Playing Scrabble

Well, that was kind of an up-and-down experience. I won three games of Scrabble in a row. I'm pleased that my rating went up, but disappointed at the lack of suspense generated by my opponents. People who make three-letter boxes deserve to have their
gonads shrivel up and rot.

Internet Scrabble Club , ISC , is my Scrabble site of choice. ISC provides free games to registered members; pay for a membership if you want more privileges.
Games are tournament-style, one-on-one. The ISC server is in Romania, so lag can be a problem for some players; adjusting the length of time for a game should compensate for lag.
The Scrabble game you play can be in English, French, Romanian, Italian, or Dutch.

Of course it's true that I play "baby Scrabble". Given a choice of challenge options at the ISC site I choose the option where the computer validates all the words played. That option cuts down on the number of opponents who will accuse you of cheating. The computer will also let
you "try out" words; if you're indulging in fantasy words the computer will let you know
which fantasy is acceptable.

Miggle, snooled, agnize, and zarf are acceptable...believe it or not.

Most of my opponents would be disappointed if they could see me on a webcam. If I'm taking a long time on a turn it's probably becuz I'm letting dogs in/out, getting food out of the microwave, or opening a new bag of Ruffles. I actually play my best when I'm slightly distracted. MySpouse thinks it's hilarious; that while I'm shoving potato chips into my mouth I'm putting 'sequoia' on the board and getting 93 points for it.

When opponents accuse me of cheating I tell them the truth, the very painful truth: You do not have my complete attention. I'm eating, I'm crocheting, I'm scratching my dog's belly. I do not have a dictionary, I do not have a word list, I do not have an anagram program running. One oppo who persisted in accusing me of cheating got both barrels; they pissed me off and I told them 'I don't need helps to beat you.'

And there are the whiners: That's not a real word. How real does it have to be?

A real word here in Iowa is 'owly'. Usually meaning a tired child, cuz kids get big owl-eyes when they're tired; or someone so tired that they're getting grumpy. MySpouse is a good example of 'owly' quite often. Talking to people outside of Iowa tells me that 'owly' is a regional usage, common here, never heard elsewhere. Also not accepted by the Scrabble computer, which disappoints me.

Whiners demand that you play only 'real' words: bat, cat, mat, tax. Instead of bate, cation, matte, or taxa... Sometimes I'm inclined to demonstrate how silly that demand is; I play small, simple, 'real' words with real strategy and win.