Ntuple Indemnity

Thursday is my Scrabble night at the Calgary club. It’s a great place, full of friendly people who could probably wipe the floor with you unless you’re already an NSA player. Well, mostly friendly – I say “mostly” because last week, there was a major altercation between two of the top players that resulted in copious shouting and foul language, and seemed to imply that fisticuffs were not entirely out of the question. In the club’s 22-year history, this was the first incident of the sort; in fact, founder Siri Tillekeratne is a former NSA Director of the Year, and just last week he was commended by Joe Edley (renowned multiple champion and editor of Scrabble News) for running arguably the best club on the continent. (“Then this happens,” he said earlier tonight.)

As I discovered tonight, the whole incident was over a tile that was accidentally spun off the board in the second turn of the game. Anyone who thinks this game relieves stress, think again.

Another notable event tonight was when I played MARRIEDS for a whole whack of points. Yes, it’s a word. Its significance is that only two weeks ago, a number of us at the club were signing a wedding card for Shannon Burns, fellow Calgarian and Scrabble’s best cartoonist. Anna-Marie wanted to say something original, so I suggested that she write “MARRIED takes an S.” She loved it.

Overall, though, I didn’t do well tonight – only winning one of three games. I actually played well enough to post a nice high losing score of 410 against Siri, but was docked 30 points for going several minutes overtime. My win-loss record in club play has been abysmal this season – my win percentage is 0.414 – but I love this game anyway.

I’ve been mentioned in a number of different newspapers over the years, sometimes overtly, other times in a very sideways, “but we wouldn’t want to bring any attention to him, would we” sort of way. Of the latter category, my favourite mention is in The Ubyssey (Feb. 28, 2003), and concerns an especially entertaining debate tournament I attended last February. If anyone happens to have the hard copy of this article, let me know.

Here’s the relevant excerpt:

Suddenly, it’s Sunday and Bring in Da Noize, Bring in Da Funk has broken into the quarter and semifinals. I miss the morning rounds again, but watch the novice finals while Mike and Rahim madly prepare a final case. The novice round is a riot.

“This house would force North America to adopt a world standard Scrabble dictionary.” Kevin and Mike Kotrly groan and shake their heads. Only one novice team is funny and, predictably, they win. In front of a much larger crowd, the Sunday rounds are more like performances, and comedy is often what saves or sinks a team.

She didn’t mention that we actually lost in a unanimous 5-0 decision.

For the record, if the NSA were to hold a SOWPODS referendum tomorrow, I’d vote No. In principle it’s a decent idea, for many of the reasons Jim Geary covers far more extensively than I could. (Doesn’t make a very good debate case, unfortunately.) My objection is admittedly out of pure selfishness, as I’m plowing my way through the OSPD fours and can’t be bothered to sink back down to the twos and threes just yet until my word knowledge is a little more solid. At least let me hit 1400 first.