I study word games enough that people think I’m an expert player. I do okay. I know a few tricks. But if I ever need a lesson in humility, my Uncle Arthur’s around at our family reunions to play a game of Scrabble.
Over the years, we’ve shifted from regular-Scrabble format to Super Scrabble (roughly the equivalent of going from a weekday crossword to a Sunday-sized). And we’ve gotten a little less rigid in what we’ll count as a word (see the entries POINTINGS and FRYINGS…you won’t find them in dictionaries or standard word puzzles, but hey, you can kind of imagine very specific contexts where you might use them).
Both these changes were originally guided by my preferences. I have an “open” style of play that’s more about trying to get the gold in them thar hills (the triple word scores and such) than trying to prevent my opponent from doing so. We’ve also sped up our style of play…the days where I could spend an hour on a single move are pretty much behind me.
What hasn’t changed, though, is that Arthur remains the master. Oh, I’ve won a few games against him here and there, but I wouldn’t give myself better than 3 to 1 odds.
I can more or less match his ability to go for the bonuses and use them together, but where he pulls ahead is in finding the bingos—seven- or eight-letter words using every tile on the rack. The score tells the story.
After getting an early lead, I stayed within striking distance of his numbers for about half the game, up to the 369-413 mark. Then he got two bingos in four turns, leaving us at 554-656, and my realistic chances of a turnaround ended.
But winning ain’t everything. Later that day, I had a much more informal contest involving four other family members, with Arthur as a sometime adviser, while we saw National Lampoon’s Vacation (a new one on me, though I’d seen the Christmas sequel a few times). Someone else was scorekeeper, and I didn’t even keep track of the points. Just didn’t want the family week to end. (And was trying to figure out how Chevy Chase ever got to be that big a star.)
We’re back at home now, but I’ve still got a Sunday crossword with Dad to look forward to. And then I’ll be getting away from wordplay family fun for a bit, back to wordplay business. (Okay, the business is also kind of fun.)