A Newbie's Thoughts on Collins
Over the year's end I decided to take the leap and just go for it and jump on in to Collins to see what happens. For most of 2012 I have been watching the development of Collins divisions popping up all over the place with interest, hoping that more people would jump on the bandwagon so that lower rated folks like myself would be able to give it a try without being constantly smooshed by the regulars who were all experts way out of our league. I've been saying for months now that I would move over to Collins either when NASPA made it the official dictionary OR when enough people that were at my level would play as well and not a MINUTE before.
Boy am I glad I didn't listen to myself!
I had SO MUCH FUN playing two Collins Early Birds and a 26 round main event that it's pretty unlikely that I will be playing TWL again, at least not as long as there is a Collins division where I go. If you look at my record for the tournament 10-20, you probably would think I was crazy. If you realized that 5 of those wins were BYE wins, you'd probably think I was certifiable, but please allow me to explain why I would beg to differ.
Over the last week, I have played some of the most interesting Scrabble games of my life. I did not draw very well (15 of 50 possible blanks in total) and I was COMPLETELY outmatched; my opponents were all either experts or already established Collins players and I hadn't even committed all the TWO letter words to memory, but what I found was THAT REALLY DIDN'T MATTER. I held my own against these top rated players, giving almost all of them really good games that were NOT that easy to win. In fact, the best compliment I got was from one of the players telling me "You've been a real pain in the ass to beat all week long." I've never been so happy to be such a pain the ass, let me tell you!
I found that as a lower rated player, I really got by pretty well on my existing word knowledge. In fact, I have a theory that if I had gone into this tournament knowing all the 2's and 3's down cold, and maybe the power tile 4's at the least, that I absolutely would have pulled out several more wins.
Where these expert folks are more used to rack balancing and bingoing and working the magical mathematical calculations in their heads, I was taking all the short words I knew and using the options afforded from the additional letter hooks to SCORE SCORE SCORE. Also, for the most part, they didn't phoney on me because in Collins you do not lose a turn if you call a challenge wrong, you simply give the opponent another 10 points. It's MORE worth it for you to challenge, and LESS worth it for the opponent to phoney.
I also discovered that while I was initially intimidated by some of these players, even the ones that were my friends that I don't usually play because our ratings are so different, every single person I was up against turned out to be just another human being, just like me. Imagine my surprise! They put their pants on one leg at a time as well, and it was REALLY fun to be able to throw down some tiles with them, talk about some cool plays, and be part of something that the rest of the world has known about for years.
I've now come to the mindset that there is room for everyone. NASPA does not have to change their official dictionary, there is plenty of room for everyone where Scrabble is concerned. You might be one of those folks who doesn't like to travel outside the US, or who is set in your ways and never wants to learn another word unless you absolutely have to. In that case, Collins might never be for you, and that's ok. But for those of you who were like ME; thinking about it, watching it develop, and eyeing it like an apple pie, just waiting for others to take a piece first, I hope my experience gives you something to think about and that you just GO FOR IT! You'll be surprised how far your existing word knowledge goes, and of course the more of us that DO play, the less we'll have to repeat against one another, though I will admit that even that wasn't so bad. We just took turns playing each other two times in a row. It was kind of like hanging out with a friend at your kitchen table and playing a couple games, except the coffee was only free until ten.
I'm really looking forward to all the new and exciting words my future holds, and the amazing places I'll be able to go to play them.
Boy am I glad I didn't listen to myself!
I had SO MUCH FUN playing two Collins Early Birds and a 26 round main event that it's pretty unlikely that I will be playing TWL again, at least not as long as there is a Collins division where I go. If you look at my record for the tournament 10-20, you probably would think I was crazy. If you realized that 5 of those wins were BYE wins, you'd probably think I was certifiable, but please allow me to explain why I would beg to differ.
Over the last week, I have played some of the most interesting Scrabble games of my life. I did not draw very well (15 of 50 possible blanks in total) and I was COMPLETELY outmatched; my opponents were all either experts or already established Collins players and I hadn't even committed all the TWO letter words to memory, but what I found was THAT REALLY DIDN'T MATTER. I held my own against these top rated players, giving almost all of them really good games that were NOT that easy to win. In fact, the best compliment I got was from one of the players telling me "You've been a real pain in the ass to beat all week long." I've never been so happy to be such a pain the ass, let me tell you!
I found that as a lower rated player, I really got by pretty well on my existing word knowledge. In fact, I have a theory that if I had gone into this tournament knowing all the 2's and 3's down cold, and maybe the power tile 4's at the least, that I absolutely would have pulled out several more wins.
Where these expert folks are more used to rack balancing and bingoing and working the magical mathematical calculations in their heads, I was taking all the short words I knew and using the options afforded from the additional letter hooks to SCORE SCORE SCORE. Also, for the most part, they didn't phoney on me because in Collins you do not lose a turn if you call a challenge wrong, you simply give the opponent another 10 points. It's MORE worth it for you to challenge, and LESS worth it for the opponent to phoney.
I also discovered that while I was initially intimidated by some of these players, even the ones that were my friends that I don't usually play because our ratings are so different, every single person I was up against turned out to be just another human being, just like me. Imagine my surprise! They put their pants on one leg at a time as well, and it was REALLY fun to be able to throw down some tiles with them, talk about some cool plays, and be part of something that the rest of the world has known about for years.
I've now come to the mindset that there is room for everyone. NASPA does not have to change their official dictionary, there is plenty of room for everyone where Scrabble is concerned. You might be one of those folks who doesn't like to travel outside the US, or who is set in your ways and never wants to learn another word unless you absolutely have to. In that case, Collins might never be for you, and that's ok. But for those of you who were like ME; thinking about it, watching it develop, and eyeing it like an apple pie, just waiting for others to take a piece first, I hope my experience gives you something to think about and that you just GO FOR IT! You'll be surprised how far your existing word knowledge goes, and of course the more of us that DO play, the less we'll have to repeat against one another, though I will admit that even that wasn't so bad. We just took turns playing each other two times in a row. It was kind of like hanging out with a friend at your kitchen table and playing a couple games, except the coffee was only free until ten.
I'm really looking forward to all the new and exciting words my future holds, and the amazing places I'll be able to go to play them.