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NSC 2012 Commentary: Round 16

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Go to: Before the Tournament, Round 1, Round 2, Round 3, Round 4, Round 5, Round 6, Round 7, Round 8, Round 9, Round 10, Round 11, Round 12, Round 13, Round 14, Round 15, Round 16, Round 17, Round 18, Round 19, Round 20, Round 21, Round 22, Round 23, Round 24, Round 25, Round 26, Round 27, Round 28, Round 29, Round 30, Round 31, After the Tournament.

Round 16

Kate says: I'm getting better at rack stalking without being disruptive, so I decided to look around for interesting ways that people put their tiles on their racks. Most people have them all oriented properly, but there are definitely a few with upside down and sideways tiles. A lot of players put tiles in alphabetical order, but it's more interesting when they make fake words, like these: EAG I WON, GIRLARS, OOHLI?E, ARMARIA, YOD OVEN, SHAG OD Q, OI GRIMY, POO I USE.

Eight turns in, Brian Galebach (Columbia, MD) vs Adam Ginzberg (Swarthmore, PA), I see FURBELOW, NEGATES, STANHOpE and ALIUNDE on the board already.

In Division 4, Ron Barker (Boise, ID) finds MILTiEr, but Betty C McDaniel (Sicklerville, NJ) has the nice snapback bingo, UNAWARE. But, Ron also got PRAISES and SNIGGLE, and won with a close 413-396.

Jerry Scheiten (Buffalo, NY) came by the table to tell us a story about his "unlucky round 13" game. Arthur Finkle (Coral Gables, FL) played PLANTON* against him, and he held for a long time. Intimidated, he let it go. Jerry caught up over the course of the game, and when it's close at the end, Arthur hooked LOSER to make PLANTONS*. Jerry holds again, but ends up talking himself out of challenging, and goes on to lose the game. He probably won't forget that one in the future.

Sherrie:

"Hi Carl, whatcha doing done so early?" I ask Carl Johnson (Beaverton, OR). He says, "Oh, Nigel clocked me quickly this round." I am about to ask "which Nigel" when I decide to just not bother. It wasn't a blowout, and Carl only lost 420-511, but I guess it was how he lost. Nigel played INVADES and the bingo-bango-bongo: LABOURS, NITRIDED, and TEMPLAR. Then, holding EEEEOXN, he got down EOCENE through the C, leaving himself EX and then promptly, on the very next turn, slapped down EX for 50 points parallel to his last play. Carl said, "I was wondering what he was up to and then I SAW what he was up to... " I'm sure Carl did something to earn that 420 but he just waved me off.

Katya Lezin (Charlotte, NC) cracks me up. She said, "Oh, you know that game you watched a bit of last round? The one against Stephen Henney (Canton, MI)?" I nodded and she said, "I can still show you the bruises on my backside from the whopping he gave me. And, if I ever needed to be reminded about bad assumptions, it was this game. I went into it thinking, hey he is about 67th in the division, how dangerous can he be? Well, after I lost my THIRD challenge, I decided this guy knows his stuff!" Kristen Chew joined in the hilarity and I said, "Yeah, I figured there was something up about him, too, when Joe Edley (Port Jefferson, NY) said to me last night, 'I can't go to the director reception, I have to meet up with Stephen Henney (Canton, MI), he is helping with my new game design.'". So, Stephen, here's to the fact that now everyone knows you mean business! Continued good luck in the event and may you get many more opportunities to buy tea for Joe!

TAble 1, division 3, Mark Garrod (East Lansing, MI) vs. Cheryl Allen-Munley (Tewksbury, NJ). I see INTERNS, PLUNGER, and DELeTES on the board (this last one played by Cheryl in front of me). Other fun words: TOYON, OHMIC, and ACINI.

Brian Bowman (Villa Hills, KY) vs. Steve Polatnick (Miami, FL): BLOODIEr, RAKINGS#, and MUTATION.

David Koenig (Silver Spring, MD) vs. Sam Kantimathi (Sacramento, CA): FLOODING, WASTABlE, GRAPHITE, NODaLITY, VULGATE, and PYXIE on the board. David's win, 457-324.

Caroline Polak Scowcroft (Australia) is at this NSC all the way from down under. She tells me that she visited with her daughter in San Franciso and after here she's on her way to see a friend in Washington, DC, then to Winnepeg where she'll be working on a masters degree in disability studies. She looked at me and said, "What I'm really doing is this. I became 'voluntarily homeless' a couple years ago so I could travel and engage in activism on health care for consumers." Caroline lost her husband to a lung disease and she seeking to educate all about preventable lung health.

While sitting at her table and chatting, I saw a pack of gum and asked if I could have a piece. She said it wasn't her's and nodded that I could. From my right side came Jeremy Hildebrand (Ottawa ON), Caroline's next opponent. He said, "sure have some, but beware, we've decided it is terrible. At first it tastes like toothpaste, but before long you realize it tastes like the insides of a hospital." I laughed so hard, I nearly swallowed the gum!

Go to: Before the Tournament, Round 1, Round 2, Round 3, Round 4, Round 5, Round 6, Round 7, Round 8, Round 9, Round 10, Round 11, Round 12, Round 13, Round 14, Round 15, Round 16, Round 17, Round 18, Round 19, Round 20, Round 21, Round 22, Round 23, Round 24, Round 25, Round 26, Round 27, Round 28, Round 29, Round 30, Round 31, After the Tournament.