I was very excited to - finally, after two previous attempts that were thwarted by the pandemic and plain bad luck - successfully organize and direct the CoCo's first-ever tournament outside of the U.S. this Sunday, at my family's home in North Vancouver, B.C.

I've had the idea to run tournaments here ever since it was renovated at the end of 2022 and start of 2023, particularly because the reno added a covered section to the patio (also called a PERGOLA - it's always fun when Scrabble words come up in real life), so that we could have tables under there even in case of rain. After a failed attempt in June (though I did gain experience running a WGPO tourney here then), my August tournament actually happened and we drew a very competitive 8-person field, despite me announcing it a mere two weeks ago.

Most people arrived Saturday evening, including non-playing guests James Leong and Jesse Matthews, and the group enjoyed games of So Clover, chess, and anagrams (I got my usual one unstealable* word including a Q and a Z (BEZIQUE) before retiring to prepare for tournament day, at which point my word was given to my cat Max by the other players). We also enjoyed delicious pizza brought by James and chatted outside on the patio. It was one of the first times the newly installed outdoor lighting there was put to its proper use.

After waking up early to make crepes and rhubarb-blackberry compote for the players (and trying to make guacamole but failing due to the avocados I bought not being ripe, oops), it was time to get the Scrabble started. Evans Clinchy got off to a fast start, and he was 2 games clear of the field after only 4 games. This included a game against Winter in which he won with the disconnected 9 of ANTIDORON.

After starting 0-2 and stressing about the WiFi at my house going out many times even though I thought I'd sorted that out with my ISP on Friday (happily Jennifer Clinchy saved me by using her phone as a hotspot to run standings and pairings), I recovered and won my next 5 games, including one against Evans in which I took a blank off his rack when he overdrew, for which he vowed to get his revenge. (Spoiler: He did.)

As for everyone else who attended: 

• It was really cool to see Winter again in person after our last meeting six years ago in New York. I'd mentioned to him that I'd shown my girlfriend a 10-minute VICE documentary about him, and I'd enjoyed telling her when he signed up, "like in Game of Thrones, Winter is coming." 

• I really appreciate Chris Williams agreeing to play CSW for the first time, as I had asked him as a favour to play this event instead of the TWL tournament I held the previous day to ensure that we had a good field after the June CSW tournament didn't run. He did well for himself and came out of the tournament with an 1847 CoCo rating! 

• Dielle Pinto's brother Dean Saldanha just cashed at last month's WESPAC (I gave him a few practice games before and was rooting for him) - perhaps that's partly why Dielle decided to play her first tournament in more than three years. It was great to see Dielle again - welcome back to the tournament scene!

• I'd seen John O'Laughlin's wife and son at the Clinchys' Seattle Summer Tournament a few weeks ago, and I was happy to see John at mine. John gave me a tough game of chess on Saturday night, which I managed to finally win in the endgame, and an even tougher game of Scrabble that I lost by less than 5 points after challenging a word earlier in the game.

• Alec Sjöholm put up with sleeping on the couch in my living room with my cat bothering him all night (or maybe he enjoyed it, as he has an affinity for Max) and still managed to beat me out on spread for second place. Alec's been to two of my tournaments now; I really appreciate the support!

• Jennifer managed to put up a very respectable showing in a field of all experts, including being in second place late in the tournament. Special thanks for her help in the background before and after the tournament, and for solving my Wi-Fi issue so effortlessly. 

• Plus, a super special thanks to local player Marilyn Batchelor, who volunteered her time all day to provide child care!

After an extended double lunch (because I'd provided sandwiches, then James came with excellent Chinese BBQ) and a few more rounds, the tournament came down to Evans versus myself in the final game. We made a bet that whoever lost the game would have to write the tournament recap blog afterward. Spoiler alert: You're reading my blog right now. Evans won the game pretty comfortably, and along with it, the tournament - congratulations!

As I announced at the tournament, this will be the last one I direct in Vancouver, as I'm moving to New Zealand in September - and it lived up to its sort-of-secret billing as my farewell. I was moved by everyone's well wishes, and I'm grateful I got to put this event on for everyone and spend quality time with those that came to spend one last weekend with me before I go.