…with Gary Moss

Sometimes, (for me) the best way to learn something is by doing it wrong the first time. While playing scrabble, some of the words that stick with me best are those words that were phoney during the game, that I looked up after the game. I give those words greater attention and rarely make the same mistake a second time (I just make different mistakes). Another set of words that I find easy to remember are the words with unusual combinations like: ‘ngwee’ or ‘gjetost’ or ‘mbira’. There are so many interesting sets of words. Did you know that only 20% of words that end with ‘ing’ can take an ‘s’ (‘ings’)? Do you know which can and which can’t? Did you know that the OWL2 dictionary has been changed four times during the last 20 years? Are you using the most current ‘Official Dictionary’? Some players continue to use ‘da’. That word was removed from the official list in 1998. Where do you look for interesting word lists? There are ‘free’ list of words at: http://web.mac.com/jftsoi/Word_Lists/Table_of_Contents.html

I was the benefactor of someone else ‘doing it wrong’. It was May 1997. I was a regular weekly player at ‘The Killer Club’ (Alan Stern’s Wednesday Club in West LA). It is called ‘the killer club’ because the level of play is brutal. The makeup of the field of players included some of the best in the nation. I was ranked near the bottom of the pack when it came time for their end of year Club Championship Tournament. My expectation, from the start, was to play my best game and win a few of the 8 games. Something special was about to occur to me. I entered a space in time that others have described as ‘a zone’. When you’re in that ‘zone’ you can do no wrong. Bingos appeared on my rack every time I drew tiles from the bag. Multiple bingo lines were open on the board and begged me to play my next 7-Letter-Word here. My tile tracking was without flaw. I drew most of the power tiles. When my opponent made a good play, I made a better play.
On week #1 of the event, I won 4 of 4, beating some of the best players in the mix. I was so pleased with myself I could hardly stand it. People congratulated me, shook my hand, and asked me for advice. How silly! Me giving advice to these pros. There was an entire week before the last 4 games. I had no illusions of becoming the champion; I was just very please by the showing I had made. When the following Wednesday finally arrived I was very nervous. But just like the week before, I was in that ‘zone’ again. I won 2 of the first 3 games that evening, putting me into the final battle for the title in game #8. Of all people, I had to play against Rita Norr, a past NSA National Champion. I had only played Rita a few times and had never beaten her. It was a cat and mouse game. The lead went back and forth. The score remained very close right down to the end. It was Rita’s turn; she needed only one small score to secure the victory. She made her play; I said, “Hold!” I turned the board and and looked at her play. She had played a small 3-Letter-Word in the lower right hand corner of the board to the TWS. But. . . she had hooked an ‘o’ to an ‘i’. ( In 1997 ‘oi’ was not on the official word list. Rita had been studying SOWPODS at home, preparing for the WORLD TOURNAMENT. ‘oi’ was a SOWPODS word at that time.)
I challenged her play, won the challenge, and went out. I became the 1997 Club Champion at The Killer Club. I enjoyed fond memories of that experience when ‘oi’ was added to the OWL2 in March of 2006.