Berkeley Scrabble Tournament

Today I went to a Scrabble tournament in downtown Berkeley.  It's only a few stops north on BART, so I decided to make sure I was there in plenty of time and went to arrive 30 minutes early.  On BART, a lady sat down opposite me on the train and we started talking - she told me that she compiles crosswords and likes word puzzles, so I asked her if she liked Scrabble, and she said she was going to a tournament in Berkeley, to which I replied "me too!"

Andrea and I walked along together, as she knew where exactly it was, and she introduced me to several people.  I was welcomed warmly by everybody - I had to explain that I hadn't come 5300+ miles just to play 6 games of Scrabble, but was here for work and baseball too.  Andrea was in a different division to me, so we didn't play against each other.  I was playing in Collins Division B, so I avoided the really top players and played against 5 others, although I was seeded 6 in the group of 6 because I do not have a NASPA rating, although I do have an ABSP rating and a WESPA rating.

Key for Scrabble player organisations

Organisation	Full name
NASPA	North American Scrabble Players Association
WESPA	World English Language Scrabble Players Association
ABSP	Association of British Scrabble Players

This tournament was actually taking place in the diner, on the tables of the diner.  It was $20 to enter, although we were all asked to spend at least $10 on food and drink through the day.  The diner was quite large, but the overall turnout was so huge, that there wasn't enough space in the diner, so one division had to move to another cafe just down the street!

I was drawn to play against the number 1 seed Sam first, and I got off to a great start, playing ORGANISE and CRAWLED and hanging on to win 465-384.  Then I played against the number 3 seed Mina, who is one of the people who was displaced from southeastern Florida by Hurricane Irma, who was on her way to stay with her parents, but dropped in to play too.  I played TOPPLING, but she had 3 bonuses and won 506-348.

Third, I played Isaac and again started with a bonus of FOALING and later on STARCHY to hold on for a narrow 406-392 win.  Next up was Mary, who built up a decent lead whilst I struggled with racks with 3 or 4 'I's on, but I found VERITAS to go out for 69 to snatch a 410-371 win.

Mina, who beat me in round 2, but I got even in round 6

Finally in the round robin section, I played Paula who hadn't managed to win a game by that point.  She played BAROQUES and DILLIEST, but it wasn't enough to beat my DARTING and late NOSIEST as I won 446-397, leaving me with 4 wins and 1 loss.

Meanwhile, Mina had also lost just 1 game, so Mina & I played again in the final round, with the division win going to the victor.

I challenged off HOGGIER that would have given her a 125+ point lead early on.


Then I was able to get DOUBLES, ZA, NY in the mid-game and finally SOURS to give me a 16 point lead, with two 'I's on my rack, and Mina holding just an 'E' - and fortunately, she could only score 11 with that E, so I won the game by a single point and won the division (and $50!)

All the people were so friendly here,including all my opponents, Andrea, Chris, John, and Ed the organiser, and so many others.