August 2010 - The Last Word Newsletter

W O R D G A M E N E W SThe Last WordThe Independent Tournament SCRABBLE® NewsletterA Monthly Newsletter Issue 10 - August 2010TournamentsT-shirt RoundupTravelGreat GamesThe Last Word is an independent publication for tournament SCRABBLE® players. It is notaffiliated with Hasbro, Mattel, the North American SCRABBLE® Players Association (NASPA),the Word Game Players Organization (WGPO), or the National SCRABBLE® Association (NSA).Our mission is to provide content of interest to all SCRABBLE® players, so please let us know ifthere are topics you would like us to add. We welcome contributions: stories, artwork, etc.For the time being, we are hoping to provide this Newsletter at no charge; however, since it is a100% volunteer effort, we would appreciate any donations. Advertisers are encouraged, too. Ifyou would like to have The Last Word emailed to you, please send a request with your emailaddress to CorneliaSGuest@gmail.com and we will add you to our mailing list.Editor in Chief: Cornelia GuestColumnists: Joe Bihlmeyer, Cheryl Cadieux, Jan Dixon, Diane Firstman, RyanFischer, Stu Goldman, Jeff Kastner, James Leong, Katya Lezin, Art Moore,Ember Nelson, Juraj Pivovarov, Larry Sherman, Chris Sinacola, SiriTillekeratne, Linda WancelEditors-at-large: Robin Pollock Daniel, Joe Edley, Stefan Fatsis, Ted GestContributors: Rich Baker, Sandee Bloom, Larry Caplan, Judy Cole, Ed DeGuzman, Peggy Grant, Nicole Kazarian, Susan Kirchhausen, Pete Manzolillo,Derek McKenzie, Allen Pengelly, Jason Randolph, Christoph Riddle, DavidRiddle, Allan Simon, Charles Smith, Flora Taylor, Noah Walton, JeffWidergren, Rick Wong, Judy ZuckerbergThe Last Word is a volunteereffort. We appreciate yourdonations.(PayPal or snail mail--contactCorneliaSGuest@gmail.com)For advertising rates,please emailCorneliaSGuest@gmail.comCopyright © 2010 GuessWhat! Some data copyright ©1999-2010 NSA; copyright © 2010 NASPA; and copyright © 2005-2010 Seth Lipkin and Keith Smith.SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark of Hasbro, Inc.in the USA and Canada. Elsewhere it is the trademark of J.W. Spear & Sons, Ltd.

T A B L E O F C O N T E N T STable of ContentsFrom the Editor 4Meet Our Columnists: Jeff Kastner 6Tournament News 7Tournaments Broken in Big Reno Weekend by Jeff Widergren 7Mistah Ed goes 771 rap by Noah Walton and Rafi Stern 9Albany 21010 in Pictures by Peggy Grant 10Concord, MA by Judy Cole 12Northern Spain Tour by Rich Baker 14Tournament Results 20New Faces 22Know the Rules by Jan Dixon 24Word Star by Jeff Kastner 25Derek McKenzie: Creator of Word-Buff® 28Diane’s Defalts by Diane Firstman 31Find the Best Play 32Book Review: Bingo! The Secret to Scrabble® Success reviewed by Allan Simon 34Do you know SQUINTIFEGO? The Legend of Bernie McMahon by Pete Manzolillo 35SCRABBLE® and Scrabblers in the News 38The Wordsmith by Chris Sinacola 40Searching for TISANE bingos by Judy Cole 42Linda’s Library by Linda Wancel 452

T A B L E O F C O N T E N T SClub News edited by Larry Sherman 47Video Joe by Joe Bihlmeyer 51Scrab-doku by Jeff Kastner 52Badqoph Blog Talk by Ryan Fischer 55Stell’s Racks of Mirth by Cheryl Cadieux (AKA Stella) 56Historic Moments: SCRABBLE® Throughout the Years by Stu Goldman 58Word Trivia Quiz by Siri Tillekeratne 59Passages 61Tournament Survey Results 63T-shirt Roundup 72SCRABBLE® Resources 74Tournament Calendar 77Archives 79 3

F R O M T H E E D I T O RFrom the EditorThis month the National SCRABBLE® Championship takes place in Dallas. Just over 400 playersare gathering at the Hotel InterContinental for 5 days of games and camaraderie. For the first time,the NSC will be followed by the second biennial World Players Championship (WPC), a 4-daySOWPODS event that is attracting about 50 players from 14 states and 10 countries. A dozenSCRABBLE® diehards will play in both events for a total of 63 games in 9 days.Interestingly, the player focus of late has been on local events. The bulk of cgp postings this pastmonth have been responses to the July 15th announcement from NASPA regarding a change insanctioning requirements for Local Club Tournaments. Much of the controversy erupted when twoplayers vying for the “Most Tournaments Played” yearly award began adding LCT games to theirtotal. Because these tournaments needed minimal notice for NASPA sanctioning, there werequestions as to whether they were being used to manipulate the system.While NASPA had been considering their LCT changes for many months, the rivalry brought thesituation to a head just as NASPA was announcing its rule change. Players and club directors alikeprotested loudly.While I believe I am in the minority, I think the NASPA change is fair and helped clarify the confusionsurrounding LCTs. But it also brings up larger questions: Is the LCT a dinosaur? Should LCTs bedropped from the ratings picture? Where does “local” end and “restricted” begin?I started playing tournament SCRABBLE® seven years ago at the Danbury NewcomersTournament. The tournament was part of the East Coast Championship, and even though mytournament was run separately, it was considered a division, restricted to new players and thosewith a rating below 1100, I believe.The next tournament I entered was in Manchester, CT. It wasn’t till I got my rating change that Ilearned the tournament had been a Local Club Tournament, awarding 1/3 the rating points of myprevious tournament. I wasn’t very clear what the difference was at the time. I was not a memberof a club, but I understood that many of the tournament players were club members or friends ofclub members. I was a friend of a friend of a club member.When I became an NSA director, I learned that there were other differences in LCT rules. While atthat time newcomers could play one tournament for free at a fully rated tournament, all players atLCTs were required to be NSA members. While I couldn’t run a fully rated youth tournament, I couldrun a 1/3-rated LCT youth tournament. I could also run a small tournament for my friends and haveit rated as an LCT. No notice was required.An LCT could be manipulated. While sanctioned tournaments could have size restrictions, an LCTcould be full before interested players even knew it existed. I have no problem with a group offriends or a club playing SCRABBLE® without me, but if there are rating points or year-end awardsinvolved, as a dues-paying member I feel it is unfair.NASPA is now requiring LCTs to be on its calendar, rather than secretive, and open to all members.The main difference now between an LCT and a regular sanctioned tournament is that the LCT hasless lead time for sanctioning--and 1/3 rating points are awarded. Also, there is no requirement foran LCT to be held a certain number of miles away from a sanctioned tournament.4

F R O M T H E E D I T O RMy question is why these non-restricted LCT games should get fewer rating points than regulargames. Why not just shorten the notice period for all one-day events? As a director, it worries methat I could make plans for a fully rated one-day tournament way in advance, only to find an LCT ata popular nearby site drawing away my potential players. The argument that adequate notice isneeded for making travel and hotel plans does not apply to most players in one-day tournaments.Perhaps the solution is to make all one-day tournaments 1/3-rated. However, my suggestion wouldbe to do away with the two-tier system and give full rating points to all sanctioned tournaments.Both NASPA and WGPO are trying to address what is fair--and what their memberships want.I think that many members of both organizations still like the idea of a Local Club Tournament. Butwhy not run them without ratings--or with separate club ratings? At the Lexington (MA)SCRABBLE® Club, for example, players have club ratings--based on their club performance andentirely separate from NASPA or WGPO ratings.What is now called a Local Club Tournament is no longer local nor a club tournament.*In this month’s issue of The Last Word you’ll find a number of stories that have little to do with“official” SCRABBLE®:• Longtime SCRABBLE® player Chris White had a spectacular 734 game at a non-sanctioned clubin Raleigh, NC; you can follow the game and see the final board on page 49.• Judy Zuckerberg discusses her successful Lower Westchester County SCRABBLE® MeetupGroup, a SCRABBLE® “club” that has over 100 members and meets weekly in New Rochelle, NY(page 47).• In “Do you know SQUINTIFEGO?: The Legend of Bernie McMahon” on page 35, Pete Manzolillointroduces readers to a Bayside NY player who loves SCRABBLE® and invites local players to hishouse (and 7’x7’ outdoor SCRABBLE® board) for competition and fun.• Judy Cole tells how 12 members of the Worcester (MA) SCRABBLE® Club gathered at Megan McMahon'shouse to surprise Andrew Malaby on his birthday with an unrated SCRABBLE® tournament (page 50).SCRABBLE® is alive and well!Cornelia Guest 5

M E E T O U R C O L U M N I S T SMeet Our ColumnistsThe Last Word would not be what it is without our terrific columnists. This month’s featured columnist is JeffKastner from Phoenix, AZ, the creator of the “Word Star” and “Scrab-doku” puzzles.______________________________________________________________________________________JEFF KASTNERI was born in the Bronx a couple of years after SCRABBLE®’s debut andgrew up in Manhattan. My parents, both German-Jewish immigrants whofled to America prior to WWII, taught me chess at age 6. But once Ilearned to spell, my grandmother, an avid word-game aficionado,introduced me to SCRABBLE®, and I was hooked for life.Jeff Kastner and Linda StephensIt definitely helped that I was a spelling bee champ at school and had anabove-average memory and a very competitive nature. I also was goodat crossword puzzles and anagramming. So it wasn’t long before I couldconsistently defeat Grandma, my friends, and even my schoolteachers atSCRABBLE®.During my teen years, however, my focus was exclusively on chess. I became a chess “master” by the timeI graduated from Bronx HS of Science, and I got progressively better and higher rated at City College of NY,eventually cracking the U.S. Chess Federation’s top-50 list.Around that time my interest in SCRABBLE® was rekindled. In 1969 I began to frequent the 42 nd St. Chessand Checker Club, a Times Square mecca known to regulars as “The Fleahouse.” When not hustlingpatzers at chess or backgammon, I would often kibitz the SCRABBLE® games of NYC’s two best players,Lester Schonbrun and Mike Senkiewicz. Mike, a fellow chess master and table tennis opponent, becamemy SCRABBLE® mentor, generously sharing his homegrown word lists and strategies. I steadily improved.My SCRABBLE® rating soon climbed to the 1900s and I was ranked in the top 50.In the ‘70s, also known as the “Bobby Fischer chess boom years,” I was manager of the famous ManhattanChess Club. After that, my career focused on sales and marketing, in areas as diverse as art galleries,computers, and the vocational school industry.In 1985 my future ex-wife and I moved to Phoenix, AZ, and family and work took precedence overSCRABBLE® and chess. Except for weekly club activity, I didn’t have the time to compete seriously ineither game. My abilities and rating gradually declined, while the rest of the country seemed to improve withthe advent of computerized lists and Internet play.Today my two daughters, Devorah and Carly, are in their 20s. Both are successful summa cum laudegraduates of Arizona State University. Devorah is a professional ballroom dancer and instructor, and Carly isan aspiring actress, singer, and improv comedian.I’m very active in the Phoenix-area SCRABBLE® clubs and play in an occasional local tournament. I alsoenjoy the SCRABBLE® cruises organized by Larry Rand and Barbara Van Alen. My significant other, LindaStephens, and I are registered for three of them over the next few months.In addition to my “Word Star” and “Scrab-doku” columns for The Last Word, since 1976 I have written aweekly games column for The Jewish Press, a Brooklyn-based newspaper and website. Aside from boardgames, I also enjoy traveling, racquetball, and ballroom dancing.6

R E N ORecords Broken in Big Reno Weekendby Jeff WidergrenReno was another gala event replete with a catered reception, 46 games of SCRABBLE® with topcompetition, commemorative tile racks from SamTimer, a North American tournament record-setting7-bingo game from Nigel Peltier, and a new all-time official North American tournament high-gamerecord by the affable and capable Edward De Guzman.The tournament started out with a 10-game open with 28 participants ranging in rating from a verydaring 822 to 1907 (Ian Weinstein). After 8 rounds, it was Nigel Peltier 8, Me 7, and Joe Dackman,Steve Polatnick, and Ian Weinstein at 6. I beat Nigel (to avenge a 6th-round loss to him) to put usinto a tie for first going into the ultimate round. Joe and Ian had won also to move them into 3rd and4th respectively for the KOTH round. I hung on for a 439-403 win for the win, while Nigel managedenough spread to hold onto second. Joe Dackman lost to Ian Weinstein, giving Ian 3rd.The next event was a one-day 8-game round robin with a perfectly fitted 32-player group. This isthe tournament in which Ed set the record in the 7th round against longtime Reno expert, CarlynnMayer. I think that I heard shrieks of joy coming from somewhere near Alan Stern's house! (SeeNoah Walton and Rafi Stern’s rap “Mistah Ed goes 771” on page 9.) With one round to go in the 4divisions, it was Polatnick (1) v. Widergren (2) in the top group, John Karris (1) v. Ed De Guzman ingroup 2, Cynthia Seales (1) v. Denver Steele (2) in the 3rd, and TC Houlgate-West v. MargieGordon in the 4th group. The prevailers and winners of their prospective divisions were: Widergren(yay!), Karris, Seales, and Houlgate-West.ED DE GUZMAN ON HIS RECORD-SETTING 771 GAME“I wrote up the game in the comments here:http://www.cross-tables.com/annotated.php?u=6702“After the game, Carlynn and I were talking about the gameand others wandered over to take a look. The crowd got largeras more people found out about the score. When Rick Wongfound out, he took a picture of the board as did some otherfolks, including myself. Knowing that people on CGP wouldprobably hear about this game, I wanted to do a recount tomake sure I got the score right. It turns out that I hadoverscored GOATEES by 2 points. By the time I realized it, wehad turned in the tally slip with both of our signatures. I askedRick to have it back so we could update the score, and heallowed us to do so.“About the FIXATES play: It was a lapse in board vision. When I opened with PRAYED I made amental note about the RES- front-hook extension to the TWS but I completely forgot about the S-hook. With FIXATES on my rack, I thought it didn't play on the board so I played FIX. When I hadanother bingo the following turn I looked a little harder at the board and that's when I saw that Icould hook an S to PRAYED. And then I was kicking myself for missing FIXATES the turn before :)“Thanks everyone for the kind words. It's a game I will surely never forget, and it was great toshare the moment with some good friends in the playing room.” 7

R E N OThe 28-round main event included theformidable likes of Dave Wiegand, CarlJohnson, Orry Swift, Ian Weinstein, RafiStern, Nigel Peltier, Nick Meyer, DominickMancine, Conrad-Bassett Bouchard, JoeDackman, Steve Polatnick, and Noah Walton,so the competition was fierce. There weremany incredible plays during the touranment,but the most incredible, I believe, was DaveWiegand's ULTRAWIDE to a DE with noblanks. In a subsequent game he madeLIFESAVER through disconnected tiles.Scary!!Nigel Peltier’s 7-bingo game (PINTOES, ACONITE,RAPIDLY, INFOLDED, EMIRATE, SHEARING, DAtABLE).He won 658-340. His opponent Jeff Martin also played an8th bingo (CORNIEsT).In the 3rd round of the main event, NigelPeltier played 7 bingos against Jeff Martin toset a new North American tournament recordfor most bingos played. Interestingly, theprevious record, 6 bingos, was also set inReno--in 2006 by Kevin Fraley.With two rounds to go, every division was up in the air. Division 1 was Rafi (18), Swift (17),Wiegand (17), and Weinstein (16.5). Division 2 was Bennett Jacobstein (17.5), Judy Romann (17),and Carole Miller (17). Divison 3 was Louella Wier (18), Julia Scruggs (17), Hans Farwig (17), andSonia Wilmot (17).In the end, top-division favorite Dave Wiegand won his last two, one against Rafi for thechampionship after Rafi lost his penultimate game. Orry split his last two to finish in 3rd only byspread behind Rafi. Conrad, who had led much of the tournament, won his last two to grab 4th.In Division 2, Stan Miranda made a come-from-behind win by winning his last two games, passingahead of the three leaders. Miller and Jacobstein tied their last game, so Bennett finished 2nd,Romann 3rd, and Miller 4th.In group 3, Louella Wier split her last two games, but hung on to beat the field by a game. RonSouthwick won his last two games to finish 2nd, and Hans Farwig split his last two to finish 3rd--only24 spread points behind Southwick.Seeing that things don't seem to be moving from oligarchy to democracy much in NASPAland/Texas, and bylaw and budget committees aren’t being given real authority to change the terrain ofNASPA, the organizers of Reno are strongly leaning towards moving Reno out of the NASPA foldand into WGPO, where the members are currently voting on/ratifying a democratic bylaws proposalin the next few weeks. Look forward to a definitive announcement regarding Reno in 2011 in thenext few weeks.8

R E N OCLICK PHOTO TO PLAY RAPXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXMistah Ed goes 771(whispered)Seven, seven, oneSeven, seven, oneSeven, seven, oneThere’s no high game prize for Mr. Ed,So we thought we’d serenade him with a rap instead,Listen up everybody, remember Ed’s name,As we tell the story of his crazy high game.In Round 7 Carlynn Mayer sat down,To play the classiest guy around town,Ed started out and PRAYED for a very good match,But little did he know how many points he would catch.Carlynn was making small plays here and there,While scores of seven-one and nine-four filled the air,Ed had a small mistake, he forgot to FIXATE on a spot,But no one really cares ‘cause this game was hot.Later on the triple-triple NEOLIT(H)S came,Ed was on pace for a very high game,He scored well above and beyond the norm,But the game was not over – Ed had more to perform.(L)OQUAT, RE(SPRAYED), C(A)RDAMON to go out771 was the final count,The record was beaten –it’s the best in the land,So everybody get up and give Ed a hand. 9

A L B A N Y 2 0 1 0 I N P I C T U R E SAlbany 2010 in Picturesby Peggy GrantTop left, clockwise: Betsey Wood and Steve Sikorski, winner of Div. 3;Kevin Colosa and Marci Mikesell; Denise Mahnken blowing a bubble;Scrabblers enjoying Annette Tedesco’s famous cookout; Peggy Grantwith Marlon Hill, winner of Div. 1 and EB2; John Robertson, directorextraordinaire; Denise Mahnken watches David Klionsky pitchinghorseshoes; Winter enjoying his corn. Center: Tournament organizerand barbecue host Annette Tedesco leads a rendition of “America theBeautiful.”10

A L B A N Y 2 0 1 0 I N P I C T U R E STop left, clockwise: Jeffrey Jacobson strategizing; Judy Cole with “newby” Richard Landau, who placed 7thout of 42 in his debut tournament to earn an initial rating of 1160; Peggy Grant and Tobey Roland; ColleenShea, Suzette Rodriguez, and Gerianne Abriano; Matthew O’Connor--“The Kid” as he was affectionatelyreferred to at the tournament--getting ice cream; Ohioans Heather Steffy, Michael Bassett, and Wilma Pitzerenjoying the BBQ with friends; Peggy Grant and Noah Lieberman. 11

Concord, MAby Judy ColeC O N C O R D , M A40 players from throughout New England (and New York) met in historic Concord, MA, on July 24to escape the heat and play 8 games of SCRABBLE®.Prizes were $125/$75/$50 for 1st/2nd/3rd ineach division. Prizes of $10 were awardedfor High Game, High Loss, High Bingo, andHigh Non-Bingo as well; players wereeligible to win only one of these prizes.Division A1st - Evans Clinchy - 6-2 +3662nd - John O'Laughlin - 6-2 +1003rd - Cecilia Le - 5-2 +159High Game - Seth Lipkin - 581High Loss - Jamie Ryan - 457High Bingo - Cecilia Le - SFERICS (98)High Non-Bingo - Rod MacNeil - AXITE (60)Division B1st - Ben Harrison - 6-2 +3632nd - Carl Durdan - 6-2 +2083rd - Steve Saul - 5-3 +288High Game - Joel Horn - 512High Loss - Thomas Stumpf - 413 - Thomas also had the highest game with a 535High Bingo - Steve Saul - DIESTRUS and Carl Durdan - REEDIEST - both for 122High Non-Bingo - Jake Bergmann - ZIBET (72) - Joel also had CHIEFLY for 72Division C1st - Tim Wilkinson - 5-3 +3742nd - John Cheras - 5-3 +2293rd - Chris Sinacola - 5-3 +60High Game - Tim Wilkinson - 480High Loss - Kevin Gauthier - 422High Bingo - Bob Becker - HEAVENS (109) - Bob also had the highest game with a 525High Non-Bingo - Judy Horn - ZINES (68)Division D1st - Leanne Gray - 7-1 +4132nd - Linda Giovinazzo - 5-3 +3453rd - Betsey Wood - 5-3 +100High Game - Linda Giovinazzo - 483High Loss - Morris Greenberg - 382High Bingo - Leanne Gray - JESTERS (98)High Non-Bingo - Elouise Pearl - QUOD (86)In Division A, Richard Buck contemplates his next move inhis game against Mike Wolfberg. John O'Laughlin, whoplaced 2nd in Div A, plays at the next board.12

C O N C O R D , M ADivision E1st - Suzette Rodriguez - 6-2 +882nd - Marla Choslovsky - 5-3 +1993rd - Nicole Kazarian - 5-3 +82High Game - Marvin Kraus - 477 - Marvin also hadthe highest loss of 391High Loss - Andrew Malaby - 371High Bingo - Suzette Rodriguez - VANISHED (101) -Suzette also had the highest game of 492High Non-Bingo - Megan McMahon - FROZE (87)Full results are available at cross-tables (http://www.cross-tables.com/tourney.php?tourneyid=6917)and NASPA (http://www.scrabbleplayers.org/tourneys/2010/xt/07/034.shtml).In Division E, Marla Choslovsky ponders the boardin her game against Nicole Kazarian. Marla placed2nd and Nicole placed 3rd. Meanwhile, BruceAdams, who dropped by to visit and play someClabbers, watches over Division A.Worcester players Paula Meszaro and Andrew Malaby boosttheir brain power during the lunch break. (Photo courtesy ofNicole Kazarian) 13

N O R T H E R N S P A I N T O U RNorthern Spain Tourby Rich BakerWhat would you do if a verylarge bull was racing towardyou with his horns ready topoke holes in you? SomeSpaniards seem to think itbest to wait and bend orjump out of the way at thelast instant, and my wife Lizwas there to take thepictures at a "bull leaping"competition during our recentSCRABBLE® tour to Spainand Morocco. We also hadplenty of art, wine, history,food, more wine, and justenough SCRABBLE® tokeep us busy.Liz and I have organized twelve international tournaments since our first trip to Italy in 2000, and Ihave great memories from every trip. Our planning begins with brainstorming about where in theworld we should go, and when. We are always looking for new ideas, so if you have anysuggestions, don't hesitate to email me (scrabbletours@yahoo.com). Next, we research possibledestinations, itineraries, tour operators, hotels, and transportation options, trying to maximize thequality while keeping the cost reasonable. We also need to make sure that we can fit ourtournament into the tour schedule and try to line up appropriate space to play.Once we settle the itinerary, we need to get the tournament on the official calendar and startadvertising. Every year, I send and receive well over 1,000 email messages to coordinate the tripand answer everyone's questions. Things usually calm down a little about four or five months beforedeparture, but the last two months before the trip are always extra busy settling all the last-minutedetails. We have done most of our trips in June, just after I finish teaching, so the weeks right beforewe leave are particularly hectic. The night before our tournament in Croatia in 2009, I stayed up allnight grading a final exam while my family slept at an airport hotel before our 8 AM fight. I finishedwith less than 10 minutes to spare!The best part of each trip is spending time renewing old friendships and making new ones. I try tospend time getting to know every single person in the group. Gradually, over the course of the firstfew days, each group takes on a cohesiveness and everyone contributes to the "personality" of thegroup in some way. There are the photographers, the bridge players, the art lovers, the history buffs,people from many different lines of work, young and old. Even though nearly half the group are nonplayers,we all refer to ourselves as the "SCRABBLE® Group". This time, 33 of the 44 participantshad traveled with us before, and the group really felt like my extended family.14

N O R T H E R N S P A I N T O U ROur group touring the well-preserved medievaltown of Girona.Arranging tournaments in exotic locations is always anadventure, and it isn't easy for Europeans to understandwhat we need. I always expect a few surprises, and so itcame to pass.... We played our first 8 games in thecloisters of Hotel Augustinos, a former monastery thatdates from the 14th century. The setting was absolutelycharming, and I had been assured by the hotel that itwas a “separate space,” somewhat removed from thecommon areas of the hotel. In fact, the separation waslarge open stone arches that "separated" us from thehotel courtyard. We didn't have any significant problemson the first day, but during round 6, one of the otherhotel guests (not with our group) sat down and startedplaying the grand piano in the courtyard. The manobviously had some skill with the keyboard, but he wasNOT playing quietly. I made a few attempts to convincethe man to play more quietly without much success.Everyone was just finishing up round 6, so I told themnot to start round 7 unless both players werecomfortable doing so, and that I would adjust thetournament schedule accordingly. A few players decidedto postpone their games a bit, but the piano dideventually fall silent as it seemed the man ran out ofthings to play. In the end, all of the scheduled gameswere completed except for one, and we were able tocomplete the tournament the next day on schedule.Advice: If a significant and prolonged disruption occurs during your game, pause your clock and callthe director. I would not hesitate to suspend a game for a few minutes while getting the situationmore under control.My most memorable moment on any of our trips was on our trip to in 2005. We had a long bus ridefrom Prague to Budapest, and about half way we had to pass through Bratislava, the capital ofSlovakia. I made a fateful decision to stop there for lunch. I figured it wasn't very likely any of uswould ever make a special trip to visit Slovakia, so this was probably our only chance to dosomething there. I told everyone to be back at the bus in two hours, and we made our way into thecity. I remember that they had a large number of statues of bulls decorated in many different ways,and I had a great time wandering around. When it was time to get back on the bus, one man wasmissing. We waited a while, and he still didn't show up. We called the US embassy, but they had notheard anything. Someone found his passport with his bag in the bus, so he was lost in a strangecountry without his passport! I couldn't just leave someone, but we had already waited over an hourpast the scheduled time, and I started to work on alternate plans. A couple of women volunteered tostay behind and wait until he was found and then take a bus or a boat down the Danube River toBudapest. Just as we were getting ready to settle on this plan, we made one last call to theembassy, and they had just gotten a call from the local police. It seems our missing gentleman hadgone for a stroll, gotten disoriented, and then had gotten incorrect directions several times as he 15

N O R T H E R N S P A I N T O U Rtried to get back to the bus. I ran back to the embassy and got there just after he did. He wassomewhat embarrassed to have caused so much trouble, but the rest of the group was veryunderstanding.After that incident, I usually mention to every new group that I haven't lost anyone “yet.” This trip, weput that record to the test again when a woman got separated from our group as we were walkingthrough the town of La Guardia. I retraced our steps a few times, but I couldn't find her. We had alunch scheduled nearby, so we couldn't wait very long. I was starting to think about staying behindwith her husband when someone remembered that she was probably carrying her cell phone, andhe called her. She was close by at a tourist information office, and she had been trying to callsomeone for a while, but he had switched off his phone to save the battery. After that, everyone whowas carrying an international cell phone swapped numbers.Every trip is an adventure... We are currently researching a few different itineraries in South Americafor June 2011, and we'll let you know as soon as we figure out where we are going next. I hope youcan join us!Group photo in front of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao just before our farewell dinner16

N O R T H E R N S P A I N T O U RScrabble in the courtyard of our Parador in HondarribiaBarcelona: Gaudi's Sagreda Familia, Gaudi apartment, Gaudi Park (two photos on right courtesy of Peggy Grant)We got to walk the walls and climb the turrets ofthis picturesque castle in Olite. (Photo on rightcourtesy of Peggy Grant) 17

N O R T H E R N S P A I N T O U RGroup photo at the Monastery of MontserratSequoia Ashby, Judy Romanenkov and RichBaker on the beach in PalafrugellWe saw quite a few churches and monasteriestoo! This is the monastery of Juso where theoldest books written in the Spanish languageare found. Our very knowledgeable guideAlberto is in the center.Winery tour in La Rioja, just before a GREAT lunch!Courtyard of Hotel Augustinos in HaroView from Saint Lucia (Photo courtesy of Peggy Grant)18

N O R T H E R N S P A I N T O U RWe even had a cooking demonstration.Our chef is preparing a cheek of veal.Sequoia Ashby, Jacquie Tennant, Gail Linn, Ruth Linnand Anne Ramachandran relaxing on the hotel terracein Hondarribia. France is across the water in thebackground.Cathedral at San Sebastian (Photo courtesy of PeggyGrant)Sequoia at the beach with Judy RomanenkovPeggy Grant and Colleen Shea at San Sebastian 19

TournamentResults 7/1-31NORTHERN SPAINTOUR 6/24-7/11. Daniel Goodwin2. Alice Goodwin3. Colleen SheaALBANY NY EARLYBIRD 7/11. Seth Lipkin2. Liz Gottlin3. Roberta Borenstein4. Marla RiffRENO NV EARLY BIRD2 (WGPO & NASPA) 7/11. Jeff Widergren2. John Karris3. Cynthia Seales4. T. C. Houlgate-WestALBANY NY EARLYBIRD 2 7/21. Marlon Hill2. Brian Galebach3. Sue Gable4. Lydia Keras5. Mad Palazzo6. Sam Heinrich7. David Klionsky8. Glenn AeryALBANY NY 7/2-51. Marlon Hill2. Steve Tier3. Steve Sikorski20J U L Y T O U R N A M E N T R E S U L T SRENO NV (WGPO &NASPA) 7/2-51. Dave Wiegand2. Stan Miranda3. Louella WierTHUNDER BAY ON CAN(WGPO) 7/31. David WoodLAGUNA WOODS CA7/41. Kevin RickhoffALBANY NY LATE BIRD7/51. Karl HigbyWASHINGTON DC (LCT)7/9-101. Robert LinnBAYSIDE NY 7/101. David Lewis2. Dolly Silverstein3. Sheldon GartnerDENVER CO (LCT) 7/101. Laura Scheimberg2. Rob SiegelFORT LAUDERDALEFL 7/101. Judith Ford2. Polly LenzenOMAHA NE 7/10-111. Lisa Odom2. John Dearchs3. 3. Kimberly TaylorTAMPA FL 7/101. Stefan Huber2. Chad FinleyAKRON OH (COLLINS)7/111. Brian BowmanBERKELEY CA 7/111. Noah Walton2. Stuart Goldman3. Paula Catanese4. Lynn JosephGUELPH ON CAN 7/111. Jim NanavatiLEBANON NJ (LCT)7/111. Sarah Rosenblum2. Emily LichtmanROME NY (LCT) 7/11-121. Chris LipeINDEPENDENCE OH(LCT) 7/131. Pete ZeiglerTORONTO ON CANEARLY BIRD (COLLINS)7/161. Tony LeahARCATA CA 7/171. Michael MachiAUSTIN TX 7/171. Kevin Leeds2. Tony Cook3. Oliver Roeder4. Jason RandolphTORONTO ON CAN7/17-181. Geoffrey Newman2. Clarissa Lewis3. Emilie Henkelman

LEXINGTON KY (LCT)7/181. Eric Yoder2. Janice HattonPHILADELPHIA PA 7/181. Jason Keller2. Stan Williams3. Margo Kuno4. Neal BeatonMOUNTAIN VIEW CA 7/181. Bruce Ward2. Reena Singhal3. Billy NakamuraCONCORD MA 7/241. Evans Clinchy2. Ben Harrison3. Tim Wilkinson4. Leanne Gray5. Suzette RodriguezDALLAS TX 7/241. Chris Cree2. Paul Hagelstein3. Nancy BratcherFINDLAY OH(RESTRICTED: MI VS.OH) 7/24-251. Chuck ArmstrongFINDLAY OH(UNDERCARD) 7/24-251. WinterFORT LAUDERDALE FL7/241. Ron Tiekert2. Dawn Doyle3. Mary FontiJ U L Y T O U R N A M E N T R E S U L T SHUNTERSVILLE NC (LCT)7/241. Ryan FischerROCKVILLE MD 7/241. David Koenig2. Elston Wisseh3. John WrightW. VA VS. WESTERN PA(RESTRICTED) 7/241. M. W. SchroederPORTLAND OR (WGPO)7/251. Carl Johnson2. Kathy Sutrov3. Leesa BergeronAKRON OH (AKRONCLUB NATIONALS TUNE-UP LCT) 7/291. Josh KopczakAKRON OH (ROCKYRIVER CLUB NATIONALSTUNE-UP LCT) 7/291. WinterLA GRANGE PARK IL7/311. Winter2. Worapol Ratanapitasuk3. Roberta Krenek4. Jeff Pignone 21

N E W F A C E SNew FacesSince our last issue, 22 new faces have competed at NASPA tournaments. There have beenseveral impressive debuts, including Richard Landau, who was 7th out of 42 players at the AlbanyMain Event; Maureen Bigane, who was 2nd out of 12 players at the La Grange Park IL tournament;and our featured “new face,” Jason Randolph, who won Division 4 at the Austin TX Tournament onJuly 17. His 5-1 +421 finish earned him an initial rating of 1268.______________________________________________________________________________Jason RandolphAustin TX Division 4 winner Jason Randolph may have beenplaying in his first sanctioned tournament, but the 22-year-oldhouse painter from San Antonio has been a serious SCRABBLE®player for the past five years, which is when he discovered theInternet SCRABBLE® Club (ISC). Under the handles jasonrocksand doublemule he has won most of his games, with ISC ratingsin the 1200-1300 range.Jason started playing SCRABBLE® when he was about 8, butreally became “addicted” when he started playing on ISC. He’seven hooked his father--scrabldoc--on the site!For the past few months Jason has played at the Schertz, San Antonio, and Austin clubs. Toprepare for the tournament he “just tried to keep sharp by playing a lot.” He also thanks Matt DeWaelsche and Greg Stone at the San Antonio club for helping him get better.Jason enjoyed his first tournament, which he found “a little bit on the stressful side, but not too muchdifferent from club play.” He advises other new players to practice their 3s and 4s before entering atournament. “I still didn’t have those nailed down and lost two challenges in the tournament just on4-letter words.” But Jason, who also enjoys listening to music and watching movies, keeps thegame in perspective: “Just have fun. It is still a game, after all.”“I’d have to say the best moment [at the tournament] was the awards ceremony. I won the drawingfor the Frankin electronic dictionary, and another player gave me a set of Protiles.”Jason will be playing next in Division 4 at Nationals. “I was hoping to enter Division 5 for my first bigtournament so I could ease my way in, but my rating after my win [1268] put me in Division 4. Ahwell....”22

N E W F A C E SWelcome to Jason Randolph, Maureen Bigane, Richard Landau, andthe following other new faces:RENO NV EARLY BIRD 2 7/1: Suzy GarfieldALBANY NY EARLY BIRD 2 7/2: Selena JohnsonALBANY NY MAIN EVENT 7/2-5: Richard LandauRENO NV MAIN EVENT 7/2-5: Allison DeanTHUNDER BAY ON CAN 7/3: Esko Kasma, Linda Ruston, Helena DebritBAYSIDE NY 7/10: Shaunette AbramsDENVER CO (LCT) 7/10: Tamara Pester, Julia Swaney, Mimi ThompsonOMAHA NE 7/10: Leta Drake, Cindy ZimmermanBERKELEY CA 7/11: Phil SeitzerMOUNTAIN VIEW CA 7/18: Stacy SempsonPHILADELPHIA PA 7/18: Marichelle Roque-Lutz, Gena SeroogyFORT LAUDERDALE FL 7/24: Beatriz Gavilan, Rex OsbourneHUNTERSVILLE NC (LCT) 7/24: Detra Turpin 23

K N O W T H E R U L E SKnow the Rulesby Jan Dixon, NASPA Rules Committee ChairJan Dixon, a longtime expert player and chair of the NASPA Rules Committee,writes this monthly column on rules for The Last Word. We are thrilled to haveJan sharing her rules expertise with our readers, and we encourage you toemail any questions you may have about tournament and club rules toCorneliaSGuest@gmail.com. (Photo credit: Jill Jarrell)________________________________________________________________________What is my opponent permitted to do before his clock can be activated after achallenge?Your opponent is permitted to record the play. This includes writing down theword played, the score for the turn and the cumulative score. Only thecumulative score is mandated.Your opponent is permitted to recount the play for confirmation of the score.Your opponent may draw the requisite number of replacement tiles, face-down.Once a tile is exposed, his clock may be started.Anything else would be considered a delay in the process, and the opponent'sclock may be started.Jan Dixon has been playing competitive SCRABBLE® for 32 years and in tournaments for 29 years.She has been a member of the Rules Committee since its inception. She divides her time betweenNew York City with her fiancé, Aldo Cardia, and Delaware, where her children and grandchildren allreside.24

Word Starby Jeff KastnerW O R D S T A RPlay Word Star, a word game with similarities to Boggle, created and presented each month by Phoenix, AZexpert Jeff Kastner.Your object is to find and list as many words as possible, using only the 6 letters contained in the Word Starpuzzle. All words must be OWL2 or Long List acceptable.There are 3 basic rules to finding words within a Word Star puzzle:1. Words must be at least 3 or more letters long (with no limit on how long the word can be).2. Words are formed by using letters that adjoin each other. For example, the words SEN andSEC are acceptable, but not CUE, because the “C” and the “U” are not neighboring letters.3. Letters within a word may repeat as many times as possible, as long as such letters arerepeated twice (or thrice) in a row, or as long as Rule 2 is followed. So, for example, QUEEN andSCENE are acceptable. But, SENSE would not be acceptable because the “N” and the “S” are notadjoining.• Note that the Center Star, located in the white middle portion of the puzzle, is the most importantletter. It is the only letter that adjoins each of the 5 others in the puzzle. In addition, there are bonuspoints awarded for using the Center Star as often as possible. The Center Star in this month’s puzzleis the letter “E.” 25

W O R D S T A RMultiple forms of the same word are acceptable (for example, RATE, RATED, RATER, RATERS, andRATES would all be fine, if they were in the puzzle). No points are awarded (and no penalty points areassessed) for any entries on your word list that are not in OWL2 or the Long List, or that do not adhere tothe above rules.Points are scored as follows:• 2 Points for each WORD found.• 5 Bonus Points for each BINGO (7 or more letters) found.• 1 Point for each LETTER of every word found.• 1 Bonus Point for each CENTER STAR of every word found.Example of Points Scored:Let’s say a Word Star puzzle has an “S” as the Center Star letter, and your list consists of the followingwords:ATTIREATTIRESSATSATESATIRESATIRESTIRETIRESYour score would be:• 16 Points for the 8 WORDS found.• 10 Bonus Points for the 2 BINGOS (ATTIRES and SATIRES) found.• 42 Points for each of the 42 LETTERS used in the 8 words.• 7 Bonus Points for each CENTER STAR used (the letter “S” is used 7 times).TOTAL SCORE in this imaginary example = 75 Points.Par Scores for this month’s Word Star:125 points (Novice); 185 points (Intermediate); 235 points (Advanced)Once you’ve compiled your list, check out my SOLUTION on page 27.See you next month with another Word Star puzzle! …Jeff Kastner26

W O R D S T A RWord Star Solution for: The Last Word August 2010CEECEESCESSCESSESESESESSESSENCEESSENCESESSESNEENENENENESNESSNESSESNUNQUEENQUEUEQUEUESSCENESCENESSECSECSSEESEENSEESSENSENESENESCENCESENESCENCESSEQUENCESEQUENCESPAR SCORES:125 points (Novice)185 points (Intermediate)235 points (Advanced)BEST SCORE:2 Points for each WORD found:31 Words = 62 points.5 Bonus Points for each BINGO found:6 Bingos = 30 points.1 Point for each LETTER of every word found:159 Letters = 159 points.1 Bonus Point for each CENTER STAR of every word found:62 E’s = 62 points.TOTAL = 313 PointsJeff Kastner, originally from New York City, has been living in Phoenix, AZ since 1985. Jeff is one of ahandful of players who has ever been ranked in the USA-top-50 in both SCRABBLE® and chess. He is the2007-2008 Phoenix SCRABBLE® Club champion as well as the 2008-2009 Scottsdale SCRABBLE® Clubchamp. His chess, Sudoku, and word puzzles appear weekly in The Jewish Press newspaper and website.He hosts the Internet program Who’s on the Show?, where one of his first interviews was with directorsLarry Rand and Barbara Van Alen: http://whosontheshow.com/shows.html. Read more about Jeff in “MeetOur Columnists” on page 6. 27

D E R E K M C K E N Z I EDerek McKenzie: Creator of Word-Buff®One of the most interesting websites for lovers of words is Word-Buff.com, which has excellent linksto information about SCRABBLE®, spelling bees, crossword puzzles, and other word games andpuzzles. A highlight of the site is its superb interviews with word experts such as five-time AmericanCrossword Puzzle Tournament champion Tyler Hinman, Zyzzyva creator Michael Thelan, andmultiple adult spelling-bee champion David Riddle. Here we meet Word-Buff’s creator, DerekMcKenzie, an Australian Scrabbler who has a way with words on and off the board.I'm an extremely fortunate 44-year-old Australian guyliving in the lovely city of Brisbane, Queensland, with myvery funky partner of seven years, Stephanie, and ourabsurdly adorable three-year-old daughter, Leila.By trade, I've been a technical writer for about tenyears, specializing in writing software training manuals,but I can't say I have much passion for it. My academicbackground is in pure mathematics and physics, whichis where my mind chooses to spend most of its time,and also what I'd prefer to be doing for a living.At the end of 2009 I quit my IT job to become a full-timehouse-dad, while Stephanie keeps the debt-collectors atDerek McKenzie and his daughter, Leilabay pursuing her medical career. I've started work on aweb-based physics education site, which I hope to be earning a living from by the time Leila startsschool – because when that happens, I won't have an excuse to stay at home any more!I created Word-Buff late in 2008; however my day job got extremely hectic over the subsequentmonths, and it wasn't until around Easter 2009 that I really started to develop it into a seriouswebsite. Since we also moved into a charming little “author's” cottage around that time, I like to thinkof Easter 2009 as Word-Buff's true birthday.I suppose there were two forces behind the creation of Word-Buff. For one thing, I've done a lot ofthinking and writing about words and word games over the years, and it seemed like such a wastefor it all to live in dusty filing cabinets, or in email archives that nobody looks at any more. By turningthat material into a coherent set of public web pages, I figured that SOMEBODY, SOMEWHEREwould occasionally get SOMETHING out of my odd obsession. After all, the popularity of stories likeWord Freak, Spellbound, and Wordplay made it clear that I wasn't the only one on the planet whodevotes hours of mental effort to a pursuit I often think of as the ‘Geometry of Words.’The second motivation for the site was my growing displeasure with my office job – indeed, the veryconcept of an office job. After a great deal of research, not to mention soul-searching, I decided thatI would create a Physics Education website where I could make a living out of my genuine skills andinterests. From that point of view, Word-Buff can be viewed as a kind of apprenticeship – a ‘sandbox’if you will, in which I could learn the art of website-building around a fun and harmless theme.28

D E R E K M C K E N Z I EOf course, as things have turned out, my site has become a bit more than a sandbox. Word-Buffnow takes up most of my free time and attracts an audience of one to two thousand daily visitors(which is growing every time I look!), and my (embarrassingly irregular) Word-Buff Stuff! eZine hashundreds of subscribers.My interviews with experts are probably the most appreciated pages for people already in the wordgamecommunity, including myself. I guess that's because serious gamers always learn a great dealfrom listening to experts, whether or not it's about their own particular passion. My recent interviewwith spelling bee champion David Riddle (http://www.word-buff.com/spelling-bee-champion.html) isprobably my favorite so far. Partly because he was so thorough and generous with his help andadvice, but also because I feel like that interview uncovered a fascinating subculture I didn't knowabout – the highly competitive world of adult spelling bees. Having singled out David's interview,though, I have to say that all the people I've interviewed have been very giving of their time andadvice, and I receive lots of feedback from readers telling me how much they appreciate expertstaking the time to explain their stuff to the uninitiated.In the world of lounge-room play, though, Scrabble Help Line (http://www.word-buff.com/scrabblehelp.html)has been a big hit, and something I find a lot of fun. Virtually every day I get questionsfrom people trying to resolve domestic SCRABBLE® disputes, or find out some 'secret tips' to helpthem beat their regular playing partner more often. “He called me a cheat – do you think I cheated?”“She took her tiles before I had a chance to take mine – can she do that?” “She played WISED, butthe dictionary only has WISE as a noun. What do you think?” That sort of thing. It's become a reallyinteresting page to browse because the topics are all a bit random as they are determined solely bymy readers, and escape the clutches of my obsessively organized brain cells.I've been attracted to math puzzles and word games for as long as I can remember. I've also beenan obsessive compiler of lists and a compulsive organizer of information since I was a kid – fromthat point of view, my career in education was no real surprise. I guess my mind is just really suitedto systems of rules and structures.As cliched as it sounds, my grandmother really did play a huge part in my early interest inSCRABBLE®, crosswords, and spelling. Her vocabulary and wordplay skills were (and at 97, stillare!) extremely impressive. While my school spelling bees were trying to catch us out with humdrumwords like KITCHEN and CAMERA, I was being beaten at home with obscurities like XI, ADZ, andETUI.You learn them or you die.I'm not sure why SCRABBLE® ultimately won my devotion the most. Probably in part due to thesocial element – it's only very recently I've discovered the world of competitive crossword solving.But also, although I'm fascinated with words, I'm not at all interested in trivia, so my generalknowledge is correspondingly poor. Crosswords nowadays are more oriented towards facts andphrases than words, and so I struggle with them. Not that it should be any different, if that's whatpeople enjoy – it just doesn't suit my very limited knowledge about sports and television programs,coupled with my spectacular lack of interest in doing anything to improve it. 29

D E R E K M C K E N Z I EI've been playing tournament SCRABBLE® since the 1990s, and was Queensland State Championin 1998 and 1999. Then I moved to New South Wales, where the competition was much tougher,but managed to claw my way into Australia's top ten before leaving the tournament scene for abunch of reasons (work, relationships, and so on). In 2008 I made a comeback, finishing 7th in theAustralian National Championships.I haven't been playing at all in the intervening two years – my family and my website keep me fartoo busy - but I will be entering the Queensland Championships in a few weeks time. I haven'tstudied though, so I'm going to need some luck on my side.While I enjoy playing competitve SCRABBLE®, I feel there are two areas where the SCRABBLE®scene could be improved:1. I really wish the world of (English) SCRABBLE® played to a single dictionary. The more globalthe SCRABBLE® community becomes (through online SCRABBLE®, especially), the morefrustrating and problematic the use of two 'official' SCRABBLE® dictionaries becomes (well,more than two, actually!) I do understand the challenges, and I don't take sides with anydictionary in particular. I mean, I play to Collins and absolutely love being allowed to use so manycrazy words (except the ones that appear to be lexicographical errors!), but when it comes toproducing a high-quality dictionary, I'd be the first to concede that the North American scene winshands down. It's just that so much time and energy is wasted in silly 'crossover' lists, and somany games simply don't get played, because of a fairly arbitrary, and increasingly artificial,'language' barrier.2. I wish more lounge-room players knew about the club and tournament SCRABBLE® scene (and,for that matter, the competitive worlds of Crosswords and Spelling Bees I talk about at Word-Buffall the time!) I think tens of thousands of people are missing out on something they wouldthoroughly enjoy, if only they were told about it. I discovered the competitive SCRABBLE® scenethrough sheer luck – I happened upon an old edition of the OSPD in a secondhand bookshop –and I suspect many club and tournament players have similarly serendipitous beginnings. Itwould be nice if people knew about the scene, rather than stumble upon it accidentally.Actually, now that I think about it, it's kind of nice to know that Word-Buff is probably doing a little bitto help with that one. As, of course, you are with this excellent newsletter.30

D I A N E ’ S D E F A L T SDiane’s DEFALTSby Diane FirstmanDiane Firstman published her first book of DEFALTS, Generous to aDEFALT: Vol. 1-3, in 2006. Since then, she has published a secondvolume of her humorous alternative definitions to common (and notso-common)words--DEFALTS Vol. 4--and selected DEFALTS haveappeared in SCRABBLE® News and on the online SCRABBLE®discussion groups crossword-games-pro (cgp) and OSPD. TheLast Word is pleased to offer the following selection of DEFALTS.NONMAN: 1) a woman; 2) relative of ANTIMANNONMANUAL: stubborn disdain for reading any instructions in how to assemble an itemNONMENTAL: perfectly saneNONNOVEL: a fictional work with no redeeming qualitiesNONPARENT: an "absentee" father or motherNONPOINT: a military academy famed for turning out officers with excellent "No sir!" responsesNONSHRINK: a doctor seen by a nonmental personNONVIRGIN: 1) not quite "like a virgin"; 2) someone who "ain't done nothing" (which means theyHAVE done SOMETHING)NUNNATION: (literally) under G-d, indivisible, with liberty and habits for allONIONSKIN: a person whose sweat brings tears to your eyesDiane Firstman is a lifelong New Yorker and has been playing SCRABBLE® competitively since1994. When not thinking up DEFALTS, she attends crossword puzzle tourneys and writes on theNew York Yankees for www.bronxbanterblog.com. She is adept at math, can reach items on topshelves in supermarkets, and does a dead-on impression of a sea lion. The collected “DEFALTS”are available at http://stores.lulu.com/dianagram. 31

Find the Best PlayF I N D T H E B E S T P L A YRyan Fischer sent in an interesting play this month. If you have a play you’d like to share with ourreaders, please send it to CorneliaSGuest@gmail.com._______________________________________________________________________________From Ryan Fischer:This is a position from a 3-minute ISC game between Conrad Bassett-Bouchard and me. While therack that holds the play is move 19, the play starts to get set up in move 15, for reasons thatbecome obvious once the play is made.15:19:ANSWER ON NEXT PAGE32

F I N D T H E B E S T P L A YANSWER(Play the full game at http://www.cross-tables.com/annotated.php?u=6690#0.) 33

B O O K R E V I E WBook Review: Bingo! The Secret to Scrabble® Success byMichael Betzoldby Allan SimonIn the preface to this book, author Michael Betzoldcandidly describes himself as "not a regular tournamentplayer - just a good competitive player who plays for funonce a week at a local club in Ann Arbor, Michigan."In fact, the book is not intended for tournament players. Itis unlikely that anyone rated higher than, oh, 1000, wouldlearn anything from reading it. Rather, it is intended for thekitchen player who wants to improve. They will learn not toburn an S or a blank without adequate recompense. Theywill learn that it is a good idea to play off your worst tiles,always trying to build towards a bingo. So with an openingrack of IORSTVW, the author explains why it is better toplay VOW for 18 points than WRIST for 24. But Betzolddoes not consider the plays VROW and VROWS, whichsurely merit consideration as well. Again, this is done inorder to keep the explanations brief and simple.This is, by the way, a very slim book -- it looks more like athick pamphlet; there is not even a spine. In all, there are53 pages, and on some of these pages there is quite a bitof blank space.On the plus side, I found the advice sound -- at least for the target audience. For example he asks,"Late in the game, your opponent plays GOOGLED which pulls her within 40 points of you. Bothblanks have been played. Should you challenge?" He suggest not challenging, since you should beable to keep your lead.I like the author's style. I am convinced the typical kitchen table player would improve his or hergame by reading this booklet. It would make a good gift for a person who is not ready to tackle amore ambitious project like Joe Edley's Everything SCRABBLE®.Bingo! The Secret to Scrabble® Success is published by Universe Inc. and is available atAmazon.com.Allan Simon has been playing tournament SCRABBLE® and “stagnating” since 1997. He is a retiredsystems analyst and lives in Calgary, Alberta.34

B E R N I E M C M A H O NDo you know SQUINTIFEGO?The Legend of Bernie McMahonby Pete ManzolilloIn a SCRABBLE® community full of interesting eccentrics, BernieMcMahon stands out.The 57-year-old resident of Bay Shore, NY became well-known tothe SCRABBLE® world when he built an amazing 7' x 7' stoneSCRABBLE® board in his backyard in 2006, and the project wasfeatured in a cover story in SCRABBLE® News. But hisparticipation in all things SCRABBLE® dates back to the 1970s.Bernie in front of sign made for himby the author.Bernie is an infrequent tournament participant and recentlyreached a personal high rating of 1346, yet his word knowledge islegendary, rivaling that of any expert player. He’s feted at his localFarmingdale, NY club for his "Bernie words,” as his study regimenis the exact OPPOSITE of the accepted norm. Words such asCOTURNIX, MAHONIA, JACKDAW, GUANAYS, ETHOXYL andGOMBEEN find their way to the board, yet many's the time he'sshuffled a SATINE rack with no bingo forthcoming, to theamusement of onlookers. His knowledge of obscure low-probabilitywords is equally as astounding as his ignorance of the highprobabilitywords that everyone else is studying.Bernie's study habits defy all convention.His preferred method is to write a handfulof words on a slip of paper, which isfolded and tucked into a pocket or underthe sun visor in his car for future review.He writes each word four times, saying ithelps him to remember them that way.There is no rhyme or reason to the wordschosen, other than they appear to haveall come from the same page in thedictionary. One slip of paper will havefours, fives, sixes, sevens, eights, nines,and even tens. Once he was browsingthrough the OWL while waiting for agame and I saw him jot downKRUMMHOLZ on one of his studysheets. Years ago, he printed out reamsof paper containing 10- to 15-letterwords, which he produces from a closet ina cardboard box when prompted.Bernie poses on his giant stone board after a game. 35

B E R N I E M C M A H O NThe same person who cannot rattle off the SATIRE bingos has played sixes that don't take an S,such as SENRYU and HALERU. The same guy who will occasionally misspell a common wordknows uncommon nines. Bernie once spotted PHI on a board, prompting him to ask, "Do you knowPEMPHIGUS?" Seeing AMA on a board spurred him to inquire, "Do you know TACAMAHAC?" Iwas once seated beside him at club when he nudged me, pointed to his rack, and scribbledRAUWOLFIA on his scoresheet. He had no chance to play it, but saw he had seven of the nineletters needed for it. He even knows words with four C's; we play a lot of Super Scrabble (200 tiles),and he once played COCCI and back-hooked it with another C!To further the Bernie enigma, he doesn't track and doesn't seem to employ conventional strategy.I've never seen him do a post-game analysis of an endgame nor have I seen him get upset over ablown game. He's usually oblivious to his club and tournament ratings. He simply plays the gameand studies the words for the sheer joy of it, and more often than not, he knows the definitions of his"Bernie words" too.Other great Bernie moments come to mind... he recently played FENTOIN* and later realized hewas thinking of PHENYTOIN -- yup, a nine. Another classic: He made a play and saw the remainingletters on his rack, FEGO... which prompted him to inquire, "Do you know SQUINTIFEGO?" Don'tcheck the Long List because you won't find it there. It can be found in online word sources -- anobsolete adverb meaning squinting, last featured in a 1693 English translation of the writings of 2ndcenturyRoman satirist Juvenale!Pete and Bernie square off at one of Bernie's frequent backyard parties.At the other end of the spectrum is the time he played DORTIES* with the common 5-bingoDEIORST rack...the time he played GROINES* with the common 4-bingo EGINORS rack andfollowed it with SEIGNOR* after the first challenge...and the ultimate moment at a party when heannounced to the entire room, "Who says I don't know SATINE bingos?!" and proceeded to putdown SATINES*! It brought the house down.36

B E R N I E M C M A H O NHis love affair with SCRABBLE® dates back to playing family games in the 1970s, and long beforehe knew of clubs or tournaments he was combing the dictionary and making word lists to improvehis game. He shows an old family photo of himself at the kitchen table mid-game, and you canmake out the word GLIM on the board. He goes back to the closet and pulls out a worn notebookcontaining the word lists he was compiling back then. There's a section for coin words, and amongPYA, YUAN, and KRONA, I also see PENNY... and the penultimate Bernie moment is on the secondpage of coins, where among ZLOTY and KOPIYKA, there is "DIME (U.S.)"! This has been aconstant source of teasing from club friends -- "Bernie, why did you need to put DIME on a list ofstudy words, and why did you have to remind yourself it was a United States coin?!"Bernie's good-naturedness extendsto all in his SCRABBLE® sphere.He generously opens his home forfrequent parties with club members.Over Memorial Day weekend 2009,he hosted a massive "Weekend atBernie's" at which 29 Scrabblerscompeted over 2 days for a total of133 games, not including late-nightgames of Super SCRABBLE®. Tohandle the event, he built a largewooden gazebo/deck with roofsupports for a tarp overhang, atypical Bernie project that seeminglymaterialized overnight like a cropcircle in England. And his clubmembers return the good will -- lastyear all chipped in to buy him a newtimer clock to replace the batteredchess clock he had for years.Bernie makes the opening play on his big board while other Scrabblerscompete on the gazebo/deck.When Bernie gets a muse for a project, he follows it single-mindedly to conclusion, such as the timehe spent years researching and compiling his family geneaology with thoroughness and precision,and in the days before the Internet no less. Or when he went on a theme-board kick back in 2006,spending days arranging the 100 tiles in a symmetrical fashion or with all bird-related words, forexample. You can see some of these mind-bending boards on his website, http://www.TheScrabbyNook.com, and marvel at how he was able to fit words such asGYNANDROMORPHIC, QUINTUPLICATING, and ANAGRAMMATIZING on a board.So if you ever meet Bernie over a board looking at you in a squintifego manner, remember he's justas likely to drop STOTINOV as he is to drop a DIME (U.S.) on you!Pete Manzolillo has been playing competitive SCRABBLE® and making customized boards since2001. His website is http://www.customscrabbleboards.com 37

S C R A B B L E I N T H E N E W SSCRABBLE® and Scrabblers in the NewsSee something about SCRABBLE® or a SCRABBLE® player in the news? Let us know! Send yourstories to CorneliaSGuest@gmail.com._______________________________________________________________________________Omaha tournament in the newsThe inaugural River City Wrangle Scrabble Tournament heldJuly 10th in Omaha, NE, received coverage from KETV,Channel 7 from Omaha, plus two newspapers: the OmahaWorld Herald and the Ralston Recorder. http://www.ketv.com; http://www.ketv.com/news/24209957/detail.html; http://www.ketv.com/video/24211779/index.html;http://www.owh.com; http://omahanewsstand.com/articles/2010/07/15/ralston_recorder/news/doc4c63da830dc698221683.txt; http://www.ralstonrecorder.com; http://www.omaha.com/article/20100111/NEWS01/707129917Inuktitut version of SCRABBLE®An Inuktitut version of SCRABBLE®, which uses Inuktitutsyllabics in place of letters, has been developed through apartnership between Ottawa's Tungasuvvingat Inuit,Inuuqatigiit Publishing, and Heritage Canada. The game hasbeen sent to Inuit centers and Nanuvut schools acrossCanada. It includes a “help sheet” for those not fluent inInuktitut. ttp://nnsl.com/northern-news-services/stories/papers/jul19_10scr.htmlJULY MILESTONESDOMINICK MANCINE reached1900 for the first time at the RenoNV Tournament.YVONNE LOBO reached 1700 forthe first time at the Albany NYTournament.ANDREW FRIEDMAN reached1600 for the first time at theAlbany NY Tournament.ROBERT KERR reached 1600 forthe first time at the Albany NYTournament.GEOFFREY NEWMAN reached1600 for the first time at theToronto ON CAN Tournament.Shelly Gartner musicalScrabbler Shelly Gartner wrote the music for“The Death and Life of Dr. Cutter,” a two-actplay with songs, which will be performedThursday, August 12th and Monday, August16th, at the Snapple Theatre CenterStudios, 210 West 50th St., New York, NY.Contact dr.cutter2@gmail.com for moreinformation.38

S C R A B B L E I N T H E N E W SAdult spelling bee championDerek McKenzie (see page 28) interviews David Riddle, the top adult spelling bee champion inAmerica. http://www.word-buff.com/spelling-bee-champion.htmlPhoto courtesy of Christoph RiddleJoe Bihlmeyer profiledThe Middletown Press ran an article on Joe Bihlmeyer and SCRABBLE®. http://www.middletownpress.com/articles/2010/07/18/news/doc4c4254043ba51875728078.txt111-year-old ScrabblerRuth Anderson, believed the oldest Minnesotan, is also a competitive SCRABBLE® player. http://www.startribune.com/local/99148069.html?elr=KArks:DCiUHc3E7_V_nDaycUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUUJack Eichenbaum chosen as city historianLong-time tourney player Jack Eichenbaum is also a "city historian".http://beta.wnyc.org/articles/wnyc-news/2010/jul/19/passion-all-things-queens/ 39

The WordsmithT H E W O R D S M I T HJefferson’s declarations on neologyby Chris SinacolaI spent a few very pleasant days in and around Charlottesville, Virginia recently, in the heart of ThomasJefferson country, where the hand of our third president is evident around every corner, from theBarboursville Ruins – what remains of a home he designed for the state’s one-time governor, JamesBarbour – to the lovely grounds of the University of Virginia, to his country retreat at Poplar Forest, justoutside Lynchburg.All these sights got me to leafing through Jefferson’s writings, including his Notes on the State of Virginia,public speeches, and letters.One letter, written to John Adams in August 1820, contains some thoughts on language which would qualifyJefferson for any dictionary committee – even a SCRABBLE® one.“I am a friend to neology,” Jefferson wrote. “It is the only way to give to a language copiousness andeuphony. Without it we should still be held to the vocabulary of Alfred or of Ulphilas; and held to their state ofscience also: for I am sure they had to words which could have conveyed the ideas of oxygen, cotyledons,zoophytes, magnetism, electricity, hyaline, and thousands of others expressing ideas not then existing, norof possible communication in the state of their language.”I wholeheartedly agree with Jefferson here – although I had never heard of Ulphilas. (For the record, he wasa bishop whose claim to fame is having had the Scriptures translated into Gothic.) Jefferson’s main pointwas that language changes.That’s as true today as in Jefferson’s day, except that the pace of change has accelerated a great deal,thanks in great part to technological advances, but also owing to popular culture, which has shed any slightinhibitions it may once have had with regard to personal expression.We have seen an explosion of new words in our language, and new “meanings,” however frivolous, forsometimes very old words. Any doubts on this score will be quickly erased by spending a few minutes atwww.urbandictionary.com. I can guarantee you’ll learn something new – but I’ll warn you that you may notmuch like what you learn, and may strive mightily, and in vain, to forget it.Jefferson didn’t have that problem, for life in the late 18th and early 19th centuries simply didn’t move soquickly as it does now, whatever he and his contemporaries may have thought on that score. He had theluxury of spending a good bit of time looking backward, to ancient history.His letter to Adams, for example, notes that the Greeks had a rule that “whenever their language furnishedor adopted a root, all its branches, in every part of speech, were legitimated by giving them their appropriateterminations.”Jefferson declared that “... this should be the law of every language. Thus, having adopted the adjectivefraternal, it is a root which should legitimate fraternity, fraternation, fraternisation, fraterism, to fraternate,fraterise, fraternally. And give the word neologism to our language, as a root, and it should give us its fellowsubstantives, neology, neologist, neologisation; its adjectives, neologous, neological, neologistical; its verb,neologise; and adverb, neologically. Dictionaries are but the depositories of words already legitimated byusage.”40

T H E W O R D S M I T HBefore I let Jefferson get too carried away, let’s examine his conclusions. I agree that dictionaries are but thedepositories of words already legitimated by usage, but it is important to realize that not all words that havebeen thus legitimated actually make it into any dictionary. The OWL-2 is no exception. It contains a lot ofwords, but not all the words it might.On the other hand, it could be argued, using Jefferson’s logic, that any dictionary or lexicon, including theOWL-2, should contain a great many more words.But just because a linguistic root is accepted into the language, does it necessarily follow that every form ofthat root should also be acceptable?I think not.The practical, real-life answer is also clearly no, even if we’re talking about the broadest lexicon of all –English as it is spoken throughout the world.If we restrict our field of reference to the OWL-2, the point becomes still clearer.NEOLOGY, to choose Jefferson’s own example, is a perfectly acceptable word and one that you will hearand read once in a while. The nouns NEOLOGISM and NEOLOGIST are also plausible enough, althoughmuch rarer. For adjectives, we have NEOLOGIC and NEOLOGISTIC. I can’t recall every hearing either oneused, and can’t see much need for more than one of them. We also have a verb, NEOLOGIZE, which mighthave struck my ears once or twice, but I can’t specifically recall when.Jefferson’s logic, however, would require that we add NEOLOGOUS*, NEOLOGICAL*, andNEOLOGISTICAL*.Do we really need such words? You may find all three in the Oxford English Dictionary, but they are unlikelyever to make an appearance in real life. For SCRABBLE® purposes, you might try sticking NEO in front ofLOGICAL some day, but don’t expect any dictionary committee to encourage you.The perils of Jefferson’s logic becomes clearest of all if we choose some other, more specific word root thathas come into English in modern times. INTRANET, for example, is a very new word, albeit one composedof very old parts, and perfectly logical and useful. But it would make a terrible verb. Far fromINTRANETTING*, one would simply network or use the intranet. And no one needs to be labeled anINTRANETTER* when computer user is perfectly adequate.Besides, we are in no danger of running out of words. The numbers of odd and unusual words still numberin the thousands. Jefferson himself referred to the original grounds of the University of Virginia as the“academical” village, a term which our guide hastily urged us not to use outside of Charlottesville, because“it’s not a real word.”But, as it turns out, it is a real word, and it’s even acceptable in SCRABBLE®.The conclusion, both predictable and inescapable, remains: Study harder.Chris Sinacola is director of the Worcester MA SCRABBLE® Club #600. Email him at sinacola@msn.com. 41

S E A R C H I N G F O R T I S A N E B I N G O SSearching for TISANE bingosby Judy ColeFind and circle the 69 bingos that you can form by adding a letter to TISANE.The number next to each letter indicates the number of bingos for that letter plus TISANE.A - 2 G - 6 T - 2B - 2 U - 2M - 3C - 2 V - 3D - 6 H - 2 N - 2W - 2I - 1 O - 1 S - 6K - 1 P - 4 X - 2L - 7Z - 2E - 1F - 1 R - 9Turn to the following page to solve the puzzle with the list of bingos provided.42

S E A R C H I N G F O R T I S A N E B I N G O SSearching for TISANE BingosFind and circle the 69 bingos that you can form by adding a letter to TISANE.The number next to each letter indicates the number of bingos for that letter plus TISANE.A - 2 ENTASIA G - 6 EASTING SALTINE ANTSIER T - 2 INSTATETAENIAS EATINGS SLAINTE NASTIER SATINETB - 2 BANTIES INGATES TENAILS RATINES U - 2 AUNTIESBASINET INGESTA M - 3 ETAMINS RETAINS SINUATEC - 2 ACETINS SEATING INMATES RETINAS V - 3 NAIVESTCINEAST TEASING TAMEINS RETSINA NATIVESD - 6 DESTAIN H - 2 SHEITAN N - 2 INANEST STAINER VAINESTDETAINS STHENIA STANINE STEARIN W - 2 TAWNIESINSTEAD I - 1 ISATINE O - 1 ATONIES S - 6 ENTASIS WANIESTNIDATES K - 1 INTAKES P - 4 PANTIES NASTIES X - 2 ANTISEXSAINTED L - 7 ELASTIN PATINES SEITANS SEXTAINSTAINED ENTAILS SAPIENT SESTINA Z - 2 ZANIESTE - 1 ETESIAN NAILSET SPINATE TANSIES ZEATINSF - 1 FAINEST SALIENT R - 9 ANESTRI TISANES 43

S E A R C H I N G F O R T I S A N E B I N G O SSearching for TISANE Bingos - SolutionDid you find the sentence formed by the unused letters?"Remember, when you don't know what to do, it never hurts to play Scrabble. It's like reading the I Ching ortea leaves," advises short-story writer Kelly Link.Judy Cole is co-director of the Lexington MA SCRABBLE® Club #108 and solves crossword puzzles whennot playing SCRABBLE®.44

L I N D A ’ S L I B R A R YLinda’s Libraryby Linda WancelAs an avid reader and book lover, I have foundthat many other Scrabblers also share mypassion for books and for reading. So I amhappy to have this opportunity to share some ofmy favorite books with you. These reviews, forthe most part, were written for Amazon.com,where I have been writing reviews under apseudonym for nearly ten years. I hope thatthe book lovers among you may find theirinterest piqued by some of these books.Non-fiction:The Last Step:The American Ascent of K2by Rick RidgewayWithout a doubt, this is oneof the most rivetingmountaineering booksaround. Not for the climbing,which is in and of itselfgripping, but for the slice ofhuman drama found in thedeterioration of relationshipsamongst various membersof the expedition. At times,one is mesmerized by thebad behavior displayed at such high altitudes!One would think that these expeditioners wereon Melrose Place, rather than fighting for theirplace in mountaineering history on K2, one ofthe most perilous mountains in the world toascend.Central to all the squabbling was the lovetriangle that developed on the expedition,which was perceived by some of theexpeditioners to be an extramarital affair inprogress. Though this later proved to be true,at the time it was the source of much denialand hard feelings. It further split the team,which was already divided over who would bechosen to summit, and eroded already existingfriendships, while preventing new ones thatmight have otherwise developed.On top of all this, add in poor weather, whichcaused the team to spend about sixty-sevendays on the mountain, mostly at altitudes overeighteen thousand feet, and you have a recipefor disaster. These expeditioners, however,managed to become the first Americans toascend K2.The Last Step is available at Amazon.com.Fiction:The Amber Roomby Steve BerryIn this, his debut novel, theauthor delivers a highlyentertaining thriller that willkeep the reader compulsivelyturning the pages. As with allof Steve Berry’s books,history plays an importantrole in the theme of the book.This one focuses a losttreasure known as the"Amber Room."I myself had no idea what the Amber Roomwas until I read this book. In 1716, the King ofPrussia made a gift of the Amber Room to theTsar of Russia, Peter the Great. Apparently,panels of amber were used to wall an entireroom. Peter the Great kept the amber panels instorage until about 1746, when his daughter,the Empress Elizabeth, decided to use thepanels to wall a study in the Winter Palace inSt. Petersburg. In 1755 Elizabeth moved theAmber Room from the Winter Palace in St.Petersburg to what would later be known as the 45

L I N D A ’ S L I B R A R YCatherine Palace, where the amber panelswere installed. The Amber Room wasembellished with semiprecious stones andperfected, a masterpiece of Baroque artistry.It was there, at Catherine Palace, that theAmber Room remained until 1941, when theNazis invaded Russia and reclaimed the AmberRoom as theirs. The Nazis had a proclivity foracquiring great works of art from those whomthey conquered. At Hitler's express direction,the Amber Room was dismantled, panel bypanel, and twenty tons of the precious amberpanels were shipped to Germany by truck andrail. The amber panels were eventuallyinstalled in Konigsberg Castle, where theyremained until early 1945. After Alliedbombardment and the march of the Sovietarmy upon Konigsberg, the amber panels wereonce again removed, crated, and put on a truckconvoy, which was to take them to safety. Tothis day, their fate remains unknown, as theamber panels were never again seen.It is around this intriguing real-life mystery thatthe author builds his story. Atlanta judge RachelCutler and her ex-husband, Paul, get sweptaway by international intrigue when KarolBorya, Rachel’s eighty-three-year-old fatherdies unexpectedly, leaving behind somecurious information about the Amber Room.Rachel decides to pick up the trail her fatherleft and head off to Germany, unaware that hermovements are being tracked by twocompeting, ruthless individuals, SuzanneDanzer and Christian Knoll, who are alsolooking to solve the mystery of the AmberRoom. They each hold the position of Aquisitor,a person who works for an individual memberof a consortium of nine wealthy individualsknown as the Retrievers of Lost Antiquities.The Acquisitor is the one who recovers stolenart treasures on behalf of a member of thisconsortium for that individual's privatecollection. Acquisitors will stop at nothing to getthat which they seek. Paul, sensing somethingis not quite right, joins Rachel in Germany. Adangerous cat-and-mouse game ensues asthey try to make sense of the hand that fatehas dealt them.There are many twists and turns in this actionpackedthriller, and a lot of historicalinformation is woven into the fabric of thisintricately plotted novel. I was hooked once Iread the gripping prologue that sets the tone forthe book. I found that I simply could not stopturning the pages of this engrossing thriller.This is a plot-driven book, so while it may fall alittle short in the area of characterdevelopment, it does not for one momentdiminish the enjoyment that the reader will getfrom reading this immensely interesting work offiction. It is simply an amazing debut novel.Those who enjoyed The Da VInci Code will,undoubtedly, enjoy this book as well.The Amber Room is available at Amazon.com.Linda Wancel loves reading, writing, watchingfilms, traveling, and Scrabbling. She is themother of 27-year-old twins and has been acriminal prosecutor for the last 23 years.46

Club NewsLarry Sherman, EditorC L U B N E W SIf you'd like your club to be considered for an article or if a newsworthy event has taken place atyour club in the last month, please submit material to CorneliaSGuest@gmail.com.______________________________________________________________________________________Meetup® in New Rochelle, NYThere’s been a lot of buzz about Meetup SCRABBLE® groups, which are cropping up at a speedyrate through the popular website Meetup.com. Here is a look at the Lower Westchester (NY)SCRABBLE® Meetup Group run by Judy Zuckerberg.A beautiful Saturday afternoon in July, aninviting pool, snacks and drinks, and a groupof friendly Scrabblers playing poolside.Welcome to the Lower WestchesterSCRABBLE® Meetup Group’s SCRABBLE®and Swim Event, organized by NewRochelle Scrabbler Judy Zuckerberg. Judyhas been running this Meetup group for alittle over a year (she took it over fromanother organizer), and this is the group’sfirst meeting at a private home.“Usually we meet at Starbucks or Cosi,” saysJudy. But one of the group members offeredher house and pool, and all agreed it was alovely gathering. The Meetup group will behaving other poolside meetings this summer, the next scheduled for the afternoon of Sunday,August 15th. Judy takes a moment from our conversation to make her play: a bingo, SCALDInG.A good player who competes in sanctionedtournaments, Judy is part of a family of gameplayers. Her daughter and son-in-law, Debbieand Michael Rosenberg, are world championbridge professionals, and their 8th-grade son,Kevin, excels at bridge, chess, and SCRABBLE®,finishing 2nd this spring in the National SchoolSCRABBLE® Championship with his teammate,Tim Bryant. “Unfortunately there aren’t that manytournaments nearby,” says Judy, “so I lookforward to this meeting.”There is a monthly charge to use the Meetup site,which advertises the group to interested locals 47

C L U B N E W Sand provides a sign-up feature and feedback options. To cover this cost, Judy, like most Meetuporganizers, charges a small fee. “I charged $5 today to cover the fees and the food. At Cosi I onlycharge $2, because players generally eat there as well [the Cosi meetings usually are on alternateSundays from 4-7]. When we meet at Starbucks [on occasional weekdays from 6-8], they require a$5 minimum, so I charge $7 and give each player a $5 Starbucks certificate.”There are approximately 120 members of this group, though Judy says only about 20 are regulars.At most gatherings there are usually around 10 to 14 players. Today there are 10, a mix of 1200-range tournament players, strong kitchen-table players, and a very green player who only watched.“Can I bring a book next time?” she asks, and the others look at her curiously. “EverythingSCRABBLE®,” she explains. She’s ready to learn.For information on future meetings of the LowerWestchester SCRABBLE® Meetup Group, click here orvisit Meetup.com, where you can also find informationthere on the other 100+ SCRABBLE® Meetup groupsthroughout the country. There is no charge to join.Judy Zuckerberg considering her play,the bingo shown at left.Myrtle Beach Club meeting changeThe Myrtle Beach (SC) Club #431 will no longer be meeting on Thursday evenings. The club will stillmeet on Tuesdays from 12-4. If you visit Myrtle Beach and want to play SCRABBLE® at anothertime, please contact the club directors, Linda Bianca and Wendell SmithThe Myrtle Beach SC SCRABBLE® Club #600 meets on Thursday afternoons from 12-4 p.m. at the GrandStrand Senior Center, 1268 21st Ave. N., Myrtle Beach, SC. Contact: Wendell Smith, 843-293-4795,bevrai@hotmail.com or Linda Bianca, 843-293-4795, lindawarnerb@aol.com.48

C L U B N E W SCharles Smith has 734 gameOn July 22nd Charles Smith from Durham, NC, scored 734 in a game against Ann Hay at the BrierCreek Applebee’s club, an “unofficial” SCRABBLE® club in Raleigh. Smith, whose peak rating is1939, has been a competitive SCRABBLE® player for over 30 years (see data at cross-tables.com).To see the game play by play, go to http://www.cross-tables.com/annotated.php?u=6727.The Brier Creek Applebee’s Club meets Thursday nights at 6:30 p.m. at Applebee’s restaurant atthe Brier Creek shopping center, 8701 Brier Creek Pkwy, Raleigh, NC 27617. Contact: Flora Taylor,919-475-3110, fltaylor@mindspring.com. 49

C L U B N E W SAndrew’s Scra-Birthdayby Judy Cole; photos courtesy of Susan KirchhausenOn July 10th, a dozen members of the Worcester, MA, SCRABBLE® Club gathered at MeganMcMahon's house to surprise Andrew Malaby on his 26th birthday with an unrated SCRABBLE®tournament.Loretta Young, Bruce Adams, MargaretGuzman, and Nicole Kazarian play onMegan's deck.When his girlfriend, Heidi Hafemann, asked Andrew what hewanted to do on his birthday, Andrew said that of course, hewould like to play SCRABBLE® at some point. Heidi contactedMegan who volunteered to host the party and lured Andrewthere with the promise of a game or two.Andrew arrived promptly at 10 to find a houseful ofSCRABBLE® boards and treats. Although Andrew and Heidihad to leave after a few games, others managed to play 7games or so while dodging the rain and taking breaks to runerrands.While expert player Bruce Adams won all of his games and hadthe high game of 556, Judy Cole got the prize for losing by thesmallest margin to Bruce - 15 points. Susan Kirchhausen and Nicole Kazarian came close withlosses by only 17 points. Susan won the prizes for High Loss (391) and High Bingo (DEVOURS -94). Andrew won the prize for best "Andrew" word with the descriptive CHATTERER over theanagram WANDER played by Bruce.A big white board displays the results while the cakeand party favors continue the SCRABBLE® theme.Andrew and Heidi play before leaving for Orchard Beach, ME.No birthday celebration would be complete with a cake and favors. Heidi decorated the cake withBananagram tiles and provided custom candy bars as keepsakes. Brownies, quiche, salad, andMunchkins all helped to keep players content however the tiles were treating them that day.The Worcester MA SCRABBLE® Club #600 meets on Tuesday nights from 5 to 9 p.m. at the Jumpin'Juice & Java, 335 Chandler St., Worcester, MA. Contact: Chris Sinacola,774-262-2818, sinacola@msn.com.50

V I D E O J O EVideo Joeby Joe BihlmeyerJoe Bihlmeyer, a top Connecticut SCRABBLE® player, presents a video snapshot of the Albanytournament.XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 51

S C R A B - D O K UScrab-dokuby Jeff KastnerIn a standard Sudoku, your object is to fill in every square of the grid so that all nine rows across, all ninecolumns down, and all nine 3-by-3 boxes contain the numbers 1 through 9, with no repeats.Same rules apply to this Scrab-doku, but I’ve added a few twists to help you solve it. First of all, I use lettersto replace the numbers. These letters are part of a “Keyword” which I’ve scrambled below. I’ve also provideda clue to help you find the correct anagram. Once you’ve unscrambled the Keyword, one of the rows orcolumns will contain all of its 9 letters in the proper order.This week’s “Scrambled” Keyword: IPLAYCUTEClue: Some Australian natives can eat 18 ounces of these leaves per day.SOLUTION on page 5452

Word-Finder Challenge:S C R A B - D O K UHere’s an additional test of your anagramming ability. Your object is to find all the words you can thathave at least 5 or more letters in them, using only the 9 letters of this month’s (Scrambled) Keyword:IPLAYCUTE.In addition to being at least 5 letters long, all words must be OWL2 or Long List acceptable. Each letter ofthe Keyword may be used only once within any word you find. Multiple forms of the same word areacceptable. For instance, if OUTLINE, OUTLINES, OUTLINED, and OUTLINER were contained in theKeyword, they could all be used.Par Scores for this month’s Word-Finder Challenge:25 words (Novice); 40 (Intermediate); 60 (Advanced)Once you’ve compiled your list, check out my SOLUTION on page 54.See you next month with another Scrab-doku puzzle and Word-Finder Challenge! …Jeff KastnerJeff Kastner, originally from New York City, has been living in Phoenix, AZ since 1985. Jeff is one of ahandful of players who has ever been ranked in the USA-top-50 in both SCRABBLE® and chess. He is the2007-2008 Phoenix SCRABBLE® Club champion as well as the 2008-2009 Scottsdale SCRABBLE® Clubchamp. His chess, Sudoku, and word puzzles appear weekly in The Jewish Press newspaper and website.He hosts the Internet program Who’s on the Show?, where one of his first interviews was with directorsLarry Rand and Barbara Van Alen: http://whosontheshow.com/shows.html. Read more about Jeff in “MeetOur Columnists” on page 6. 53

54S C R A B - D O K U

Badqoph Blog Talkby Ryan FischerB A D Q O P H B L O G T A L KRyan Fischer manages the Badqoph Directory, a database of blogs by known SCRABBLE®bloggers, primarily tournament players. In this column he looks at some interesting threads from theblogs.Joey Mallick shares with the scrabbling community his birthday present from Jim Kramer.http://community.livejournal.com/scrabbling/113391.htmlhttp://community.livejournal.com/scrabbling/113978.htmlRyan Fischer graduated from the University of North Carolina in 2005 with a degree incommunications studies and a minor in creative writing. He is a NASPA player and director, a majorforce, with John Luebkemann and Sherrie Saint John, behind the Eastern Championships inCharlotte, NC, where he now lives. He recently completed a documentary on chaos magick, and heis working on a television pilot about ballroom dancing. 55

S T E L L ’ S R A C K S O F M I R T HStell’s Racks of Mirthby Stellacious (AKA Cheryl L. Cadieux)Joyce Stock (I believe at the end of day two in Flint, MI): "I mightask for my money back."* * * * *Stafford and Hoekstra game: Carolav is walking past their gamewhen she hears one of them say, “NICE RACK." Withoutskipping a beat she says, "Thank you!!!” (The response wasprobably due to the bingo placed on the board, but Carol did herown interpretation.)* * * * *Stocky [Dan Stock] usually has this sign up when he is enteringdata on the computer:Please do not interrupt the data entry person - UNLESSyou are the tourney director or a female who wants to make outw/him.As I was sitting there next to him...I immediately grabbed him tocomply. Iwas just trying to be socially correct!* * * * *T-shirt saying: My wife says that I don't listen to her...at least Ithink that's what I think she said.* * * * *Danny Kidd came up with Ron Hoekstra's name tag on. He saidthat he is going to change his name legally...he had a 545 game!I then wondered if Ron had Danny's name tag on, so I wentlooking for him. When I found Ron, he didn't have on any nametag, so I questioned him about the situation.To join OSPD, Stella'sSCRABBLE® mail group,please send a blank messageto the following URL: ospdscrabblesubscribe@yahoogroups.com.We are so delicious, that weare DIGESTable, with thedigest form of only one e-maila day.At the bottom of each andevery e-mail that you receivefrom OSPD, you will see theaddress to change your dailysubscription from receiving thee-mails as they come in toonly once a day in the digestform.OSPD is a way for Scrabblersto communicate. We alsohave a Daily Word List: Forexample, one recent word listwas “N” back hooks.Paul Epstein occasionallydoes Mystery Racks and wehave a quiz from time to time.Please join us!He said that "THE KIDD" just came up and took his name tag and that he hadn't won a game since.That game he got a 315.* * * * *From JEFF scrabbleman re: my fish list: “Thanx for that fishy list, Stell. Just goes to show...yougotta study those ‘fish hooks’ or you'll get caught with your mouth wide open during a game!”56

S T E L L ’ S R A C K S O F M I R T HStellaisms for Your DayThe statistics on sanity are that one out of every four Americans aresuffering from some form of mental illness. Think of your three bestfriends. If they're okay, then it's you. --Rita Mae BrownWalking can add minutes to your life.This enables you at 85 years old to spendan additional 5 months in a nursing home at $7000 per month.I like long walks, especially when they are takenby people who annoy me.The only reason I would take up walking is so that I could hear heavybreathing again.I have to walk early in the morning, before my brain figures out whatI'm doing.I joined a health club last year, spent about 400 bucks.Haven't lost a pound. Apparently you have to go there.Every time I start thinking too much about how I look, I just find aHappy Hour and by the time I leave, I look just fine.Cheryl L. Cadieux, a congenial tournament player better known to her OSPD group members as“Stella,” lives in Au Gres, MI and New Port Richey, FL. 57

H I S T O R I C M O M E N T SHistoric Moments: SCRABBLE® Throughout the YearsActually more like infamous momentsby Stu GoldmanCornelia's survey on tournament preferences on cgp, which I somehow missed in its originalpresentation, reminded me of difficulties with equipment readiness in some past tournaments. Atone such, both my opponent and I lacked equipment on two occasions. The first time it happened Iasked the director's stand-in to try to secure equipment for us. This resulted in NO result, so Ishouted my request, unfortunately after many had started play. The second time I went to themicrophone and asked for equipment, with immediate success. But one of my opponents later thatday expressed dissatisfaction with my announcement.As a result I approached the tournament organizer (not director) and urged her to have whoeverwas presiding ask if everyone had the necessary equipment before allowing play to begin. Thissame organizer assisted in directing at another director's tournament shortly after that. Just afterthat director made sure that all had the right equipment at the beginning of a session, I approachedthe assistant and reminded her of my previous request. She assured me that the sameannouncement would be made at her future tournaments. But she evidently forgot, because it wasnot done; fortunately I was never without equipment then.At another tournament in which several assistants help the director, I became aware of a similarproblem. Several people told me that they thought a certain player was "crazy.” I knew this fellowand I asked him what his problem was. He told me there was no equipment for his game, so heasked several assistant directors for help, and they all rebuffed him. That was when he freaked out.I don't know how he got his equipment, but I approached the main director, with whom I have beenvery friendly for many years, asking him why he didn't think a director should assist players whoneeded equipment.His attitude astonished me. It was his opinion that if everybody lacked equipment there could be notournament. I decided that I would wait for several months so that his identity could not be inferredfrom my question, and I submitted to cgp the question of whether a director should help to provideequipment for players who needed it. I believe the several replies I got were all in the affirmative,and I let the director know. His attitude did not change, however.At any rate, I had a response to Corny's survey question asking what suggestions I would give to adirector. My entry was to make sure that all games had the needed equipment before play started.Stu Goldman lives in California and has been playing tournament SCRABBLE® for 36 years.58

Word Trivia Quizby Siri TillekeratneW O R D T R I V I A Q U I ZQUESTION:Which of the following words are nouns which can be pluralized?ABOVE, AFAR, ALL, AMOK, ANTIRUST, BIZARRE, BLEAK, CAME, DUG, EAGER, ELEVATED,ENOUGH, FIRMER, FLEW, FOREVER, FROSTED, GRADUAL, IRONCLAD, LIMITED, LAMED,NEAT, NONE, PECULIAR, PRECIOUS, RADIANT, RANDOM, SAID, SHOOK, SPRANG, STANK,SUDDEN, TORE, VAST, VIBRANT, VIGORISH, VOLATILE, VOLCANIC, WEIRD, WHEN, WHEWANSWERS ON THE NEXT PAGESiri Tillekeratne is a director of the Calgary SCRABBLE® Club #374 and a former Director of theYear. 59

W O R D T R I V I A Q U I ZANSWERAll of themSiri Tillekeratne is a director of the Calgary SCRABBLE® Club #374 and a former Director of theYear.60

P A S S A G E SPassagesLarry Sherman, EditorEach month we will be including information about SCRABBLE® players (births, deaths, marriages,etc.) Please send your news to Cornelia Guest at CorneliaSGuest@gmail.com._______________________________________________________________________________BIRTHSSARAH ISABELLE PENGELLY & NATASHA CLAIRE PENGELLYSarah Isabelle Pengelly (6 lbs 11 oz) and Natasha Claire Pengelly (4 lbs 5 oz), daughters of AllenPengelly and Jenna Paikowsky of Waterloo, Ontario, arrived in the world on Thursday, July 15around 4:30 EST. Both twins are doing great, and are looking forward to memorizing their 2s and 3s.BENJAMIN CAPLANBenjamin Caplan, son of Larry and Rahat Caplan ofBoynton Beach, FL, was born on June 18th weighing8.8 pounds.Benjamin Caplan, 2040 SCRABBLE® Champion 61

DEATHSP A S S A G E SBOBBIE SAGESARby Mike BaronRoberta "Bobbie" Sageser of Aztec, NM passed away, at age 88, on the Fourth ofJuly. Bobbie, a buxom blonde with a sense of humor that could make a sailor blush,was SCRABBLE®'s version of Mae West or, as Brian Cappelletto reminds me,Betty White. Thanks to her and her husband, Bill, competitive SCRABBLE® got tobe ensconced in the most gorgeous venue and surrounding setting for nearly twodecades: at the elegant Tamorron Lodge in Durango, CO. As I stated in theIntroduction to Scrabble Wordbook:"A few weeks before going to the Chicago event [1983 National Scrabble Championship], I wendedmy way from Albuquerque, across the beautiful high desert terrain of mountains and mesas, withstriated reds, oranges, and browns running through them, en route to Durango, Colorado. I wouldbe meeting with Bobbie Sageser, Colorado's senior version of Mae West, and her coterie of friendsto talk about starting a tournament at the ‘lodge,’ which was managed by Bobbie's husband. (Littledid I know then that the ‘lodge,’ which I had presumed was a mom-and-pop group of bungalows,proved to be the gorgeous Tamarron Lodge, where former President Gerald Ford, Johnny Carson,Rock Hudson, and other celebrities have stayed. My jaw dropped at the mountainside sight of it.)"Bobbie was the consummate hostess, be it at her home or at "the lodge," always wanting others tobe comfortable, well-fed, and having a good time. She and Bill, knowing my parents would bejoining me one year to attend (as observers) the annual Tamarron tournament, held over MemorialDay weekend, surprised them by providing them the Presidential Suite -- two levels, kitchen, hugeliving room, about a 50-foot wide balcony looking out on the magnificent Rocky Mountains --breathtaking! My parents then opened up their room for a big party that Saturday night. Thatweekend alone provided a lifetime of memories for my parents, which they would recount insubsequent years, and other attendees...thanks to Bobbie and Bill's generosity.Bobbie absolutely loved SCRABBLE®, and would play anyone, anytime, anywhere. Even if she losta dozen or two dozen games in a row to an expert player, not only would she always have a smileon her face after every game, but she'd add, like a bartender to a customer, "Had enough, or couldyou go one more?" The way she approached the game was like her approach to life: with respectand abundant JOY. No one could make me blush like Bobbie could between rounds at a tournamentwith her bawdy humor. Rather than say I'll miss Bobbie, I'll simply offer my abundant thanks that Iwas blessed to cross paths with her and share her glorious ride. Thank you, Bobbie.Bobbie Sageser is survived by her husband of 60 years, Bill Sageser, of Aztec; son, Hank Sageser,of Aztec; and one grandchild. Condolences may be sent to http://www.tributes.com/show/Roberta-Sageser-88933751 or to Bill Sagesar, 605 Black Shawl Circle, Aztec, NM 87410 (or to Bill's email:1851whs@sisna.com).62

T O U R N A M E N T S U R V E Y R E S U L T STournament Survey ResultsThis past month players were asked to complete a survey about SCRABBLE® tournaments. Astrong 122 responses came in from 31 states and 4 provinces. Some interesting preferences wererevealed; however, the most useful part of the survey was the response to the open-ended question:What recommendations do you have for directors to improve their tournaments?Who responded?The majority of those who completed the survey were players who compete at clubs and intournaments (70.7%). 35.8% were directors, many of whom are usually players as well. Otherresponents were parents of Youth Players, online players, and recreational players.Most of the players attend 4-10 tournaments a year (53.3%), with 30.3% attending 3 tournaments orfewer. 16.4% attend more than 10 tournaments a year. 63

T O U R N A M E N T S U R V E Y R E S U L T SThe tournaments respondents had attended included both multi-day and one-day tournaments, with85.4% having competed in multi-day tournaments requiring overnight accommodations and 52%having competed in local one-day tournaments. Other tournament types that were mentionedinclude other than those listed in the chart below were cruise/tour tournaments and WGPOtournaments (which some listed under unrated and others included in the general categories).Tournament PreferencesGAMES PER DAYRespondents were asked howmany games per day theyprefered to play at a tournament.As shown in the chart, most ofthe players preferred 7 or 8games per day, while anadditional 6 said they would liketo play 9-10. Red-eye formats,with up to 15 games per day,were championed by 4 of therespondents, while 2 said theypreferred a maximum of 7-8.One player suggested that therenot be more than 3-4 games ontravel days in multi-daytournaments.64Nullam arcu leo, facilisis ut

DIVISION STRUCTURET O U R N A M E N T S U R V E Y R E S U L T SWhen asked for their preference in division structure, the majority (46.2%) preferred the traditionaldivisions with specified ratings and 100-point play-ups. There were quite a few comments added,with some wishing for fewer divisions and some for more. One respondent expressed an interest inexploring more matchplay formats.PRIZE MONEYThere were many opinions on how prize money should be determined, with most (59.7%) agreeingthat the prize structure should be announced in advance. A slight majority (50.4%) felt prize moneyshould be evenly distributed by division size, with larger divisions offering more prize money, while37% felt more prize money should go to the higher divisions. 47.9% felt that 100% of entry feesshould go into the prize fund (after expenses). A surprising 10.9% preferred no prize money at all.There were many interesting comments about prize money. While 26.1% responded that theypreferred prize money for the top 20% in a division, several wrote in that they preferred paying onlyfirst, second, and third. A couple of players voiced displeasure with money being taken from onedivision to subsidize a higher division, while one felt that prize money should all go to to the topdivision, with ribbons and non-cash awards going to the lower levels. “The incentive to play upshould come from larger payouts for more skilled players,” one player commented, and anotherremarked that, “1st place in Div. 1 should receive at least as much as any other division winner.”Two players suggested skipping theme prizes such as “high game” and “best phony,” while oneplayer liked them. Another championed class prizes.A few respondents acknowledged that prize money at most tournaments is seldom enough to covertravel expenses. “Realistically I'm not in it for the prize money - too little to make a differenceanyway.” 65

T O U R N A M E N T S U R V E Y R E S U L T SENTRY FEESUnfortunately, a glitch in the survey prevented some respondents from answering questions aboutboth one-day and multi-day events; however, many wrote in their responses. As would beexpected, players expected to pay less for one-day events than multi-day events. Most (85.5%)preferred paying $50 or less to enter a one-day event, with 52.1% wishing to pay less than $35 andonly 8.4% wishing to pay more than $50. “I'm willing to pay a lot if there's still value in it (first-ratetourney, food, good prizes),” one player commented. “But I'm also good with lower entry and nofrills.”For multi-day tournaments, most (73%) preferred to pay an entry fee from $71-$150, with only .9%wishing to pay more. The numbers interested in paying under $100 (59.6%) were somewhat greaterthan those interested in paying $100-$150 (40.3%). One player commented: “While I appreciatelower entry fees, I also appreciate higher stakes tourneys.”A few players suggested $4-8 per game, and more if the event was being catered.66

T O U R N A M E N T S U R V E Y R E S U L T SFACTORS DETERMINING TOURNAMENT ATTENDENCEMany factors influence a player in deciding whether to attend a tournament. Predictably, theconvenience of the date and the proximity were the most important factors, with the length andexpense of the tournament and the number of games also having a strong (important or veryimportant) influence.Surprisingly, the prize money offered was not important to 39.7% of the respondents, and onlysomewhat important to another 45.7%. It was important or very important to only 13.8%. Otherfactors considered less important were bonus events such as trivia contests (71.1%) and WGPOsanctioning (68.1%). NASPA sanctioning was considered important to very important to mostplayers (52.9%), but not important to 29.4%.Eighteen players wrote in comments, six to say they would not play in a WGPO event and two tovoice their dislike of “commuter fees.” 67

T O U R N A M E N T S U R V E Y R E S U L T SSUGGESTIONS FOR DIRECTORSFor me, as a director of approximately 20 tournaments a year, both rated and unrated, this sectionof the survey was the most interesting. The most commonly voiced suggestions were to start ontime and be well organized, with pairings and results calculated smoothly and clearly: “The besttournaments are the very well-organized ones.” Respondents liked tournaments to run asadvertised, and for directors to avoid playing in their own tournaments. “Have enough help, besuperorganized, just direct, don't play unless necessary. Keep announcements short; don't lecturelike a bad teacher. Start and end on time. Relax.”Players also appreciated friendliness and helpfulness, particularly to new players. One playersuggested directors provide more for beginners, such as having a formal pre-tournament timeduring which a stronger player shows the newcomers the ropes.There were several comments that directors should not tolerate bad behavior in the playing room,and that they should minimize noise and distractions. “One of the better practices I've seen at atournament is putting top divisions in a separate room from bottom ones. Top divisions usually wantit a little more quiet, while most lower division players tend to be more gabby, and are playing more68

T O U R N A M E N T S U R V E Y R E S U L T Sfor the social nature of the game.” Another player suggested posting results, etc. outside of theplaying room if possible to minimize noise.Directors were encouraged to “know and follow the rules and guidelines,” and to deal with anyinfractions quickly and fairly. “Stay in the playing room, know the rules, and be willingto consult with knowledgeable third parties.”A number of players had suggestions for different formats:• For a larger tournament, split into divisions of 12. Friday evening and Saturday, play a RoundRobin--3 games Friday, 8 games Saturday. Sunday, rounds 1-3 can be a best-of-three semifinalsand rounds 4-6 (or 4-8) can be a best-of-three or best-of-five finals (and consolation games). Theothers can either play in similar groups or another Round Robin.• Have BOTH an open section AND rated divisions, with the open section, which has the largestprize money, open to anyone with an established rating.• Consider the practice of re-entry/second chances used at many chess tournaments. The format forlarger tournaments is often for 4-, 3-, or 2-day competitions. Players can enter the 4-day, and ifthey perform poorly on the first or second day, they can re-enter for the 3- or 2-day at a cost (thegames from the first day affect the players' ratings, but upon re-entry, they are not used forconsideration in the tournament). This type of system is flexible, so it attracts more players (ifsomeone cannot enter the 4-day because of work or whatever, they can enter the 2-day on aweekend), and it makes money for the company [running the tournament] and/or allows for largerprize money. A system like this may be more difficult for SCRABBLE®, but not impossible. Forexample: A system could be devised based on 6-7 games per day for 4 days, and 9-10 games perday for 3 days. A player who entered for 4 days and did poorly on the first day could be allowed tore-enter for 3 days, and make up games in the evening (either 2 games per night for the next 3days, or 3 games per night for 2 nights).• A lower division with very low entry fees and possibly fewer games could attract new tournamentplayers.Some comments related to the venue:• I believe it is important to consider the air quality of the tournament room, i.e., to make sure theroom has not just been painted, newly carpeted, floors refinished/shampooed.• For weekend tournaments, I'd like there to be a place where people can hang out and get to knoweach other and maybe play games during non-playing times of day.• The convenience of getting good and healthy meals without having to travel far is important.Having an on-site gym is nice too.• Upscale, family friendly hotels are preferred.• Don't underestimate appeal of a beautiful venue.• Be sure there is adequate space to move around.• Make sure the lighting is good.• Food and beverages should be available free or at a reasonable price. 69

T O U R N A M E N T S U R V E Y R E S U L T S• The venue needs to be convenient to the airport and to dinner/shopping/activities or the evening, ifat all possible. (List nearest airport on tournament flyers and best method to get to venue fromairport.)• A nice hotel at a good price is a definite plus.There was a difference of opinion on prize money:• Higher divisions should pay more -- or else it makes sense for players to play down and dominatedivisions (which stunts rating growth).• Larger prize money attracts a larger crowd, and creates enthusiasm to study and win. At chesstournaments, players are willing to pay ~200+ dollars for a large (4-5 day) tournament if the prizemoney is big enough. Most are there to win, but even with the higher entry fee, a portion of theplayers don't expect to win, but are just there for the experience, and will pay the entry fee anywayas a part of their "vacation" budget (the big tourneys are always held on holiday weekends).• The mindset that expertdom and excellence is bad continues to pervade tournament competition.If we don't reward people for getting better and being better, there is little incentive, and won't bemore incentive in the future. Where else CAN this skillset be rewarded? It is important to awardthe expert division higher prizes, and limit tournaments to as few divisions as possible. It is aturnoff and insult to players who improve their game when first place in a low division earns just asmuch (or sometimes more!) than first in division one.• I think it important to have equal distribution of prize money across all divisions; to reward thehighest division inordinately strikes me as elitist (but then again, I'm almost never IN the highestdivision).• Try no cash prizes, as in the ultra-successful bridge world.Some players liked limiting prizes for “high game,” etc. to different players, while others thoughtplayers should be able to win more than one prize.Some of the other comments related to the following:1. Commuter fees: Many negative comments. “I think the issue could (and should) be looked at in alarger picture: Most larger tournaments are held at the more expensive hotels, and most playersconsider the lodging costs as a factor for whether or not they can attend any one tournament--and they also consider overall lodging costs for how many tournaments they can attend over agiven time period. I suspect that many if not most players will attend more tournaments if theycan find ways to save on travel/lodging.”2. Ease of entry: Allowing day-of-event registration, with a bonus for an early entry.3. Computer determination of firsts and seconds--not liked by some.4. School SCRABBLE®: Consider a championship with more games, and one-on-one competitionin addition to the team event.5. Tournament costs: “Keep costs down even if prizes are smaller.” -- “More games. Less prizemoney. Lower entry fees.”70

T O U R N A M E N T S U R V E Y R E S U L T S6. Scheduling: “I don't like tournaments where you end late one evening and then start early thenext morning. Unless it's the Redeye, directors should give players enough time to eat and getdecent amount of sleep each night.” -- “On the last day [of a tournament] schedule a break in themorning to allow people to check out of the hotel without having to scramble.”7. Equipment: Make sure every table has all necessary equipment before games begin.8. Pairings: “Division cutoffs are important. If you're rated over 1200 it's unfair to be put into thebottom division to play an unrated player. In this case perhaps the lowest division should havefewer people than the division above it...but the director should pay attention to these factors.” --“The way you do the pairings is important! For example, Lake George has divisions of 28, splitinto 2 group each playing a round robin. If one group happens to be easier than the other, topplayers in that group get a huge advantage. At last year's Cali Open, it was swiss-paired, but theround robin to kick off the swiss was in groups of 10, not 4, meaning after the first day, almost allthe top players were 7-0 or 6-1. This is too long to wait before beginning the swiss pairings.”THANKS TO DIRECTORSBy far the most comments were thanks to directors for all the work they do. Many directors werecited by name for their great efforts to make their tournaments enjoyable for players.“I think directors and the amount of work they do are way under-appreciated, so I'm just thankfulthey are willing to take on the task of putting on tourneys. Thanks to all directors!”“A huge thanks to all the directors who help put on such a great time for all of us -- couldn't ask formore.”“I believe anyone crazy enough to run a tourney deserves my thanks and support. Yes, I'm mostlikely to attend the ones I like best -- mostly because of intangibles like mood, spirit, andagreeableness. But I encourage anyone who is willing to put forth the effort to do so, to run thetourney the way they like, and to keep doing the things that keep people coming back.”“Just keep on having tourneys. I love meeting and playing. I am too lazy to become a directormyself and appreciate the work done by those who choose to give of their time.”“I have no criticisms for directors at all -- it's a very difficult and thankless task to organize and runan event and please so many people. I've played tournament SCRABBLE® for 10 years, and thedirectors have always been great.”Thanks to the many players who responded to this survey. I hope directors and players alike will beinterested in the results. I know I will be making some changes based on this feedback! 71

T - S H I R T R O U N D U PT-shirt RoundupThis month’s roundup looks at T-shirts for Scrabblers. The Last Word makes no representation asto any of the shirts listed, and we will not accept calls related to order fulfillment or quality. We donot list prices as they are subject to change; follow the links for these._______________________________________________________________________________ANN SANFEDELE DESIGNSJUST KEEP TRACKINGTEN REASONS YOU MIGHT NOT BE...72

RACK OF LAMBDAST - S H I R T R O U N D U PSOWPODS PLAYERTRIPLE NERD SCOREZYZZYVA SHIRTCORNELIA GUEST DESIGNSI SEE ADDE EELOPPMY MINDS A [BLANK] 73

SCRABBLE®ResourcesThere are many study tools tohelp tournamentSCRABBLE® players honetheir skills, including anumber of programs that canbe downloaded for free. Thissection offers suggestionsand links._______________________Play SCRABBLE®On LinePOGO SCRABBLE®The official SCRABBLE®online game. Created underagreement with Hasbro in2008.SCRABBLE® ONFACEBOOKSelect the SCRABBLE®application on the Facebookhome page to play the officialSCRABBLE® game. Variousgroups hold tournaments atthis site, including a groupcalled “Mad Scrabblers”.INTERNETSCRABBLE® CLUBA Romanian-based site andapplication for interactivegames. A favorite site formany of the top players.Play LiveSCRABBLE®CROSS-TABLESLists all upcomingtournaments, as well asS C R A B B L E R E S O U R C E Sresults of past tournaments.Has SCRABBLE®tournament aides.NASPA CLUB LISTINGSLists clubs throughout NorthAmerica with their meetingtimes and locations.NSA CLUB LISTINGSLists casual clubs throughoutNorth America with theirmeeting times and locations.Anagramming/Practice ToolsJUMBLETIMEA free web site for practicinganagramming skills.MAC USERS: After you do aJumbletime quiz on a Mac,the scroll bar to view theresults is missing. To make itappear, go to the lower rightcorner and grab the stripedtriangle and shrink thewindow all the way to the topleft corner. When you pull itback, the scroll bar to theright of the answers to thequiz (magically) appears.(Make sure you do this beforeyou check your score againstother players.) Also, beforerunning a quiz, you mightwant to first press Control andscroll with the mouse toenlarge the screen so thatyou can more easily view thejumbles. Once you finishplaying, scroll the screenback to its original size.(Thanks to Larry Rand andMonique Kornell.)AEROLITHA free application forpracticing anagramming skillsand learning words.QUACKLEA free application for playing,simulating, and analyzinggames.ZYZZYVAA free application forpracticing anagramming skillsand learning words. Also hasWord Judge capabilities.SCRABBLE®DICTIONARYType a word to check foracceptability. OSPD4 words.LEXIFIND WORDFINDERType a word to check foracceptability (includes Collinswords and TWL06). Alsoincludes anagramming andconstraint-based retrieval.FRANKLINSCRABBLE® PLAYERSDICTIONARYAn electronic handhelddictionary and anagrammer,with many helpful options andgames. Includes the latestword lists, and can beadjusted from OSPD4 toOWL2 lists with a code.74

S C R A B B L E R E S O U R C E SCLICK HERE TO HELPEND WORD HUNGER ASYOU LEARN WORDSA free vocabulary testing site.For every correct word, grainsof rice are donated through theUnited Nations World FoodProgram. Feed hungry peopleas you expand your vocabulary!Online SCRABBLE®Discussion GroupsCGP (crossword-gamespro@yahoogroups.com)This group, for tournamentplayers and directors only, hasthe largest membership of anyonline tournamentSCRABBLE® discussion group.Most important events andchanges in the SCRABBLE®world are discussed on cgp.Admission is by approval only.Details can be found in theNASPA TournamentSCRABBLE® Newsletter #1.OSPD (ospdscrabble@yahoogroups.com)This group, dedicated to playersusing The Official SCRABBLE®Players’ Dictionary, offers lightheartedhumor, daily word lists,and more. Admission is to allSCRABBLE® lovers. Detailscan be found in the NASPATournament SCRABBLE®Newsletter #1.SCRABBLE® BlogsTHE BADQOPHDIRECTORYThis is a database of blogs byknown SCRABBLE® bloggers,primarily tournament players.As of March 29th there were196 blogs in the directory.Cheat SheetsMIKE BARON’S CHEATSHEETA great cheat sheet with 2s, 3s,vowel dumps, short high-pointtilewords, and good bingostems. Includes useful frontand back hook letters to make3s from 2s. Adapted from MikeBarron’s SCRABBLE®Wordbook and the OfficialTournament and Club WordList, 2nd Edition.MIKE BARON’S CHEATSHEET (for SchoolSCRABBLE® and homeplay)A great cheat sheet with 2s, 3s,vowel dumps, short high-pointtilewords, and good bingostems. Includes useful frontand back hook letters to make3s from 2s. Adapted from MikeBarron’s SCRABBLE®Wordbook and the OfficialSCRABBLE® PlayersDictionary, 4th Edition.COOL WORDS TO KNOWA terrific cheat sheet from theNational SCRABBLE®Association for SchoolSCRABBLE® and home play.Gives useful information on howto find bingos, plus the 2s, 3s,vowel dumps, and short highpoint-tileplays.COLLINS-ONLY CHEATSHEETA cheat sheet of short Collinswords NOT found in the OWL2.2s, 3s, short high-point-tilewords, and Q-without-U words.COLLINS WORD LISTSUseful links to Collins word listscan be found at the followingwebsites: http://www.absp.org.uk/words/words.html; http://www.math.utoronto.ca/jjchew/scrabble/lists/; http://www.scrabble.org.au/words/index.htm; http://members.ozemail.com.au/~rjackman/.TournamentManagement SoftwareDIRECTOR!Marc Levesque’s software formanaging tournaments (seestory on page 74) Also has aYahoo user group you can joinas a support option.TOURNEYMANJeff Widergren’s software formanaging tournaments.TSHJohn Chew’s software formanagaing tournaments,recently updated with newfeatures. 75

BooksBOB’S BIBLEA terrific book to build wordpower for tournaments.BOB’S BIBLE, SCHOOLEDITIONFor School SCRABBLE® andhome play.BROW-RAISERS IIA brilliantly organized studyguide geared towards thesuccess of beginning andintermediate players.THE CHAMPION’SSTRATEGY FORWINNING ATSCRABBLE® BRANDCROSSWORD GAMEA guide from North AmericanSCRABBLE® Champion JoelWapnick. Out of print, butavailable sometimes atAmazon.com and on disc.Note: New words not included.ENGLISH LANGUAGEWORD BUILDERBob Jackman’s guide tobuilding a strong Collinsvocabulary, organized by wordlength, familiarity, and part ofspeech.EVERYTHINGSCRABBLE®, THIRDEDITIONThe ultimate guide to winning atSCRABBLE@ by 3-timeNational Champion Joe Edleyand John D. Williams, Jr.Completely updated to includeall new words. (See review inS C R A B B L E R E S O U R C E Sthe January issue of The Lastword.)THE OFFICIALSCRABBLE® PLAYERSDICTIONARY, FOURTHEDITIONThe official word source forSchool SCRABBLE® andcasual play.THE OFFICIALTOURNAMENT ANDCLUB WORD LIST, 2NDEDITIONThe official word source forNASPA tournament and clubplay.SCRABBLE®TOURNAMENT & CLUBWORD LIST (COLLINS)The official word list forinternational tournament play.(Available at SamTimer.com.)SCRABBLE®WORDBOOKA great word book forSCRABBLE® players by MikeBaron. OSPD4 words. (POOLists available with wordsexcluded from the OWL2.)76

AUGUST TOURNAMENTSBerkeley CA 8/1Laguna Woods CA 8/1T O U R N A M E N T C A L E N D A RNational SCRABBLE® Championship (Dallas TX) 8/7-11World Players Championship (Dallas TX) 8/13-16Bayside NY 8/14Bluffton SC 8/14-15 (WGPO)Tampa FL 8/14Guelph ON CAN 8/15Mountain View CA 8/15 (WGPO)WESTBerkeley CA 8/1Laguna Woods CA 8/1Mountain View CA 8/15Sherwood OR 8/22MIDWESTIndependence OH 8/21-22Minneapolis MN 8/21-22Flint MI 8/28-29NORTHEASTBayside NY 8/14Dover DE 8/28-30Edmonton AB CAN 8/21Independence OH 8/21-22Minneapolis MN 8/21 & 22 (WGPO)Stratford ON CAN 8/21Vancouver BC CAN 8/21Lexington KY (LCT--restricted) 8/22 (NASPA & WGPO)Pagosa Springs CO (unrated) 8/22-27Sherwood OR (WGPO) 8/22Dover DE 8/28-30Durham NC 8/28Flint MI 8/28-29Fort Lauderdale FL 8/28SOUTHBluffton SC 8/14-15Tampa FL 8/14Lexington KY 8/22Durham NC 8/28Ft. Lauderdale FL 8/28SOUTHWESTNational SCRABBLE® Championship(Dallas TX) 8/7-11World Players Championship (Dallas TX)8/13-16Pagosa Springs COCANADAGuelph ON 8/15Edmonton AB 8/21Stratford ON CAN 8/21Vancouver BC CAN 8/21Toronto ON CAN 8/28-29 77

SEPTEMBER TOURNAMENTSPortland OR 9/3-6Alpharetta GA 9/4-6Irving TX 9/4-6Portland ME 9/4-6Laguna Woods CA 9/5Albuquerque NM 9/10-12Bayside NY 9/11Fort Lauderdale FL 9/11Hudson OH 9/11-12Portland OR (COLLINS) 9/11Tampa FL 9/11Berkeley CA 9/12Guelph ON CAN 9/12Independence OH (LCT) 9/14Mountain View CA 9/19Philadelphia PA 9/19Ridgefield CT (School SCRABBLE®) 9/19T O U R N A M E N T C A L E N D A REastern Mediterranean Cruise/Holy Land Cruise(NASPA & WGPO) 9/22-10/5Charleston SC “GRITS” (UNRATED) 9/23-26Toronto ON CAN 9/24-26Fort Lauderdale FL 9/25Portland vs. Seattle, Seattle WA (Restricted TCC) 9/25Regina SK CAN 9/25-26York PA 9/25Rhinebeck NY (WGPO) 9/26WESTPortland OR 9/3-6Laguna Woods CA 9/5Portland OF (COLLINS) 9/11Berkeley CA 9/12Mountain View CA 9/19Portland vs. Seattle WA 9/25MIDWESTHudson OH 9/11-12Independence OH (LCT) 9/14NORTHEASTPortland ME 9/4-6Bayside NY 9/11Philadelphia PA 9/19Ridgefield CT (School SCRABBLE®) 9/19York PA 9/25Rhinebeck NY 9/26SOUTHAlpharetta GA 9/4-6Fort Lauderdale FL 9/11Tampa FL 9/11Charleston SC 9/23-26Fort Lauderdale FL 9/25SOUTHWESTIrving TX 9/4-6Albuquerque NM 9/10-12CANADAGuelph ON 9/12Toronto ON 9/24-26Regina SK 9/25-26CRUISESEastern Mediterranean Cruise/Holy LandCruise 9/22-10/578

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