up to the Lexington Scrabble® Club
Unfortunately, the club records over its many years of existence are not consolidated. Some research must be done to locate the significant events of the club. As such data is found it will be entered here. These are the categories (showing the current club records) we are tracking, a few of which need more research:
The highest game score achieved during a club session was made by Michael Cresta on 12-Oct-06, when he scored 830. This was also a record-breaking game for a Scrabble® club game in North America. Other records were also broken by this game. There were no unchallenged phoneys in this game. This game can be viewed here.
The second-highest game score achieved during a club session was made by Mike Wolfberg on 21-Jun-07, when he scored 737 against Jamie Ryan, who was at the time ranked second in the club. Unfortunately, Mike's focus was contaminated by excessive club chatter when he missed finding a triple-triple twice and also accepted a phony. He could have exceeded 800 points in that game, but 737 is still a notable achievement. This game can be viewed here.
The third-highest game score achieved during a club session was made by Mike Wolfberg on 4-Nov-82, when he scored 709. This game was unfortunately "contaminated" with phoneys. This game included a 185-point BUOYANCY on a triple-triple, which is neither a record by Mike nor a club record. This game can be viewed here. Several years later in the Boston club, Mike broke 700 again, scoring 701 in a game devoid of phoneys by him.
Before the above game was played, the record was held by Bill McDonald - he scored 644 against his opponent's 254. Contributing to his high score was a 158-point triple of UNFUNDED. Bill's high game was played on some 19-Aug in the early 1980's.
The fourth-highest score in a club session which we remember is 703 by Joel Horn on 27-Jun-02. Joel got away with one phony triple-triple of PARIETIc, when he could have played APERITIf.
The fifth-highest score in a club session which we remember is 696 by Ben Harrison on 22-Jul-04. Ben played one unchallenged 28-point phony. His opponent scored 204, so the point spread was 492. This game can be viewed here. When this game was played, it was incorrectly reported as a 706, but there was a 10-point addition error noticed subsequently.
The next 3 highest scores which we remember are: a 694 by Richard Buck, a 686 by Mark Fidler on 22-Mat-01, and a 677 by Steve Root; further details about this 677 game are in the "High Total Scores" section following the next section.
The club weekly news reports on the game played the previous week in which the score was the highest above the player's average. Although this could be a losing score, this has been the case only once. Although this has been reported for most of the club's life, the percentage has been announced starting with the 1997-1998 season, so that is when the club record begins with this statistic. A player must have played at least 20 games (changed from 10 games in Sep-99) in the current season to be eligible for this accolade.
If it weren't for the 20 game minimum rule, the record-breaking high game of the club would have counted as 139% for Michael Cresta, when he scored 830. The loser of that game, Wayne Yorra, got the high-above-average accolade that week with his losing score of 490; the percentage was 47.8%, and this is only game in club history when the loser received the accolade.
These are the games with the highest percentages since we have tracked this statistic:
| Date | Player | Percentage | Score | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar | 22, | 2001 | Mark Fidler | 686 | ||||
| Jul | 22, | 2004 | Ben Harrison | 696 | ||||
| Jun | 21, | 2007 | Mike Wolfberg | 737 | ||||
| Jun | 27, | 2002 | Joel Horn | 703 | ||||
| Apr | 12, | 2001 | Gerri Martin | 636 | ||||
| Mar | 11, | 2004 | Larry Katz | 615 | ||||
The record-breaking game by Michael Cresta and Wayne Yorra on 12-Oct-06 resulted in the highest total score in any club game, and this was 1320. Their game score was 830-490. This record also holds for North American club play.
The second-highest total score was achieved on 21-Jun-07 when Mike Wolfberg defeated Jamie Ryan 737-340; so their total was 1077 points. This game can be viewed here.
Steve Root recalls a game with a high total game score of 1062 points, in which Steve scored 677 and Jere Mead scored 385. Steve played a 293-point SNEEZIER on a triple-triple, with the Z on the DLS. At the time this game was played, this may have set the NSA record for a highest single-turn score; since then, there have been 302- and 311-point plays made in North America, but the record-breaking game by Cresta and Yorra included a 365-point play. In that Root-Mead game, Steve played FRAMINGS when he could have played FARMINGS; both are acceptable today, but only FARMINGS was acceptable back then; so this game was not phony-free at the time it was played. Had Steve not gotten caught with the Q at the end, he would likely have exceeded 700 points.
The fourth-highest total score in this club was 1046 in a game on 7-Oct-04, in which Steven Saul defeated Joel Horn 546-500. In this phony-free game, the first five plays were bingos, and each of the players bingoed 4 times. This game can be viewed here.
The fifth-highest total in this club was 1033 in a game on 1-Feb-07, in which Judy Horn defeated Cecilia Le 601-432. Judy made a 140-point triple-triple of GRATINEE in that game.
The sixth-highest total in this club was 1021 in a game on 14-Jun-07 in which Jamie Ryan defeated John O'Laughlin 588-433. In that game, Jamie made a 167-point RANCIDLY. John was attending the club for his first visit on that occasion.
The seventh-highest total in this club was 1001 in a game on 4-Jan-07, in which Aaron Bader defeated Jake Bergmann 609-392.
The eighth-highest total score in this club was 1000 in a game on 19-Jun-03, in which Mike Wolfberg defeated John Van Pelt 514-486. In that game Mike made a 149-point MARABOUS, which was immediately followed by John's 185-point PSHAWING. This game also set a new record for the club's highest losing score, which has since been exceeded. This game can be viewed here.
Another 1000-point game was played on 12-Apr-07 in which Ben Harrison defeated Bruce Adams 583-417. Ben played 5 bingos and Bruce played one bingo which was a triple-triple for 122 points.
The ninth-highest total in this club was 998 in a game on 22-Jan-04, in which Dean Cullen defeated Gregg Foster 587-411.
The tenth-highest total in this club was 991 in a game on 18-Jul-02, in which Rod MacNeil defeated Joel Horn 568-423. In that game, Rod played both ONERIEST and SEROTINE (which are anagrams) as natural bingos.
Also see the next section on high losing scores in the club.
| Date | Loser | Losing Score |
Winner | Winning Score |
Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct | 7, | 2004 | Joel Horn | 500 | Steven Saul | 546 | 1046 | |||||
| Oct | 12, | 2006 | Wayne Yorra | 490 | Michael Cresta | 830 | 1320 | |||||
| Jun | 19, | 2003 | John Van Pelt | 486 | Mike Wolfberg | 514 | 1000 | |||||
| Jan | 12, | 1989 | Merrill Kaitz | 480 | Mike Wolfberg | 493 | 973 | |||||
| Jun | 26, | 2003 | Judy Horn | 478 | Joel Horn | 483 | 961 | |||||
| Nov | 13, | 1989 | Gerri Martin | 476 | Judy Horn | 500 | 976 | |||||
| Feb | 23, | 2006 | Jamie Ryan | 473 | Jake Bergman | 496 | 969 | |||||
| Jun | 26, | 2008 | Steven Saul | 473 | Alyssa Faria | 474 | 947 | |||||
| Feb | 1, | 2007 | Joel Horn | 472 | Diana Spiller | 487 | 959 | |||||
| Aug | 14, | 2003 | Carl Durdan | 470 | Dean Cullen | 518 | 988 | |||||
| Nov | 1, | 2007 | Bob Becker | 470 | Ben Harrison | 480 | 950 | |||||
| Jul | 1, | 1999 | John Van Pelt | 468 | Mark Fidler | 517 | 985 | |||||
| Aug | 23, | 2007 | Jamie Ryan | 468 | Judy Horn | 491 | 959 | |||||
| Oct | 1, | 1998 | Merrill Kaitz | 467 | Dave Mallick | 474 | 941 | |||||
| Sep | 5, | 1996 | Joel Horn | 465 | Muriel Sands | 494 | 959 | |||||
| Oct | 17, | 2002 | Judy Horn | 465 | Mike Wolfberg | 485 | 950 | |||||
| Jul | 7, | 2005 | Judy Horn | 463 | Jamie Ryan | 469 | 932 | |||||
| Jun | 14, | 2007 | Dielle Saldanha | 463 | Mike Wolfberg | 479 | 942 | |||||
| Oct | 16, | 1997 | Mark Fidler | 462 | Richard Buck | 501 | 963 | |||||
| Aug | 28, | 2003 | Mike Wolfberg | 462 | Bruce Adams | 469 | 931 | |||||
| May | 13, | 2004 | Mike Wolfberg | 462 | Steven Saul | 472 | 934 | |||||
On 29-Oct-98, Merrill Kaitz and Richard Buck tied with a 462. We are uncertain if this is a club record, but we will track this from then on.
The second-highest tie we recall was in a game on 12-Feb-04 when Joel Horn and Barbara Revkin tied with a score of 451.
Although the ties were not high-scoring, on 11-Mar-04 there were 2 ties in that session. That was also a record-breaking session for club attendance (44). Then, only two weeks later, on 25-Mar-04, with 37 players in attendance, there were again 2 ties - 408-408 and 404-404.
On 19-Jan-06, Trx. Kt. defeated Wayne Yorra 180-170. This game was terminated early when there were six consecutive plays scoring zero.
There may be some low winning scores in this club in games among novice players, and we have not made special note of these. However, in a game between two experienced players, we saw a low winning score on 12-Jul-07 when Judy Horn defeated Seth Lipkin 279-262.
As with several other stats, we have not carefully tracked the highest-scoring plays made at this club. The highest one we now recall is the 365-point QUIXOTRY by Michael Cresta, mentioned above in more than one category.
The runner-up high-scoring bingo is Steve Root's 293-point play of SNEEZIER, mentioned above in the highest total score game we recall.
The third-highest high-scoring bingo is Judy Horn's 275-point nONEQuAL, which she played (through the E) on 8-Jun-06.
The fourth-highest high-scoring bingo we recall is Michael Cresta's 239-point FLATFISH, which he played in the same game as he played the 365-point QUIXOTRY.
The fifth-highest high-scoring bingo we recall is Jake Bergmann's 230-point MITZVAhs, which he played on 11-Nov-04.
Although these were not played at a club session, club members Bruce Adams and Mike Wolfberg each made 239-point plays at National Scrabble® Championships. At NSC2000 in Providence, RI Bruce played WOOZIEST, and at NSC2004 in New Orleans, LA Mike played OVERSIZE.
On 4-Jan-01 Arnie Horowitz made a non-bingo which scored quite high. One column to the right of the center column, OY was in row 12 and M was in row 13. Arnie played JEEZ vertically, ending on the middle square of the bottom row. The score was 109 and his words were so appropriate!
On 24-Nov-07, Bruce Adams played ZIBET at 14J, hooking the Z to an FE at J12; there was also an O at 13K. This scored 109 points, tying Arnie's long-standing club record.
On 9-Nov-06, Mike Wolfberg made a 106-point non-bingo.
On 12-Feb-05 at a club party which was club-rated, John Ezekowitz made a 105-point non-bingo. John had played the phony CHINT to end just above the light blue double letter square on the left bottom row. Then, he hooked this with ZINGS. Although he did not even consider the playable bingo he had, John scored more with this non-bingo than he could have scored with that bingo.
On 16-May-02, passing up an opportunity to bingo for 82 points, Richard Buck made a 103-point non-bingo. He played ZoNER vertically in the lower left corner of the board in the second column, also forming ZIT, ONE, and NOR.
On 30-Jan-03, Joel made a 102-point QUAKE at A4 when PLANTER was on the board at B5.
On 21-Jun-07, Arnie made a 102-point ZEPS.
We are uncertain if these are club records, but we have henceforth kept track of such accomplishments.On 13-Feb-03 Dean Cullen ended a game with a zero-point play. Although he found a 10-point play elsewhere, he enjoyed making this unusual play of placing a blank next to a blank to form a 2-letter word for no points.
On 3-Jan-08, Mark Fidler made his final play in a club game scoring only one point. He used only the blank, and said it was the ONLY available going-out play at the time. He did not intentionally make the small play for the fun of it, as did Dean with his 0-point play.
This category refers to plays made by one of the players, although it should be mentioned that on 7-Oct-04, in a game between Steven Saul and Joel Horn, the two players played a total of 8 bingos. This game, which holds the record for the second-highest loss in the club, can be viewed here.
On 4-Apr-96, Adam Logan played 6 bingos in one game: LONGLINE, TAILLEUR, EPEnDYMA, MATURES, AEROBES, RATFINKS. His score for the game was 611. We are uncertain if this is a club record, but this is very likely, and we have henceforth kept track of such accomplishments.
On 6-Jul-06, Chris Guilbert played 6 bingos in one game: FLUIDITy, ARGUFiES, ODONATE, EBONIZES, HEAUMES, ANKERITE. His score for the game was 582.
On 12-Jul-07, Joel Horn played 6 bingos in one game: NICTATE, NEONATES, JOINtURE, FuLSOME, RAINIEST, AFEARED. He played all of those bingos within 7 plays, after starting the game with a trade. His score for the game was 612. This game can be viewed here.
On 21-Aug-03 Bruce Adams played a 5-bingo game, playing these bingos: READILY, HETAIRAI, CASHIERS, FORAGING, CURATING. Bruce scored 576.
On 5-Sep-02, in the first game of the 2002-2003 season, Joel Horn played 5 bingos in one game. He had another such game on September 12, the following week. In each of these games, Joel opened with 3 bingos in a row, which is sometimes called "bingo-bango-bongo".
On 24-Apr-03 both Steven Saul and Joel Horn played 5 bingos in separate games against the very same opponent, who is one of the top 15 players in the club.
On 31-Jul-03 Joel Horn played his fourth 5-bingo game of the season and scored 612.
On 14-Aug-08, Joel Horn again played a 5-bingo game. What was interesting about this game is he bingoed on his first play and then his other bingos were three plays apart (plays 1, 4, 7, 10, 13).
During the 2004-2005 season, there were several games in which one player played 5 bingos, and these players were: Judy Horn, Joel Horn, Richard Buck, and Aaron Bader.
These are the players who played 5-bingo games in the 2006-2007 season: Ben Harrison.
On 12-Jul-07, beginning on his second turn and having traded on his first turn, Joel Horn played 4 bingos in a row in the game noted in the previous section when he played a total of 6 bingos.
On 8-May-08, Joel Horn again played 4 bingos in a row in a game, and these were all natural (devoid of blanks): GIRASOLS, SWAGING, ENVELOPE, CORONATE.
Mike Wolfberg has twice played 4 bingos in a row in one game:
On 8-Jul-04, Jere Mead came close to this record; after playing 3 bingos in a row, he made a 72-point play using 6 letters. He played HOICKING through the C and the second I, and this was a double-double.
We are uncertain if these are club records, but we have henceforth kept track of such accomplishments.
Although this was not played at a club session, club member Jere Mead holds the North American record of 5 consecutive bingos by one player, which he set at the 1989 North American Championship. These were Jere's first five plays, and he began with LEAPFROG through the P.
Mike Wolfberg also played a game with 5 consecutive bingos, but not at the Lexington Club. This was at the unsanctioned Sharon, MA Club in July, 2007. Details can be found on Mike's page of his personal Scrabble achievehments.
On 7-Oct-04, in a game between Steven Saul and Joel Horn, the two players opened the game with 5 consecutive bingos. This game, which holds the record for the highest loss in the club, can be viewed here.
On 14-Apr-05, Sherrie Saint John and Diana Spiller opened the game with 4 consecutive bingos: RADIOeD, HELlion, DOTTIEST, and RATIONAL.
On 21-Jun-07, with 35 players in attendance, there were 18 games in which the winner exceeded 500: Mike Wolfberg (737), John O'Laughlin (582, 528), Ben Harrison (598, 569, 538, 510), Joel Horn (557, 547), Jesse Day (552), Jamie Ryan (540, 537), Rod MacNeil (530), Cecilia Le (506, 503), Chris Sinacola (528, 519), Trx. Kt. (504).
On 19-Jul-07, with 33 players in attendance, there were 16 games in which the winner exceeded 500: Jesse Day (644, 509), Joel Horn (609, 522), John O'Laughlin (596, 503), Carl Durdan (595), Ian Weinstein (549, 518), Judy Horn (543), Jamie Ryan (541, 538, 510, 501), Richard Buck (536), Seth Lipkin (505, 502).
On 27-Sep-07, with 29 players in attendance, there were 15 games in which the winner exceeded 500: Larry Katz (615), Joel Horn (585), Brad Whitmarsh (574, 529), Steven Saul (571, 508), Mike Wolfberg (543, 526, 520, 508), Seth Lipkin (524), Tim Wilkenson (520), Wayne Yorra (515), Mark Fidler (507), Jamie (504).
On 29-Mar-07, with 34 players in attendance, there were 14 games in which the winner exceeded 500: Mark Fidler (596, 551), Steven Saul (578, 509), Cecilia Le (558), Alyssa Faria (532), Jamie Ryan (525), Kate Fukawa-Connelly (521), Rod MacNeil (512), Larry Katz (512), Leigh Bernstein (510), Ben Harrison (510), Jake Bergmann (504), Rob Wilstein (503).
On 2-Nov-06, with 30 players in attendance, there were 14 games in which the winner exceeded 500: Brad Whitmarsh (564), Cecilia Le (551), Joel Horn (550, 530), Mike Wolfberg (543, 527), Larry Katz (536, 524), John Van Pelt (534), Richard Buck (527), Ben Harrison (520), Jamie Ryan (517, 509), Merrill Kaitz (516). In 8 of these games, the loser was either one of the players in this winner list or a player from among the top half of the active ranked players in the club; it was not a situation of stronger players beating up on weaker players.
On 7-Jun-07, with 37 players in attendance, there were 14 games in which the winner scored at least 500: Jamie Ryan 612, 595, 500, Richard Buck 581, Rod MacNeil 573, 500, Joel Horn 570, Brad Whitmarsh 562, Barbara Revkin 549, Tim Wilkinson 527, Jesse Day 523, Brendan Sullivan 520, Ben Harrison 519, Ellen Miller 501.
We are uncertain if these are club records, but we have been taking notice of such accomplishments since Feb-98.
On 22-Mar-07, when attendance was 33, there were 7 games in which the total of points scored were at least 900:
On 1-Feb-07, when attendance was 33, there were 5 games in which the total of points scored exceeded 900:
We are uncertain if these are club records, but we will henceforth keep track of such accomplishments.
On 15-Mar-07, when attendance was 27, 12 games were played in which the loser scored over 400: Leigh Bernstein 434 (to Jake Bergmann's 436), Barbara Revkin 430 (to Rod MacNeil's 474), Rob Wilstein 423 (to Joel Horn's 433), Trx. Kt. 420 (to Bob Becker's 489), Brad Whitmarsh 420 (to Larry Katz's 457), Bob 421 (to Brad's 473), Mike Wolfberg 416 (to Judy Horn's 447), Diana Spiller 414 (to Larry's 424), Steven Saul 413 (to Rod's 468), Brad 409 (to Cecilia Le's 440), Leigh 407 (to Joel's 433), Kate Fukawa-Connelly 406 (to Mark Fidler's 438).
On 26-Jul-07, when attendance was 40, 11 games were played in which the loser (or person who tied) scored at least 400: Richard Buck 434 (to Ben Greenwood's 457), Jamie Ryan 423 (to Betsey Wood's 466), Bruce Adams 415 (to Mike Wolfberg's 496), Cecilia Le 413 (to Brendan Sullivan's 432), Mike Wolfberg 412 (to James Leong's 430), Brad Whitmarsh 411 (to Jake Bergmann's 468), Jere Mead 410 (to John O'Laughlin's 439), Jamie Ryan 407 (to Mike Wolfberg's 462), Mark Fidler 407 (to John O'Laughlin's 412), John Cheras 404 (to Steven Saul's 413), James Leong 401 (to Carl Durdan's 454).
On 17-Apr-08, when attendance was 32, 10 games were played in which the loser scored more than 400: Bruce Adams 460 (to Alyssa Faria's 495), Jamie Saul 432 (to Judy Cole's 450), Steven Saul 431 (to Richard Buck's 444), Jake Bergmann 421 (to Carl Durdan's424), Jamie Ryan 419 (to Bruce Adams's464), Ellen Miller 418 (to Judy Cole's 462), Tim Lutts 417 (to Judy Horn's 529), Rod MacNeil 414 (to Betsey Wood's 421), Barbara Revkin 410 (to Linda Giovinazzo's 412), Carl Durdan 403 (to David Root's 408).
On 24-Nov-07, when attendance was 23 in an unusually long club session on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, 10 games were played in which the loser scored more than 400: Richard Buck 443 (to Joel Horn's 453), Judy Horn 433 (to Richard Buck's 476), Jamie Ryan 431 (to Joey Mallick's 438), Judy Horn 422 (to Carl Durdan's 426), Jamie Ryan 417 (to Judy Horn's 456), Jamie Ryan 414 (to Carol McCumber's 453), Mark Fidler 412 (to Joey Mallick's 508), Bob Becker 410 (to Ben Harrison's 458), Richard Buck 409 (to Jamie Ryan's 424), Bob Becker 403 (to Ellen Miller's 423).
On 4-Jan-07, when attendance was 32, 10 games were played in which the loser (or person who tied) scored at least 400: Ben Harrison 434 (to Jamie Ryan's 489), Trx. Kt. 433 (to Bob Becker's 479), Jamie Ryan 426 (to Ben Harrison's 531), Wayne Yorra 415 (to Judy Cole's 424), Tim Wilkinson 413 (to Brad Whitmarsh's 501), Larry Katz 409 (to Joel Horn's 460), Celilia Le 402 (to Barbara Revkins's 424), Mike Wolfberg 400 (to Jamie Ryan's 442), Judy Cole 400 (to Judy Horn's 439), Ben Harrison and Mike Wolfberg tied with 401-401.
On 3-Jul-08, 9 games were played in which the loser scored at least 400, plus there was a tie game with a score over 400: Carl Durdan 460 (to Chris Sinacola's 492), Rod MacNeil 446 (to Steven Saul's 467), Rod 437 (to Seth Lipkin's 460), Carl 433 (to Alyssa Faria's 482), Evans Clinchy 426 (to Judy Horn's 434), Richard Buck 423 (to Joel Horn's 452), Joel 416 (to Alyssa's 421), Judy 408 and Rod both at 408, Mike Wolfberg 402 (to Rod's 426), Rod 402 (to Alyssa's 461).
On 22-Mar-07, 9 games were played in which the loser scored at least 400: Richard Buck 455 (to Kate Fukawa-Connelly's 472), Jamie Ryan 428 (to Joel Horn's 433), Trx. Kt. 419 (to Larry Katz's 485), Seth Lipkin 417 (to Ben Harrison's 503), Bob Becker 414 (to Judy Horn's 439), Jamie 411 (to Joev Dubach's 423), Cecilia Le 408 (to Rod MacNeil's 423), Jane Conti 401 (to Joey Mallick's 427), Joel Horn 400 (to Leigh Bernstein's 430). There were 33 players at the club that night.
On 5-Jul-07, 9 games were played in which the loser scored over 400: Mike Wolfberg 450 (to Jamie Ryan's 493), Jamie Ryan 436 (to Thomas Stumpf's 552), Judy Horn 434 (to Bob Becker's 467), Mike Wolfberg 432 (to Jamie Ryan's 452), John O'Laughlin's 426 (to Kate Fukawa-Connelly's 433), Richard Buck 425 (to Ben Greenwood's 427), Cecilia Le 424 (to John O'Laughlin's 425), Bob Becker 403 (to Brad Whitmarsh's 423) Cecilia Le 402 (to Nick Amphlett's 424). There were 29 players at the club that night.
On 1-Feb-07, 8 games were played in which the loser scored over 400: Joel Horn 472 (to Diana Spiller's 487), Cecilia Le 432 (to Judy Horn's 601), Ellen Miller 429 (to Joev Dubach's 432), Jake Bergmann 410 (to Joel Horn's 445), Brad Whitmarsh 406 (to Ben Greenwood's 431), Mark Fidler 406 (to Jere Mead's 416), Diana Spiller 406 (to Rod MacNeil's 410), Judy Cole 401 (to Larry Katz's 491). In the first mentioned of these games, Joel played 5 bingos yet lost, and Diana played 3 bingos. There were 33 players at the club that night.
On 5-Oct-06, 8 games were played in which the loser scored at least 400: Jamie Ryan 456 (to Ben Harrison's 492) Bob Becker 436 (to Cecilia Le's 473), Jake Bergmann 414 (to John Cheras's 420), Larry Katz 413 (to Brad Whitmarsh's 418), Jamie Ryan 407 (to Cecilia Le's 441), Bob Becker 404 (to Judy Cole's 439), Brad Whitmarsh 401 (to Judy Horn's 526), Larry Katz 400 (to Ben Harrison's 424). There were 30 players at the club that night.
On 2-Mar-06, 7 games were played in which the loser (or person who tied) scored at least 400: Wayne Yorra 425 (to Mike Wolfberg's 454), Bob Becker 412 (to Ben Harrison's 527), Judy Horn 410 (to Jack Niles's 433), Arnie Horowitz 409 (to Jake Bergmann's 413), Larry Katz 404 (to Michael Cresta's 417), Carl Durdan 401 (to Ben Harrison's 427), Joel Horn 400 (to Tim Wilkinson's 451), Marek Janota-Bzowski and Jamie Ryan tied with 404-404.
Six losses over 400 have been noted in several club sessions. We have been carefully watching this stat since 25-Aug-01, when there were 8 losses over 400 at an extended session at a club party. We are uncertain about this stat prior to that party, but it is quite unlikely any higher numbers had been achieved.
Typically, the number of tied games in an entire season is around 7, as evidenced in the 2004-2005 season, and these are spread through twelve months of club play. This club experienced an unusual streak of tied games in the Spring of 2006 such that there was at least one tied game in each club session starting on May 11 (with a 411-411). This continued for a total of 7 weekly club sessions. In one of those sessions there were two ties. Club attendance during those 7 weeks was 21, 25, 31, 29, 26, 25, and 25. When the streak ended on 29-Jun-06, there was a game in which the scores differed by one point!
We have not been conscientious about noting long overlaps over the years. Mark Fidler thinks he played a 7-letter overlap in his first week attending this club in early 1980, and he knows the word was PINKEST, but we have no further details, except he defeated Mike Wolberg in that game.
On 10-Aug-06, Judy Horn played the bingo SHOALER, and Mark Fidler then played ABA above and parallel starting above the L. Later, Judy played INGATES starting under the H for an 87-point 6-letter overlap.
On 16-Mar-06, Jamie Ryan opened a game with HOWBEiT, and Trx. Kt. then replied with the 6-letter overlap parallel play of the newly acceptable REALTOr beginning beneath the O.
In November, 2004, Joel Horn made 6-letter overlaps in each of two consecutive weeks. On 4-Nov-04, Joel played ToRSADE underneath JAILERS ending under the R. On 11-Nov-04, he played IDEATED underneath STARKER starting under the T.
On 13-Mar-08, Joel Horn made a 6-way overlap. On the board positioned vertically was TELERAN, and ERASION was next to it starting after the R in TELERAN. Joel played SEDARIM vertically to the left of TELERAN starting one row higher.
On 22-May-08, Mike Wolfberg made a 6-way overlap. PAGODA was on the board at position 3B, and he played NOTaTES at position 2A above it for 88 points.
We will try to note these accomplishments in the future.
On 13-Jan-05, Bob Becker played the 11-letter word MOTIVATIONS by adding MOTIVAT (for 97 points) to IONS, which his opponent made as an attempted blocking play. This is the only 11-letter bingo played in this club.
On 21-Apr-05, Barbara Revkin first played VACATION for only 62 points (since one of the 1-point letters was represented by a blank) at 15E, but then on her next play, she scored 42 by extending it with ERS to make the 11-letter word VACATIONERS.
On 9-Jun-05, Bob Becker first played QUESTION. Later, Chris Kulig added ER. Subsequently, Bob hooked this with LUXES, making the 11-letter word QUESTIONERS.
On 17-Jul-03, Richard Buck played the 11-letter word EXPANSIVELY by adding LY (for 50 points) to EXPANSIVE, which he made on his previous turn for 72 points by adding to an EX already on the board.
On 26-Jun-03, Julie (LaPointe) Lindahl made the 11-letter word UNCONCERNED. In this game with Larry Katz, the word was built up in four plays: from NE to ERNE to CONCERNED to UNCONCERNED.
On 5-Sep-02, Dean Cullen extended Joel Horn's DIRECT to make the 11-letter word DIRECTIONAL. By the time Joel later had the further extension of ITY, the spot was blocked.
On 1-May-08, Elaine Patterson extended LAZES by prefixing 6 letters to form the phony TRAILBLAZES, which went unchallenged. It turned out that her rack leave was the letter R, which would have formed the acceptable 12-letter word if only she could have squeezed it near the end of LAZES.
On 21-Feb-08, Ben Harrison supplemented 3 non-sequential letters on the board, namely the TI and G, with his 7 letters to make the 10-letter bingo dEORBITING.
On 10-Feb-05, Larry Katz extended MON to make the 10-letter bingo MONOTHEISM.
On 24-Jul-03, Joel Horn extended ABO to make the 10-letter bingo ABOMINATES.
On 20-Jan-00, Richard Buck extended ORA to make the 10-letter bingo ORANGERIES.
On 20-May-99, Judy Horn created SCARIFYING, a 10-letter word as a bingo by surrounding RIF with letters A,G,I,N,S, and 2 blanks.
On 28-Aug-03, Mike Wolfberg extended TRANQ to make the 10-letter TRANQUILER.
We are uncertain whether these plays are indeed club records; they are the longest plays we have made note of.
This unusual event involving two of our club players deserves to be noted here. On 30-Oct-04 at the Hyannis, MA tourney, after Mike Wolfberg opened with WAND at 8E, Bruce Adams extended this to WANDErLUSTS by adding his 7 letters, and this 11-letter word was all that was on the board. Mike would usually play this word at 8G, but Bruce traded 5 letters for his opening play, so Mike attempted to reduce the scores of Bruce's most likely next plays. This happening was mentioned in the NSA Scrabble® Player News, but it attributed to a game played in Nevada, and that is not where this game took place.
Our club records are sketchy before the 1988-1989 season, but since then Trx. Kt. is the record holder, with 406 games played in the 2004-2005 season. Trx. also holds the runner-up record with 390 games in 2006-2007. Jamie Ryan holds the next runner-up records, with 381 games in 2006-2007, 351 games in 2003-2004, and 346 games in 2004-2005.
Other runners-up record holders are Ben Harrison with 321 games in 2006-2007, Bob Becker with 321 games 2004-2005, Muriel Sands with 315 games in 1994-1995, and Forrestt Tellis with 292 games in 1991-1992.
Our club records are sketchy before the 1988-1989 season, but since then the record-holder is Jamie Ryan with 255 wins in the 2006-2007 season. Jamie also holds the runner-up record with 222 wins in 2004-2005. Mike Wolfberg had 213 wins in 2006-2007. Ben Harrison had 212 wins in 2006-2007. Jamie had 204 wins in 2003-2004.
The other runners-up are Bob Becker with 193 games in 2004-2005, Steve Root, for winning 175 games in 1991-1992 (he also lost 81 games that season and averaged 401, Steve Root with 170 wins (76 losses, averaged 401) in 1992-1993, Adam Logan with 168 wins (33 losses, averaged 424) in 1995-1996, and Joel Horn with 165 wins (74 losses, averaged 405) in 2002-2003.
Our club records are sketchy before the 1988-1989 season, but we are confident the record-holder to be Jamie Ryan for scoring 162,744 points in the 2006-2007 season.
Jamie also holds these runner-up records: 138,892 points in 2004-2005, and 135,187 points in 2003-2004.
Ben Harrison scored 133,510 points in 2006-2007.
Trx. Kt. scored 132,801 points in 2004-2005 and 132,044 points in 2006-2007
Mike Wolfberg scored 127,518 points in 2006-2007. Bob Becker scored 124,978 in 2004-2005. Judy Horn scored 119,085 in 2006-2007. Brad Whitmarsh scored 118,693 points in 2006-2007. Trx. Kt. scored 117,590 point in 2005-2006. Jamie Ryan scored 114,731 in 2005-2006. Mike Wolfberg scored 113,487 points in 2004-2005.
Other runners-up are Forrestt Tellis with 111,252 points in the 1991-1992 season and Muriel Sands, based on her 110,522 points scored in the 1995-1996 season.
In the nearly 8-hour club party session held during the day on Saturday, 12-Feb-05 to celebrate the club's 25th anniversary, 106 games were played by 38 players. Bruce Adams played 10 games during the session. Trx. Kt., Ellen Miller, and Bob Becker each played 9 games.
On 26-Jul-07 at a regular club session there were 102 played games. Realize this club can play arbitrarily late into the wee hours of the morning, and a few diehards may stay until after 2:00 a.m.
In the unusually long session held during the day on 26-Dec-98, 64 games were played. Each of these players played 12 games: Richard Buck went 8-4, and Judy Horn went 7-5.
In a normal club session, albeit a lengthy one, on 7-Jun-07, Jamie Ryan won 10 games and was undefeated. He averaged 490!
In the unusually long club session held during the day on 26-Dec-98, Joel Horn won 10 games and was undefeated.
In a normal club session, albeit a lengthy one, on 24-Mar-05, Bob Becker won his first 9 games. Although he played a tenth game, he lost that one.
In the unusually long club session held the Saturday after Thansgiving on 24-Nov-07, Bob Becker won 9 games. He also lost 3 games, 2 of which were over-400 losses.
On 11-Mar-04 there were 44 players, including 3 new ones.
On 8-Apr-04 there were 43 players, including 5 new ones.
On 2-Jun-05 there were 41 players, including 2 new ones.
The weekly news lists the top ten active players based on ratings. Normally this includes exactly ten players. When there are ties, such as for first place, we consider both of those players to be first, and there is no second place, since it is skipped. A strange case occurred for the news for 24-Jun-99 in that four players were tied for tenth place and therefore 13 players were listed in the top ten.
During the 2006-2007 season this club saw more strong players participating. As a result, we saw more then 20 players with a rating exceeding 1700 for the first time in club history. On 2-Aug-07, the club news showed 28 active (ranked) players with a rating above 1700.
On 30-Jan-03 in a game between Judy Horn and Mike Wolfberg, these 7 animals were played: PIG, EMU, NENE, ZEBU, WREN, COUGAR, RAPTOR; in addition there were LIONISES, QAT, and GUL. RAPTOR has an animal anagram.
On 19-Aug-04, these 6 animals were played in a game between Bob Becker and Mike Wolfberg: APE, BIRDIES, UTA, ORIBI, OX, HEN.
On 17-Apr-03, these 5 animals were played in a game between Linda Giovinazzo and Joel Horn: GOAT, RAT, MARES, COON, PORPOISE.
On 19-Feb-04 we believe a record was set at the club when there were 12 of the 34 players attending whose first names start with a "J": Jake Bergmann, Jane Conti, Joev Dubach, Jonathan Ellis, Jeanne Freebody, Joel Horn, Judy Horn, Julie Lindahl, Jason Marcouillier, Jackie Prince, Jamie Ryan, John Van Pelt. Neither Jere Mead nor Joey Mallick was there, and there are 16 other "J" folks who had attended the club within the previous 99 sessions. Without checking exhaustively, there were 3 other players who almost met the criterion: Michael J. Cresta, Myron J. Feld, and Steven J. Saul. For extra credit, Mike Wolfberg's son is David J. Wolfberg; Mike was there, but his son was not.
On 9-Nov-06, In a game between Elaine Patterson and Hilda Siegel, part of the board looked like:
G
A
Y B
A B
H D A Y
O M E N
O M E N
U
A
L
Is seemed most unusual to see the same word just above itself. Hilda played
ANNUAL,
Elaine played
DEE,
Hilda played
MM,
Elaine played
YAHOO.
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