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Carpenter Breaks Previous Scrabble Point Record

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the dumb-luck-is-my-favorite-kind dept.

theodp writes "Unimpressed by Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point game? Think Don Larsen's perfect World Series game was no big deal? How about Michael Cresta's 830-point Scrabble game? Not only did Cresta shatter a 13 year-old record for the highest sanctioned Scrabble score in North America, he also set a new record for the most points on a single turn — 365, for QUIXOTRY."

6 of 125 comments (clear)

  1. Daft words.... by tomknight · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What annoys me about Scrabble is the dictionary used. The rules I possess state the Chambers 20th Century is to be used (actually a problem as my edition hails from 1908 and lacks a fair few words), but now you are required to use the authorised Scrabble (R)(C)(TM)(IP) dictionary which has a whole load of bollocks two letter words. No longer is Scrabble about vocabulary - simply memorising swathes of daft vowel/consonant combinations seems to work. Yes, there is a difference.

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    Oh arse
    1. Re:Daft words.... by nagora · · Score: 4, Insightful
      Indeed. The "Official" Scrabble dictionary is not even a dictionary. It's just a long list of words, many many of which are in fact illegal under the rules as they are foreign. We play with a Concise Oxford with allowances to appeal to the Shorter Oxford (which is in the other room and a pain to carry about) only if the player can correctly define the word.

      The "Official" Scrabble dictionary is just a marketing toy and of no interest to either serious players nor ones out for a simple, fun game. Anally-retentive boring bastards, on the other hand, love showing off their ability to robotically reel off lists of words which they have little or no understanding of. The best solution is not to play with morons like that.

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      "Encyclopedia" is to "Wikipedia" what "Library" is to "Some people at a bus stop"
    2. Re:Daft words.... by DarkFencer · · Score: 2, Insightful
      I dunno. You feel free to play all those garbage two-letter words. I'll play from a real vocabulary, and we'll see who wins. I'm betting the guy with the 835 point game that started this whole thing didn't once play the word 'ao'.


      I actually would be surprised if he didn't use those B.S. two letter words. No - he wouldn't have ended his turn with one two letter word - but there's a good chance he spelled a long word, which formed a bunch of two letter words at once.
  2. I find the attempts to dismiss it as humorous by Shivetya · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Essentially competition scrabble is tiered like similar games (chess, checkers). Hence you have an elitist group that looks down on others and seems to have no problem dismissing the accomplishments of others. Basically the old "we're much smarter than them, its just a fluke, DUMB luck". In other words, how can they give any credit to their accomplishment as they would never associate with the likes of those "people"

    Two guys both out playing to win, just not playing to win by rules established by the high brows. Of course they could take risks, they are more concerned with the fun aspects than the competitve ones. That alone puts them higher up in the scrabble echelon for me as they remember one of the most important parts of gaming; having fun

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    * Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
  3. Flatfish? by fatphil · · Score: 2, Insightful

    "... isn't a common word."

    WTF? I've known the word since I was a kid. It's a perfectly common word in English.
    Most of the rest of the words used in competitive scrabble are just plain bullshit. I believe that when challenged, a player should have to provide a definition, _and_ it should be present in a universally accepted dictionary (e.g. Oxford Shorter, not words marked archaic etc.) . Then it would be a challenge of English language, as in the language used to communicate, vocabulary rather than of just wanky lists of clique-assembled non-words, or historical misspellings.

    FatPhil

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    Also FatPhil on SoylentNews, id 863
    1. Re:Flatfish? by krzysztof · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I believe that when challenged, a player should have to provide a definition, _and_ it should be present in a universally accepted dictionary (e.g. Oxford Shorter, not words marked archaic etc.)

      This wouldn't accomplish much, aside from making people memorize long lists of definitions along with long lists of words.

      The Scrabble dictionary already is a list of words found in one of several universally accepted dictionaries. That's how it was created.