I sometimes hear Scrabble players say -- usually intermediate level players -- that they are concentrating on "strategy". Once they learn the words, they say, they'll be unbeatable. To which I say... nah.

Here's the problem I have with this kind of thinking.

(I'm rereading George R. R. Martin's sprawling fantasy world series at the moment. You'll see.)

The young lads wishing to become knights train in the courtyards with wooden swords. They learn fancy footwork and how to size up an opponent and what works and what doesn't work. They build their muscles and endurance. When the time finally comes for tournaments, they are as ready as they can be. They go into the ring with sword -- real sword -- in hand.

What is our equivalent? Simming, to an extent. Going over games. Arguing positions. Thinking about why one play is better than another. Open vs. closed. Sizing up opponents.

But when we go into the ring, no one hands us our real sword. If we don't have it -- we are playing in a real tournament with a wooden sword! We can dance around all we like. We can know that what we now need to do is open up this quadrant using only three tiles and preserving our best chances to bingo here AND here... but if we don't have the words -- short and long -- who cares if we know the theory? We're dead.

Craft your sword.

Learn.
The.
Words.

Laura and K.C. were taking on John, as our numbers were odd. (And some odder than others.)

They were debating -- aloud -- whether to play a particular phoney. And John was assuring them, with no sincerity whatsoever, that he wouldn't challenge it.

Laura: "I do think our other phoney may be good, though."

I love Scrabble.

I don't like it when folks choose not to play tournaments because of their divisional placement... and I'm musing about doing just that.  If I have the time and resources to play just ONE tournament for the rest of the year (really since BAT), do I really want to play division two?  No, I really don't.

I'm getting some pressure to play it, since it's in my backyard.

Bah.  I'm really on the fence here.

Three more team games at Scrabble club Tuesday night, this time as Mosaic. Mosaic's experience as a team did make a difference; I'm not sure how to quantify it. I know it affected our time management. We KNOW each other's strengths and weaknesses; we don't have to spend time arguing over which decision is better in a certain scenario. (Although we still do at times.) We defer to the "strong" one in a lot of areas. This saves time. We have also developed some shorthands for things.

We each track, which helps our accounting. We each write the racks (mostly out of habit).

We had several plays where our entire "collaboration" consisted of "that?" "Yeah." "Wait, what about…" "It's okay, because of…" "Oh, yeah." With no pointing, writing down, anything. Can't beat telepathy, man.

Our opponents, Cheezchick and Ataraxy, joined later by Mrsscheisskopf, were a blast. They are hilarious and sharp. We kept them in time trouble, which I'm convinced was pretty much our only advantage (that and the incredible patented Marsh Luck which has helped me out of many a jam.)

I really am lucky. I have proof.

And Scrabble today!

Three team games with Bob and Vince.  The team won every time.  If I'm remembering correctly, and of course I am, this means that the team has never lost.  Don't underestimate how much stronger two heads are than one.  Far better draws?  Blanks growing on trees?  Too bad.  The team wins.  (Mosaic is quite a bit stronger than its component parts of Marsh and JVP.)

This particular session, I happened to be on the team every game, woohoo.  Only one triple-triple, but it was a fun one... bONE[F]IsH.  The rest of the stuff was fairly pedestrian:  OUTWITS, BRAI[N]IER, GOORALS, TRENDI[E]R, OUTLIER, ARISTAE, VELOuRS, and TRAINER.  Anything else?  VOTIVE now takes an S.  Lots of good hard racks with tricky solutions.

The sun is shining, the kids are here until 6, and I'm doing okay.

The most organized study method on the planet.

This is the way it works:

Play.
Write down words you miss.
Look up ones you don't know for hooks, etc.
Do it many times.

John and I both "finished" work by five. (In other words, we said we're going to club, this stuff can WAIT.) Don't tell the kids, but we went to Burger King on the way, because I had not planned ahead and made nice healthy sandwiches. We had to decompress from various work and life things throughout the day, but fortunately DC has lots and lots and lots of traffic which made the commute long enough to do so. Ha ha.

And then we were at club. I have really missed it.

I start the night off with a phoney, which pleases me! PREBOrN. My biggest problem in this game has been nerve. I need to play things I'm not 100 percent sure of. So yay for phoneys! (It stayed on the board, which pleased me even more.) On the way home, some three hours later, the only solution to that rack finally occurs to me.

Honestly, there were very few strategic issues or major puzzles. It was just fun, mind-satisfying, good Scrabble. My time was a problem. I went down to the final seconds in two of the three games. I had to figure out a winning out-in-three in the second game, which was fairly tricky and involved setting up a blockable out-in-two. Okay, so that was a little strategic and if I am feeling motivated later, I may post that endgame.

I was so happy to see the people. Brief little catch-ups, bantering, minor kibitzing. I went 2-1.

It was good.