Scrabbalicious

I've been a part of four Scrabble games in the last two days. Four. Two were with Jim. One was with two ten year olds when I was tutoring. Another was a virtual Scrabulous (<<---gross) game with Nina B. via facebook. She challenged me! I had to do it!

I LOVE Scrabble. Not in that obsessive, competitive, know-all-the-trick-words-that-not-even-English-professors-use-in-their-scholarly-papers way. But in the way that makes my heart race when I think I have the most incredible word ever, the same word that is suddenly rendered incomplete when a second glance at my letters reveals to me that I am missing a key vowel. That fleeting despair I face is known only known to people who love Scrabble in the way I do.

We forge forward. We find a new word, we hope for the triple letter score on a four-point W. A triple word score on a Q word is nearly unheard of, but it's one of my faint hopes, one I dare not speak aloud. Maybe...someday.

I seem to recall a move I made at my family reunion either this past summer or the one before when I extended a preexisting word all the way down to the triple word score, therefore garnering points from the other player's previous word, my new points, and of course the triple value of it all. One of my crowning moments.

Ooh, all this talk has me hot and bothered. Wonder if Nina B. has made her move yet in our online game. If so, it's my go...

(Dear lord: an hour later, and I've found a site where you can play SOLITAIRE SCRABBLE. I played against a robot and he/she/it pulled all those tricky moves, using words that aren't even in Merriam-Webster's. I don't dig that. But here's my solo game. I love not having competition!

Stop me now. But first, try it yourself: http://www.scrabulous.com/solitaire_scrabble.php)