Having been to San Diego for Scrabble-packed weekends on two occasions now, I think I've figured out the best way to describe the city. Imagine you worked for a travel agency and you wanted to design a brochure that gave the reader a picture-perfect view of California. Think about the images you'd use - beautiful sunshine. Extensive beaches. Palm trees everywhere. Big, wide-open spaces filled with happy people. San Diego is like if you made an entire city out of those things. In other words, it's pretty great.

This weekend was the first-ever CoCo event in California - 10 players, along with an assortment of wives and girlfriends and other pals, descended upon San Diego for a weekend of Scrabble and fun. And no one left disappointed. There was indeed much Scrabble and much fun.

First things first: We should thank the two people who made this weekend possible. It was Puneet Sharma who first hatched the idea to have an event in San Diego, a city he knows intimately, as he regularly travels there for work. He was able to get us a sweet venue through his employer - a beautiful sixth-floor suite featuring a spacious playing room with floor-to-ceiling windows all around, giving everyone a gorgeous view of the city. Alongside Puneet was David Whitley, who was in charge of directing the actual Scrabble. The Puneet/David tag team was a great success, and the two of them made sure everything ran smoothly.

As for the Scrabble, it was one competitive weekend! We only had 10 players in the field - a fairly small group, all things considered - but 6 of the 10 had a legit shot at winning the whole thing, which made it so every round was a cutthroat battle, right to the end.

We played 8 games on Saturday, with 6 more to come Sunday for a total of 14. At the end of that first day, this was your top 6:

• Jesse Day, 6-2, +540

• David Whitley, 6-2, -8

• Evans Clinchy, 5-3, +312

• Dave Wiegand, 5-3, +207

• Conrad Bassett-Bouchard, 5-3, +171

• Chris Grubb, 5-3, +67

See what I mean? Everyone in this group was within a stone's throw of the top spot, which made for an epic Sunday. And it only became more epic with the first round Sunday morning - Jesse and David lost their games, while three of us in the 5-3 cohort won. That meant we had a five-way tie for first place at 6-3!

Eventually, the very top of the top began to solidify, and others faded. I got absolutely pounded by the Dave/Conrad/Jesse trifecta to slip from 6-3 to 6-6; I was out. Conrad got paired with Dave twice in rounds 12 and 13 and lost them both, which put him out of contention as well. In the end, we found ourselves in round 14 with two players vying for the $1,000 grand prize - Dave and Jesse.

Ultimately Dave would not be denied this title. Dr. Bing got the final game started with a bing - his opening rack was DEIRRT?, and he responded to Jesse's initial BECAP with a double-double of REITERED through it. That put him ahead 82-28, and he never looked back. He hit Jesse with heavy Q, X, and K plays soon after that to keep the scoring pressure on, and his late bingos of SANTERO and RANGOLI sealed it. It was Dave's win, 486-352, and it was his tournament, with a final record of 10-4, +643.

Congrats to Dave on the title - it's his third CoCo win! He also took home the top prizes at last year's tournaments on the Oregon Coast and in Portland. David, in addition to his top-notch directing, finished second as a player, at 10-4 as well. Conrad finished 9-5, just a few spread points ahead of Jesse for third place.

Props to all the winners. Although, hey: When you get to spend a weekend in beautiful San Diego, you're always a winner. Look at all these winning smiles!

Thanks again to Puneet and David, who absolutely crushed it in their CoCo organizing and directing debuts; congrats again to the top Scrabblers. It was great to see everyone! And it's also great that we'll have another chance to see everyone in just three weeks.

Austin Tile X-Words, one of our biggest events of 2022, is right around the corner, and it's going to be a blast. If you've been enjoying the coverage on this site and you want to experience CoCo action for yourself, there's still time to sign up for ATX. Or, you know, any one of the 12 other tournaments we've got coming up after that. So check out our event calendar and find your next tournament! We can't wait to see you there, wherever it might be.