telling me to play Scrabble. So I did!
The Scrabble started off swimmingly, as I won my first ten games in a row and was on top of the world. But then I got careless against a low-rated opponent in game 11, and tried UNHEIRS when I really didn’t need to. It was plain old hubris. I only needed to win one of my last two games to clinch the tournament, but neither one was at all winnable. So I finished 12-3, good for second place, and bumping me up to 18th in the world.
I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Got to play a bunch of cool words, my favourites being TIGEREYES to the ES, ISOGRAFT from the I, AUKLETS, VIZAMENT, and APAREJO (hooking a phony P onto RELEARNT). Game 3 was the tensest, as my opponent drew absolutely everything, but I persevered and won by *one* point, 453-452…lucky for me she bungled the endgame! I played over 2.5 bingoes per game, which is pretty good. I had 18/30 blanks, but 0/6 in my last three games which is pretty rough stuff.
It was cool to meet lots of new people. European Scrabble players seem pretty chill compared to North Americans. The Israelis are incredibly nice for some reason. I made friends with players from Singapore, Sweden, Poland, US, Romania, Israel, Ireland. My back did amazingly well – I sat all weekend long and am not uncomfortable!! If you’d told me that two years ago, I’d have been way happier about being able to sit than about going 12-3 in Romania.
All in all, I had a fun weekend, I’m happy with how I played given I didn’t study for almost two years, I’ll never ever try UNHEIRS again, even in future lives, I’ll probably keep studying casually and probably play another tournament next year.
Here are the bingos, me / opponent, by game:
1: TIGEREYES, TRIBADES, TWINNERS (oops, not actually a word) / none
2: AFTEREYE, ANTIHERO / FELINES, SOOTIER
3: DEORBIT / PANDEMIC, HOTTINGS, LEANING
4: SEPIMENT, ISOLATE, STEADIER / TINTERS
5: WOURALI, OLIGURIA, AUKLETS, VIZAMENT, SNIFTER / CIERGES
6: TAPHOUSE, MORTLING, ENNEADIC, UNCARVED, BOVINES / HOGTIES, ESTATING
7: UNFELLED, GUTTIES, TWONESS / NOINTED
8: DEASOIL, GARROTS / none
9: APAREJO, ABRADING, AEROLITE / RELEARNT, WEAPONED
10: LACTOSES / VAURIENS CHARRING
11: VESTIGES / ROMANCED SLINTER
12: BALLOTED, CORONATE, MINSTER, CHIRREN / none
13: CRADLING, DIAMETER, ISOGRAFT / PINCHIER (phony!) UPSTART, HOSANNA
14: STOOLIES / FARTLEKS, BANISTER
15: ROUPIER / OFFSIDE, LEGSIDE, NITRYLS
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| The venue, one of Bucharest's many city halls |
Congratulations!! 10-0 to burn up the charts! I didn’t know that using all 7 letters was called a bingo. The boards (in their arrangement of words and decorative style) are so different and neat. It’s been a while since I’ve bragged about your scrabbling prowess. Time to bring it back. 18th in the world and a back that’s feeling groovy - excellent news.
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