Those of you who watch Star Trek may know that April 5, 2063 was (and will be) First Contact Day. That’s the day that the Vulcans (i.e. Spock’s race) visit Earth and introduce themselves to humans for the first time, an event prompted by mankind’s discovery of faster-than-light (FTL) travel.
So, it’s fitting that this day should coincide with our club’s very own first meeting that happened on April 5th, 1993. Yesterday marked the Mississauga Scrabble Club’s 19th anniversary.
In celebration of the occasion, Craig selected a couple interesting themes. First to honour the number 19, we looked to our nation’s 19th Prime Minister. She was our first–and to this day, only–female Prime Minister and appropriately, she served her stint at Sussex Drive in the summer of ’93. With a fixed election looming (fixed in the sense of timing, not scandal), her opposition Liberals’ supporters managed to OUTVOTE the Progressive Conservative crowd and thus her term came to an end. And that is the story of how our honourable, hearty soup Prime Minister, Kim Campbell, allowed me to win this week’s theme word with a meager 12-point play.
The second anniversary theme came from #19 of the Toronto Maple Leafs. That’s Joffrey Lupul, a player who managed to have a fairly good season on a losing team. LUPUL is a palindrome, a word that spells the same backwards and forwards. Therefore, the best palindrome play of the night would win an additional prize. There were a few plays, AA, OHO, ABA, but the winning PALINDROMIST was none other than Vijayajiv. He managed to play three palindromes all in one turn. This is impressive in and of itself, but to make it even better, he played three SYMMETRICAL palindromes! He played AWA and formed AMA and WOW at the same time. A man, a plan, a canal–Vijay!
More impressive feats were accomplished on this night. The bonus bingo letters were KI, and Dave played TALKIES for 68, while Priya, perhaps with a greater Killer Instinct, played its anagram LAKIEST for 78. I feel privileged to live in the LAKIEST country in the world.
Three of the 17 MSCers in attendance managed to win all three games of the night; Mark H, Mark E, and Priya! Congratulations.
In his three victories, Mark Edelson managed to put up a season high 1523 points! Easily taking him over the 12000 threshold, crossing the finish line in our race at warp velocity. For this contest, he wins $20.12 on the MSC’s 2012 celebration. Well done, Captain.
Live long and prosper.