Tokyo Scrabble (3)

One of the three Scrabbleoke* games Jason and I played


The third and last part of my Scrabble trip to Tokyo is a " word report". Here are a few words Jason and I played:

PENULTS = the next to last syllable in a word (ADRIAN)
BIVIA(no-S) BIVIUM* = part of a starfish (ADRIAN)
VISCID (no-S) = thick and adhesive (JASON)
EUTEXIA+S = the property of being easily melted (JASON)
HAIKAI(no -S) = a type of Japanese poem (ADRIAN)
ORIBI+S = an African antelope (ADRIAN)
TITTUP+S,Y = to move in a lively manner (JASON)
MASTITIS = inflammation of the breast (ADRIAN)
SHIRALEE+S = a swagman's bundle (JASON)
AZYGIES = an unpaired biological element (ADRIAN)
DOVECOTS = a roost for domesticated pigeons (JASON)
AMILDAR+S = an Indian manager (ADRIAN)
OXEYE+S = a flowering plant (ADRIAN)



The game Jason and I played on the train

XEROMAS = a dry lustreless condition of the conjunctiva (JASON)
DRUMLIN+S = a long hill of glacial drift (ADRIAN)
SEMEION (no-S) SEMEIA* = a unit of time (ADRIAN)
CRUZIE+S also CRUIZIE+S = an oil lamp( ADRIAN)
FAQUIRS = a religious ascetic in India, also FAQIR FAKIR (JASON)
DIANOIAS = a lower mode of knowledge from perception and experience(ADRIAN)
VAGROM (no-S) = wandering (JASON)

Playing so many games against Jason (who is rated 14th in the world at the moment)was exactly the kind of training I needed for the World Scrabble Championship 2009 and the Causeway Challenge (both held in Malaysia). I'm counting the days!

Tokyo Scrabble (2)

The Odyssey continued on the train. If you don’t believe me, look at the photos. Nothing better to shock the locals than two weird looking foreigners doing strange and suspicious things with a colorful board and some white tiles.




Next stop, an ant-infested park. Like real heroes, we kept on playing, paying in blood our devotion to the god of Scrabble. At least Carmen has nothing to comment here: park, lake, summer night, ME… all the ingredients for a perfect romantic… salad.




My quest for the Holy Scrabble ended (tragically, I must say, because two weeks of parties, walks around temples and Takarazuka plays were awaiting me) at the Shinjuku station. We stopped in a stinky corner, where people gathered to pollute the atmosphere with their cigarettes, and played Blitz Scrabble: 3-minute games. People stopped by and cast curious glances at our boards, but we were so absorbed in the game that I almost missed my bus. I realized I had to go only 15 minutes before the bus was scheduled to depart for Osaka, so I ran to the bus stop. I know, I know, I was running to meet love. I made it there in the nick of time, only to be told by the driver that there was one hour left until departure. No, they were not late and they hadn’t changed the schedule either. I was simply one hour too early. Now, you know about my adventure on the bus, so I’ll end my tale here. Carmen made me promise to give the game report in a separate post, as not to bore all of her friends out of their wits. Enjoy the photos and I’ll be back (for Scrabble players only).

Tokyo Scrabble (1)

A few weeks ago I told you about my clandestine trip to Tokyo. A little late, maybe, but I’m back with the news (no longer quite so new) report. The specialists know what I did there—played Scrabble—but the question is when and where.
Jason and I started in a businesslike manner at the Google Japan headquarters, surrounded by hundreds of computers. Of course, we played the real thing, using a board. Yet the adrenaline rush was missing, so we went to a karaoke place. Nothing to get your blood pumping like having to play the lyrics of a song! Carmen says there was no mystery, no charm to the whole thing—half amused, half angry, she says she’s haunted by the image of her husband peacefully reading Scrabble lists on some stone steps, while she was in ecstasy at the magnificent Hindu temples in Khajuraho. I don’t dare contradict her (if you’re married, you know what I mean), but I have to remind her that men would rather choose fun over… well, over a lot of things. And karaoke Scrabble IS fun.


The Scrabble marathon continued with a couple of hours at a family restaurant, where we played until 5 in the morning. Unfortunately, even legendary heroes need a break (if Achilles hadn’t gone to sleep, Patrocles wouldn’t have had time to steal his armour and… my apologies, it seems that my wife planted a mythology bug in my computer), so we started again the next day around noon. At a Chinese restaurant that served authentic Chinese food (not the Japanese-style Chinese food that is so common here) and where Jason and I could brag about our linguistic skills. The only inconvenient was the size of the tables: they were too small for the board. I guess it had been done on purpose: overwhelmed by the hordes of Scrabble players, the owners of the restaurant had adjusted the tables to an unsuitable size. Tactics similar to the burning of the fields and poisoning of the wells used by Romanian peasants in the Middle Ages when threatened by the Turks. World, beware, the Scrabble freaks are coming!

To be continued...