Welcome to the Jerusalem Scrabble Club
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Director: Elana Simons, 054 220 6238, elanalibby@gmail.com
THIS WEEK AT THE CLUB
Season 80, Week 17 of 25 – November 28, 2023
The lack of running water at the club this week was stoically accepted by members, who wisely avoided the coffee/tea urn. Elana announced that, as usual, there will be a Scrabble session during Chanukah – though as noted last week, the tournament customarily held during the festival will take place later in the winter.
Members sent heartfelt condolences to Josh on the passing of his older brother, Dan, in North Carolina. May his memory be for a blessing. Mazal tov to Peta on the birth of her latest grandson.
Among the many enticements of Scrabble is the fact that you never know what effect each turn will have on the board. Steve, who played UMIAC, a type of open skin boat – acceptable also in NWL18 are umiak, umiaq, oomiac and oomiak! – also saw Chani add -IER to his ZOO to reach a triple word. Nothing unusual about that. But then she did it again, extending his FRONT with the same suffix and again reaching the triple. Richard has something to add about the importance of word extensions: “There was nothing special about my HAIR – until Pamela appended LINES to it down to the double word and won the game.”
Yaakov, facing Pamela, knotted his brow over QUIPU, a Peruvian Indian word meaning “to knot,” but didn’t challenge it. “She put the Q on a triple letter, then hooked to a U already on the board. I didn’t know the word and it looked wrong, but I figured that she wouldn’t put that last U down for just three extra points if she wasn’t sure of the word.” May was also happy she decided discretion was the better part of valour. “I almost played UNSTOIC and UNEROTIC; neither is good.” She might, of course, have got away with them – or not. ElanaS played UNTRAIN and wasn’t challenged, her opponent looking ahead to a good bingo opportunity.
Dahlia’s rack was AERBLIN. “There was an open G and a place to hook a 7-letter word. The options I considered were INABLER, RINGABLE, BLEARING, and REABLING. I didn’t choose the one valid option [BLEARING, making dim or indistinct], nor did my opponent challenge RINGABLE.”
JudyM’s penultimate rack was IIGIIOO. “It helps,” she commented afterwards, “to have a strong stomach in Scrabble.”
What is the correct way to draw tiles? To exchange them? Scrabble has rules for these and other actions that we should all be aware of to ensure that our games continue pleasurable and conflict-free. To that end, Chani will be reviewing Scrabble’s rules over the coming weeks.
If you missed the opportunity to communicate your hilite in person at the club you can email it to judymo@netvision.net.il or WhatsApp it (054-5552355) up until noon the following day. If you wish to mark any occasion by bringing refreshments to the club, please check with Susan up to a week in advance.
WWW: DavidS, Rena
WOW: PTOMAINE, RABATOS (DavidS)
PHOW: RINGABLE (Dahlia), OESTRINE (Steve)
High Win, High Loss, High Triple:
A: 510 (Joel), 390 (Steve), 1479 (DavidS)
B1: 504 (Elana), 390 (Nechama), 1201 (Elana)
100-pt play: None recorded
Attendance: 24