Recapping the eighth and final Computer Users' Remote Event
When we got to work a year ago, hammering out a plan to run a series of Scrabble tournaments across North America, we had no idea that we'd be here today, looking back instead on a year of virtual events held on ISC. But life comes at you fast, especially in 2020. Here we are.
This weekend brought the eighth (!) installment of our Computer Users' Remote Event (CURE) series of online 1-day tournaments. These events started out back in the spring as a short-term measure designed to tide people over while they were stuck at home; unbeknownst to us, they would evolve into a yearlong thing. And on Saturday evening, a small group of players got together for the final CURE of the year.
It was a simple event - eight players, seven games, full round robin. Everyone played everyone once, and we streamed the whole event on Twitch for a live audience. Here's what went down:
Brian Bowman turned in a dominating performance, going 6-1 with a whopping spread of +669 to win the tournament with relative ease. Brian led the event pretty much from wire to wire - he started out 4-0, took his lone setback in a 566-455 shootout against Steve Ozorio in round 5, then won the last two games as well to finish the deal. This was the most convincing victory anyone has had in a CURE this year - the tournament was basically over with a round still to go.
Speaking of Steve, he had his share of flashy plays throughout the evening. He dropped cool bingos like IONICITY against Indunil Amarasinghe, PEISHWA (for 100!) against Joe Roberdeau, and AUTONOMY against Brian. His games were a thrill to watch - you never knew what exciting word he was going to throw down next.
There was a bizarre tie in one game between Indunil and Arindam Basu. Indunil led by 15 going into the endgame, but Arindam was on turn, and his final three tiles were PIT. He played a phony five-letter word of PIT(HE)* for 11 points - including 4 points from his opponent's rack, this was good for a tie score, a 375-375 final! Indunil had to decide whether to risk the entire game on a 5-point challenge, or simply to take the tie. After a long hold, he chose the latter. "Phonying for the tie" is a cool tactic that I've known about ever since I started playing 5-point challenge many years ago, but I'd never seen it pulled off in an actual game before. Props to Arindam!
While Brian won the tournament rather easily, the race for second place was super competitive. Going into the final round, there were three players at 4-2, plus Arindam with 3.5 wins - all of them had a shot at second. Priya Fernando got down three early bingos and landed a big win over Joe, 515-370, putting her in second place temporarily. But then Steve fought back! A late bingo of SIERRAN for 69 on a difficult board gave Steve the lead in his game against Arindam, and he held on to win, 448-399. Steve finished the tournament in second place; Priya was third.
So that's it! Congrats to everyone who fared well in this weekend's tournament - especially Brian, who ruled the day. And thank you to all who played, as well as all who engaged with the live broadcast on Twitch. It was another fun Saturday of Scrabble.
Also: Thanks to the Internet Scrabble Club. Not just for this event, but for being there for our community for so many years. We're planning to move on from ISC after 2020, but we owe the site a debt of gratitude for all the spirited Scrabble competition it's hosted for us over the years. Farewell, ISC. You'll be missed.
Having said that, Woogles.io is the future, and we're excited to dive into the Woogworld in earnest when we begin our 2021 tournament calendar. There are more details on that right around the corner. Stay tuned!