Berlin has always been THE city for me.
I came here first when I was 11 years old - in February 1990 (after the fall of Berlin Wall but still before German reunification) and I 've been coming back to the city ever since. During those visits not only have I been experiencing the changes in the city itself but mostly in my view of reality.
This time I returned to Berlin to play Scrabble.
The occasion was the German English Scrabble National.
The event was organised by Peggy Fehily (who already hosted the 1st German Open in Mannheim last year) and featured a 10-round tournament played over the weekend (7-8.07.2012) on the 13th floor of the Internationales Handelszentrum high building in the former East Berlin.
The event was organised by Peggy Fehily (who already hosted the 1st German Open in Mannheim last year) and featured a 10-round tournament played over the weekend (7-8.07.2012) on the 13th floor of the Internationales Handelszentrum high building in the former East Berlin.
There were 12 people playing - among them 7 people from Germany, 3 ladies from Ireland and 2 lads from Poland (Wojtek and I).
I rallied through the first day winning all 7 games - a lucky streak greatly aided by an unexpected spell of good fortune seeing me getting 57% of the blanks and 75% (!!!) of the S's. On the second day I beat Wojtek in round 8 which meant the tournament was all mine. In the final 10th game I played Wojtek again and he denied me a 10-0 tournament win by blocking my final rack bingo SENIORS with a naughty VROT.
Nevertheless I was happy to see Wojtek finish 2nd in the tournament - two wins behind me.
My final record was 9-1 and +834.
As anounced by Peggy this GESN tournament series is to be held annually and I'm really eager to come back to Germany next year to try to defend my first ever German title.
I rallied through the first day winning all 7 games - a lucky streak greatly aided by an unexpected spell of good fortune seeing me getting 57% of the blanks and 75% (!!!) of the S's. On the second day I beat Wojtek in round 8 which meant the tournament was all mine. In the final 10th game I played Wojtek again and he denied me a 10-0 tournament win by blocking my final rack bingo SENIORS with a naughty VROT.
Nevertheless I was happy to see Wojtek finish 2nd in the tournament - two wins behind me.
My final record was 9-1 and +834.
As anounced by Peggy this GESN tournament series is to be held annually and I'm really eager to come back to Germany next year to try to defend my first ever German title.
The STATS:
Games won: 9
Games lost: 1
Spread: +834
Average for: 431.9
Average against: 348.5
Blanks: 12/20 = 60%
S's: 27/40 = 68%
Games won:
2 blanks: 3/3 (100%)
1 blank: 5/6 (83%)
0 blanks: 1/1 (100%)
Bingos for: 21 (2.1 per game)
Bingos against: 10 (1.0 per game)
7 letter bingos: 8 (38%)
8 letter bingos: 13 (62%)
Bingos with blanks: 11 (52%)
Bingos without blanks: 10 (48%)
Highest no of bingos in a game: 4
Lowest no of bingos in a game: 1
High game: 496
Low game: 325
Highest combined score: 831 (465-366 for me)
