2016 Canadian School SCRABBLE Invitational

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Commentary: Round 1

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Go to: Before the Tournament, Round 1, Round 2, Round 3, Award Ceremony, Final Round 1, Final Round 2.

Round 1

Early on in the game between Lucas & David BWMR (Bowmore) and Jack & Jamie WSWD (Westwood), I see BAILErS for 67. It turned out to be a real squeaker of a win for Jamie & Jack, 396-394.

At a nearby table, ALIASEs for 78 went down by Evan & Ben BWMR (Bowmore) vs. Victoria & Paneet FLCR (Fletcher's).

Lucas & David BWMR (Bowmore) played the fun ORIEnTS for 62.

I catch ENRAISE* on a board: one that got by!

Eric & Evan JMNR (Jack) pulls out a win vs. Kiran & Gurleen FLCR (Fletcher's). They point to UrINOSE for 66 as part of the winning plan.

I see five challenges (at least) in an in-progress game between Zoe & Mireille BWMR (Bowmore) and Harman & Navroop FLCR (Fletcher's). SCARrED stands out for 71.

Right as these five games wrapped up, the directors, Vera Bigall & Sue Trembley, helped the students set up the room for the next activity!

Simultaneous SCRABBLE Exhibition match

The School SCRABBLE teams vs. Matthew Tunnicliffe, North American SCRABBLE champ, all at the very same time.

Ten games were set up in one half of the playing room, each pair of students on the same side of their tables, primed and ready to play Matthew. He got to go first in each game and helpers scurried around to draw tiles for him after he played. My favorite tile drawer was Liam Chew (he put the tiles on upside down, backwards, and sideways!). Gary Sagara, Mad Palazzo, Sue Trembley, and I tried to straighten them and put them in alphabetical order so that when he approached, he had less tidying to do. The students he played had more game responsibilities. They had to keep score for both sides and count Matthew’s plays for him (he had other games to play while they did that!). The cards were stacked against Matthew. He would play, and then leave the game. Once his opponents played their play, they hit his clock (while he wasn’t there) and raised their hands to signal that he should come back and either approve/challenge their play so they could draw replacement tiles. So, much of the time, Matthew’s clock was running down at all of the tables, because he could only be at each table for a few seconds. He challenged a few phonies: I caught SUD*. He played numerous bingos, and managed to keep up quite well. But we had started the exhibition a bit late and in order to give the students a small lunch break, the games were called before they ended (some were close to done). The student teams got to make the last play so that there were even turns and tiles on racks were NOT counted against the players. When the smoke cleared, Matthew won 8, tied 1, and outright lost one. Of the loss, he had a 10-point overtime charge, so he lost by 17, but even without those 10 points, they beat him by 7!

Some observations of the cacophony:

Matthew approached his game with Jack & Jamie WSWD (Westwood), looked at his rack, and said, “I have a word and no place to put it.” I contemplate his rack: IOLNRST. I was JUST about ready to see the word when he flashed me a pity smile and said, “NOSTRIL won’t go down.” Two turns later, he found reLOANED for a bunch of points. As the letters were played, I heard Jamie say, “What?!” I don’t think he meant he wanted to challenge, either! After John announced that everyone was going to get one last play, Matthew found and slapped down DINGUSES through the first S for 74. That put the nail in the coffin of that game! Matthew’s win by 178 points.

The tie was to Lucas & David BWMR (Bowmore), the first team to get a bingo down against Matt. They played sTONIER. Midway through their game, Liam drew out Matthew’s replacement tiles: ILRSTT?. He arranged the tiles and found TILTeRS. He excitedly watched Matthew find and play another bingo instead: LITTeRS.

Against Karanvir & Aayam FLCR (Fletcher's), Matthew played DENTINE, hooking to make MAWN for 71. Later on he got down DIOPTER, hooking the D to CADDIE for CADDIED. The champ’s win by 175.

The game Matthew lost was to Eric & Evan JMNR (Jack). They pointed to their PLaNETS for 78 and WIFE on the triple for 45 as reasons for their 251-234 win. There were no Matthew bingos in that game.

Against Kiran & Gurleen FLCR (Fletcher's), I caught Matt’s bEWAILED to the D for 86.

Perhaps the prettiest board, and the one that Global Television’s camera was focusing on the most, was the game between Matthew and Evan & Ben BWMR (Bowmore). Early on, Matt got down oPAQUES for 91. Later on, Matt played REINJECT and the kids added an ED: REINJECTED. The last play: Matthew’s DRUIDIsM for 76! Matthew won by 235.

Against Karanvir & Aayam FLCR (Fletcher's), Matt played INNERVED to the D for 76. His win by 175

Team Michael & Jack BRWN (Brown) had Matt play BASINET on the triple, hooking to make AERIES for 86.

Another play by Matt: DURIANS for 67. I heard Sue explaining to the students what a durian was and how is smelled: awful!

In his game with Kiran & Gurleen FLCR (Fletcher's) Matt played DYNAMItE for 77. The girls later got down SNOUTIER for 76. His win by 83 points.

Victoria & Paneet FLCR (Fletcher's) had an early bingo of OMIcRONS for 89 by Matthew. He won that game by 190.

Matthew found the whole thing to be a workout and he admits the kids made him sweat. He enjoyed the format despite being a bit overwhelmed. He remembers one team challenging his FRUITER, a challenge they lost.

Other phonies he reported calling off: TAH*, HULU* and LOH*.

Overall, he was impressed with students’ word knowledge and gives a particular shout out for the natural bingo SNOUTIER. It was a “good find.” Other plays he admired: the natural AZINE, as it is not common. He thought the two-letter-word knowledge was great and there was numerous clever overlap plays.

While reflecting on himself as a player, Matthew admitted he was not a speed SCRABBLE player. Some experts play terrifically fast and he is a more thoughtful player. He noticed this about himself when he held the rack CHSTEIO and there were four tiles to play through: ORTS. He admits he took, at most, 10 seconds or so per play to keep things moving. On this rack, he thinks he took nearly 30 seconds, just searching. He gave up and played off an O (he later looked it up and saw no plays, phew). As he noodles over the rack, I hear him say, “Almost OSTRICHES...”