SCRABBLE - The Last Word Newsletter

New FacesN E W F A C E SSince our last issue, 38 new faces have competed at NASPA and WGPO tournaments, includingour featured “New Face,” Marc Booth, who won Division 5 at the Danville IL Tournament on 4/6 witha perfect 7-0 +591 record to earn an initial NASPA rating of 931._______________________________________________________________________________Marc BoothMarc Booth, a 42-year-old eye surgeon from West Lafayette, IN,didn’t play much SCRABBLE® when he was growing up. However,he thought of the game earlier this year when he was looking for anew hobby that would stimulate his mind, and which he couldpotentially share with his wife, Jennifer, and their 9-year-olddaughter, Charlotte. Luckily, Marc had a friend from high school hecould go to for advice: tournament expert Doug Lundquist.“I consulted Doug in late February about getting more serious aboutSCRABBLE and potentially entering tournaments. He rightfullyrecommended Joe Edley and John Williams’s EverythingSCRABBLE® and Joel Wapnick’s How to Play SCABBLE® Like aChampion. Doug also turned me on to Zyzzyva and Quackle. The books infused me with a bettermindset for strategy and thinking critically about situations like the endgame and concepts likeclosing down a board. Obviously I'm still a newbie, but I still constantly refer back to these booksand have entered the matches listed in Wapnick's book into Quackle and tried to think about themmove by move without looking first at the player's moves.“Doug also mentioned that I might consider a tournament listed on cross-tables in March in nearbyCharleston, Illinois at Marty Gabriel's house. I thought that was too soon, considering my dearth ofknowledge and general lack of eagerness to humiliate myself at competitive SCRABBLE. However,I noticed the tournament for charity in April in nearby Danville and thought the extra month andwillingness to contribute to charity at the expense of my potential personal humiliation would besufficient cause for participation.”Prior to the tournament Marc had played live games primarily with his wife. He had also attended anew SCRABBLE club in Crawfordsville, IN, which meets once a month. “I have tinkered around withisc.ro and Words With Friends as well, but greatly prefer to play live or using the Scrabble iPad app.It's what my wife has on her phone and we frequently have 5-10 games going at once.”The tournament was somewhat daunting at first. “I was nervous and made all sorts of beginnerprocedural errors. Overdrew tiles, hit the clock at the wrong time, miscounted the score... and don'teven get me started about trying to track tiles. I still get lost trying to do that accurately. Despite mygeneral ineptitude regarding all things involving live SCRABBLE, I still managed to have a goodtime, thanks in large part to the very friendly and patient players in my division. The tournamentwas extremely well organized by Marty. Even the lunch was memorable; I sat down outside to eatwith two players I did not know, but recognized as players from the Collins and expert divisions. Imentioned a possible bingo I’d lacked the courage to try (OUTLEAR*). The division 1 playerimmediately said that I was correct not to play it and that TORULAE was the only bingo, instantlyafter which the Collins player confirmed that and said there were two other bingos valid "in Collins.” 35