Scrabble Clone Games: My Wordsmith Tournament Game of the Week (May 30-Jun 5)

Reversal of Fortune

This week, I have lots of interesting games but I selected one which can be exploited in a Wordsmith game especially in the pre-endgame. As most of the players here don't know yet that swapping are allowed with fewer than seven tiles left in the bag, let me share this tactics that I have done in this game, starting from this board position:

(position after dmbandme's CIMAR)

Our score was almost even. dmbandme's last play of CIMAR opened up a double-double lane which was very risky. I had an option to play CHIV in the triple for 39 points but that would leave a double-double (four timer) open for my opponent, especially that blank was still unplayed at this juncture. And if my opponent could play a bingo on that spot, that would be a huge score. And so, I chose a defensive move.

(position after my SHIV)

I played SHIV, and have drawn UOHF in the bag to join LON. I realized later that NOH (IN/MO/YAH) was much better because it keeps the S and also blocks the triple word square. Here's dmbandme's next play:

(position after dmbandme's YCLED)

YCLED for 36 points opened up another D for possible bingo spot. The other D (from DATA) was on top as another bingo threat. I could play VOL or VON for 24 points, but that would give easier bingo target, and at the same time a poor leave with HF. Check out my next play:

(position after my WOFUL)

I played WOFUL keeping HON, and drew REJI in the bag. Why not D instead of J? That would have been a bingo - DIHEDRON! dmbandme's next move:

(positon after dmbandme's DAUNtERS)

Two possible bingo spots for DAUNtERS or any other bingo words but my opponent chose the most logical move. In this board position and my rack, I was about to give up and just play any move elsewhere to finish this game. But wait, there are still chance of catching up in case I could play a bingo on my last turn. If I dump the J, say JORS, what are the chances of picking D in the bag? Unseen tiles from my point of view were BDDDEEEEGKNORT. It should be 3 out of 14 or around 21%. What if my opponent blocked that spot? Maybe yes or maybe not. Are there any more possible spots if blocked? These questions were in my mind as I tried to analyze further. If there was only S in unseen, then another possibility would have been INSHORE/VIS. So, I decided to play the J and O.

(position after by JOT)

GK came in, so my rack was GKREIHN. Five tiles in the bag and unseen (BDDDEEEENORT). My opponent's next move:

(position after dmbandme's ORB)

It looks bleak for me at this point after dmbandme played ORB. The lead was 84! I could form a bingo from my rack but no place to go down on the board. Two tiles left in the bag with unseen (DDDEEEENT). My initial thought was to play the G elsewhere and hope to draw T, so that THINKER below the ISH of YOkELISH could be a possibility, but chances of drawing T was 11%. Another idea was to play the E to LI (to make it LIE) for 4 points hoping to draw E in the bag for a GHERKIN/LIER bingo next turn! I knew that the chances of picking E was better because there are 4 E's unseen or 44% chance of picking. Wait, based on unseen, there could be a possibility that my opponent would be holding DDEEENT, and that would give an easy bingo, TEENDED/LIEN. Alright, assuming that my opponent had DDEEENT, then there could be a possibility that ED was in the bag. Where should I play the GK on the board leaving EHIRN in my rack? None! With 2 hours left in my turn time limit, this was my final decision:

(tiger2002 swapped KG)

And so, this is it! Maybe, only few players knew that swapping tiles with fewer than seven tiles in the bag is permitted in a Wordsmith game. Take note also that my opponent doesn't know whether I swapped two or one tile, because it would only show "swapped" on my opponent's screen from his mobile/tablet. (Blogger's Note: In the Standard Scrabble rule, swapping is not permitted when there are fewer than seven tiles left in the bag. So, you can exploit this tactics in your future Wordsmith game. Good luck then.). I reasoned out also that it is better to have the two tiles in the bag because in case it is empty, my seven tiles could be easily revealed by way of tracking especially online games like this. Statistically, the probability of picking DE (in any order) from unseen DDDEEEENT is far better than my previous thoughts. Check out my tile pick up after the swapping:

(tiger2002 had drawn ED!)

After throwing back the GK in the bag, it is now revealed that dmbandme was holding DDEEENT. I have the full knowledge of my opponent's rack now, but unseen from dmbandme's point of view was DEEGHIKNR.

My opponent played WISHED using ED on the top left of the board for 12 points, and the score after that was 325-421. (I could not find the screenshot of that board position). That was a big blunder!

And so, I nailed down the game winning bingo!

(tiger2002 play INHERED and won!)

I played INHERED for 73 points catching dmbandme with DEENTGK (16 points value)! So, the final score after deduction of 16 points from dmbandme's score, were 414-405. What a reversal of fortune!