Recapping the 3rd annual Austin Tile X-Words (ATX) - and the eclipse!
Sometimes, both in Scrabble and in life, you do everything you can to come through in that big clutch moment, but the result is out of your hands in the end.
Maybe you're fishing for that last bingo out to win the final game and finish in the money... and that crucial blank is either in the bag, or it's not.
Maybe you're traveling to Austin for a once-in-a-generation chance at the perfect view of a total solar eclipse... and that darned cloud either drifts away at the last minute so you can see it, or it doesn't.
Scrabble and life are full of breaks, both good and bad. But I'm pleased to report that, for the most part, the third annual Austin Tile X-Words (ATX) broke well for our whole group, including all 23 players and an assortment of family and friends who tagged along. There was a Scrabble tournament, an eclipse, and a whole host of other good times along the way.
Let's recap the weekend:
We were pleased to welcome a diverse field of players who traveled from all over America to be in Austin for the Scrabble/eclipse combo weekend. Our cohort of 23 included visitors from Washington, Oregon, California, Colorado, Arizona, Missouri, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Vermont, as well as many Texan locals. We had national champions, entirely new Scrabble players, and everyone in between.
Speaking of those newbies, a special shoutout to both of them - Courtney Paley and Tony Boyle, each of whom competed in their first CoCo event and more than held their own. Courtney has long been an avid living room Scrabble player, duking it out at home in Austin with her husband; Tony has a little bit of competitive experience back home in Colorado, but hadn't yet made the trek to a multi-day tournament. Both players fit in beautifully in their first event - welcome!
As for the competition at the top, two players distinguished themselves from the rest of the field when play began on Saturday - Chris Lipe and Jesse Day. Chris won 7 of his first 8 games, rocketing his way to first place; Jesse began his tournament with a 397-397 tie against Randi Goldberg in round 1, then rallied after that to win 6 of 7. At day's end, Chris was only a half-game up on Jesse, with a handful of others off the pace at 6-2 or 5-3.
The race between Chris and Jesse continued right down to the wire. Jesse won their head-to-head battle in the first round of Sunday's action, taking the lead, but Chris took it back when he beat Puneet Sharma and Stefan Kac topped Jesse the following round. In the end, it was a head-to-head battle in round 14 for the title, and it was Jesse who prevailed in a tight battle for all the marbles, 472-434.
Jesse walked away with $1,100 for first place; Chris settled for second place and $600. Dave Wiegand went on a late Sunday surge to claim third, and Becky Dyer likewise got hot at the end to secure fourth place. Class prizes went to Mark Francillon, Puneet Sharma, Emily Brodeur, and Kaia, all of whom posted strong finishes for their respective seeds.
All of the above went down Saturday and Sunday. And then, on Monday, it was eclipse time! This was the first total solar eclipse visible in North America since 2017, and many players in this weekend's field had had the date circled on their calendars for years. Finally, it was here.
We all spent the weekend on edge - the weather forecast was threatening to ruin our fun. With thunderstorms expected early in the week, it was a gray and cloudy run-up to eclipse day, and we didn't know if we'd get a clear view of the sky on Monday afternoon or not. When everyone woke up Monday, things still looked uncertain at best.
A group of us Scrabblers congregated to (hopefully...) watch the eclipse together. Becky and her super-CoCo-volunteer spouse Wayne Dyer were gracious enough to host everyone. We met up, we noshed on snacks and drinks, we relaxed in the Dyers' beautiful backyard, and we sat and waited to see if the clouds would part for us in time for the all-important moment of totality at 1:36 p.m.
And then... miraculously... they did.
It was brief, and it was still a little bit cloudy, but we did manage to get glimpses of the eclipse during the runup to 1:36, and at the moment of truth, that sweet, sweet corona came into view. We oohed, we aahed, and we all got to experience the big moment together. We also got to enjoy the eclipse imagery (and margaritas) of our resident photography guru (and mixologist) Gary Smart. All in all, it was amazing. A true once-in-a-lifetime experience.
As a denouement to the long weekend, a few of us stragglers milled around Austin for the rest of Monday together. There were a few board games, a takeout Thai dinner, and a viewing of the UConn/Perdue title game showdown for the hoopheads among us. Let's just say the weekend didn't break quite as well for Zach Edey as it did for our Scrabbler contingent.
Thus ends another wonderful ATX weekend! For the third year in a row, this tournament went swimmingly. Austin continues to be one of the best Scrabble cities in America - great people, great competition, a great college town environment. And, rumor has it, there's more Scrabble action coming to the Austin area soon. Perhaps some 1-days, perhaps another multi-day, we shall see.
Until then, thanks to everyone for a fantastic ATX weekend.