It brings Jennifer and myself a special kind of joy every time we have a chance to host Scrabblers in our house in Northeast Seattle. This place is uniquely ours - we've put a great deal of time and energy and love into crafting the perfect home for our family, and it's something we're quite proud of. So whenever we get to welcome a cohort of players into our four walls for a weekend tournament, it's a special occasion to be sure.

This weekend, we hosted our second annual Seattle Summer Scrabble Tournament. We welcomed a small but spirited group, including seven actual players and a variety of other hangers-on. There were spouses, children, friends, and surprise visitors who popped in for a day. Together, we all enjoyed each other's company, broke bread together, and played all sorts of games - Scrabble and otherwise - throughout the days and well into the nights.

Cheers to everyone who took part in the weekend's festivities. In particular, a special shoutout is due to each of our seven players:

• To Jesse Day, who won the tournament in fairly dominant fashion. Jesse went 11-1 in his first 12 games, racking up a number of resounding victories along the way, which put him two games up on the field with just two to play. Despite a couple of late hiccups, Jesse held on to win the tournament with an impressive record of 11-3, +1122.

• To me, I suppose. I did the best I could to put up a fight against Jesse - after starting 9-3 with a so-so spread, I needed to beat him twice in a row by blowout margins to have a chance. I did indeed win twice, but not by enough. I put a scare into him late in the final game, bingoing twice with ABIOSIS for 90 and INUNDANT for 70 toward the end to amass a big lead, but my 584-458 victory still left me a good deal short. I'll settle for second at 11-3, +979.

• To Chris Tallman, who was no slouch at 10-4. Chris was in contention to the very end, and would have finished second if I hadn't gotten win #11 against Jesse in the final round. And, in addition to his Scrabble victories, Chris also had quite the successful evening at One Night Werewolf.

• To Chris Grubb, who put up a solid 9-5 record - and perhaps more notably, was absolutely dazzling with his finds over the Anagrams table. He turned CACOPHONIES into COCHAIRPERSON! Ridiculous.

• To Walker Willingham, whose record of 7-7 earned him the "Why'd You Even Come Here?" award for the most mediocre finish. Though his friendly presence made him a far-greater-than-mediocre addition to the group! We are glad he came here.

• To Tara Hurley, who I believe set a new record for greatest distance traveled to visit our home. Tara joined us from New Zealand! And it was a pleasure to have her.

• And to Isaac Lipnick, who we were thrilled to welcome to his first Scrabble tournament. For a newcomer, Isaac busted out some impressive moves! The highlight of the weekend was seeing him drop the 9-letter INSISTERS through TE. As his opponent Jesse quipped at the time, there are many Scrabblers who play for years without ever getting down a cool nine like that. Isaac did it on day two.

This was quite the whirlwind weekend. There was enjoyable company, action-packed Scrabble and fun times all weekend long.

To all who came, thank you! To all who missed out this time, don't you worry - there's another Seattle tournament coming up in September. We hope to see you soon.