Recapping the Seattle Memorial Day Scrabble Tournament
This past weekend, we reprised our annual Memorial Day tournament with 2.5 days of Scrabble in Seattle. Twelve players convened in our home for a sunny weekend filled with merriment both on and off the board. Here's what went down.
Day 1 began with John O'Laughlin quickly becoming a frontrunner, not just in terms of Scrabble wins, but also in one of our Best Word contests. We offered two Best Word prizes, one for Best Pope Word, in honor of the new pope, and one for Best Cheat Word - loosely interpreted as words describing cheats or cheating, or a phony word that you snuck by your opponent. John played BENEDICT in Round 1, putting him in strong contention for the Best Pope Word, in addition to winning the first three rounds.
By the end of Day 1, the top four seeds held the top four spots in the standings, with Alec Sjöholm leading at 7-1. John and Dave Wiegand held second and third place, both with 6-2 records. Chris Grubb held on to fourth place as the only player with a 5-3 record. About half the group went home to rest, and the other half went out to Reuben's Brewing for dinner and games of So Clover and Just One. We returned to the house in the evening for more games, playing Anagrams, Cascadia, Santa Monica, and Set.
Day 2 dawned bright and beautiful. Once again, players completed 8 games of Scrabble with a lunch outing in the middle. For lunch, we ventured out to the numerous nearby food establishments, including a taco food truck, burger place, and Indian and Thai restaurants. Outdoors-inclined players enjoyed games on the patio under a sunny sky, with 70-degree temperatures and a light breeze.
By the end of Day 2, one leader had separated from the pack; Alec held a commanding lead at 14-2, +1886. John kept Alec from locking down first place by posting a record of 10-6, +784, leading to their showdown in Round 17 on the morning of Day 3. Meanwhile, Bharath Balakrishnan delivered a strong performance as the seventh seed to end Day 2 in third place with a record of 9.5-6.5, -160.
On the final day, Alec clinched victory after round 18, and he eventually closed the tournament with a record of 17-3, +2315. John took second place with a 12-8, +907 record. Dave won his last game by 210, coming tantalizingly close to overtaking John for second place. He ended with a record of 12-8, +820, locking down third place.
Beyond the top three finishers, Eric Fox achieved a new milestone by winning the class prize. He was seeded 11th out of 12 players and finished in fifth place at 11-9, +174. Eric is a relative newcomer, having played Scrabble for less than two years. He's learned a lot of words and is a player to watch for sure. I was truly delighted to see his strong performance - including a 564-392 win over Dave in round 2. Well done, Eric!
The competition for the other two prizes we handed out, for best words in two categories, was nearly as fierce as the main tournament itself. (Okay, not really, but I found it fun.) I nabbed the Best Pope Word for my uncreative play of POPE for 65 (hooking an E on POP while playing a bingo). For Best Cheat Word, Chris won with his play of UNFAIRER for 63.
Every tournament has random funny moments, and this one was no different. Here are some of the fun quotes uttered over the past few days:
Round 10: "My sequence of thoughts was, 'I'm going to win. I blew it. I have no chance.'"
Round 14: "Do I get DICKS, too?"
During Anagrams: "HOKEYPOKEY! I think we all need to put a hand in and shake it all about."
We introduced a new award at this tournament: The Whitley Award, for most amazing helpful feat that contributed to the good of the tournament. (David Whitley is the inspiration for this award, having done many an amazing helpful feat at prior tournaments, starting with inflating an air couch by running in circles around the yard.) This time, the Whitley Award goes to John O'Laughlin for valiantly and successfully plunging a clogged toilet. Thank you, John!
I would also like to give a special shout-out to Jane Geary, who earned the distinction of being the person who traveled the farthest for this event. Jane flew from Phoenix, AZ and brought a suitcase full of sunshine to share. It was her first visit to Seattle, and we were glad she could join us.
With all the Scrabble said and done, the stragglers hanging around on Monday afternoon headed out for lunch, followed by some local rock climbing and then an escape room. It rounded out a fun weekend of board games, breweries, pizza, cupcakes, ladder ball, and fizzy drinks. Thanks to everyone who pitched in to carry things, set things up, break things down, and otherwise keep the tournament moving along. We look forward to seeing you next time!