Scrabble News item: points per turn
Donald Sauter
(NSA). Neither Scrabble News nor the NSA provides a letters column or
forum for Scrabble issues, the emphatic claim being that there are no
problems in the Scrabble world and everyone is happy.)
On page 4 of Scrabble News #232 a player discussed a game in which he
averaged "over 41pt. per turn".
I've been receiving Scrabble News for a year and this is the first
mention of the Points Per Turn (PPT) statistic I've seen.
Here in rec.games.board and on my own website I have argued for the
universal acceptance and usage of PPT within Scrabble. It's simple;
it's elegant; it's instantly understandable. It says virtually
*everything* about a player in one concise number. Disregarding the
PPT statistic hampers discussion of various basic Scrabble issues.
So far my suggestion has not met with any approval. I'm baffled as to
what the objections could possibly be. Here are some questions for
anyone who received Scrabble News #232. Did you notice the Points Per
Turn mention? Did it make sense to you? Did it bug you for any
reason? Do you know your own PPT so you could put 41 PPT in
perspective? If not, why not?
Donald Sauter
www.donaldsauter.com/scrabble-points-per-turn.htm
current PPT = 33.0
John
person generally plays, luck factored in.
What was the NSA's reasons for rejecting your proposal?
Donald Sauter
In my one phone talk with the director of the National Scrabble
Association, I was told in no uncertain terms that the reason the NSA
does not and will entertain any proposed ideas regarding Scrabble, and
therefore does not offer a letters to the editor column, blog, or
forum of any sort, is that there are NO problems in the Scrabble
world. None.
Donald Sauter
John
can understand your request to further improve the current situation
though.
Donald Sauter
Yes, that is the National Scrabble Association's explicitly stated
position.
For a start, I'd like to point out that there was nothing "broke"
about a Model T, but somehow it found itself replaced by Lincolns and
Mustangs and Tauruses... :-)
But my main point is that Scrabble is seriously broke. That it's
become mostly an artificial point-scoring exercise using funny letter
combinations and has almost nothing remaining of the original spirit
of the game. I believe that journalists covering Scrabble tournaments
see the ridiculousness of it all, although they have to be polite
while getting in their little digs at the funny stuff they see on the
boards. I believe media interest in Scrabble has dropped to almost
nothing. All I saw for the most recent National and World
championships were tiny, three- or four-sentence AP reports. There
never has been appreciable public interest. I know from experience
with a former Scrabble club how rarely a newcomer will show up a
second time after seeing all the junk on the Scrabble boards. Yes,
lots of people while away a lot of time playing Scrabble on the
internet. They're the ones that have passed through the filter of not
giving a hoot about how artificial their activity is. And that's ok;
it's not so different from solving a Sudoku, say. But maybe a lot of
them would experience a new burst of enthusiasm if Scrabble were
gotten back to a word game. And maybe lots of intelligent word lovers
would be drawn to the game, too.
Donald Sauter
Peter Roizen
Don't forget to mention the alternative. I'm trying to go a little
easier these days on grandma's game.
Peter
Donald Sauter
Yes, everyone, take a look at Peter's WildWords! In WildWords, the
sky's the limit as far as word length is concerned. It makes my
eights and nines in Scrabble II seem puny. :( Plus, his web site is
FUNNY. Make sure you click through to "More News" at the bottom of
the main page.
Donald
John
Many thanks for your response Donald, it correlates with my
observations. I hope for your success in the petitioning for this
status addition, may the tiles be with you.