She's Got a Nice Rack

So what do you think this article might be about? Hmm?

Well I went to Scrabble club last night. Because they didn't know I was coming (heck, it depended on the whim of a woman, how could I know what I was doing?) I ended up playing against players who were simultaneously playing someone else. First game was against S, who completely flogged me. I had a confusing rack for the whole game and scored small points a few times trying to make my letter mix a bit better but to no avail. I think the final score was about 440 to 300... which wasn't bad given that I didn't feel comfortable in the game.

Second game was against B who was recently ranked 10 in Queensland. That's pretty serious. I played first and opened with JIZ which I considered obscene but apparently it's some sort of wig. 39 points, I think it was. In comparison the game against S, my game against B was charmed. Maybe she was concentrating on her other game more, but she left triple word scores open for me, and I was nasty enough to close them off for her. I tell you what, those experienced Scrabble players are awesome the way they can put down an A and a T and make 4 words for a score of 42 points! In this game I got all of the good letters (J, Z, X, Q) and also made TRANSACTS for 72 points or so. B did really well with limited resources, so I managed to beat her about 360 to 300 I think. But before I get excited about beating a ranked player, I have to point out that I was using social rules which allow me to look in the dictionary. I never would have made ENARCH without the book's help. If only I could have made "ENARCHY" like I wanted to.

Third game was against T who gave me some Palm software (KDIC and LAMPWords) which are faster than looking in the book all the time. T was nice enough to point out that ZAX and ZEX are words (umm... a tool for making slate roof tiles I think) which was worth 4 billion points. Must remember DZO as well, that was good points on a triple word score. We weren't able to finish the game, what with all the software beaming, but T was well ahead when we called it. T made a comment about someone else having a nice rack which suggested the title of this article.

I really like Scrabble, but it's practically impossible to get it played at a games night. Maybe if I carried my set around I would get more takers. Maybe even against an opponent with a nice rack.

BTW, happy birthday to M who turns 76 today!

In other news... we suspect the problem with my PC is a blown-up power supply, but I want to test it with a known good one before I spend $A70 on a new one. And I forgot to post a link to Shingo's Critical Mass photos.