Welcome to the Jerusalem Scrabble Club

COME PLAY WITH US – VISITORS ALWAYS WELCOME!

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 Director: Elana Simons, 054 220 6238, elanalibby@gmail.com

 THIS WEEK AT THE CLUB

Season 85, Week 19 of 25 –August 4, 2026

Club members are trickling back to boost our numbers as they return from summer vacations in distant parts. We were delighted to see ElanaB after a long absence. She acquitted herself well despite “not playing any Scrabble in the interim.”

Judy played YOEMAN, which “I knew didn’t look right, but I got away with it.” It should, of course, have been YEOMAN (plural, YEOMEN). “Also I was dying to place an E above my opponent’s RECTION [a phony], but had nowhere to go with it.” Lisa played a beauty: JALOUSIE, which comes from the French word for “jealousy.” Dating back to the mid-18th century, it was applied to window blinds whose angled slats allowed people behind them to look out whilst hiding from peering, “jealous” eyes.

Bob demonstrated why it may be a good idea to challenge a play, as opposed to a single word. “I played REFOLDS, adding the S to the end of AW. My opponent last week had played RESCAN, which was challenged off the board, and this led him to focus all his attention on my RE- word – rather than giving any to AWS, which I had thought was legitimate, but isn’t!”

The endgame is the term given to the final stage of a game and, Richard emphasizes, “the endgame matters – a lot.” The meaning of this, he explains, is that when the tile bag is empty and you’ve been tracking, it is possible to know the letters on your opponent’s rack and chart the course most likely to lead to victory. “My game against Wendy last week drove home the importance of this very important aspect of Scrabble. When the bag was emptied, Wendy had four tiles on her rack, while I had a full complement of seven. I was ahead by a few points.  My tiles were J and N plus five vowels. It was my turn, and I knew I had to get rid of the J. There was an I to play through, so I could have played JIN for 10 points. But I preferred the stylish JAWAN [a soldier or young man], for 15. So engrossed was I in deciding what to do with the J that even though I had been tracking, I completely shut out the fact that Wendy’s remaining tiles were DLLS, and that her only outplay was D-I-LLS, through the aforementioned I. So, she accordingly went out with DILLS, got an extra 10 points from my rack, and eked out a win by three points, courtesy of moi. In short, the endgame really, really matters.

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: Wendy, Brenda

WOW: PORTENDS, GRINCHES (Peta), LEONINE (Susan), JALOUSIE (Lisa)

PHOW: SIDEIRONS (Steve)

High Win, High Loss, High  Triple:

A: 486 (Liran), 386 (Rina), 1271 (Liran)

B1: 439 (Judy), 406 (Pauline), 1288 (Judy)

Scores over 500:

100-pt play: 

Attendance: 20