General

Al Fresco II

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Playing amongst the beautiful trees, the mighty (Jem) Burch stood tallest!
From Deborah Komatsu:

On June 12th, 16 players met up at Rancho Park in West Los Angeles to play Scrabble under a giant fig tree on a glorious Los Angeles June day. This was in stark contrast to our Al Fresco I tournament in January, which featured sporadic downpours and strong winds!  We were right next to a little league baseball practice and a big Latino family celebrating someone’s birthday – complete with mariachi music and a piñata;  Dave and Deborah decided that if we do another outdoor tournament, a piñata will be a MUST HAVE.
We had players who came from as far away as Orange County and San Diego;  many people who came to the first weather-intensive Al Fresco decided to come back!  So, either it was fun despite the weather and/or people are really desperate to be playing in person again.  Regardless, it was a great day and definitely worth the effort.  Many thanks to Dave Postal for sitting out to be our Director, and to David Pearl who provided his computer and other moral support.
One other special thing about this tournament:  Brian Nelson and Dani Roter tied for D2 2nd place with identical records and spreads (4-2 +81).  It was a magical day.
Here is the rundown:
D1
1st place – Jem Burch (5-1 +601) – $75
2nd place – David Pearl (4-2 +183) – $50
3rd place – David Whitley (4-2 +0) – $25
D2
1st place – Tom Brown (4-2 +425) – $50
2nd place (tie) – Brian Nelson (4-2 +81) – $20
2nd place (tie) – Dani Roter (4-2 +81) – $20
SIDE BETS
Low Win – Elizabeth Ralston (365) – $15
Highest Point Summer Word – David Whitley – SAILBOAT (70) – $15
Highest Point Word that Did Not Use Any of the Letters of AL FRESCO – Zachary Ansell – XI (56) – $15
Wunderkind Jem Burch and Zach Ansell

Wunderkind Jem Burch and Zach Ansell

The Whole Gang - Elizabeth Ralston, David Pearl, Deborah Komatsu, Joel Elkins, Stefan Kac, Joanie Scafuto, Dan Keston, Brian Nelson, David Whitley, Dani Roter, Tom Brown, Gary Moss, Dave Postal, Gloria Miller, Jem Burch, Adam Boocher, and Zach Ansell

The Whole Gang – Elizabeth Ralston, David Pearl, Deborah Komatsu, Joel Elkins, Stefan Kac, Joanie Scafuto, Dan Keston, Brian Nelson, David Whitley, Dani Roter, Tom Brown, Gary Moss, Dave Postal, Gloria Miller, Jem Burch, Adam Boocher, and Zach Ansell

IMG_7610

Event Collaborators Dave Postal and Deborah Komatsu

General

Word Cup X – Fundraising Preview

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Batik Quilt for Raffle

Batik Quilt for Raffle

We’ll be having our usual Word Cup fundraising activities:  Raffle, silent auction, items for sale.  All proceeds will help fund WGPO Inc. annual administrative costs including insurance, legal fees, and overhead.  Click on this link to see what’s ready so far:  Word Cup X Fundraising.  And there will be more to come.  Helen Flores is coordinating this effort and welcomes your participation.

General

Maliha Mendoza Mahmood remembered

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From Yuki Loritz:

This past , Maliha Mendoza Mahmood’s husband Arshud and their daughter Alia hosted a memorial/celebration for the late Maliha’s birthday at their home. There were 15 Super Scrabble players who gathered to celebrate.  We all lit candles, shared stories and memories about Maliha, enjoyed a catered lunch from Arshud, and played a Maliha-related trivia game as well as the dice game called Left Center Right. The last time we played Left Center Right was for Maliha’s birthday in June, 2019, and she won! She was so excited and overjoyed.

Everyone had fond memories, and some tears were shed. It was a beautiful memorial and celebration of this wonderful woman who started her self-named Super Scrabble club. We were all blessed by her time here on Earth, for she was the most gentle, loving, kind, generous, and spiritual person you could meet. She was one of a kind and will be truly missed. Alia said that it was probably a good thing that Maliha passed before the pandemic because it would have been so difficult for Maliha not to be able to see and hug her friends. I have to agree with Alia on that.  These are pictures from the celebration:
IMG-5022 IMG-5016 IMG-5015
Evelyn Davis and I are now codirectors of the Maliha Mendoza Mahmood Super Scrabble Club, which meets on the  of every month. We have met on and off since the summer of last year due to the surges of COVID-19 cases. However, we hope that we will not have any more interruptions. Below is the most recent email with details for our upcoming meeting this month. We use WGPO’s TWL19 lexicon. Please email Evelyn or me if you are interested in attending this month or sometime in the future.
———————
It’s time once again for another day of 3 fun games of Super Scrabble.
    When: , 2022, 11:00 AM
    Where: Applebee’s Restaurant, Santa Ana Main Place Mall, 2nd floor, Suite 868
                2800 N Main St, Santa Ana, CA 92705
If you have been fully vaccinated, please sign up no later than , .
New prizes will be distributed to all players present during the games as determined by their current year-to-date average bingo scores.
In addition, prizes are in store for the following categories:
    Game 1 – All letters in ‘FLAG’ (any order)
    Game 2 – Most letters from ‘FATHERS’
    Game 3 – Containing ‘MM’ (not necessarily together)
    High non-bingo
    High bingo with the letter ‘K’
    Low bingo with the letter ‘K’
And don’t forget about the big prizes for words with 12-13 letters or with 14+ letters.
Hope to see as many as 20 of you at the  meeting of the Maliha Mendoza Mahmood Super Scrabble Club (MMMSSC).
Yuki Loritz
Evelyn Davis

General

Joe Edley wins 66th Scrabble Tournament; Billy Nakamura Slays Giants

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From Bennett Jacobstein:
San JoseFormer National Scrabble champion Joe Edley won his 66th overall Scrabble Tournament and has a perfect 2-0 record in WGPO tournaments.  Billy Nakamura (rated 1448) finished second and had victories over two 1900+ rated players.
Eight players took part in the First Sunday Scrabble tournament held at Pier 402 restaurant in San Jose (home of the best Lobster Roll in San Jose).  Games were held both upstairs in the banquet room and outside on the terrace.

General

High Times in June at the Saloon

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From David Pearl:
Twenty players met for a one day, 8 game event  in Laguna Woods on Saturday, June 4.
We played in a quiet side room of the restaurant, overlooking a golf course, and with clear views of the Orange County Saddleback mountains to the North and East.   Many players mentioned  they enjoyed the room & venue — zero complaints about the room or venue.
Four players commuted together from Las Vegas in a Tesla!
The best word with the most letters in “Saloon” went to Margie Flash Gordon, getting 4 of the letters and 72 pts in her Canolas, just besting Fusional, Oration, Cuploas,  Rotation, and Stoolie on points.
The Best Phoney that stayed on the Board was a close call.  Candidate phoneys were extants*, cutenes*, obsesser*, entogene*, plentify*, aerifier*, murrins*, angolas* (the African team which Charles Barkley threw his elbow against during the ’92 Olympics), unskirts*, and iodiser*.  By  volume of applause, the players selected Unskirts* as the best phoney.
Division 2

Division B

Division B:  This was a tight race throughout.  Jak Lysowski (Las Vegas) prevailed vs Rich Duncan in round 8 to take 1st place.   Gretchen Cowan bested Fern to secure 2nd.   Debbie Bloom got 3rd place.   Both High Win and high Loss went to Dave Baran.  Deborah Komatsu won the Class Prize, finishing 5th as the 9 seed.   

Division A

Division A

Division A:  David Pearl was 7-0 going into the last round with a 2 game lead on the field   As per pre tournament announcements that we would be Gibsonizing, David was Gibsonized , leaving  a 2nd place showdown between Zach Ansell and Annette Obrestad.  Zach edged out Annette 488 to 452 in a  high scoring game to secure 2nd, with Annette just missing 3rd on spread point.  3rd place went to Stefan Kac.   Class prize went to Margie Gordon, finishing 5th as the 8 seed.   Zach Ansell won High Win, and Margie Gordon ‘s 466 took High Loss.

Congrats to all the players who participated!