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I was browsing in a bookstore today, and saw that there's a new 2005 edition of the Scrabble dictionary! It's the 4th edition, and now has words like "qi" and "za." Mmmm...
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Hey! A friend of mine who I haven't talked to in ages once told me about a Scrabble championship story but didn't remember the words involved. The game started, first player immediately played a word using all 7 of his letters and said something smug. He was sure he'd won because by emptying his tray the other player would only get one turn and the game would then be over. The second player smiled and also played a 7 letter word-- directly below the one on the board so that there were two 7-letter words going horizontally and seven 2-letter words going vertically.
So, scrabble geeks: Is this story true and can anyone tell me what those words were?
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Why would that have ended the game? Bingoing doesn't end the game -- it just gets you a hefty bonus, neh?
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It doesn't? It's been years since I've actually played scrabble, but I thought if somebody bingoed (I didn't remember the term before) everyone else playing had one turn left to get points. I definitely bow to your knowledge on this, though.
But now since I'm wrong, I'm curious: What DOES end a game of scrabble? Does it go until none of the players can actually make a word?
Oh, and thanks for the words! That is the kind of trivia I love even for subjects I'm not a total geek on.
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In the online version I play at us.bugcafe.net, it's either when someone clears their rack AND there are no more tiles in the bag to refill with, or when neither player can make a move for two consecutive turns (i.e. 4 passes total)
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quote:The high individual score was obtained in a 1993 California tournament by Mark Landsberg, who scored 770 against his opponent's 338. (In a Malta club in 1986, Godfrey Magri Demajo scored 792 using OSPD; the UK club record is Peter Preston's 793, in 1999 using OSW; the UK tournament record is 785, by Jackie McLeod in 2002 under SOWPODS; in a 2002 SOWPODS tournament in Australia, Joan Rosenthal scored 750; in a 1993 Auckland, New Zealand, club game, John Foster scored 763; Evan Cohen scored 738 in Israel.) (Nick Ballard scored 792 at a Chicago club, but used 4 phony bingos, and did not report it. Australians generally agree not to count Edward Okulicz's 750 in 2004 against an uncooperative opponent.)
The high combined score of 1111 was achieved in Los Angeles club in 2001, by Ira Cohen and Bruce D'Ambrosio, 653-458. (The UK record of 1082 was reached by Helen Gipson and David Webb in 2000. The Australian, 1055, by Roger Blom and Carmel Dodd in 2000, and the Zambian by Aaron Chong and Pui Cheng Wui at 1106 (including 25 points in 5-point-challenge credits).)
The highest losing score of 539 was achieved or suffered by Joel Sherman of New York in a 2001 California tournament. (In New Zealand, John Foster has lost with 513, and in the UK, Stewart Holden lost with 511 in a 2004 tournament.)
The high margin of victory including phonies was by Ken Lambe of Michigan, who scored 716 versus his opponent's 147, using a single phony.
The high single turn, 338 points, was achieved in a club game by Jeff Widergren of California. (Randy Amatoeng scored 374 in Ghana, Magri Demajo 392 in Malta in 1986, Neil Talbot 347 in a Wellington, New Zealand club in 2003, Marjorie Smith 320 points in a Nottingham, England tournament in 1998, and Wilma Whiteford 329 in a Hillcrest, South Africa, club in 2004.) The high opening turn, 124 for BEZIQUE, was reached both by Sam Kantimathi of California in a 1993 Oregon tournament and Joan Rosenthal of New South Wales in 1997.
Longest consecutive opening sequence of bingos by one player: Jeremiah Mead of Massachusetts played five in a 1989 North American championship tournament game; Robert Felt did the same in the 1990 Nationals, Joseph Levine of California in a 1996 club game, Lou Cornelis of Ottowa in a 1995 club game, and Devonna Gee (using one phony) in the 1996 Nationals. In Australia, Muriel Berman did so in a 1993 club game, and John Holgate in a 2003 tournament.
Most bingos by one player is believed to be six, reached numerous times, such as by Adam Logan, Sam Kantimathi and Mike Wolfberg in the US, and Anne Drew, Andrew Fisher, Bob Jackman and Karen Richards in Australia; the most by both players combined is eight, by Craig Rowland and Shaun Goatcher in a 1999 Toronto club game, and by Steven Saul and Joel Horn in a 2004 Massachusetts club game.
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