Recapping a pair of weekend 1-day tournaments in Seattle
When you spend your Scrabble weekend playing a pair of 1-days rather than a multi-game tournament, it's really a unique experience with a unique vibe to it. Each day is its own distinct thing - its own tournament with its own shape, its own unique feel. You've got one event Saturday, you play it out to the finish, and then you inevitably turn the page, win or lose. The second tournament is a whole new ballgame.
This weekend, at our home in northeast Seattle, Jennifer and I hosted such a pair of tournaments. We had one 7-game event Saturday, then a fresh clean slate for another 7-gamer Sunday. We were pleased to have 10 players for each event, though not the same 10 - there were 13 distinct humans in total. I played on Saturday, along with CoCo newcomer Norman Lemoine and legendary Scrabble spouse Chris "Mrs. Bing" Wiegand; on Sunday, the three of us shuffled out in favor of Jennifer, Eric Fox, and Walker Willingham. The result was two enjoyable tournaments, two exciting races, and ultimately two different champions.
Saturday's event got off to a weird start, with us scrambling at the last minute to even out an unexpectedly odd field, and Mrs. Bing graciously offering to play Scrabble for the first time in years. Eventually, we settled on a 10-person field, and we were off.
The tournament was highly competitive, with approximately half the field lingering around 3-2ish through 5 games and 4-2ish through 6. With one game to go, a whole bunch of us were still in the hunt to win it. I myself sat down to play Chris Grubb in the final game, expecting that we were playing for second place - Alec Sjöholm and Dave Wiegand were both way ahead of us on spread, so we were both pretty much out of it. But amazingly, Alec won a close one and Chris beat me by over 240! So much for that spread gap. The result was that our presumed "second place game" ended up with Chris finishing first in the tournament and me, seventh. One-day tournaments are volatile sometimes!
After a scrumptious pizza dinner on Saturday night, a little Anagrams, and a mediocre night's sleep, it was time to get back at it on Sunday morning. We were pleased to have Eric and Walker sneak away from school and work respectively and join us for a day; a new 10-player group took shape, and play began at 10 a.m. sharp-ish.
This time around, the top of the standings was a little bit less crowded. The tournament was more of a Dr. Bing-dominated affair, as Dave got off to a fast start and didn't look back. Going into the final game, he was 5-1 with a spread of almost 600. Against John O'Laughlin in the final round, he simply needed to avoid losing by 260 or more to win the tournament... and, news flash, he didn't lose at all. Dave closed out a dominant performance at 6-1, +675. David Whitley and Alec were a distant second and third.
Cheers all around! Well done Chris G., Alec, and David for finishing in the money in Saturday's tournament; the same to Dave, David, and Alec for their performances Sunday. And a wholehearted "welcome!" to Chris W. and Norman, the two newest CoCo members after their debuts this weekend. (Fast fact: Our total playing membership now sits at 222. Fun number.)
We love hosting people for Scrabble weekends here in Seattle. Whether it's a weekend-long tournament or a couple of quick 1-days, either way, it brings us joy to host events here and have Scrabblers come join us from all over. We look forward to having meals together, drinks together, playing some rousing after-hours games... and we even enjoy the Scrabble too, a little bit anyway. This weekend was an enjoyable one from start to finish, and I'm sure the next one will be also. Until then...