Recapping the 4th annual Labor Day Oregon Coast Open

Bring 16 Scrabblers, a few spouses, and a whole lot of food together in a giant beach house, and you have a recipe for a truly wonderful weekend. The past few days, players from coast to coast battled it out amid sunny skies and beach views to play 20 rounds of Scrabble. 

Friday night kicked off with a casual evening of food and drink at Pelican Brewing’s outdoor patio overlooking Siletz Bay. The tournament began Saturday morning with the first half of a round robin. As top seed, Dave Wiegand got off to a strong start, wrapping the day with a 7-1 record and whomping +1164 spread. Conrad Bassett-Bouchard and Alec Sjöholm were close behind, a pattern that would continue through the final day of the tournament. In the evening, Terry Kang treated everyone to an amazing Korean BBQ meal, complete with tasty veggies and arguably the best tofu I’ve ever tasted.

On Sunday, players finished the round robin, with Dave still leading with a 13-3 record, +1226 spread. For dinner, Conrad grilled burgers of both the possible and impossible variety. Evening activities included jigsaw puzzles, anagrams, Settlers of Catan, chess, pool, air hockey, football, and hot tubbing. Players went walking and running on the beach, and enjoyed sunny and misty weather all weekend long.

By Monday morning, the only thing left to do was wrap up the tournament. Dave did so in commanding fashion, winning his third consecutive LOCO with a 16-4 record and +1293 spread. In addition to his $700 cash prize, he took home a hand-carved wood dolphin plaque to join his octopus and jellyfish plaques from prior LOCO tournaments. 

Alec clinched second place with a victory over Conrad in the penultimate round, in the end finishing with a 14-6 record and the highest spread in the whole tournament, +1341. Rounding out the place prizes was a strong performance from Kolton Koehler, who finished with a 13-7 record, +405 spread. The bottom third of the field was eligible for the class prize. After trailing Terry Kang’s record for most of the tournament, I managed to rebound with just enough wins on the last day to take home the class prize.

There were several notable games and plays throughout the weekend. Conrad Bassett-Bouchard achieved his first-ever 700+ game, winning round 5 against Kolton Koehler, 713-253. Terry Kang played a high-scoring triple-triple of HEReDI(T)Y for 204 points in round 20, but Mark Francillon fought back and narrowly won the game 514-507. One highlight for me was David Whitley’s debut of his cool digital blackboard scoresheet. Inspired by the CoCo’s reusable blank sheets, David has come up with an innovative way to eliminate paper scoresheets. He uses a camera phone to scan the scoresheet for future reference, and can erase and reuse the scoresheet blackboard with the click of a single button. 

The Monday afternoon after the LOCO tournament officially ends is my favorite part of the weekend. The pressure of playing games (and for me, directing) is over, and everyone has the chance to relax at the beach. This weekend was no exception. On Monday afternoon, players trooped down to the beach to wade in the ocean, enjoy the sun, toss a frisbee, and play in the sand. For dinner, players enjoyed a pasta medley cooked by Evans, followed by ice cream and more games and puzzles.

Thanks to all the players for making the trip to the coast! For those who didn’t attend, you can check out the full results and photos from the weekend below.