SCRABBLE - The Last Word Newsletter

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The Art of Strategyby Art MooreT H E A R T O F S T R A T E G YThe BasicsA popular feature of the Facebook SCRABBLE® Beta application is thediscussion board. With many of the online players new to one-on-oneSCRABBLE®, the most popular conversation threads have been those onstrategy--and Art Moore, a NASPA tournament player, has emerged as thestrategy guru. The Last Word is pleased to offer Art’s lessons as a new monthlyfeature.Tip 1: Conserve good letters, play off the bad.Trying to score a bingo? It helps to hold on to bingo prone tiles! Succinctly put by former nationalchampion Joel Sherman, the letters in the word CANISTER affords you the best chance to bingo. Ifyou can rid yourself of ugly tiles such as U, V, W, Y while making a good score, leaving behind someCANISTER letters, you'll increase your chances of hitting a big one soon after.Tip 2: Rack Balance.Again, deferring to Mr. Sherman, there is a ratio of 4:3 of consonants to vowels in the tile pool.Strive for that type of balance as well on your rack. CANISTER is a great rule of thumb, but don'tmake a play leaving AIE on your rack, because you've got to draw 4 consonants to balance thingsout. Not likely to happen.Tip 3: Beware of fishing.Don't often try to play off just one tile hoping to score the one you need. Occasionally this works, butit alerts your opponent that you're close to a bingo and they will likely play defensively to block. Inaddition, your average score over the two (or three, or four...) turns doesn't usually make itworthwhile.Tip 4: Blanks are good. Really.Don't waste your blank on a 20 point play. Many use the blank only for a 50 point or better score.They score 0 points but their value is immeasurable.Tip 5: ING is a trap.Don't get too caught up holding -ING for a bingo. Yeah it works, but often you find yourselffrustrated. Try it for a turn or two at most, remembering that G is not one of the CANISTER letters.SCRABBLE® being his mother's favorite game, Art Moore played a lot of it growing up. Afterplaying online for a number years, Art made the jump to club (and tournament) play three years ago.Art lives just outside of Orlando, husband to an incredibly patient woman and father of four equallytolerant children. He is co-director of Club #438 in Casselberry, Florida. Find him on ISC under themoniker "Werds".36
A N N S A N F E D E L EAnn Sanfedele:Photographer, Poet, Artist, SCRABBLE® Playerby Cornelia GuestReaders of Paul McCarthy’s Letterati, a highly recommended bookdocumenting the roots of organized tournament SCRABBLE®, haveseen a glimpse of the many wonderful moments captured on film byAnn Sanfedele, a New York photographer and SCRABBLE® player.Her photos also adorned the walls at the Comfort Diner for most of IraFreehof’s New York City tournaments.Ann and her cat, Ashley(photo by Amita Guha)Ann has been a photographer for over 40 years, traveling all over theUnited States and Canada with her camera. She has had numeroussolo exhibits in New York galleries, and her work has been included inmany group shows. Her first book of photographs, Sign Language,was published by Citadel Press in 1992. The sequel, Signs Gone By, isavailable at Amazon.com or directly from her lulu storefront: http://stores.lulu.com/annsan. Ann’s professional photography web site isannsan.smugmug.comAnn is also a skillful designer with a strong sense of humor. You’ll find her SCRABBLE®-relateddesigns at her online store, The OWL and the Pussycat, at Cafe Press (http://www.cafepress.com/annsanstuff), where she sells such tournament player favorites as the “Rack of Lambdas” (aconcept requested by Jack Eichenbaum) and the SOWPODS T-shirts pictured below. Her designfor “The Tiles Are Out There” has been a perennial favorite.Ann started playing SCRABBLE® in the 1950s in Chicago, where she was involved in the localtheatre scene. “I was hanging out at The College of Complexes, a bar on North State Street wherewe’d go after rehearsals at the Chicago Stage Guild down the street. I was even going there beforeI got out of high school. It was an arty, intellectual scene--chess, quizzes for bar tokens, etc. Wedid one-act plays there as well. It was one-on-one SCRABBLE®, even then, in that environment.“But it wasn’t until the mid 70’s in New York that I got into tournament SCRABBLE®.” Ann saw anarticle in the New York Times Metro section about a SCRABBLE® tournament in Brooklyn: The New 37
Page 2 and 3: Table of ContentsT A B L E O F C O
Page 4 and 5: F R O M T H E E D I T O ROur recent
Page 6 and 7: H O L I D A Y B A Z A A R : A D V E
Page 12 and 13: T O U R N A M E N T N E W S : R O C
Page 14 and 15: T O U R N A M E N T N E W S : C A L
Page 16 and 17: T O U R N A M E N T N E W S : R E S
Page 18 and 19: N E W F A C E SPatton made quite a
Page 20 and 21: S U M C L A B B E R S T O U R N A M
Page 22 and 23: C A U S E W A Y C H A L L E N G E :
Page 24 and 25: T H E W O R D S M I T H“September
Page 26 and 27: Video Joeby Joe BihlmeyerV I D E O
Page 28 and 29: S C R A B B L E I N T H E N E W SMa
Page 30 and 31: P L A Y E R P R O F I L Emoved one
Page 32 and 33: The Mad Scrabblersby Cornelia Guest
Page 34 and 35: Linda’s Libraryby Linda WancelAs
Page 38 and 39: A N N S A N F E D E L EYork City Ch
Page 40 and 41: S T E L L ’ S R A C K S O F M I R
Page 42 and 43: T H E T I L E B A Gsecond "J' come
Page 44 and 45: T H E T I L E B A GDear R2,This is,
Page 46 and 47: A N A G R A M T U N N E L S Q U I Z
Page 48 and 49: Book Reviewby Cornelia GuestEveryth
Page 50 and 51: C L U B N E W SClub NewsLarry Sherm
Page 52 and 53: C L U B N E W SMaddy Kamen scores 7
Page 54 and 55: Word Trivia Quizby Siri Tillekeratn
Page 56 and 57: H I S T O R I C M O M E N T SHistor
Page 58 and 59: F I L L I N T H E B L A N K SANSWER
Page 60 and 61: P A S S A G E SBut every now and th
Page 62 and 63: game--it still has the option foron
Page 64 and 65: T O U R N A M E N T C A L E N D A R
Page 66: ArchivesA R C H I V E STo access pr

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