Go to: Early Bird Commentary Games Players Photos tsh Reports
... Scoreboard (A B C D CSW) Standings Prizes

Back to NSC 2012 Live Coverage

NSC 2012 Commentary: Round 24

[ ]

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 24

A five-game losing streak has been reversed, and in fine fashion! Jason Broersma (Caledon ON) defeated Jill Heffner (Longwood, FL) this round, 487-275. He played a bingo-bango-bongo-bungo (which I just made up!) for playing FOUR bingos in a row! And they were all naturals, too! Some fantastic rack management skills, Jason :). They were: ABSOLUTE for 77, LOCKERS for 81, MOORING for 70, and DESTAINS for 60. Two plays later, as if to punctuate it all, he played OUTRACeD for 68. Jill started strong with ADDAX for 44.

Chris Canik (Austin, TX), who record has just shot up to 20-4, had a monster win this game, 503-296. Poor Mark Garrod (East Lansing, MI). I come to his worst games! While Mark did get down RAIDERS, it was all Chris: ACQuIT down the triple for 51 (nonbingo), uNRaTED, CLOTTER, and MEGARON.

Eliza Lieberman (Charlotte, NC) is delighted. Now at 6.5 wins, she had a 130-point non triple-triple. SQUARES went down the triple lane, but made enough points with only one triple.

Sandy Nang (Malibu, CA) vs. Mark Kenas (Madison, WI), game in progress: NAYWARDS#, AGOUTIES, TINEiDS, NEOTENY, and STAIDLy are on their board. 553-271, Mark's win.

Martin DeMello (San Francisco, CA) confesses that he let Emanuel Chicoine (Montreal QC) get way with FERRIATE* in their game. Then each of them tried to hook it, once with a D and once with an S and then they realized the problem! Martin said he lost by 200 and was shaking his head and smiling.

Marcia Richards (Centreville, VA) had her crack at Brian Bowman (Villa Hills, KY) this round and lost, 383-450. Marsh got away with the fun NARTJE* and Brian shrugged and said he got to play a bingo, so it was no big deal. I see OESTRIN, ENGIRDS, UPSTATE, jACKING, and the fun LUmPILY which front hooked to create UREDIA.

415-380, Mark Rosenberg (Atlantic City, NJ) over Adam Ginzberg (Swarthmore, PA). I see AUDiNGS, DETINUE, and the fun COONTIES, this last one played by Mark for 83.

So, about that fantastic SWITCHEROO play from division 4 earlier today. Two things. 1. Sam Masling (Washington, DC) is coached by Stefan Fatsis (Washington, DC) who is so proud of the two students he brought here, he could just burst. 2. Sam learned SWITCHEROO from reading Word Freak. I'm sorry I failed to mention this earlier. Continued good luck to Sam.

Jackson Smylie (Toronto ON) had a big win this round against Visan Vongthanasunthorn (Thailand), 469-358. All I can glean is that Jackson got down MONGOOSe and ADZING.

Amalan Iyengar (Chapel Hill, NC) could not be happier: he's won 10 straight games! Way to go!

On the opposite end of the luckbox continuum lies Chris Lipe (Rome, NY) who of this last round said, "I lost by 300. I played to phonies in a row. Perhaps this isn't a good idea?"

Cheryl Allen-Munley (Tewksbury, NJ) deserves an award, some have suggested for "best strategic play." We were all given lovely linen-like tilebags with this event's logo on front. The problem: quality control failed us and you can see dark lettered tiles through the bags. So, it has been suggested that they would make lovely tea cozies. Anyway, Cheryl had a strapless dress she wanted to wear today, but she was worried that it might not, as we say, hold up. So, s he removed the string from her "tea cozy" and sewed it to the front of her dress on either side, looped around the back of her neck. Now her dress is held up, it matches perfectly, and is a most "strategic" play.

Eric, the game designer of the EA electronic SCRABBLE game is outside the ballroom with a table set up. He's looking for feedback on the game. He's got his iPhone and iPad all set up, too. Good news: a new iPad version is due to be released sometime around late September, so those of us who like using our iPads in the landscape position will be happy!

Alan Stern (Shadow Hills, CA) had a 607-334 win against Mason Shambach (Battle Creek, MI) this round. He opened with RAINEr for 64 and Mason replied with FITTABLE as a 102 point double-double through the A. I see Alan's INVITERS from the I to the triple for 80 and Mason's STICKLER from the S for 107. Lastly, Alan's ENDORSOR to the R for 80.

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.