Will's nationals roundup

I played in Division 3 this year. In 2007 at Dayton, I was in Division 5 of 5; last year in Orlando, I was in Division 4 of 6. Movin' up!

I was seeded 52 out of 128, but I had high aspirations. My rating had climbed significantly in the past year, and my two most frequent opponents, Matthew and Tyler, were both rated 1600, and I usually was competitive in those games. Plus, just before I left for Dayton, Matthew gave me a pep talk that had me thinking I could slay a bear with my hands.

Alas, it was not to be. I had a terrific start; after Game 2, I was in third place by virtue of two blowout wins. The second game was one of my tourney highlights: My opponent drew the bag on me, yet I cruised to victory.

After Day 1, I was 5-2 and in 14th place. After that, though, I went 8-16 for the rest of the tournament to finish at 13-18 and in 102nd place.

There were fun moments. I renewed acquaintances with Scrabble friends and made new ones. Steve and Tyler were terrific travel companions, and as Steve mentioned, our after-hours games of Anagrams were a hoot.

Among my tourney highlights: I played a nine, RECOALING, for the first time that I can remember. Better yet, it withstood a challenge. I played two bingoes – AERONAUT and EATERIES – from my list of five-vowel eights. My high play was ALBEDOS for 95 through a triple-word score, hooking the S to make DEMOTIONS. That play drew a challenge as well. That was the same game in which I plated EATERIES, and it was my high game of the tournament: 503 p0ints. On the low end, I had two sub-300 games. I had a total of 32 bingoes in 31 games, which tells me that either I missed quite a few bingoes or I didn't manage my rack well. Or both. My opponents played 45 bingoes. That's probably my worst ratio ever in a tournament.

Here are some other stats:

My plays challenged – good: DOMICAL, ROOTAGES, STOT, ALBEDOS, ULCERATE, SARDINED, RECOALING,

My plays challenged – no good: EMO, EDEN, OPA, (unrecorded), GREEKS, KINESIA,

Opponents’ plays challenged – good: NIDATING, SYN, KAES, TOPED, OVERSIDE,

Opponents’ plays challenged – no good: MH, SLEDLINE, SANDELS, ELUATED, DONABLE, WADINGS, SIZEY, (unrecorded), JANED, ARELATE,

My unchallenged phoney: DRAGO

Opponents’ unchallenged phoneys: EREPINES, SEMINOLES, WELTY

My bingoes:
DOMICAL, AERONAUT, ROOTAGES, LISTENER, AEROSATS, GREETERS, ENCASING, ADORERS, OUTLAST, ENSLAVED, MENACES, PENSIVE, ALBINOS, EATERIES, ALBEDOS, UNCAGES, ULCERATE, ATOMISE, DIABASE, SARDINED, ASSERTS, RECOALING, AGONIES, ANALYST, DARLING, GRIDDLE, CLOVERS, SNOWING, DARESAY, IGNEOUS, RONDELET, STANDER

Opponents’ bingoes:
STRAINED, RELIEVER, ISATINE, SLANDERS, DUMPIER, NIDATING, LOITERS, BEIGNETS, ENCASING, ADORERS, REGRADED, EREPINES*, WAISTERS, LACTONE, SENIORS, PASTIES, SQUAMAE, OVERSIDE, DEMOTION, SLEDDER, REIFIES, TAENIAS, OLEATES, ENTIRES, ENGRAVES, INOSITE, NEGATION, HURLERS, SOLATES, BRACING, FEDERATE, TRITONES, AERATING, TESTERS, ELOIGNED, SEMINOLE*, COMEDIAN, FALTERS, CONSUMES, ORIENTAL, STAMENS, TREHALA, TRAWLER, REISSUE, JAILERS