Wordsmith.org: the magic of words

Wordsmith Talk

About Us | What's New | Search | Site Map | Contact Us  

Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Page 1 of 3 1 2 3
#159592 05/08/06 05:08 PM
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526
veteran
OP Offline
veteran
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526
I'm 45 years old. I have been playing scrabble for some while, having been taught by my grandmother when I was about 5. Today, for the first time, I got to use a variant of my favorite word in a game of scrabble. I played 'obviated' as my first move (second of the game) for about 60 some-odd points. I played two bingos in this 6-6 minute game, but won on time.

#159593 05/09/06 01:21 AM
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Oh, isn't it so SATISFYING, when you finally get to do something you've been waiting for?? 'Fraid the closest I can come was saving letters for a big long play in Bookworm, and I can't even remember now what it was. So--what did you mean by bingos?

P.S.--I hate keeping score in Scrabble. My goal always is simply that all the letters be used, me helping my opponent if necessary.

#159594 05/09/06 10:38 AM
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Nemmine bingos. What's a 6-6 minute game?

#159595 05/09/06 12:10 PM
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819
A
Pooh-Bah
Offline
Pooh-Bah
A
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819
Maybe bingo is a general term for bonus squares like double word score, triple word score, double letter score, double martini* etc.



*Playboy edition of Scrabble(TM) 1978

#159596 05/09/06 01:30 PM
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526
veteran
OP Offline
veteran
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526


A bingo is using all your letters. I actually scored 216 or something like that (by bingoing across two triple word scores). It wasn't that long ago - maybe a month or so, but I can't recall what the word was. up till that time, when I read of people getting 200 (and 300!) point scores on a single word, I thought they were either exaggerating or were playing in cahoots somehow with their opponents or were simply misremembering (I do it all the time).

6-6 was meant to imply that each player has 6 minutes on his clock. I wasn't sure of the proper nomeclature to express the concept.

Last edited by TheFallibleFiend; 05/09/06 01:33 PM.
#159597 05/09/06 11:50 PM
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,549
Likes: 1
W
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
W
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,549
Likes: 1
For the hungry - seven-letter-placements (aka Bingos) are easier if you recycle the blanks, i.e. replace them on the board with a tile of the same letter from your rack, and then make your play. I partook once in a game in which the first five entries were bingos, and seven of the first nine, using that rule. Final score was roughly 595 to 398.

Regarding clocks: they're like chess clocks - two clocks actually, interconnected so that one starts when the other stops. Your clock runs while it's your turn, and then you push a button stopping yours and starting your opponent's. Not everyone uses them, especially in casual games.

#159598 05/10/06 01:37 AM
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
You can take blank tiles off the board and replace them with the letter??? Since when? Wow--that could make some subsequent plays so easy it seems almost like cheating.

#159599 05/10/06 03:04 AM
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Quote:

You can take blank tiles off the board and replace them with the letter??? Since when? Wow--that could make some subsequent plays so easy it seems almost like cheating.




I think that's a Rummicubes rule that someone decided would be *neat in Scrabble!

#159600 05/10/06 01:50 PM
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526
veteran
OP Offline
veteran
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526

"P.S.--I hate keeping score in Scrabble. My goal always is simply that all the letters be used, me helping my opponent if necessary. "

Keeping score is easy when you play online. I play at www.isc.ro. There are other sites with scrabble and scrabble-like games, though.

When I was younger, I never played to win - I played to get the coolest word. Of course grandma trashed me. I don't recall ever having beaten her. Perhaps I did, but I don't recall. I played an interesting foursome once. My wife is not a native English speaker. She got her BS in math from Berea college. Her sponsor in the US was the president of Berea College in KY. (In fact, this same man had been her father's teacher at Yale in China HS.) It was me, my wife, the president, and his wife. My wife and I were severely thrashed, but it was a pretty fun game, all the same.

I play to win now, and not to get the coolest word - though sometimes I just can't help myself. Mostly I just play for fun. I can't get into the nastiness. You beat someone - by luck or skill, it doesn't matter - and the first thing do is start cursing because you "cheated" or "used a program" or what have you. I've though perhaps I ought to adopt that philosophy - surely, NOBODY could possibly be THAT MUCH smarter than me, and ANYONE who beats me THAT badly, MUST BE CHEATING!

I figure there's a lot more crazy people walking the streets than there are in all the asylums in the world - and eventually they figure out a way to get on the net.

#159601 05/11/06 01:18 AM
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,549
Likes: 1
W
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
W
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,549
Likes: 1
You fight find interesting: Word Freak, by Stefan Fatsis. Not great literature, but entertaining, and provides some insight into the world of high-level Scrabble®.

#159602 05/11/06 03:34 AM
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Quote:

You fight find interesting: Word Freak, by Stefan Fatsis. Not great literature, but entertaining, and provides some insight into the world of high-level Scrabble®.




bingo!

#159603 05/11/06 08:32 PM
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,549
Likes: 1
W
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
W
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,549
Likes: 1
...and also post #78091, from 08/05/02 07:04 PM, and
post #97291, from 02/20/03 10:36 PM. (Someone may want
to convert these to links; I haven't the time right now.)

Seems to be a recurring theme here somewhere...

But you were the first!

#159604 05/12/06 11:52 AM
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526
veteran
OP Offline
veteran
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526
it's on my list.
thanks,
k

#159605 05/12/06 12:15 PM
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
And for those into crosswords puzzles, "Wordplay" is set to be released mid-June. It features my hero, Will Shortz, fellow cruciverbalist Merl Reagle, and assorted media stars and politicos:

http://imdb.com/title/tt0492506/

#159606 05/12/06 01:46 PM
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
IMDb? You mean Wordplay is a movie? And Will Shortz is going to be in it? Ooh, I'll finally get to see what that man/he-devil looks like!

#159607 05/12/06 03:05 PM
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636

#159608 05/12/06 03:20 PM
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Wait no more, Jackie. Here's a glimpse (it's a pretty awful picture but):

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5389295

Edit: Yikes! Well, now you have two, Jackie.

Last edited by AnnaStrophic; 05/12/06 03:22 PM.
#159609 05/12/06 09:39 PM
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636
Chopped liver links

Jimmy Dean paté

Braunschweiger

#159610 05/12/06 10:24 PM
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Oh, dear--not one to make my heart go pitter-pat, that's for sure! Ah well...the movie oughtta be good.

#159611 05/12/06 11:37 PM
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,549
Likes: 1
W
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
W
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,549
Likes: 1
Quote:

And for those into crosswords puzzles, "Wordplay" is set to be released mid-June. It features my hero, Will Shortz, fellow cruciverbalist Merl Reagle, and assorted media stars and politicos:

http://imdb.com/title/tt0492506/




He's not just active in crossword puzzles, and puzzle editor of the NYTimes, but also President of the National Puzzlers' League, a small but venerable organization with a nationwide membership of people of all ages, genders, and status whose unifying interest is devising and solving puzzles. Mostly but not exclusively word puzzles. Anyone here heard of them? Any members on this Board? I suspect there would be a sizable confluence of interests.

(I think I may have asked this very question a couple of years ago and noted a resounding silence in reply...but now it's a few years later)

#159612 05/12/06 11:59 PM
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819
A
Pooh-Bah
Offline
Pooh-Bah
A
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819
Last night we were playing Scrabble by candlelight* thanks to a power outage, and shortly after having learned the term "bingo" I scored my first ever bingo. The word was "students." Then on my very next play I got a second bingo with the word "salients."


*Grandma would NOT approve -- very hard to read the tiles

#159613 05/13/06 11:34 AM
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636
In my circle of Scrabble players, we refer to it as a premium word. I remember fondly my favorite one. I covered two triple word scores and went out with the word "friendly" to end the game

Last edited by consuelo; 05/13/06 11:35 AM.
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Yes, wofa, I've heard about it and read about it. It sounds absolutely wonderful, and I ran like heck away from it: I waste far too much time already!

Page 1 of 3 1 2 3

Moderated by  Jackie 

Link Copied to Clipboard
Forum Statistics
Forums16
Topics13,913
Posts229,351
Members9,182
Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
Newest Members
Ineffable, ddrinnan, TRIALNERRA, befuddledmind, KILL_YOUR_SUV
9,182 Registered Users
Who's Online Now
0 members (), 653 guests, and 1 robot.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Top Posters(30 Days)
Top Posters
wwh 13,858
Faldage 13,803
Jackie 11,613
wofahulicodoc 10,549
tsuwm 10,542
LukeJavan8 9,918
AnnaStrophic 6,511
Wordwind 6,296
of troy 5,400
Disclaimer: Wordsmith.org is not responsible for views expressed on this site. Use of this forum is at your own risk and liability - you agree to hold Wordsmith.org and its associates harmless as a condition of using it.

Home | Today's Word | Yesterday's Word | Subscribe | FAQ | Archives | Search | Feedback
Wordsmith Talk | Wordsmith Chat

© 1994-2024 Wordsmith

Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.5