Forum Thread: Not a spoil-sport, just a baby!

Hey people help! How does anyone handle this situation: for a run of 4 or 5 games straight, no matter what, every draw i take nets me single point tiles. My worthy opponent reaches into the bag and finds F's and H's. and J's and P's and the X and the Z, 3 s's and at least one blank etc. I reach into the bag and return with 2 U's 3 I's some T's and R's. I can stay fairly even for a while playing off her high point tiles, but as the game goes on the single pointers just can't do it.

It's frustrating, and I end up grumbling and mumbling as a 5 year old would. The law of averages says this can't happen game after game-but it does. The next 5 or 6 games we draw even tiles and I generally come out ahead. However, I never get a game where I end up with the high pointers! (keep in mind that I play War with my 10 year old grandson and have lost 31 straight- honest). I love winning and hate losing, but all I ask is that I have a competitive scrabble game to make it fun.

How do I keep from "losing my cool" !!!

2 Responses

Wow. Sounds like you've got some bad luck with games.

If you can't get the high pointers, I think the best way to keep from losing your cool is to practice on the low game. Don't hope to get high-point letters, just play the game as if you were never to have them anyway.

Some tips:

Study words that meet your draw. I recommend learning all the words containing mostly vowels and all one-pointers. You can find tons of study guides on my word list post, like vowel dumps, all words with 66% vowels, words from the letters RETAIN, etc.
Work on building parallel words. If you have tons of low point letters, if you can make a 4 or 5 letter word that can also make 4 or 5 other words in parallel, then you just got valuable points that you normally wouldn't have.
Study BINGOS. If you can get rid of all 7 of your crappy letters at once, you've just got an additional 50 points.
Think about the length of words. If your opponent constantly puts down words with 4-7 letters, than he'll get more letters when he/she draws than if you were only putting down 2-3 letter words. The more letters you place on-board, the more you get back, increasing the chances that you get the high pointers, and not your opponent.
Get wise. Make sure the words your opponent is placing are actual words. Don't be afraid to challenge.

Maybe check out my Scrabble article to see all the basics that you need to be keen on—then go from there and sharpen those skills.

Thanks... I've previously tried some of your suggestions, and will try the others you mentioned.

It's nice to vent to those who know what a competitive scrabble game means, rather than a way to pass the time! Thanks again!

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