Recapping this weekend's tournaments in Potomac and Seattle

There's no better time than a holiday weekend to play some Scrabble. You've got an extra day off from school or work or what have you, and that means an extra day to get together with your fellow word nerds and duke it out over the boards. You know what's better than a 2-day Scrabble tournament? A 3-day tournament, that's what.

That's why it was extra exciting that we CoCo folks had two concurrent 3-day events happening this Memorial Day weekend, one on each coast. Out East, a group of eight players got together in Potomac, MD, in the suburbs of DC, thanks to the efforts of director Nits Chagti and host/organizer Bob Linn. Here on the left coast, Jennifer and I hosted a 13-player contingent at our home in Seattle.

Both tournaments featured diverse fields of players, ranging from intermediates to top experts. Also, both tournaments had ridiculous acronym names - Nits headed up the Great Unforgettable Memorial Day Weekend Occasion for Potomac Scrabble (GUMDWOPS), while we ran the Enjoyable Memorial Day At Seattle House (EMDASH). And in the end, both events crowned deserving champions.

We'll get to all of that.

Let's start from the beginning.

Here's Nits with a report from Potomac:

For my first time actually directing instead of merely assisting a Scrabble tournament, I couldn't have picked a better one than the Great Unforgettable Memorial Day Occasion for Potomac Scrabble. Eight veteran tournament players made their way to Bob Linn's lovely home for the fourth iteration of Potomac Scrabble, and it was a blast.

With two round robins to start us out, the close of Day 2 saw Josh Castellano and Sam Rosin pulling away from the pack with records of 10-4, +917 and +434 respectively, as Ben Schoenbrun followed in at third place with a record of 8-6, +548. Day 3 was a nailbiter, and with just two games to go, it was down to the wire. Josh and Sam were both at 11-5 with a spread difference of exactly 400, while Matthew O'Connor and Ben battled head to head for third place.

Round 17 proved to be a decisive victory for Josh, who triple-tripled with INLA(C)INg and ended the game with his highest ever tournament score of 668. Josh and Sam were Gibsonized in first and second place respectively with one round to go. The fight for third place continued, and with Ben and Matt both at 9-8 records, it was down to the last round. Finally, it was Ben who prevailed, taking third place, 428-363.

In the end, Josh came away with $325 - along with a beautiful trophy modeled and donated by artistic genius Lola McKissen - for his dominating record of 13-5, +1196. Sam received $200 for second place with a final record of 11-7, +104, and Ben successfully defended third place for $125, ending the tournament at 10-8, +496. In honor of GUMDWOPS, Matt won the $15 prize for the best sweets-related word: TREAClE for 86!

Surprising absolutely no one, this proved to be a smooth, easygoing event with plenty of camaraderie and laughs to go around. For me, the joys were the milkshakes, Dairy Queen ice cream cones, and three games of late-night Super Scrabble peppered across the weekend. Oh, and playing (RE)SOLUTER. I look forward to reprising my role as director over the Labor Day weekend, when I return to the States after a summer of archival research.

As for us here in Seattle, we similarly had a smooth and easygoing event. We hosted a group of veteran CoCo players, all of whom we've already hosted a handful of times, and all of whom enjoy each other's company. It was a close-knit, convivial group. People brought their spouses and kids; we all spent time together and enjoyed not just the tournament but plenty of quality time sharing meals and playing board games after hours as well.

As for the actual Scrabble, it was a competitive event all the way... until the very end, anyway. The top two seeds, Dave Wiegand and Alec Sjöholm, were unsurprisingly the top two contenders for most of the tournament. After Day 1, Dave was in sole possession of first place at 7-1, while Alec was one of four players a game back at 6-2. On Day 2, Dave won six of his eight games to improve to a leading 13-3, while Alec won six and tied another, putting him just a half-game back with 12.5 wins. Kolton Koehler, Chris Grubb, David Whitley, and I were in the mix for a money finish as well.

The final day was as decisive as it gets. Alec ran the table in his four games, racking up big wins against me, Bharath Balakrishnan, Dave, and John O'Laughlin in quick succession; meanwhile, Dave did the unthinkable and dropped all four. When the dust settled, Alec was 2.5 games up on the entire field, the clear and undisputed champion. Chris finished second at 14-6; Kolton took third at 13-7, spread points ahead of Dave and myself. Bharath, 11-9 and finishing well above his initial seed, took the class prize.

As always, many of the most memorable aspects of the weekend happened away from the board. We all shared some delightful mealtimes together, both at home and at various Seattle eateries, and a number of us also shared some rousing games of Splendor and Wingspan and Sushi Go.

Oh, and: There was a spirited competition all weekend long to see who could score the highest prime number in one Scrabble turn. Shout out to Cecilia Le, who scored 71 points approximately 71 million times, and Kolton, who had a sweet nine of DEMENTIAL for 89, and Bharath, who swung a game by playing a clutch bingo of FOETORS for the prime score of 97. But the primest of all on the weekend would be John, who got down HEBONAS for 103 late in the tournament to seal the deal.

That's all she wrote this Memorial Day weekend. From coast to coast, it was an enjoyable one. We look forward to seeing you at the next tournament - whether it's in the Pacific Northwest, near the nation's capital, or anywhere in between.