My First Game of the Year

Woke up this morning. It's my birthday! 43! A friend said to me today, you're just 23 plus two decades. That's one way to think about it. :)

Was planning on making my first game something major; something colossal; something epic. Nope.

It's gonna be Scrabble.

Why? Well, my entire family seems to be OBSESSED with Scrabble at the moment. This includes the grandkids (Matt especially) and that's a good thing.

Jeanne and Mannie have always played it against each other. They're pretty evenly matched. When I play with them, I'm usually third in points. I've learned to live with it. They are both naturally good at rearranging letters in their heads - plus - they both do the crossword puzzles regularly. Those two facts alone make them formidable opponents.

I'm not at all good with Scrabble or the Jumble. Just can't rearrange letters mentally. I find myself fidgeting with the letters on my rack just to arrange them into something that reminds me of words.

Tonight I am writing about ONLINE Scrabble. You can play Scrabble with friends within Facebook in an asynchronous manner. You start a game (give it a name) and then invite friends. You each take your turn and when someone plays their last letter - the game is over just like regular Scrabble.

The online FB version has a a few advantages for a guy like me.

First, it has a built in dictionary. You can try words and see if they are real words. Handy. If it is a real word, Wikipedia or another online dictionary is just a click away if you are interested in building your word power.

Second, it has a two-letter word listing. All the allowable two-letter words are there and you can click on any letter to narrow the list. Very handy when you're trying to build a word right next to another word.

Here's a screenshot of tonight's game. Jeanne played some massive words - actually cleared her rack for INNOVATE!

STIRRING was hers as well (for a Triple word score).

Amazingly, I still came out on top 338 to 306.

Gotta love technology!