…with Gary Moss

I was playing scrabble online last night. I play on a sight where players are paired randomly. Sometimes I find that my opponents are experts; sometimes they are novices; and other times they are people who are playing with the aid of an electronic dictionary that finds the best word for them. I can tell a lot about them after their first play or two. The person using the electronic device will play bingos that will make your head spin, but will hook with phoney two letter words (an instant giveaway). The expert will place words in strategic defensive places. The novice will play phoney after phoney, become frustrated after being challenged, and usually quit in the middle of the game.
Players have the option to chat back and forth via instant messages. Sometimes I drop a comment. Most times, if I drop a suggestion, other than praise, my opponent will take offence, and shoot back a put down. Last night after a few back and forth chats with a raw novice, we had a pleasant exchange.
I find that people want to be ‘right’; people want to ‘win’; people want to be the best ‘NOW’. Most do not especially want to pay their dues by investing time and energy to become something more. If it doesn’t come easily, they will abandon an endeavor and do something else instead. Maybe it’s because I love the game of scrabble so much that I don’t quite understand the attitude of those who throw in the towel early on. They’ll say things like, “I can’t spell”. And never come back again.
I guess I was like that for a while when it came to ‘Sudoku’. But, I hated the fact that I couldn’t do them. And one day I made a decision to learn. And now I can handle sudoku up to level four.
The bookmark shown here is one of the study tools that I developed to assist scrabble players who want to move up in the ranks. When you decide to become even better, you will.