Politickles

596! That’s what I scored in computer Scrabble minutes ago. Beat my inhuman nemesis, Maven, by over 250 points. Played five seven/eight-letter words: reliers, earrings, seamiest, foreign, toadying. Ah, but he got the last laugh. He knows I’m dying to break 600 — and he kept me from doing so by going out when I had one tile left (a T). I had 597. All I needed was one more turn to play that T. There were multiple places I could have played it, any one of which would have put me over the elusive 600. But no, Maven had to go  out!

I came within one turn of breaking 600 last year, too, right about this time, so  I guess I’ll have to wait a whole nother year for my next big chance.

I almost broke 600 the other day, playing computer Scrabble! I made four seven-letter words — one on a triple, triple — for a total of 378 points in four plays! I had 598 and four letters left (cing) when Maven played an eight-letter word and went out and I lost 7 points. Final score: 591-410. Dang! I’ve been trying to break 600 for years. My highest score before this was 569. I was two points away! It was so close! Does your heart bleed for me?

Played a helluva game with Maven last week: seven bingos between us! Three for him, four for me, for a final score of 516-487 and a combined total of over 1000 points!

Alan discusses Scrabble letter distribution

I was playing Scrabble on the computer recently (the wife won’t play me anymore) and losing 250 to 343, with one play left, but found a seven-letter word (treated) — and, finally, a place to play it — and made 74 points. Still, I was 19 points behind. Luckily, “Maven” the electronic Scrabble brain had 10 points’ worth of letters left on his rack. He lost ten, I gained 10. Final score: 334-333, my favor.

I couldn’t wait to inform my old pal Alan, fellow copywriter at a New Orleans ad agency back in the early 1980s. Many’s the time we played Scrabble during lunch and I came from behind with a bingo on the last turn, snatching victory from the jaws of defeat and exasperating a worthy opponent. How sweet it was!

Maven Blunders Again!

Hard Cheese on Maven!

Death to Maven!

I’m beginning to wonder about Maven’s learning curve. Sure, he’s the nearly infallible inhuman brain behind computer Scrabble, but he just doesn’t seem to understand what a bad idea it is to play into the outer rows and columns between the triple word scores.  You may recall how I exploited this faux pas twice before — playing stodgier for a triple-triple bingo and 131 points, and muenster for 149.

Well, you’re not going to believe this, but Maven’s blundered again. This past Sunday, he played a seven-letter word into the bottom row between the two triple-word scores and set me up for credible — 167 points in a single turn!

Maven never got within a hundred points of me after that,  but I failed to score as high as I might have, because my opponent, who doubles as the referee, disallowed my second bingo: caponise. It’s okay for him to use British variant spellings whenever he pleases — including bizarre Burnsian dialect –  but not me, apparently.

Ah, well! When you play with cheaters, you just have to beat them by a wider margin.

Maven, the virtually infallible brain of computer Scrabble, blew it again today. It was near the end of the game: I had played two bingos (vinegar and clenched) and was leading by more than 100 points, but Maven closed the gap with a bingo of his own (pigtails). Unfortunately, for him, the s landed in the far right column between the two triple-word scores, which set me up for a triple-triple, eight-letter bingo. I played muen[s]ter, for 149 points, finishing the game with a mind-boggling 569 (to his 451)! Despite his Spockian lack of emotion, I could tell that Maven was completely demoralized.

"soldier" would have been an excellent word to play for Veterans Day

Maven, the virtually infallible brain of computer Scrabble, made a big mistake yesterday. On his second turn, he played a horizontal word starting with g in the far left column, halfway between the two triple-word scores, setting me up for a triple-triple, eight-letter bingo (9x the total point value, plus 50 for the bingo). I played stod[g]ier, for 131 points in a single turn! Take that Maven! Humans rule!