This week there was a scrabble tournament in Jerusalem. It was held at the Jerusalem Botanical Gardens. We hadn’t visited this location for a few years. It has changed very much in the time we were away. It has developed into a really lovely place to visit. There are two cafes there. We had lunch at one, and it was excellent. of course, the company probably had a lot of influence on that. We ate with other participants in the tourney. But the surroundings were also magnificent. From our table we could look out over a small lake that was overgrown with water lilies. Later we saw it was home to a number of ducks, as well.
But I’m leaving out the main reason we came, playing scrabble. We, my wife and I, have been members of the Jerusalem Scrabble Club since it started. The club runs little tournament every year (sometimes twice a year). Corona interrupted this tradition. But now we have returned. There were about 30 players who came. We were divided into 3 groups, based on how well we play. Scrabble tournament players actually have ratings, just like chess players. I have almost always been in the higher group. I am well aware that as I’ve grown older, my ability has been slowly waning. I expected I might not win more than 2 games of the nine to be played. That was based on my recent experience against the other members in the division in which I played, and on my rating, which is also lower than most of the others. But scrabble is a game. We play it for fun. I often get as much enjoyment out of a game, even when I lose, from knowing that I played well.
In that respect, this contest did not disappoint. I actually won 5 of the nine games I played. But 3 of them were by very close margins. Finding unusual words, or high scoring plays, provides a level of excitement of its’ own. And my games in this tournament were filled with such events. The winner won all 9 of his games, but the next level included 5 players with records of 5 wins and 4 losses. I was one of them. Tie breaking was based on the cumulative differential total of your scores against those of your opponents. For that, I had only one game where i was thoroughly trashed, and my next bad differential was matched by a winning differential that was almost as good. The most exciting games were those where the final score were very close. I won one game by 3 points, and lost two others by 5 and 11, respectively.
Whenever the next such event takes place I expect we’ll be among the participants.
Wetherhorn 