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Saturday 15 September 2007

Hard hats are optional

I quite like puzzles and board games, but the problem is I’m really quite competitive.

At one point I became mildly obsessed with Sudoku and did the one in my newspaper everyday. When Student Nutty Nurse and I used to work together, we would photocopy the puzzle and then race each other to see could complete it the fastest. It was pretty much 50/50, though he will still maintain that he won more.

I also have a soft spot for Scrabble. Best Friend also likes a game, but will now only play with me if she can wear protective clothing, or at least some kind of hard hat. We used to play on a fairly regular basis but things turned ugly one day.

She disputed one of my words and I didn’t react well.

I had put down Qi and was quite pleased with myself, having managed to get it on a triple word score! (Before anyone disputes it, it is in the official Scrabble word book – I don’t want a repeat of the incident!)

Our argument became more and more heated and I’m afraid to say that it ended with me pushing the board off the table and onto the floor (yes, I am embarrassed, but I can be a stroppy cow when I want to be!).

Best Friend maintains to this day that I actually threw the board (hence the hard hat), but I’m honestly not that bad. However, it certainly wasn’t my finest hour!

I now try to stick to things like crosswords. I think it’s much safer this way.

6 comments:

Heather said...

whoooo-weee! I def. want to play games with you. I think we could charge admission.

I too can get a little, uh, competitive. and rough. competitive and rough. but do so with love in my heart. that counts for something, right?

And I love Sudoko. It's one of the only things I can beat April at. Which means we do it all the time.

Agnes Mildew said...

Ho ho! A girl after my own heart. I have used Qi on a few occasions, having read it in the 'book', but NEVER got the triple word score, much to my chagrin...

I love Scrabble, and I, too, get very, very chippy over it, particularly when I am losing (most of the time, and I am sure the tiles are against me!). My last bloke was good at Scrabble and would thrash me...he just had the luck of the draw on his side, though, I am sure of that...on the whole, a typical hand for me would be E E O T I X Z - great high scoring letters there, but what the hell do you do with them?

Rosie said...

We only play SCRABBLE with the Scrabble dictionary on the table and the word challenge firmly in play. So far it's probably saved my marriage. :)

Board games I refuse to play because the males in my household play like it's REAL life? MONOPOLY. I made a declaration 20 years ago and won't give in. Now my sons are as bad as their Dad. Scary that.

alcoment said...

Wishful - I think as long as it is done with love in your heart, then it's perfectly fine. At least I hope so. That's going to be my arguement from now on!

Agnes - Ah, I often get similar hands to that, invent new words and then get annoyed when they're not in the book! The most frustrating one though was when I had a 7 letter word and there was NOWHERE to put it on the board. I tried to introduce the rule that if that happened, you could move tiles other people had already put down, but unfortunately no one would let me do it!

Rosie - Monopoly seems to be the one that can make the most mild tempered person turn into some kind of board game demon. You may be wise to refuse to play any more!

Anonymous said...

I am the aforementioned Scrabble victim. More the victim of Alcoment's vicious temper. It's only recently realised that Oxford English do not come in at night and hand write amendments in! And QI is not a bloody word! I challenge you to use it in an everyday sentence!

alcoment said...

Best Friend - Ok, no, Oxford English do not hand write amendments in the dictionary each night - I do! QI is a word and though, at this precise moment in time, I cannot use it in a sentance, I have the full backing of other people AND the Scrabble book!!