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NSSC 2008 Commentary: Round 1

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Go to: Before the Tournament, Round 1, Round 2, Round 3, Round 4, Round 5, Round 6, Final Round 1.

Round 1

Phenomenal: the overall level of play is just amazing! These kids can play! Within minutes, bingos were being slammed down all over the room. I went as fast as I could taking notes and I couldn't keep up! Channel 10, WJAR, the NBC affiliate here in Providence, plans on having event coverage on the 6 o'clock news tonight. The camera operator, deep into the games, looked over his shoulder at me and said, "If I can get it edited in time." I think he was having too much fun to leave!

Right before the games began, Joel Sherman (former National and World SCRABBLE Champion, perhaps better known as GI Joel) walked to the team from Randolph Middle School (NC) and said, "Have you read your Sherlock Holmes?" Intrigued I asked what that was referring to. He replied, "You mean you've never heard of 'The Red Headed League?'" The brother and sister duo have gorgeous red hair.

Park View Middle School Team 1 (RI) has a student who has made a fun fashion statement. Her hair, in two braids, is secured with teddy bear elastics. But the best thing is her bag. It is constructed entirely of colored duct tape! It is a very bright, very original-looking bag. It won't easily be confused for the black tote bags dotted around the room.

On a Scarsdale SCRABBLE Club (NY) vs. Thayer Public Library (MA) board, I see the round's first bingo: DaNGLeS for 72.

At table 20, Texas State Champions - Trinity Bend Christian School (TX) opened with FADEN* for 26 and their opponents, Park View Middle School Team 1 (RI), played CREATING through the A for 94.

Ruth Keeler Library Team 1 (NY)played JOShING for 87 against Northern Lincoln Elementary Team 3 (RI).

San Benancio Middle School (CA) vs. Janney Elementary School (DC): fEASTED for 74 goes down.

Evangelical Christian School Team 3 (TN) gets down INVERTS for 67 ver. Rising Star Montessori (GA), who played their own bingo, TAINTER* for 67.

I missed a higher-scoring play this round, but a nice one I did see was played by Lexington MA SCRABBLE Club No. 108 (MA) vs. Dover-Sherborn Middle School Team 2 (MA). The Lexington team played CAT, opening the board for rESIZED/SCAT for 128 points on their next turn!

I'm seeing some phonies this round for sure! I catch DOnNERS* for 71 in an Emerson Middle School Team 1 (CA) vs. Magnolia Sixth Grade Campus (TX) game.

My favorite team name this year is Scrabblettes (Homeschool) (TX). They played Atlanta Tucker Community Center (GA) this round and got down STRIPES for 78. The team from Atlanta played OUTRODE for 62, RESINATE for 70, and RANCHEs for 86. Their board was quite pretty. Not sure how it went down and who played what. But I see that QUIN was played, extended to QUINT, then QUINTS and finally sQUINTS when a bingo was hooked atop it! When I last checked, the team from Atlanta was ahead, 449-318.

At table 13, I see TRONNEL* for 68 in a game between Emerson Middle School Team 3 (CA) and Nichols Sawmill Elementary (TX).

I spot PIXElATE played through the T for 69! WOWSA. And while I stand watching, TALLIER/JOTA went down for 70. Both plays made by Evangelical Christian School Team 1 (TN) in a game with Lexington Montessori School Team 3 (MA).

I notice the Westport SCRABBLE Club (CT) team is not using the style of scoresheet provided by the organizers. The one put out for student use is double-sided with wide spaces to record the word/words played and ample space for adding scores written below the cumulative score from the turn before. This more spacious format helps prevent addition errors. The sheet used by Westport gives less space for the math, requiring writing smaller, but it also permits the team to keep score for a whole game on the same side of paper, which is sometimes preferred for those who want to see the whole game at a glance, not just the last few turns. Some School SCRABBLE games can go onto two scoresheets, both sides, because there are more short plays made, thus more plays overall. In expert games, each player gets in about 12 plays each (because they tend to play much longer words). School SCRABBLE games routinely yield about 50% more plays due to length of words played.

R.D. and Euzelle Smith Middle School Team 2 (NC) vs. Ridgefield Library Team 3 (CT). I see the latter's LOUSIER for 85 and STYLiST for 66. This second bingo came down because the turn earlier, Ridgefield played TRUT* for 8, permitting the S front hook to put down their bingo. Their opponents got down SNARLERS for 61.

Ruth Keeler Library Team 2 (NY) vs. Our Lady of Victory (MD) Team 4 (MD): EYELIdS for 80 down the triple and RESAVER* for 74. Not sure who played what...

Hopkinton Middle School Team 1 (MA) vs. Arizona Cactus-Pine Council Inc. Team 1 (AZ), 376-287, the team from Massachusetts wins. I see GRAdERS for 68 played by Hopkinton and their opponents play of QIS for 32.

Hampton Bays SCRABBLE Team Purple (NY) vs. Windham Nesmith Library (NH). I see RETARDS for 91 and AVERAGEd for 73.

Solomon Schechter Day School (Newton) Team 1 (MA) defeats Portledge (NY), 421-266. I see lANTERN for 62 for the winners and RUINING for 77 by Portledge.

Princeton Day School (NJ) vs. Our Lady of Victory (MD) Team 2 (MD). I see mIDDIES for 80.

Ridgefield Library Team 4 (CT) defeats Buckley Country Day (NY), 366-257. I spot the winner's lovely SLEAvING for 74.

We must wait for all paperwork to come in before we can pair the next round. And getting the paperwork in correctly this round was kinda rough. The problem was multifaceted, but totally understandable. Teams were asea in a "numbers" overload. Many were assigned team numbers if there was more than one of them from a school (such as ecs1 ecs2 ecs3, etc.), then they were assigned a table to sit at, then they were assigned a first or a second (in terms of which team went first or second), then we asked them to give us their final scores, and finally we required them to use a team number assigned to them only when the round 1 pairing went up. This number was not on their team scorecard nor on their name badges, rather a number we tossed out as pairings were posted in the lobby.

Ben took great care to explain all this prior to the game and event volunteers went from table to table to help spell it out, but still it was a mighty bouquet of random numbers when the slips started coming in. Now that most get the drill, I see ensuing rounds running more smoothly.

In School SCRABBLE each team gets 22 minutes in which to play their game, meaning that they can take as long as they want on any one particular play, but doing so means they need to pick up time by playing more quickly on other turns.