Scrabble Timer Apps

The Apple app Zarf has an excellent built in clock for competitive Scrabble games, however, if you don't have Zarf, here are two excellent alternatives:
Wali Timer for android, developed by Wali Muhammad Khubaib
ChessClock for iOS, developed by Chess.com

Feature Comparison Between Zarf and ULU

Recently Apple has discontinued support for 32 bit apps with the latest version of their operating system, iOS 11. This means the much beloved iPhone and iPad app called Zarf no longer works on devices running iOS 11. Thankfully, Seth Lipkin has written a similar app called ULU available on the app store. In my opinion Zarf is still the best app but ULU comes a very close second. See a comparison of features below.

Feature	Zarf	ULU
Search pattern	Yes	Yes
Search anagram	Yes	Yes
Search build	Yes	Yes
Sort search results, length	Yes (increasing & decreasing)	Yes (increasing & decreasing)
Sort search results, alphabetical	Yes (increasing & decreasing)	Yes (increasing & decreasing)
Sort search results, novelty	Yes (increasing & decreasing)	No
Sort search results, probability	Yes (increasing & decreasing)	No
Sort search results, value	Yes (increasing & decreasing)	No
Multiple searches in one	Yes	No
Lexicon	Any (including CSW15)	Any (including CSW15)
Fast search as you type	Yes	Yes
Judge	Yes	Yes
Clock	Yes	No (see alternatives)
Compatible with iOS <11	Yes	Unknown
Compatible with iOS >=11	No	Yes
Compatible with android	No	No
32 bit application	Yes	No
64 bit application	No	Yes
Sanctioned for WESPA tournaments	Yes	Not yet
Cost	Free	Free

8 Bonus Game

Played an awesome game against Trevor Hovelmeier at the annual Benoni tournament today. We each played 4 bonuses. Trevor cleverly capitalised on his J, X and Z scoring over 150 for them. I drew level several times but Trevor would always come with another massive score. See the game on cross tables 

My first 700!

In the recent Cape Town International tournament I scored 727 against current African Champ, Nsikan Etim from Nigeria. I added incorrectly and we both signed the score card as 725 vs 331, a difference of 394. A recount was the last thing on my mind as I was swept up in the emotion of the moment. Even despite the high score, I did not play a perfect game (that's a milestone for another day). My 2nd move of KESTREL (79 points) was inferior to SKELTER/SOOP (98 points). Ironically, if I had played perfectly I would probably not have made 725 which is a South Africa record. See the game on cross-tables here

Lucky win against Ashley

At the 2015 Collins Cup, Ashley and I had a few exciting games. Here is one of them.
Scenario: Ashley had just played a nonword from A1 onto the G. I challenged and the word came off. I saw that he had 2 places to bonus (Column A, NOVATING and Column O, INNOVATE) and was unable to block both. How did I win the game? Answer at cross-tables

Gauteng Masters 2014

The recent Gauteng Masters tournament, a double round robin of the top 10 in Gauteng, produced some very exciting Scrabble. Going into the last game, Trevor and I had the same number of wins - whoever won that game would win the tournament. Trevor played 3 consecutive bonuses on moves 7, 8 and 9. I bonused on move 10 to draw level but it turns out to have been a losing move because Trevor's 10th move for 60 points secured him the win. What should I have done on my 10th move instead of bonusing to give me a better (i.e. 53%) chance of winning?

2014 SA Nationals - Spectacular Win against Tristan

I found a beautiful win that Quackle did not find while trailing 396 vs 417 on move 10 of the SA National Champs in Cape Town. Can you find it?

Tristan held CEFINR and I held ADSTTTU. Turns out he could have responded differently to win but he only had 1 minute on his clock. See cross-tables for full game.

Collins Cup 2014 - Well done Steven

The Collins Cup tournament was held over the weekend at the Parktown Boys Highschool. Steven Gruzd won with a game to spare. Well done Steve. Meanwhile, I had my worst local tournament ever.

Results after 16 games:

1 13 +1214 Steven Gruzd 1833 +64 1897
2 12 +983 Tristan Hromnik 1815 +65 1880
3 10.5 +381 Paul Kalumba 1823 -7 1816
4 10 +705 Trevor Hovelmeier 1970 -39 1931
5 10 -25 Mwenya Munkonge 1631 +48 1679
6 9 +803 Dylan Early 1819 -42 1777
7 9 +453 Duncan Keet 1577 +19 1596
8 9 +110 Rajen Pillay 1414 +38 1452
9 9 -320*Sydney Kalema (1609)
10 8 +434 Patrick Mpundu 1730 -21 1709
11 8 +215 Ros Finn 1650 -21 1629
12 8 +57 Gary Birch 1462 +4 1466
13 8 +0 Harry Wiggins 1714 -37 1677
14 8 -232 Moses Kibet 1477 +23 1500
15 7 +175*Isaac Mwape (1437)
16 7 -57 Dominic Tresha 1582 -50 1532
17 7 -356*Mulenga Chitundu (1363)

My games (on cross-tables)

1) Dylan Early vs Isaac Mwape
2) Dylan Early vs Mwenya Munkonge
3) Dylan Early vs Trevor Hovelmeier
4) Dylan Early vs Debbe Hossy
5) Dylan Early vs Paul Kalumba
6) Dylan Early vs Harry Wiggins
7) Dylan Early vs Lynn Roff
8) Dylan Early vs Moses Kibet
9) Dylan Early vs Duncan Keet
10) Dylan Early vs Stephen Peter
11) Dylan Early vs Patrick Mpundu (I lost by 28. Let me know if there was a win)
12) Dylan Early vs Howard Rayner
13) Dylan Early vs Duncan Keet
14) Dylan Early vs Howard Rayner
15) Dylan Early vs Isaac Mwape
16) Dylan Early vs Patrick Mpundu (nice endgame situation)