Brother vs. Brother: Game I

As the eldest of two brothers, I think it is incumbent upon me to point out the flaws in everything my younger brother does. Thus, I present an extensive analysis of an ISC game we played last weekend, in which I kicked his bah-hoot-tay all over his sorry excuse for a swing state.

Brother vs. Brother: Game I

Blue tiles=Mike Waugh the Elder aka fuzzgig
Red tiles=Robert Waugh the Younger aka superflea (a self-professed Scrabble dabbler)

1) Mike: ADEORS?
8B ROADEoS 66 points

I drew some lucky tiles. (I hear that one out of every ten opening racks should be a bingo). ROADEOS was the first thing I saw. Some other words, like FEDORAS, SARODES, TORSADE, and ADORERS would have scored 2 more points by getting the D on a DLS. But who cares, ROADEO is a funny word.

Robert: DGIIQYZ
H5 DIGS 6 points

Not a very good looking rack. One should be looking to get rid of either the Q or the Z, since they don't go together to well. Perhaps, Robert was fishing for a QUETZAL. I would have played QAID at D7 for only 14 points, but at least the Q is off the rack, and the Z would be ready for something good next turn. Probably better are the computer suggestions: C7 DOZY (29) scores the most points while C5 ZYGOID (23) uses the most letters. ZYGOID is probably best, since then there's a better chance of drawing the U. But who's heard of ZYGOID? E5 GIDDY (22) is the best common word play.

2) Mike: BEIJRTY
E4 JIBED 30 points

Before DIGS blocked it, I was hoping for 7G JIBER (43). Best would have been B6 JERRY (39) which scores more and has a better leave (BIT).

Robert: AIOQTYZ
B5 TZAR 33 points

Not bad. More points is 5H DITZY (36) but the computer likes 5H DOZY (34) better because of the AIQT left on the rack. It's a toss up, since DITZY will draw an extra tile, and we're still looking for a U.

3)Mike: BEIRTTY
5H DERBY 22 points

The computer doesn't like this one at all, probably because of the bad leave (ITT). F5 TYRE (34) scores the most, but I never heard of that one. A1 TRIBE (32) is a possibility as well as D7 BATTERY (28).

By this point, it's 118 to 39.

Robert: INOQSVY
I3 VIE 10 points

Another bad rack, but there is a host of options. F3 NOSY (43) leaves both the Q and V, but the points might make up for it. F5 SYNE (34) has a similar idea. It's always a good idea to survey the TLS squares to see if something like a Y can hook on them. F8 ENVOY (19) and F8 ENVY (18) aren't bad. J2 IVORY (21) gives 4 chancs for a U. Hell, even L3 IVY scores 18 points.

4) Mike: AIRSTTV
A1 VISTA 29 points

A1 VITTA (29) is better because it saves the S, but again, I hadn't come across that word before. Thanks to VASTIER (SATIRE+V), I know about VASTY, which I could have played on L1 for 30 points. But VISTA and VITTA are better defensively.

Robert: INOQSWY
C7 WON 20 points

There's no where to play the Q once again. There's still F3 NOSY (41) and F5 SYNE (34). 7A WAY or YAW (22) play off both the W and Y while saving the vowels. Some nice parallel plays are F5 SINEWY (32) and 7A SAWNEY (32) which play off a lot of letters.