Two days ago, I downloaded the Words With Friends app to my iPad, after hearing from folks how fun the game is. I was immediately hooked. It's like Scrabble, but better since you didn't have to be in the same place to play. After starting up games with people I knew, I started to get impatient because by its nature, it's a slow-moving game. People played when they have time and/or the inclination to respond. Like an addict, I wanted more. I started to initiate games with random opponents matched by the system. I wanted more and more, and eventually I had 10 games going with people I didn't even know. They were slow-going, with some people dropping out all together, but it worked since each person's reply evened out to a steady stream of responses.
At some point last night, I had two games going with regular responses clocking in at average of 10 minutes apart. It was heady and exciting. In one game, we were evenly matched, chasing each other across the board all evening. I was having fun. But in my second game, little did I know, I was up against a ninja master. After having played a few games, I thought I had developed a strategy and felt more confident. I wouldn't have called myself an expert, but I felt I played a good game. However, this second opponent, let's call him BBB, he was a pro. He didn't play just for those double/triple letter and word tiles, placing words perpendicular off another word. He liked to stack his words, forming 2 letter words all across the board, bumping off those double/triple letter and word tiles like it was child's play, and then stacking them again to form 3-letter words and more. He never got a score below 15 points, and frequently averaged 25 points or more. I was getting schooled, but I was learning. I imitated his style, and was getting better though I trailed him the whole time. Then at one point, when I was behind by about 100 points, I scored a major coup and played a 76 point word. I did a little jig of joy, the student was catching up to the master. I was now 30 points behind and maybe had a shot to win.
Little did I know what was to come. The game was coming to a close. I was still about 40 points behind. If I played it right, maybe I could take this. I was feeling cocky. On the board was the word "del." I looked at my tiles. I could make the word "dreidel". It would be awesome, but I hesitated. Playing it would land the letter "D" close to a triple letter and next to a triple word tile, but I thought, it's so close to end. What could he really play that would be that bad? Oh, but oh, such folly. I played "dreidel". I scored 27 points. A nail-biting 5 minutes later, he countered with "judo". I was floored. Why, you ask, should such a small word open such a gigantic can of whoop-ass on me? "J" is worth 10 points. He placed on a triple letter tile. He placed the "O" on that triple word tile. When all was said and done, he made himself a 105 points. It was over.
I could've resigned from the game there and then. There was no way for me to win, but I played it out until the bitter end. When that little bell trilled to let me know BBB had won, he had 503 points, and I a meager 335.
I was beaten but not defeated. The grasshopper lives to play another day.
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