For us anyway, it's starting to sink in that virtual Scrabble tournaments aren't just a passing fad - they're a reality that we're all going to have to get used to for quite a while. The phrase "the new normal" has become the most annoying corporate-speak cliché in the world in 2020, but it's a cliché because it's true - the whole world is adjusting to life without in-person gatherings, and that's just going to be the way things are for the time being.

At the CoCo, we've stopped looking at online-only tournaments as quick fixes just to tide us over from one month to the next. The truth is, this pandemic we're all living through is not going away anytime soon - in fact, the World Health Organization just announced a new record for COVID-19 cases discovered in a single day this past Friday, with a count just over 350,000. We're going to have to stay distant from one another for a long time still.

That's why we're not just rolling out online tournaments one at a time anymore - we're moving forward with a regular schedule of these events, and we're looking forward to offering live Scrabble play on a recurring basis.

This weekend was the start of that "new normal." After a post-Virtual World Cup layoff to take stock of everything, we're now back to running 1-day tournaments again, and we got everything started on Saturday with our latest Computer Users' Remote Event. Here's what went down at the CURE6:

• We had a bit of a smaller field than usual, with just 12 players in action rather than our usual group of 30ish. This was totally understandable, given that we announced the tournament on short notice and were also competing with the totally awesome MGI event that's taking place this month. The small group was great, though! It was fun to have a close-knit community of players, and everyone seemed to enjoy congregating in the Twitch chat in between rounds to socialize and talk about their games.

• The process of registering players and publishing pairings/standings was smoother than ever. Big thanks to Martin DeMello for his help with this - Martin designed a fantastic Google Sheets script that automates standings and pairings, allowing us to post everything with just one click! Players were able to find their opponents and begin their games in record time.

• As the tournament got underway, there were three players clearly separating themselves from the pack - Alec Sjoholm, who got off to a 3-0 start with a spread of +290, plus Indunil Amarasinghe and Priya Fernando, who were also 3-0. 

• Alec, Indunil, Priya, and Jowar Ayuno found themselves in the top quad of the pairings for rounds 4 through 6. In round 4, Alec beat Jowar and Indunil beat Priya; in round 5, it was Priya over Alec and Jowar over Indunil. This set up a crazy scenario where all three players were tied at 4-1 with two rounds to go - and in the pivotal round 6, Alec surged into the lead with a big win over Indunil.

• This set up a rematch in the final game between Indunil and Alec, and Indunil needed to win by 78 points or more to overtake Alec and win the tournament. The game was nip and tuck the whole way, but Indunil drew the clutch second blank toward the end, and he found himself with a rack of AEEITV? with one in the bag. To an open R on the left side of the board, Indunil found VIAmETE(R) with just seconds left on his clock... and when the dust settled, he had won by 81! It was a 433-352 final. By a razor-thin margin of 8 spread points, Indunil Amarasinghe is your CURE6 champion.
  

It felt good to be back to running online Scrabble tournaments again. After some initial player registration hiccups, the day went smoothly - these 1-day events are nice and simple to run, and we really feel like we're getting the hang of it. And it's a good thing, too - because for now, online tournaments are the hand we've been dealt.

Thank you to everyone who played the CURE6! And thanks as well to everyone who tuned in and watched the Twitch broadcast. As always, it was a blast to interact with you guys. We'll be back next month with another online 1-day tournament - we hope you'll sign up and play. Until then, stay home and stay safe.