I had a family from Raanana over for the first time for lunch, and the guy stayed after to play Scrabble with me. He was a tough opponent; he had obviously played in tournaments before. He played the only bingo during the game, but I beat him by a 50 point margin by playing a lot of double/double and double/triple moves.
Meanwhile, in two online Scrabble games that just ended, I played 7 bingos between them. That's a streak I don't expect to repeat. Playing bingos (or words at all) in online Scrabble isn't the same. Since you are not permitted to submit an illegal word, you just keep playing around and clicking submit until the game accepts your play. It takes a lot of the edge out of the game, and it's definitely different than face to face play.
Shabbat I went to my brother's and the kids wanted to play games (or hear stories) the whole time, even the five year old (I think he's five). I played Set with two of the younger ones, and I was shocked with how good them were, even the five year old. I didn't take sets myself; I only called Set and let them take the sets after they found them. So I would have killed them, technically. But I think they're going to get much better really fast.
The other game I played was Dominion, three times. I lost the first game taking Conspirators and Pawns against my brother who was simply taking silvers and golds. Actually, I also did some bad planning and had some bad luck. I took a Mine early when I should have taken a Market (before I settled on the Conspirator strategy), and I got to use it all of once during the game.
I requested the same set again, and this time I played more diverse and took more Markets and Spies. I won this game.
In the third game, there were no bonus actions on any cards, but there was Throne Room and Black Market. I picked well with Black Market while Ben had the same luck problem I faced during my first game. I had a runaway win, even though Ben had accidentally stacked 18 provinces instead of 12 (I took 11 of them, while Ben took 6).
Showing posts with label scrabble. Show all posts
Showing posts with label scrabble. Show all posts
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Scrabble: The Two Letter Words
With the introduction of the words QI and ZA, casual players may want to have a handy rule around to let them play with the Scrabble zealots.
You could not allow or not score two-letter words. Unfortunately, several good two letter words should score (such as AX), and near the end of the game you may not have much else to play.
An alternative is to limit the legal two letter words to those that an actual human might use in day-to-day life.
Here are the currently legal two letter Scrabble words. Words with an asterisk (*) are candidates for exclusion from casual games. Words with a question mark (?) are borderline cases.
AA* a type of lava, what you say when going over a cliff
AB* abdominal muscle
AD advertisement
AE* one
AG* agricultural
AH sound of surprise
AI* a sloth
AL* an Indian tree
AM opposite of AIN'T
AN singular
AR? the letter R
AS comparative
AT locational
AW cute overload
AX chops wood
AY* shortened form of AYE, not what Fonzie says
BA* the soul in Egyptian mythology, not a baby ball
BE or not
BI bisexual
BO* shortened form of beau
BY positional
DE* from (like in foreign names)
DO or do not, there is no try
ED shortened form of EDUCATION
EF? the letter F
EH Canadian punctuation mark
EL* elevated subway, where a Cockney tells you to go when he's drunk
EM? the letter M, or a printer's mark
EN? the letter N, or a printer's mark
ER hesitation
ES* a shortened form of the letter S
ET* past tense of eat
EX where my money goes
FA note in the musical scale
FE* a Hebrew letter
GO move or start, and a nice game
HA sound of amusement
HE him
HI hello
HM* sound of consideration, shortened form of HMM
HO? sound of surprise, not a loose woman
ID part of the mind
IF conjectural
IN locational
IS existential
IT object identification
JO* a sweetheart
KA* the spirit in Egyptian mythology
KI* the Chinese spiritual force
LA note in the musical scale, or word substitution in a song
LI* a Chinese measurement
LO and behold
MA your mom
ME not you
MI note in the musical scale
MM* sound of satisfaction, shortened form of MMM
MO* shortened form of moment
MU? Greek letter
MY possessive
NA* not, shortened form of NAH
NE* born with the name, shortened form of NEE
NO negative
NU Greek letter, also sound of impatience
OD* hypothetical force of natural power
OE* whirlwind of the Faerce islands
OF originating from
OH sound of surprise
OI* alternate for OY
OM* sound of a mantra
ON positional
OP* style of art, or shortened form of OPERATION
OR logical alternative
OS* various obscure definitions, such as a bone
OW sound of pain
OX moo
OY sound of despair
PA your dad
PE* Hebrew letter
PI Greek letter, 3.14
QI* alternate for KI
RE note in the musical scale
SH* shut up, shortened form of SHH
SI* alternate for TI
SO what
TA* sound of gratitude (this is a ? for some cultures)
TI note in the musical scale
TO directional
UH sound of hesitation
UM sound of thinking
UN* one
UP locational
US collective
UT* a note in an archaic French musical scale
WE collective
WO* shortened form of WOE
XI* Greek letter, alternate form of CHI
XU* Vietnamese coin
YA* you, or yes
YE you, archaic
YO it's my art center
ZA* shortened form of pizza
Note: If you allow QI and ZA, you should reduce the values of the letters Q and Z to 8.
You could not allow or not score two-letter words. Unfortunately, several good two letter words should score (such as AX), and near the end of the game you may not have much else to play.
An alternative is to limit the legal two letter words to those that an actual human might use in day-to-day life.
Here are the currently legal two letter Scrabble words. Words with an asterisk (*) are candidates for exclusion from casual games. Words with a question mark (?) are borderline cases.
AA* a type of lava, what you say when going over a cliff
AB* abdominal muscle
AD advertisement
AE* one
AG* agricultural
AH sound of surprise
AI* a sloth
AL* an Indian tree
AM opposite of AIN'T
AN singular
AR? the letter R
AS comparative
AT locational
AW cute overload
AX chops wood
AY* shortened form of AYE, not what Fonzie says
BA* the soul in Egyptian mythology, not a baby ball
BE or not
BI bisexual
BO* shortened form of beau
BY positional
DE* from (like in foreign names)
DO or do not, there is no try
ED shortened form of EDUCATION
EF? the letter F
EH Canadian punctuation mark
EL* elevated subway, where a Cockney tells you to go when he's drunk
EM? the letter M, or a printer's mark
EN? the letter N, or a printer's mark
ER hesitation
ES* a shortened form of the letter S
ET* past tense of eat
EX where my money goes
FA note in the musical scale
FE* a Hebrew letter
GO move or start, and a nice game
HA sound of amusement
HE him
HI hello
HM* sound of consideration, shortened form of HMM
HO? sound of surprise, not a loose woman
ID part of the mind
IF conjectural
IN locational
IS existential
IT object identification
JO* a sweetheart
KA* the spirit in Egyptian mythology
KI* the Chinese spiritual force
LA note in the musical scale, or word substitution in a song
LI* a Chinese measurement
LO and behold
MA your mom
ME not you
MI note in the musical scale
MM* sound of satisfaction, shortened form of MMM
MO* shortened form of moment
MU? Greek letter
MY possessive
NA* not, shortened form of NAH
NE* born with the name, shortened form of NEE
NO negative
NU Greek letter, also sound of impatience
OD* hypothetical force of natural power
OE* whirlwind of the Faerce islands
OF originating from
OH sound of surprise
OI* alternate for OY
OM* sound of a mantra
ON positional
OP* style of art, or shortened form of OPERATION
OR logical alternative
OS* various obscure definitions, such as a bone
OW sound of pain
OX moo
OY sound of despair
PA your dad
PE* Hebrew letter
PI Greek letter, 3.14
QI* alternate for KI
RE note in the musical scale
SH* shut up, shortened form of SHH
SI* alternate for TI
SO what
TA* sound of gratitude (this is a ? for some cultures)
TI note in the musical scale
TO directional
UH sound of hesitation
UM sound of thinking
UN* one
UP locational
US collective
UT* a note in an archaic French musical scale
WE collective
WO* shortened form of WOE
XI* Greek letter, alternate form of CHI
XU* Vietnamese coin
YA* you, or yes
YE you, archaic
YO it's my art center
ZA* shortened form of pizza
Note: If you allow QI and ZA, you should reduce the values of the letters Q and Z to 8.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Games at Keshet Yonatan / Nahal J'ilabun
To the weekend shabbaton with my synagogue, I brought an assortment of games for all occasions: Antike (as a Risk-replacement) and Dominion for the boys, Pit, Scrabble, a deck of cards, and some other light games for the adults, Puerto Rico for Rachel, Nadine, and me.
We didn't get to play all of them, but I didn't expect to.
Antike
I've won the respect of the boys enough to get them to try Antike. Thanks to the combat nature of the game and the elegance of the rules, they got into it. I opted to stay out and only guide the turns.
The brilliant rondel was a source of frustration for the boys, who often wanted to get iron, arm, and maneuver all on the same turn, but it was also grudgingly respected already by mid-game. It took them all a while to figure out that points were to be gained from more than just building and moving armies, but the game also elegantly guided them in that direction. So it was all good.
Still, the game played out quite differently from the ones I usually play. For one, one of the boys got beaten down quite badly after neglecting to protect any of his cities. He never recovered from this, but he still said that he liked the game. The boy who did the beating won the game. With his massive number of cities, he spent three turns gaining 6 of each resource, and then a fourth gaining six more cities. After that he built a string of temples and destroyed those of his neighbors.
It all looked ideal, but it was actually very close. One other boy was just a few ships away from destroying two temples on his last turn, which would have given him the victory.
Hormones
That was all they played. I took a nap, and when I woke up they had managed to find some girls staying in the field school who were willing to follow them around while they all discussed what they should do.
Scrabble
The adults played on Saturday night. With two other non-gamers, I tried Parade, but it didn't go over that well. While Parade has barely any rules, the implications were too confusing for one of the players, and not interesting enough for the other.
Finally, we played two games of Scrabble, one four player and one three player. The four player was a close affair that Rachel might have won if I hadn't brought only the Third-edition Scrabble dictionary with me. The other two players, both non-gamers, were overwhelmed by our modest Scrabble prowess and unfamiliar with any of the ridiculous Scrabble words. Rachel tried to end the game with QI, but the other players wouldn't accept it because it wasn't in the dictionary (it's only in the fourth-edition).
One of the non-gamers played truly pathetically, such as playing an R onto PURE to make PURER, with no bonuses. The other one played better, but had poor racks with lots of I's, and so wanted to try again. He, Rachel, and I played in the second game.
The second game I got ridiculously good tiles, including both blanks, Z, K, X, a few S's and all of the D's. I extended QUOIT to QUOITED, landing on a triple word score, placed TAX onto a triple words score (with the T turning HIS into THIS), and bingoed with a hand containing EGATION; I was looking for an N, but eventually found a free L. Their scores were close to each other (a few points), and I was impressed with his dogged determination.
Pictures and Thoughts
The weekend was lovely, as was the company of my fellow synagogue members.
This was a small pool created from a tributary spring that feeds into the Sea of Galilee.
Around this pool, though not entirely captured in my picture frame, were religious Jews, non-religious Jews, Haredi Jews, Bedouin, Christian Arab, Moslem Arab, and American Christian. Some rode in on dune buggies, some drove in, some hiked in, some smoked, some barbecued, some wore modest clothing, and some wore swim trunks.
The whole scene was a as cosmopolitan Israeli as one could ever expect to see, and it was all unremarkably peaceful and pleasant. Because that's what happens most of the time in Israel.
Rachel, the dolphin. Rachel is swimming 3.5 kilometers across a chord of the Kinneret this Wednesday, to raise money for Sadnat Shiluv.
Sadnat Shiluv encourages maximum integration of special people into the community. It works with children from kindergarten and elementary school until young adulthood. Currently, its only hostel houses six young adults and offers them a place to live, work, study and lead an independent life while being an active part of the Rosh Tzurim community.
Around 100 women will be participating, each of whom must raise at least 2,000 NIS. Rachel's entrance fee was sponsored by my employer, Tech-Tav Writing and Documentation Services.
Some of our synagogue members relax on a hike in Nahal J'ilabun.
Nahal J'ilabun
Nahal J'ilabun
Me (note the flower in the hair)
More pictures on my Facebook profile
We didn't get to play all of them, but I didn't expect to.
Antike
I've won the respect of the boys enough to get them to try Antike. Thanks to the combat nature of the game and the elegance of the rules, they got into it. I opted to stay out and only guide the turns.
The brilliant rondel was a source of frustration for the boys, who often wanted to get iron, arm, and maneuver all on the same turn, but it was also grudgingly respected already by mid-game. It took them all a while to figure out that points were to be gained from more than just building and moving armies, but the game also elegantly guided them in that direction. So it was all good.
Still, the game played out quite differently from the ones I usually play. For one, one of the boys got beaten down quite badly after neglecting to protect any of his cities. He never recovered from this, but he still said that he liked the game. The boy who did the beating won the game. With his massive number of cities, he spent three turns gaining 6 of each resource, and then a fourth gaining six more cities. After that he built a string of temples and destroyed those of his neighbors.
It all looked ideal, but it was actually very close. One other boy was just a few ships away from destroying two temples on his last turn, which would have given him the victory.
Hormones
That was all they played. I took a nap, and when I woke up they had managed to find some girls staying in the field school who were willing to follow them around while they all discussed what they should do.
Scrabble
The adults played on Saturday night. With two other non-gamers, I tried Parade, but it didn't go over that well. While Parade has barely any rules, the implications were too confusing for one of the players, and not interesting enough for the other.
Finally, we played two games of Scrabble, one four player and one three player. The four player was a close affair that Rachel might have won if I hadn't brought only the Third-edition Scrabble dictionary with me. The other two players, both non-gamers, were overwhelmed by our modest Scrabble prowess and unfamiliar with any of the ridiculous Scrabble words. Rachel tried to end the game with QI, but the other players wouldn't accept it because it wasn't in the dictionary (it's only in the fourth-edition).
One of the non-gamers played truly pathetically, such as playing an R onto PURE to make PURER, with no bonuses. The other one played better, but had poor racks with lots of I's, and so wanted to try again. He, Rachel, and I played in the second game.
The second game I got ridiculously good tiles, including both blanks, Z, K, X, a few S's and all of the D's. I extended QUOIT to QUOITED, landing on a triple word score, placed TAX onto a triple words score (with the T turning HIS into THIS), and bingoed with a hand containing EGATION; I was looking for an N, but eventually found a free L. Their scores were close to each other (a few points), and I was impressed with his dogged determination.
Pictures and Thoughts
The weekend was lovely, as was the company of my fellow synagogue members.
This was a small pool created from a tributary spring that feeds into the Sea of Galilee.
Around this pool, though not entirely captured in my picture frame, were religious Jews, non-religious Jews, Haredi Jews, Bedouin, Christian Arab, Moslem Arab, and American Christian. Some rode in on dune buggies, some drove in, some hiked in, some smoked, some barbecued, some wore modest clothing, and some wore swim trunks.
The whole scene was a as cosmopolitan Israeli as one could ever expect to see, and it was all unremarkably peaceful and pleasant. Because that's what happens most of the time in Israel.
Rachel, the dolphin. Rachel is swimming 3.5 kilometers across a chord of the Kinneret this Wednesday, to raise money for Sadnat Shiluv.
Sadnat Shiluv encourages maximum integration of special people into the community. It works with children from kindergarten and elementary school until young adulthood. Currently, its only hostel houses six young adults and offers them a place to live, work, study and lead an independent life while being an active part of the Rosh Tzurim community.
Around 100 women will be participating, each of whom must raise at least 2,000 NIS. Rachel's entrance fee was sponsored by my employer, Tech-Tav Writing and Documentation Services.
Some of our synagogue members relax on a hike in Nahal J'ilabun.
Nahal J'ilabun
Nahal J'ilabun
Me (note the flower in the hair)
More pictures on my Facebook profile
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Scrabble With Rachel
Rachel's last act in Israel (other than packing up the Pesach dishes) was to toast me in a Scrabble game 491 to 288. She started with JEWEL, and though I got my own 48 point word eventually, after she scored two Bingos, several Ss, and a Z or two, I was just hoping to score at least half of what she did.
So she left for America on a happy note. Well, happy for her, anyway.
So she left for America on a happy note. Well, happy for her, anyway.
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Scrabble With Mom
Mom occasionally beats me in Scrabble, even many years after I think she can't do it any more. There's nothing better than being surprised by your mom's mental acuity just when you think she's getting older.
This was not one of those times.
It might simply have been the letters. But on several of her turns, I pointed out a number of locations where she could score twice as much using the letters she just placed on the board. Even with that help, I played a bingo and won by a large margin. And without using the new two-letter words from 4th edition, with which she is unfamiliar (QI, ZA, etc).
Maybe next time.
Yehuda
This was not one of those times.
It might simply have been the letters. But on several of her turns, I pointed out a number of locations where she could score twice as much using the letters she just placed on the board. Even with that help, I played a bingo and won by a large margin. And without using the new two-letter words from 4th edition, with which she is unfamiliar (QI, ZA, etc).
Maybe next time.
Yehuda
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Scrabble, Interrupted; and Movies
Rachel and I started but didn't finish a Scrabble game. I was to go first, and I had all vowels, so I tossed in. Rachel went first instead. A few rounds later she had all vowels, and she complained for several rounds before I managed to convince her to skip a turn and toss them in.
By that point she was behind some 50 points and didn't feel like continuing.
My Sister's Keeper: Lovely tearjerker with beautiful visuals and music. I'm not entirely thrilled with the direction the story takes at the revelation scene near the end of the movie; it's a cop out. Instead of resolving the difficult moral problem the story raised, it all gets pushed aside, unresolved. Nevertheless, the revelation, given the characters involved, is sensible. Somewhat too much Hollywood. Still lovely.
Dead Man Walking: Fantastic movie that proves that you don't have to cut away from the difficult moral problem raised. This movie goes straight into the heart of what other movies shy away from and keeps going right down to the bitter, inevitable conclusion. Highly recommended.
Up In The Air: Hollywood formula, pleasant, shallow, and predictable, not at all deserving of the praise it received.
The Boat That Rocked: The equivalent formula from Britain. A trip through the early rock-and-roll era. The sides of the issue (rock music) are presented in a totally one-sided manner, as are many of the people involved. Still, the characters on the boat are sometimes fun. Also pleasant.
Crows N Bones magazine has an interview with Reiver Games, my publisher.
By that point she was behind some 50 points and didn't feel like continuing.
My Sister's Keeper: Lovely tearjerker with beautiful visuals and music. I'm not entirely thrilled with the direction the story takes at the revelation scene near the end of the movie; it's a cop out. Instead of resolving the difficult moral problem the story raised, it all gets pushed aside, unresolved. Nevertheless, the revelation, given the characters involved, is sensible. Somewhat too much Hollywood. Still lovely.
Dead Man Walking: Fantastic movie that proves that you don't have to cut away from the difficult moral problem raised. This movie goes straight into the heart of what other movies shy away from and keeps going right down to the bitter, inevitable conclusion. Highly recommended.
Up In The Air: Hollywood formula, pleasant, shallow, and predictable, not at all deserving of the praise it received.
The Boat That Rocked: The equivalent formula from Britain. A trip through the early rock-and-roll era. The sides of the issue (rock music) are presented in a totally one-sided manner, as are many of the people involved. Still, the characters on the boat are sometimes fun. Also pleasant.
Crows N Bones magazine has an interview with Reiver Games, my publisher.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Silvoor Biological Sanctuary
Friday I walked around the Silvoor Biological Sanctuary ...
One of several plaques
Rickety bridge
I also stopped at the University Coop bookstore, which was a waste of time for anyone not interested in either U of M branded memorabilia or textbooks.
Sat afternoon Rachel and I started a Scrabble game, but she quit about halfway in, when it was clear she was losing. She was also playing with the most liberal two-letter word list I've ever seen (included CE, VE, VI, and others that are not generally accepted).
One of several plaques
Rickety bridge
I also stopped at the University Coop bookstore, which was a waste of time for anyone not interested in either U of M branded memorabilia or textbooks.
Sat afternoon Rachel and I started a Scrabble game, but she quit about halfway in, when it was clear she was losing. She was also playing with the most liberal two-letter word list I've ever seen (included CE, VE, VI, and others that are not generally accepted).
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Rachel Toasted Me in Scrabble
I had the Z, Q, X, J, and K, and two of the S's. I even got a U with my Q. Rachel had both blanks and the other two S's.
But I never had letter synergy. I had Q and U ... and I, I, U, A, and E. I can do something with that, but not much. And Rachel scored most of her points with two, three, or four secondary words off of each word she played, using my letters to earn her points.
Rachel: 377, Jon: 304
Scrabble; fear it.
But I never had letter synergy. I had Q and U ... and I, I, U, A, and E. I can do something with that, but not much. And Rachel scored most of her points with two, three, or four secondary words off of each word she played, using my letters to earn her points.
Rachel: 377, Jon: 304
Scrabble; fear it.
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