Recapping the Portland-Alberta Beer Scrabble Thing (PABST)
TL;DR the tournament went exactly as you'd expect.
Nine other Scrabblers tried vainly to dethrone the tiler known only as drbing, but in the end, even his nemesis David "CoolWhip®" Whitley could not defeat him more than once. drbing took home $420 for his 10-2 +1560 efforts.
But that's not to say fun wasn't had by all; in fact, in many ways, it was just a two-day-long party amongst friends.
Second place was taken by the aforementioned CoolWhip®, earning $256 for an 8-4 record with a monstrous +752 spread.
Many players were vying for third, but $101 and that podium finish went to Evans Clinchy who, while sporting the same 8-4 record, could only muster a spread of -59.
Jennifer Clinchy won $20 for the best Oregon word, BEND. This wasn't a hard decision for the director.
Oh, and the remaining $3 in the prize pool went to Becky Dyer for her record of 6-6 +106. This, of course, was the "Were You Even Here?" prize, for the player with the most average performance (closest to 6-6 +0). Have to reward mediocrity, right? I kid - this is a solid performance.
On to the good stuff! Foods, beers, and frolicking!
Friday evening, the Scrabble fam took on Southeast Portland - with beers at Baerlic, and more beers (+ food!) at Cascade Brewing Barrel House. And Set. Lots of Set.
Saturday sported the first 7 games of the tournament, accompanied with bagels from Bernstein's and coffee from Barista. Lunch at the new food cart pod on Alberta Street. Then, the weather was so nice that some of the games migrated to the front porch!
For dinner, most of the players made it to Great Notion Brewing, where brains were fried, and everyone agreed that Paradisio (a fruited sour elevated of pineapple, coconut, vanilla, and mango) is a simply wonderful juice... er, beer. Even Jenn and Becky, who typically don't have beer, agreed it was "really good."
Coco Donuts for breakfast Sunday (seriously, that is a real thing). More food carts for lunch Sunday, culminating with a post-tourney party at Breakside Brewing in NE Portland before people departed for their respective places.
Honestly, it took about 30 minutes to set up and like 10 minutes to clean up. No director calls the entire weekend. I ended up the evener, so I ultimately sat out and got to relax for the weekend. With the success of the first Portland-Alberta Beer Scrabble Thing, I can say I am looking forward to welcoming everyone back (and maybe even you next time, dearest reader), in the spring or summer of 2022!