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NSC 2012 Commentary: Round 29

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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 29

The good news: [error: no such id: benjainbloom] is doing just fine today. The bumb on his forehead is almost gone! He promises it wasn't the fall's fault that he took his opponent's phony bingo this round, leading to a loss. Oh well.

Both Nigels won their games in the top row of games in division 1. Nigel Richards (Malaysia) defeated Jesse Day (Berkeley, CA). The game started with small choppy words: BAP, NOTA, JOW, but eventually exploded, as they always do.

Nigel Peltier (Portland, OR) defeated Dave Wiegand (Portland, OR), 503-360. I see Nigel's UNTWISt and CLEANERs. He said, "having the blanks really helps!" He points out Dave's nice find: APRAXIAs, a nonbingo to the As.

Rafi Stern (Seattle, WA) defeated Conrad Bassett-Bouchard (Piedmont, CA) this round. Their board, like the others up there, started small and closed. But what eventually won it for RAFI was DOOZY to the triple for 84. That will about it every single game! 431-357 for Rafi.

Rafi Stern (Seattle, WA) and Nigel Peltier (Portland, OR) grew up together in North Seattle and have been friends forever. Them both winning this round and both being in contention is great fun.

Jason Keller (Highland Park, NJ) won his game with Randy Greenspan (Delray Beach, FL) this round, 445-426. They were talking so intently, I just let them keep going with it.

This round, John Chew and I took the EA SCRABBLE software developer, Eric, and an editor at Merriam-Webster, Peter, around the playing room. We showed them how the lookup machines worked, how/why players track, how game scores are recorded, the process in which the information is processed and how it gets out onto the interwebs. Both men had iPhones out snapping shots, Peter asking if he could tweet what we showed him. Getting closer to the game as we play it was interesting for of them (or at least they politely told us it was).

[error: no such id: stefan] is in the hunt this morning. He squared off against Jackson Smylie (Toronto ON) this round and they TIED! I see Jackson's BOLEROS and while I watch, Stefan plays VENTURED from the V on the triple for 89. He also had played EMIRATE And STAnGED. Jackson opened with the fun MYNAH and JUPONS was on the board.

Adam Ginzberg (Swarthmore, PA) vs. Steve Anstandig (Commerce Township, MI). Early on, Steve tried KEITOLA* which Adam called off (he tells me it is KEITLOA, a simple transposition), but later got down CELlMATE for 62. I see Adam's SIENITE for 69 and he got down DATIVE with a bunch of overlaps for 47. Adam's win, 478-358.

Gunther Jacobi (Portland, OR) ends up losing to Alan Stern (Shadow Hills, CA) due to a triple-triple UNWISHEd though the W for 176! I see Gunther's THORPES and Alan's CREATINE played to the last E.

Sandy Nang (Malibu, CA) and Jim Lamerand (Chandler, AZ) walk up to the Collins-equipped Zyzzyva machine and look up GUIRE*. A no go.

I walk by the Sam Masling (Washington, DC) vs. Sylvia Polson (Montreal QC) game in progress. Early on, they have GLiSTER on their board. Long after the game finishes, Sam walks past my table wearing headphones. They must not have been on loudly because he heard me call his name. He came over and explained what unfolded in the game after he checked to make sure I had time. Polite kid, right? Anyway, they thought she won by two, but they launched into a recount and lucky for him, they both overscored her third play by 10 points. So, Sam ended up winning by 8.

On board 2, Amalan Iyengar (Chapel Hill, NC) vs. Bruno Aghedoh (Los Angeles, CA), I see OUTCRIES, ALERTInG, and GAIETIES.

Bob Lipton (Vero Beach, FL) vs. Geoff Thevenot (Austin, TX): OPERATE, BOUNTREE#, and ApOLOGIA. Game in progress.

I see Mark Kenas (Madison, WI) sitting on the sidelines tapping away on his computer, and he's really tapping. It turns out that Mark doesn't type, at all, so he just hits one button, the return key, to move through zyzzyva quizzes. He had another program he liked, but it only worked on his mac which died. I think John OLaughlin (Cambridge, MA) has to set it up for him again sometime!

Cliff Smith (Ballwin, MO) vs. Gary Perman (Blairsville, PA): OESTRAS and NEGRONIS are on the board. I study and see that Gary played HAJ one short of the triple. And then on his next turn, he played INTEREST on the triple and hooking to make HAJI for 97 points. Pretty play. 501-373, Gary's win.

Matt Canik (Austin, TX) thought he'd won this game, 404-403, but when opponent Karl Higby (Schenectady, NY) launched into a recount, they found a few mistakes. It ended up a 408-404 for Karl after they were done. Tough way to lose.

Sharmaine Farini (Toronto ON) tells me about playing Vivienne Muhling (Toronto ON). There were only four tiles left in the bag: CU??. Sharmaine played two tiles and drew two replacement tiles. She got the CU. What are the odds of this she wants to know? To not get at least ONE of those blanks! She lost the game, 258-352.

Well we now know, for this one round, that the Wordbook by Mike Baron (Corrales, NM) is mightier than Bob's Bible by Robert Gillis (Owens X Roads, AL). Mike defeated Bob this round, 424-267.

Our first champion is determined: Chris Canik (Austin, TX) sewed up his division 3 1st place spot this round, grats Chris! He'll be Gibsonized for the next two rounds. He played [error: no such id: artmoore] and I saw THIEVERY, and NAILSET on their board.

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.