The National Scrabble Championships took place over 21st and 22nd July for Division A and B, spanning 16 rounds, something like a 2 day field camp for the brain. Division C played an intensive 8 rounds on 22nd July, conditioning them for when they would ascend to higher divisions.
While I am unable to fathom the mechanism of the 'Team Prize', it was somehow won by NTU, undoubtedly due to the contributions of our champions, Kian Boon from Division A, and Jeya from Division B. Xing Long also achieved 2nd in Division C, with Gabriel taking 4th in Division B.
NTU also very encouragingly sported a relatively large turnout this tournament, with Sky and KB as the regulars in Div A, Gab and Eugene being the regulars in Div B, Jeya being the irregularity in Div B that will ascend to Div A soon (=P), and Xing Long, Jinghan, Tommy, and Ramona making their forays into Div C.
Kian Boon took the title of National Champion in Div A by a score of 13 wins out of 16, losing one of his games by just 1 point. Sky had a respectable score of 5 wins in Div A, even managing to defeat 2 GMs.
In his first tournament in Div B, Jeya won with a score of 13 wins out of 16 as well, losing 3 games in the first day, but coming back with a perfect score on the second. Gabriel was neck to neck with Jeya until round 14, both leading with 11 wins then, but fumbled in the last 2 rounds, losing both and settling for 4th place. Eugene scored 7 points for this tournament, though he managed to win the 2nd placed player, and also managed to enjoy an epic game (by div B standards), where both him and his opponent scored 3 bingos each, though he lost that game 527-431.
In Div C, Xing Long was 2nd with 6 out of 8 points, losing twice, but only to the one player who was the Div C Champion. Tommy from hall 7 did well with 5 wins out of 8, achieving 7th place in what I believe is his first tournament. Ramona also finished her first tournament with 4 out of 8, taking 13th place. Jing Han also achieved 4 out of 8, though it seemed he was fated to be brought down by friendly fire, having played both Xing Long and Tommy. Interestingly, in his 3rd round, his opponent was also called Jing Han, and this time, our Jing Han won the encounter with his evil twin.
The next tournament would be the Jurong Green Mini held on 12 Aug (Sunday). It's the day before Semester 1, so if for no other reason, we should play to enjoy ourselves before school starts!
Monday, July 23, 2012
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
What is your Scrabble Path, from Novice to Intermdiate level (not qualified to give more haha)
John Maynard Keynes (an economist) once said that "In the long run, we are all dead". Just like for scrabble, in the long run, word knowledge will tend to equalize, as the gap between novice players learn more and more words to catch up with more experienced players, and play will revolve more around board play instead.
However, what this article focuses on is scrabble study in the SHORT RUN. With limited time and limited RAM, which path will you take in achieving an intermediate level of mastery, from being a novice? (I am only qualified to comment thus far, otherwise i'm sure the experts will take me apart haha)
There are 4 paths I would like to set before you, and it is up to you to decide which suits you the most. Are you a Scrabble Warrior, Scrabble Archer, Scrabble Thief, or Scrabble Mage (adapted from Maplestory).
The Scrabble Warrior has high STRENGTH attribute (high RAM). Zyzzyva and Zarf does not daunt him. One day he will know as much as them. He studies his 7 and 8 letter anagrams in probability order as calculated by zyzzyva, in the hope that every 7 tiles he draws, he will bingo and conquer your puny 3 and 4 letter words. 1000 anagrams, 10000 anagrams, they will not stop him.
The Scrabble Archer has high AGILITY attribute (the ability to squeeze words in where you never thought possible). An archer may not know those big boy words like ETAERIO and SOTERIAL, but she has superior knowledge of 3 and 4 letter words, and the best archers even achieve 5 letter mastery to be able to score score score, at the same time closing the board before you even come close to bingo-ing, just like how an archer takes down a footman before he comes within striking range of his sword. Thinking only 's' comes after FEH, the archer shows you FEHM/NEMN and draws her tiles while you're still trying to pronounce them. BOEP, PEBA, DOEK all do pretty well at taking the triple word on top of the double letter, and allows the archer to score points smugly.
The Scrabble Thief is probably not as unlawful as you thought. He has high LUCK attribute, and while he's not stealing your bingo spots, he's FISHING for them. Instead of memorizing 7 or 8 letter bingos, he memorize word stems. The best example of a word stem is RETAIN?. Many tiles can take the place of ? and you have your bingo. Same goes for 7 letter word stems such as OTARINE?. A higher level thief would even study 5 and 6 letter word stems such as TRAIN?? and RETAIN?? to enhance his fishing skills considerably. Faced with AIINRTZ, many would falter, but the thief would know that TRIAZIN is his word immediately. Many would curse their luck with a RETAIN+A rack, as A,Q,V,X,Y,Z are the only tiles that do not give a bingo with RETAIN, but a thief would happily play NAARTJIE over the J you used to score the middle triple word with a 'JOE'.
The Scrabble Mage is the trickiest of them all. She may not know as many words as them all, but her high INTELLIGENCE attribute, as well as cunningness, allows her to hold her own. She plays scrabble like chess, toying with your mind, studying which words take an 's', and which words take other hooks instead. She sighs and plays AINE next to the last column. "What a dumb bunny", you think, playing AINES/SQUIZ for some big points across the triple word. That's when her eyebrows narrow, her lips curve into a smirk as she challenges your word off, and scores with WEXED/AINEE having wasted your turn. Seeing no more 's'es and blanks in the bag, she plays MILT, ending one column away from the right end on the top right. Seeing no threat, you simply play BAH somewhere on the bottom left. She then proceeds to play MILTZ/ZERO down, pausing just to let you challenge, while you look at the board dumbly. You'd think nothing comes before 'YET', but beware when the scrabble mage places it just below the top row. You know something is coming, but you don't know what, and you miserably consider giving away another 5 points as she plays TWP/PYET, just hitting the centre triple word.
Of course, you may choose a hybrid of the above classes. I have dabbled in each of the above before, and each has proved rewarding and successful in their own way, and I hope that those who put in effort to learn will always be rewarded.
However, what this article focuses on is scrabble study in the SHORT RUN. With limited time and limited RAM, which path will you take in achieving an intermediate level of mastery, from being a novice? (I am only qualified to comment thus far, otherwise i'm sure the experts will take me apart haha)
There are 4 paths I would like to set before you, and it is up to you to decide which suits you the most. Are you a Scrabble Warrior, Scrabble Archer, Scrabble Thief, or Scrabble Mage (adapted from Maplestory).
The Scrabble Warrior has high STRENGTH attribute (high RAM). Zyzzyva and Zarf does not daunt him. One day he will know as much as them. He studies his 7 and 8 letter anagrams in probability order as calculated by zyzzyva, in the hope that every 7 tiles he draws, he will bingo and conquer your puny 3 and 4 letter words. 1000 anagrams, 10000 anagrams, they will not stop him.
The Scrabble Archer has high AGILITY attribute (the ability to squeeze words in where you never thought possible). An archer may not know those big boy words like ETAERIO and SOTERIAL, but she has superior knowledge of 3 and 4 letter words, and the best archers even achieve 5 letter mastery to be able to score score score, at the same time closing the board before you even come close to bingo-ing, just like how an archer takes down a footman before he comes within striking range of his sword. Thinking only 's' comes after FEH, the archer shows you FEHM/NEMN and draws her tiles while you're still trying to pronounce them. BOEP, PEBA, DOEK all do pretty well at taking the triple word on top of the double letter, and allows the archer to score points smugly.
The Scrabble Thief is probably not as unlawful as you thought. He has high LUCK attribute, and while he's not stealing your bingo spots, he's FISHING for them. Instead of memorizing 7 or 8 letter bingos, he memorize word stems. The best example of a word stem is RETAIN?. Many tiles can take the place of ? and you have your bingo. Same goes for 7 letter word stems such as OTARINE?. A higher level thief would even study 5 and 6 letter word stems such as TRAIN?? and RETAIN?? to enhance his fishing skills considerably. Faced with AIINRTZ, many would falter, but the thief would know that TRIAZIN is his word immediately. Many would curse their luck with a RETAIN+A rack, as A,Q,V,X,Y,Z are the only tiles that do not give a bingo with RETAIN, but a thief would happily play NAARTJIE over the J you used to score the middle triple word with a 'JOE'.
The Scrabble Mage is the trickiest of them all. She may not know as many words as them all, but her high INTELLIGENCE attribute, as well as cunningness, allows her to hold her own. She plays scrabble like chess, toying with your mind, studying which words take an 's', and which words take other hooks instead. She sighs and plays AINE next to the last column. "What a dumb bunny", you think, playing AINES/SQUIZ for some big points across the triple word. That's when her eyebrows narrow, her lips curve into a smirk as she challenges your word off, and scores with WEXED/AINEE having wasted your turn. Seeing no more 's'es and blanks in the bag, she plays MILT, ending one column away from the right end on the top right. Seeing no threat, you simply play BAH somewhere on the bottom left. She then proceeds to play MILTZ/ZERO down, pausing just to let you challenge, while you look at the board dumbly. You'd think nothing comes before 'YET', but beware when the scrabble mage places it just below the top row. You know something is coming, but you don't know what, and you miserably consider giving away another 5 points as she plays TWP/PYET, just hitting the centre triple word.
Of course, you may choose a hybrid of the above classes. I have dabbled in each of the above before, and each has proved rewarding and successful in their own way, and I hope that those who put in effort to learn will always be rewarded.
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