Scrabble Champion Scores 590. It Wasn't Enough.
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- Опубліковано 11 лис 2023
- Welcome to Episode 15 of Scrabble History, a series where I break down some of the most incredible plays, epic rivalries, and amazing moments in Scrabble's rich competitive history.
Dave Wiegand and Alec Sjoholm are two of North America's finest players. You'd expect to see fireworks when the two of them sit down to play. But in a game between the two of them from May 2023, both players scored over 590 points in a game, with the loser setting a record for highest losing game score.
Sometime soon, I plan to resume streaming on my Twitch channel:
/ wanderer15
I also have a weekly show on the official Scrabble Twitch channel (Tuesdays 3-5 PM ET):
/ scrabble
Play Scrabble at playscrabble.com! - Ігри
As someone with zero high-level scrabble experience, I appreciate that you break down the strategic rationale behind moves that don’t maximize points. Another great video.
Maximize is lots of points
I once lost a game on Scrabble Go 577-595 to Maltese champion Theresa Camilleri. Among the most exhilarating games I've been part of!
As someone who has never thought about scrabble tactics beyond 'big word go burr', i appreciate the effort you've put into explaining nuance in particular moves.
Thank you very much & appreciate you giving my content a try!
Is there a game format where both players don't fully behave as opponents but more like teammates? In which the main goal is for both players to help each other. 'The best word must go out' so to speak? You are still opponents though, but if your board is a higher score than another pair of players, you move up in rank somewhere else.
Haven't heard of exactly this - I've heard of 'tag team scrabble' where you and a teammate set yourselves up for big moves, but that's about it.
In Italian scrabble it's normal sometimes to score 800 points (best players manage to score even 900 points). I think Italian is the most interesting dictionary for scrabble, the English one has around 100k words, while Italian has over 600k words
I've been learning Italian for many years now, and you have me curious because I've never thought about it, but I assume that's because all verb conjugations are allowed? Considering the tenses, there are considerable more than English.
@@jamisonr You're right, in Italian every verb has 25 conjugations. But even if we don't consider verbs, Italian has around 300k words, still more than English. Another interesting thing is that in Italian there are more 8 letter words than 7 letter words. This change completely the strategy to bingo
@@jamisonr I found an Italian game ended 1147-730, with the record world "TACQUERO" for 330 points
@@alessandroserra9779 I'd love to see a comparison of average letter value in different languages, based on scrabble scoring. Like, multiply the frequency of each letter in the language by the scrabble value for that letter, add them up, and divide by number of letters. There has to be a decent correlation to scrabble highscores.
I’d cry if I started any game with two bingos, let alone four!
Years ago in a N. American tourney game against Dave, I was thrilled to have achieved a tie against him, 402-402. Yes, I'd have preferred a win, but I was happy just to have not lost to such a strong player!
That’s quite an achievement, nice one!
Giggled at GIGA. Also I see the Pokémon made an impact :)
So, Alec plays Luz and then loses. Has anyone ever played something like Winn and then won?
Ha, nice spot! I'm sure somewhere out there somebody has clinched a game with WINN...
While Dave finished on a HI. IT decided the game
No lie, I actually once played out with the triple-triple bingo of TROUNCED.
@@alexpotts6520 siiicckkkkk
I lost 521-505 once and it didn't involve either player giving up a ton of points with a bad rack as the other player went out.
Love that you're answering my questions live on Twitch! The expert Scrabble community is so approachable, it's great!
We don't bite :)
Small correction: the q in yaquona is pronounced with a g sound, not a k sound. Ya-GO-na.
Ah, my apologies & thanks!
This video proves humans can hold their breath for over 7 minutes.
Is this also the game with the highest combined score?
Nope - David Webb vs. Bob Violett, 711 - 502. Another game Will should recap at some point.
Good grief, I've not seen that one. Gotta dig it up!
@@AlexDingssomehow somewhere, there must be a collab.
Your videos are so hype and fun, Will! What a banger of a game.
There was still the danger of SLOJD where Dave placed the D in DYNAMISE...
Still the likelihood of SLOJD versus the likelihood of a huge -ED play like VAMPED or something is a huge disparity, and SLOJD is the only big threat in the lane (other than a 3x3 lol)
obviously i always play around... *looks at comment again* SLOJD *nod*
@@evanyurko3640 - agreed!
What an entertaining game! The analysis is great as always.
another awesome video. Best scrabble content out there, thanks!
Mind-blowing stuff! Keep the content coming!
omg this is exactly the video i was asking for in my comment a bit ago! this is such an interesting topic to explore.
Honestly don't see enough comments about it but I love that you include the definitions to obscure words in your videos
Just discovered this channel and this video. In a world of self-publishing and many dubious content producers I am highly impressed! You get top marks for your script, your pacing, and even your elocution. Well presented, and excellent explanations throughout.
I really appreciate the kind words, thank you.
Yet again, another great video!
Video idea: Does the first player have an advantage in Scrabble?
WAY TO GIVE THE STREAM LINK! WOOHOO
What a wild game! I can see now why those two gentlemen are the two highest rated NA players.
I tend to avoid Collins-heavy/centric videos because I don't want to misremember an invalid TWL word, but a) that would be giving my memory too much credit (😅), and b) this was actually intriguing! 🤔🤓❗💯
I hear you with not wanting to mess with your memory as a TEL player. Otherwise, I find that it’s all the same good stuff to enjoy in both dictionaries.
Wow wow WOW... BRILLIANT game!!!
Why is nobody talking about the giga chad on daves face
I’m glad somebody enjoyed that :)
absolutely BONKERS game
The rule that the games end when one player runs out of tiles seems to favour the player that goes first. Feels like it should trigger the last round instead. So that both players always get the same number of turns at least.
Going first is in general a non-trivial advantage. Depending on what data set you consult, it seems like it confers an additional 3-ish winning percentage right away (so the player going first between equally skilled players would be 53% to win)
it's akin to white over black in chess
@@wanderer15 that seems like a pretty big advantage. No idea what it is in chess. But in games like chess it can't really be helped. But when it's games like Scrabble that look at a cumulative score. Giving each player na equal number of turns at least is probably the best way to balance it. Most modern board games are designed like that. I do understand that changing rules that have existed for long is complicated. But if you look at other competetive games and sports they do evolve to make things more balanced/fair etc. Just saying that in a game where you only get a chance to score when you get a turn, having more turns than your opponent is gonna be very good... Also the bonus of getting points for nay tiles they hold makes ending the game quite important I'd think.
Maybe there are also stats on win% for ending the game, and %for games where the winner had more turns etc =)
@@MrTandtrolletchess might be a wrong example here, chess is generally 50% win for white, 25% win for black, and 25% draws. But that is considering all skill levels. If you only take grandmasters into consideration, then that distribution is closer to equal with a higher draw percentage, but still heavily tilted towards white.
@@MrTandtrollet Giving each player an equal number of turns in Scrabble is harder to achieve than it might seem at first glance. For example, what do you do about endgames where one player is stuck with an unplayable tile? Maybe a simpler way to try to mitigate the first-player advantage is to make the central square *not* a double word square.
azione is a crazy move. these players are mind-blowingly good.
5:54 Holy
Averaging 63+ points midway through the game is crazy 👀
Pleeeeeaaasssseeeeee do some more better know a letter vids, s in particular. Love to see all letters. Thanks in advance!!
On the first board, someone played "kudo". I don't think a singular kudo exists.
Imagine getting the record for highest losing score. Literally no one before you did that well and STILL lost.
I almost had the same thing today in an online game: my opponent and i each crested 200!! We played some obscure three-letter words like Collins-approved "D-O-G" which left a nice hook for "L-A-G," using that same G. Epic game, probably should send it to you to make a video. Certainly better than these punks.
Sounds very impressive indeed ;) but Scrabble is fun as long as you’re evenly matched no matter your level!
When I saw the title, I thought it meant scoring over 500 _in one turn_ and still losing the came.
I've only ever seen a score that high once, and it was a phoney that I didn't challenge. 😢
Very entertaining game! Are there any stats showing scoring differences between Collins and NWL? With a more extensive dictionary I would imagine Collins scores are higher.
Thanks! I'm sure such stats exist and might be interesting to break down at some point (Collins scores are certainly higher, and the only question is by how much)
The pound sign # after the word means it's only available in Collins and not the Merriam-Webster Scrabble dictionary right?
Correct!
Dream game!
Imagine getting 590+ pts and still lose. Epic match
Crazy game! Do you know what the second highest losing score is behind 591? It'd be good to know how big the gap is. Thanks for the content!
Records suggest that it’s in the low 550s, so this game shattered the prior record.
@@wanderer15 David Eldar vs at 2017 worlds was 574-576
Man im really falling in love with the intricacy of strategy in scrabble, but am fearful of the task of learning a whole dictionary. Im not even a native english speaker, I probably need to work twice as hard. Should I give it a go? How would you go about learning a whole dictionary?
I would say that the task of learning an entire dictionary is indeed daunting. But there are groups of words that are significantly more useful than others. Learning a manageable amount of the most useful words at each word length will have a really dramatic effect on your overall skill level. I made a video about learning words a few years ago, including my best attempt at a tier list (about 7:00 through)
ua-cam.com/video/HSh-6GWxqws/v-deo.html
Is there any interesting strategy to the first play of the game (e.g. is it for some reason better to play vertically vs horizontally depending on your rack)?
Functionally, horizontal and vertical are equivalent. You can transform any Scrabble game along the diagonal line of symmetry. The only difference is psychological. Many players are bothered by a vertical start, just because there is no practical difference and it would be easier to build the mental map of how the first few turns go if everyone started in the same direction.
1:10 surely that pun was intended, right?
This is why Scrabble can be as amazing as chess, if not more.
Love both, but true outlier Scrabble games like this are incomparable!
I was playing Online Scrabble and the list on 4:27, I played Azine for 45 points. I am a fan pls heart this.
Alec just wanted to have got a reccord for a highest loosing score :)
What happened to Nigel Richards, seeing as he's not even in the top 5? Did he retire?
Thanks for another great video, Will!
That list is just people participating in this particular tournament taking place this week.
Yes, this is just the entrants for this one tournament - admittedly, he has not traveled stateside to play for a while, but he is still active closer to his home country of Malaysia.
I can't even get to 500 points playing open dictionary lol
Dr. Bing wins a banger!
3:22 again, I thought that multipliers can only be used for one word?
Multipliers get used on one *turn* - if you form two words on that turn, you get the multiplier for each word. That's why high-level players make a lot of "parallel plays" alongside other words - you get the bonus squares twice, once for the main word and once for the "extra" words that happen to hit the bonuses.
Once you use up a multiplier, it's done for all future turns.
I have only had 2 500+ point games out of at least 100(maybe more). I’ve been nowhere close to double 500 lol
Still very impressive on your part - not easy to get so high!
I'm just now learning the rules of scrabble so forgive me- can someone explain why the final "E" and "T" weren't used when they could've spelled "ate" with the ankerite A? thanx
When one player uses up the last tiles on their rack, the game ends, and the remaining tiles on their opponent’s rack are added to their score. So, Dave’s move ended the game before Alec could play “ate”.
I don’t fully know the rules of scrabble, someone help me: when Dave played Hi at the end, is it game over because he cleared his rack and there are no more tiles? Because Alec has a playable move of “Net” (and maybe others that I haven’t spotted), but he doesn’t get the chance to play a word? Thanks in advance.
Yes; the game ends when the bag is empty and one player gets rid of all of their tiles.
@@calvindang7291 much appreciated.
@@jonwalters5395additionally the player using all their tiles gets a bonus of twice the points of their opponent's tiles.
Is that also the game with the highest combined score?
Probably that is a game played by Nigel in Swahili and the opponent scored 178 or something 🤣
Its up there, but not quite. A topic for a future video!
3:53 this is a word???
As a complete scrabble newbie who has played literally 5 times for fun with family and friends, does the game end automatically when somebody uses their last tile? It looks like Sjoholm had places to put his E & T.
Yes, once either player uses their last tile after the bag has been emptied, the game is over and the value of unplayed tiles is used to adjust the score in favor of the player who went out first.
Why did Alec have to give his T at the end. There's a free I there to make IT.
By rule, Dave using the final tile on his rack ends the game, giving him a bonus for Alec's unplayed letters.
Oh ok thanks, wasn't aware of that rule! Played it wrong with my friends all these years! 😅@@wanderer15
Why do you sometimes put a # after a word?
That's to denote words only valid in the Collins dictionary used in international play. It's a courtesy for players based in North America who might not have seen these words before. I could be clearer about what this notation means for those who haven't seen it before.
What's second highest loss?
There are a handful of other games where the losing player scored in the 540s and one where the losing player scored 552 - this game smashes those records!
Couldnt Alec have played the E on the RE for ERE and won?
E(RE) only scores 6 points instead of 28, so no. Unless I misunderstood...
Keep in mind that when one player uses their final tile after the bag is empty, the game ends. So, by rule, Dave’s play of HI ended the game, and Alec’s unplayed letters were added to his score (at 2x face value of the letter).
@@wanderer15 ahhh thank you!! I'm new to Scrabble
My highest lost online was around 550 or 560 points....imagine scoring very nearly 600, yet you still lose. Insane.
That’s still amazing on your part!
@@wanderer15 even more so on my opponent's part. Scoring over 500 against me is not an easy task.
These professionals have extreme luck, almost every move is a bingo, perhaps they make up words or rig the tiles.
Remember, this game was an extreme outlier. A typical average for an elite Scrabble player is about 2 bingos per game. Very few games are like this one!
hamburger
590! is impossible, relax my guy
Bro let Nigel cook, he can get there.
They both cheated by playing Collins
You have wrongly taken several liberties:
"Scrabble Champion Scores 590" in the title --- the losing player scored 591.
"He elects to slide his letters over one column" at 1:51 --- iirc, Dave never put DYNAMISM on the board.
"Dave wisely adjusts his move" at 2:59 --- iirc, Dave never put WATERING on the board.
not to mention the error in the sidenote# at 2:16
These items are not intended to be literal, so I stand by all three. But thank you for the excellent game!
For the sake of the title, the important part isn't the specific number 591. It's that the players scored above 590, and it makes a more eye-catching title to simply round it.
As a viewer, you should understand that the point of the video is to explain the players' thought processes throughout the game. Although those words weren't played, Will is assuming that Dave must have seen them, and made a conscious decision to play a different word, which he explains the reasoning for.
@@NZsaltz I do think this particular commenter has sufficient insight into the players' thought processes, but your point still stands of course
@@bungaIowbill Yeah, I'm sure this commenter does, but the video isn't made for just one person
Link to the event mentioned: www.twitch.tv/cocoscrabble