scrabble club

[mightyroar]

would anyone be interested in playing scrabble, in a pub maybe?

[Huguenot]

Definitely, I'm a great fan!

[David Mc]

Me too.

[georgia]

Me too, love Scrabble

[bagpuss78]

I like to dabble in a game or two of scrabble :))

[SeanMacGabhann]

+2 more at this end

[louisiana]

So do we. Got a travel set for a long flight recently...

[Keef]

Bloody Hell, this is popular, how many can play at one time? I personally have no skill for the game, so will have to sit out... My brain seems better at numbers and patterns than words, which is why I sit blank faced feeling stupid when people are doing crosswords! :(

[mumra]

I too, would love to join. Am excellent at 2 letter words in awkward places, though do confess I am a slow player. Husband very good at 7 letter words much to my jealousy. Would be good to play other people.

[shambles]

i love scrabble. definitely more a word than number person. more crossword than sudoku! how could we do - aren't there only 4 players at once?

[mumra]

What we could do is to book a back room in a pub, Rye maybe? Then we could have a couple games going on at once- whoever turns up really, armed with board. I have a couple of the basic sets, not deluxe with turntable unfortunately.

[David Mc]

I have a deluxe with turntable :) But not the latest version of the "arbiter" (Official Scrabble Words). Yes it's normally 4 because there are only 4 racks supplied with any game. I don't see why you shouldn't have more players apart from the fact that it'd get boring for the other players if there were more than 4.

[Huguenot]

I'd recommend playing with timers - 15 mins per person per game seems usually about right. It stops a game being interminable, and means players can swap partners after half an hour.

Then we could maybe have a meet between 8 of us in a quiet pub (Clockhouse?)on a weekday night and have two/three games each between say 8pm and 10pm?

We'd have to decide on the dictionary of course.... ;-)

[mightyroar]

I agree about that time constraint otherwise these things can go on and on. Or we could give each game an egg timer so every go is timed. Are we playing strict challenging rules?

I have a copy of the Official Scrabble Words that's a few years old.

Maybe Tuesday 8 May at 8pm could be the inaugural meet? will Clockhouse be open then?

hows everyone fixed for that date.

It doesnt clash with the WI does itI?

[Huguenot]

The date sounds great! I'll look forward to it!

On rules - perhaps players could decide before a game?

If it's timed even single challenging (where the player has to take back the word if wrong, but neither player is penalised) has some impact, as it absorbs valuable time.

Double challenging (where one player or the other is penalised their go depending on the outcome of the challenge) can be good for pros, but could limit experimentation for enthusiastic newcomers.

(There must be people reading this now who never realised how complicated it could be!! Don't be! It's not really!)

[David Mc]

I'm good for 8th May. 15 mins per player per game though? Phew. My opponent of most equal ability and I usually bank on 90 mins per game (total)! I'm going to have to speed up something chronic!

[shambles]

huguenot - i thought a reasonably broad vocabulary would be the key but you have flummaxed me with that detail! obviously there are some key tactical skills required which take time to learn. why don't we start off with mixed groups and then see if the game could be enhanced by playing with those at a similar level?

[Huguenot]

absobloodylutely (107 points on two doubleword scores) :))

[bawdy-nan]

I've spent many a Devonian evening playing scrabble with my mother-in-law who is fearsome in her knowledge and application of the unusual 2 word finisher.

Incidentally, do you play "Joan Collins" rules?

Apparently invented by Joan Collins (?!) it involves being allowed, at any point in the game, to replace a blank tile on the board with the letter it signifies if you have it in your 7. I assume the actress with the icing dusted carapace is not the only player to insist on such a rule...

Always seemed a little off-piste to me, but I've never felt it my place to mount a challenge, being in thrall to in-law etiquette.

[David Mc]

Never heard of that one! We play a rule called "Jacks" which means that, even if you're entitled to open the game because you've drawn the lowest alphabetical letter, but can't put a word of at least 5 letters down then your opening move is forfeit and so it moves round. If nobody can go then four letter words are allowed and so on.

Also - what do people/should we use as the "arbiter"? I once attempted BOXTY (it's an Irish potato-based bread dish) which wasn't allowed according to the Official Scrabble Words book but was in one of the dictionaries (Collins I think) we had in the house so it was allowed by my gracious apponent. I've been trying to get it registered (started about 6 months ago I guess) but it's not made it even yet!! The site to do that is usually here http://www.collins.co.uk/wordexchange/ but their server seems to having problems right now.

[mumra]

I am going to try my best to make it but will have to see. My commitment is now with the WI! We use the OSW (official scrabble words) book, the only problem is that it has no definitions for when you're feeling curious. We play some rounds where you only check after you laid but sometimes have a free for all when you can check anytime. Probably why I'm a slow player!

[Mogs]

I've organised a few meet ups with people in Dulwich who wanted to play scrabble, we have played in the Clockhouse, Alleyns Head.

We haven't played for a couple of weeks, so I think I would like to come along. I also play online through the internet scrabble club.

If anyone would like to meet up for game online or in person, let me know

[Huguenot]

Hey Mogs - what's your rating on the ISC, we may have played each other?

[*Bob*]

There's only one place for the 'Collins' when it comes to Scrabble:

IN THE BIN

[Mogs]

My rating is about 525 - but my handle is Hannah179