I’m always caught of guard when I’m reminded how highly ranked you are. Not that I ever thought you weren’t skilled, but typically the best players in a given game aren’t always the best at explaining. It’s definitely a boon to the Scrabble community that a player like yourself is also such a great presenter!
I think chess is a great comparison to make here, especially with Hikaru being both top player and great content creator. Also reminds me of top esports players transitioning to content creation but those aren’t video essays usually, just streaming or whatever gameplay Will is in a league of his own actually explaining all this stuff to newcomers though
@@redtaileddolphin1875 even Hikaru’s content is probably not as informative as will’s. Hikaru doesn’t quite have Will’s ability to break down all the nuances of a complex play so simply. Naroditsky actually is a Will-level explainer, but he’s not at the same level of chess that Will is at scrabble. It really is a rare combination.
@@hurkahurk Naroditsky is an apt comparison. It's so hard to simplify world-class level understanding to be digestible for a broad audience. Maybe Scrabble is easier to do it for than chess but Will's brilliance is undeniable. Let alone the amazing editing he does on top of it
Man, David got lucky at the end and got the exact two tiles he needed. But holy shit Naween was sure as hell not fucking around here. The dude was in the zone for most of that game.
I'm a big Scrabble enthusiast, more of a novice in my actual play, but I can pretty confidently say this was absolutely jaw-dropping. The only way it could have maybe been better was if drawing 'AO' had been actual checkmate -- but how can you really blame Fernando for not seeing MYONEURAL from his position? He saw and blocked the "obvious" play (which wouldn't have been obvious to 99% of us). This is definitely in the top 10 of most intriguing endgames I've ever seen. David Eldar is a damn genius. Thanks, Will. Awesome video.
He didn't have outs though. There was no more luck involved, his opponent had perfect information of the board state and a winning position, but blundered missing the alternate bingo. While Scrabble has a lot of luck and variance involved, as with TCG/CCGs and poker, this particular situation is more like his opponent blundering a hard to see checkmate.
Amazing breakdown as always! Do you find that you can get tunnel vision during a game-focusing on a couple key spots and missing other options (like MYONEURAL)?
Yes, I do - but in this particular case, I think it’s less about tunnel vision and more about 99.9% of players (myself included) simply not knowing 9 letter words as obscure as MYONEURAL. I would likely not pick up on that threat even scanning the full board with perfect clarity and focus.
One of the few words I recognized on the board from reading a ton. I always have to explain to people that having degrees in English won't suddenly make someone good at scrabble; from what I have seen a lot of people in this space are computer engineers and mathematicians.
Anyone know why Nigel Richards stopped competing in the world championship? Can’t find anything online other than a few thousand articles on his French scrabble win. Wiki says last tournament was in 2023 (ASCI masters) and a post on Reddit saying two months ago he made 5 bingos in a row in a tournament in India. Can’t find much on the guy at all. I know he’s very private but just surprised genuinely how little there is.
He hasn't stopped. He just hasn't competed in a long time due to COVID (there was no World championship in 2021) and due to a family obligation in 2023. The next World Championship will be in Thailand or Ghana next year, and as long as he gets a visa for Ghana, he will likely attend. As for Thailand, he'll probably just bike there from Kuala Lumpur if it's anywhere on the coastline.
tournament players keep track of tiles on a tracking sheet. It is not illegal like counting cards in poker for example. Finding a potential winning sequence given all of the bag possibilities and possible blocks from his opponent with time pressure is otherworldly given that the solution involved a low probability 9 that 99% of top pros wouldn't have even studied, much less see a possibility that isn't even on his current rack.
It's certainly a strange life choice. I feel like one of the communities that my content resonates with a surprising amount is speedrunners - people who learn the ins and outs of a particular game to an incredibly detailed and complete degree. Elite Scrabble players have basically done this with the dictionary, just without the obvious competitive speed element (though being able to anagram words incredibly fast is critically important, so there is speed involved)
For some reason there's a non-trivial amount of overlap between Scrabble and Poker. Annette Obrestad also plays Scrabble at a fairly high level, though Eldar is absolutely something else
@@Einveldi Ah, okay, I thought I'd seen it on "phonies" before but I felt like this many in one game would've been challenged... so it's because it's an Australian game then
Hey, Will. I’m an aspiring scrabble youtuber (competitive high school player in singapore) could I ask, how do you edit your scrabble videos? Does scrabble go have a board editor function, or do you cut out the tiles yourself and use a separate app/website?
I use a combination of Canva and Adobe Photoshop for my board and tiles, and I edit using Adobe Premiere Pro. But I'm sure there are other simpler ways to get started. I'm excited to hear that you're considering making TH-cam content! Let me know how else I can help.
The word knowledge of all the top players is ridiculous. I have a large vocabulary for a normal human -- I read a lot, plus my mom is an editress and authoress -- but the ability to see plays like MYONEURAL is amazing.
MEOW is definitely the primary spelling! Fortunately for Scrabble players, lexicographers decided that even more vowel-heavy variations were also up to their standards to be considered words (MIAOU, MEOU, MIAOW)
Whenever you make a move using all 7 of your tiles, you get 50 bonus points on top of the face value of the move. This is what makes those low-point combinations so valuable and balances them with the higher-scoring letters. In this case, YELLINGS scored 48 at face value (12x4), and then had 50 more points tacked on for the all-letters bonus (the oddly named "bingo")
Was Naween low on time? Even if he didn't spot MYONEURAL, shouldn't he play WICKY anyway to guarantee the win? Unless some other sequence after the W block would have fetched a higher points differential?
In the absence of MYONEURAL, blocking the ALEURON spot definitely works out better for point differential. That was surely Naween’s thinking there. I myself would never have imagined David to have a bingo extending from MY on the board with that rack - I would almost certainly have done the same thing Naween did, figuring that if I could just block ALEURON, I would ensure that I’d get another at least one more endgame turn to work with.
Purely a technicality - the list I showed is players in the worldwide Collins lexicon, whereas Mack and many other strong North American players have stuck to the NA lexicon. Mack would require 12-24 months of experience max with Collins to be a top 10 player, imo.
Yeah I know that just fun to point it out since I know you and him reads comments. Also there is still a lack of crossover content from the two of you.
Unrelated comment but I'd love to see a video re-balancing tile scores for CSW and NWL. I'm only a 1750 in both dictionaries but I feel like there are letters like Z and X that are overvalued in Collin's whereas they feel properly valued in NWL. V should be worth 5 but that's a personal gripe and Q should be 12+ for both CSW/NWL. Love the content man, keep it coming!
You gotta make these videos over 8 minutes so that you can cash in on that extra adsense! Just one extra midroll would get you so much extra money. You deserve it!
I appreciate this comment a lot, thank you! But: I don't run mid-roll ads because my objective is not to make the most money. It's to get as many people watching and enjoying Scrabble content as possible. Any advertisements beyond the minimum represent unnecessary friction towards that goal.
Play to your outs. If theres only one path to victory, no matter how slim, you might as well assume youre going to be lucky enough to capitalise on it. You lose anyways otherwise
I’m always caught of guard when I’m reminded how highly ranked you are. Not that I ever thought you weren’t skilled, but typically the best players in a given game aren’t always the best at explaining. It’s definitely a boon to the Scrabble community that a player like yourself is also such a great presenter!
I think chess is a great comparison to make here, especially with Hikaru being both top player and great content creator. Also reminds me of top esports players transitioning to content creation but those aren’t video essays usually, just streaming or whatever gameplay
Will is in a league of his own actually explaining all this stuff to newcomers though
Thanks!
@@redtaileddolphin1875 even Hikaru’s content is probably not as informative as will’s. Hikaru doesn’t quite have Will’s ability to break down all the nuances of a complex play so simply. Naroditsky actually is a Will-level explainer, but he’s not at the same level of chess that Will is at scrabble. It really is a rare combination.
I am happy to see that this game has advanced to an even higher level since I retired from tournament play fifteen years ago.
@@hurkahurk Naroditsky is an apt comparison. It's so hard to simplify world-class level understanding to be digestible for a broad audience. Maybe Scrabble is easier to do it for than chess but Will's brilliance is undeniable. Let alone the amazing editing he does on top of it
Man, David got lucky at the end and got the exact two tiles he needed. But holy shit Naween was sure as hell not fucking around here. The dude was in the zone for most of that game.
Naween isn’t a 4-time Australian champion for nothing. Great player.
I'm a big Scrabble enthusiast, more of a novice in my actual play, but I can pretty confidently say this was absolutely jaw-dropping. The only way it could have maybe been better was if drawing 'AO' had been actual checkmate -- but how can you really blame Fernando for not seeing MYONEURAL from his position? He saw and blocked the "obvious" play (which wouldn't have been obvious to 99% of us). This is definitely in the top 10 of most intriguing endgames I've ever seen. David Eldar is a damn genius.
Thanks, Will. Awesome video.
Amazing content!!! You have inspired my whole school to start playing scrabble all the way from Hong Kong! I'm truly thankful.
🥲
I’m from Hong Kong too, great to hear that
dang nice to hear that other schools have the wisdom to pick up such a thrilling game
Yo, hello bro I’m also from Hong Kong
@@TrainingCuberme too!!
Came for the Nigel, stayed for more Scrabble awesomeness. Such a great community, it gives me classic tetris vibes.
MY ENTIRE MIND WAS BLOWN WHEN MYONEURAL DROPPED!!!
"Oh No My oneural!"
Epic Eric Rosen reference
4:00 Finally, a word that i understand!
Of course you would, they were talking about your mom after all
sorry lmao couldn't resist :^)
Playing to your outs... even if it is a slim chance, there's nothing else to do. Masterful to find the line.
He didn't have outs though. There was no more luck involved, his opponent had perfect information of the board state and a winning position, but blundered missing the alternate bingo.
While Scrabble has a lot of luck and variance involved, as with TCG/CCGs and poker, this particular situation is more like his opponent blundering a hard to see checkmate.
0:25 hey it's me
I really look forward to seeing your videos - keeps me in the game when I haven't had the time to play or practice lately
David Eldar is my favourite Scrabble personality😊😊 cos he is also a winning poker pro! Love both games so much!
Amazing breakdown as always!
Do you find that you can get tunnel vision during a game-focusing on a couple key spots and missing other options (like MYONEURAL)?
Yes, I do - but in this particular case, I think it’s less about tunnel vision and more about 99.9% of players (myself included) simply not knowing 9 letter words as obscure as MYONEURAL. I would likely not pick up on that threat even scanning the full board with perfect clarity and focus.
All your videos deserve a "grammy" if there's ever one.. superb content and explanation
What’s the biggest nxn square you can theoretically create with all the tiles?
Someone built a 10x10 square in Clabbers
great job! beautifully spoken and fascinating position!
Well done, another amazing story. Thanks for all you do :)
zebroid :: like a zebra
I don't know what I expected 😀
I mostly put that definition there because you might think that word is a noun, when it’s actually an adjective!
@@wanderer15 It's a noun too!
One of the few words I recognized on the board from reading a ton. I always have to explain to people that having degrees in English won't suddenly make someone good at scrabble; from what I have seen a lot of people in this space are computer engineers and mathematicians.
@@CDLatinunderstandable, with lots of game theory involved
Anyone know why Nigel Richards stopped competing in the world championship? Can’t find anything online other than a few thousand articles on his French scrabble win.
Wiki says last tournament was in 2023 (ASCI masters) and a post on Reddit saying two months ago he made 5 bingos in a row in a tournament in India.
Can’t find much on the guy at all. I know he’s very private but just surprised genuinely how little there is.
He hasn't stopped. He just hasn't competed in a long time due to COVID (there was no World championship in 2021) and due to a family obligation in 2023. The next World Championship will be in Thailand or Ghana next year, and as long as he gets a visa for Ghana, he will likely attend. As for Thailand, he'll probably just bike there from Kuala Lumpur if it's anywhere on the coastline.
I’m always in awe at Scrabble pros’ ability to memorize the tile distribution and count remaining tiles.
tournament players keep track of tiles on a tracking sheet. It is not illegal like counting cards in poker for example. Finding a potential winning sequence given all of the bag possibilities and possible blocks from his opponent with time pressure is otherworldly given that the solution involved a low probability 9 that 99% of top pros wouldn't have even studied, much less see a possibility that isn't even on his current rack.
Great videos, I don't play scrabble but enjoy the great commentary and explanation.
MYONEURAL? YOURE A NEURAL!
Great channel. Top notch commentary.
I really have trouble fathoming Will and these other scrabble experts have basically memorized the dictionary.
It's certainly a strange life choice. I feel like one of the communities that my content resonates with a surprising amount is speedrunners - people who learn the ins and outs of a particular game to an incredibly detailed and complete degree. Elite Scrabble players have basically done this with the dictionary, just without the obvious competitive speed element (though being able to anagram words incredibly fast is critically important, so there is speed involved)
Ironically enough, there aren't words to describe how impressed I am by this.
That's incredible. Absolutely stunning.
Always great stuff.
Has there been any exhibition matches where it was one person vs a team of 2 or more?
I am super new to scrabble but recognize Deldar from poker. He won millions in high stakes PLO.
For some reason there's a non-trivial amount of overlap between Scrabble and Poker. Annette Obrestad also plays Scrabble at a fairly high level, though Eldar is absolutely something else
bro you're 7th? sick man. I didn't know you were ranked so high. makes your analysis have more weight. you should lead with that more.
I might try and watch the next Australian championship in Sydney. Looks like fun.
Stunning finish, especially when Naween did have the win…
Really well produced and interesting video
What does the "#" mean in your notation? I tried looking this up but I couldn't find an explanation.
I think I'm right in saying that it means that the word is playable only in the Collins (i.e. non-North American) dictionary.
@@Einveldi Ah, okay, I thought I'd seen it on "phonies" before but I felt like this many in one game would've been challenged... so it's because it's an Australian game then
Correct - the # notation denotes Collins-only words. It’s there as a courtesy for any players hoping to keep the two main lexicons straight.
This is INSANE. WOW.
Interesting that the word "bouma", which has been frequently used in type design theory for almost thirty years, has not made it into Collins.
I think the top players should have to show their racks for analysis like this
And the Australia vs New Zealand rivalry lives on
I saw the FEH play. I did not see MYONEURAL
Hey, Will. I’m an aspiring scrabble youtuber (competitive high school player in singapore) could I ask, how do you edit your scrabble videos? Does scrabble go have a board editor function, or do you cut out the tiles yourself and use a separate app/website?
I use a combination of Canva and Adobe Photoshop for my board and tiles, and I edit using Adobe Premiere Pro. But I'm sure there are other simpler ways to get started. I'm excited to hear that you're considering making TH-cam content! Let me know how else I can help.
miaou
miaou
miaou
miaou
miaou
meow
I keep forgetting that Y is a consonant in english, it’s a vocal in my native language
MYONEURAL is just stunning!
Certainly not a big deal but Mark Nyman's name is misspelled in the graphic at the start of the video
I seriously don’t know how I miss these things. I even have several videos I want to make about Mark. Sigh
Wait a minute. These guys are on a timer. How do they think of all those possibilities that quick?
That's part of why it's so incredible! Like anything, if you do it enough, you get faster and faster.
Today I've learned that cats "miaou" and my entire being rejects that spelling.
The word knowledge of all the top players is ridiculous. I have a large vocabulary for a normal human -- I read a lot, plus my mom is an editress and authoress -- but the ability to see plays like MYONEURAL is amazing.
Today I learned "meow" is actually spelled "miaou" haha
MEOW is definitely the primary spelling! Fortunately for Scrabble players, lexicographers decided that even more vowel-heavy variations were also up to their standards to be considered words (MIAOU, MEOU, MIAOW)
How does scoring work if you hit two double word scores and end up with 98, which isn't divisible by 4?
If you play all your tiles you get a 50 point bonus (bingo), so if the play itself was worth 12 points, double twice to 48 + 50 = 98
48 for the word, plus the 50-point bingo bonus
Whenever you make a move using all 7 of your tiles, you get 50 bonus points on top of the face value of the move. This is what makes those low-point combinations so valuable and balances them with the higher-scoring letters. In this case, YELLINGS scored 48 at face value (12x4), and then had 50 more points tacked on for the all-letters bonus (the oddly named "bingo")
how large is the gap between David Eldar and Nigel Richards?
It’s not huge. Nigel wins more often because he can take advantage of all the little edges.
18 turns
Was Naween low on time? Even if he didn't spot MYONEURAL, shouldn't he play WICKY anyway to guarantee the win? Unless some other sequence after the W block would have fetched a higher points differential?
In the absence of MYONEURAL, blocking the ALEURON spot definitely works out better for point differential. That was surely Naween’s thinking there. I myself would never have imagined David to have a bingo extending from MY on the board with that rack - I would almost certainly have done the same thing Naween did, figuring that if I could just block ALEURON, I would ensure that I’d get another at least one more endgame turn to work with.
So, is the Australian championship considered one of the non-English tournaments?
0:25
Sadly no mack meller 😞
Purely a technicality - the list I showed is players in the worldwide Collins lexicon, whereas Mack and many other strong North American players have stuck to the NA lexicon. Mack would require 12-24 months of experience max with Collins to be a top 10 player, imo.
Yeah I know that just fun to point it out since I know you and him reads comments. Also there is still a lack of crossover content from the two of you.
why does David look so much like Adam Sandler 😭
Hey I know a few words they used on the board here 🎉
When is the next world championship
Unrelated comment but I'd love to see a video re-balancing tile scores for CSW and NWL. I'm only a 1750 in both dictionaries but I feel like there are letters like Z and X that are overvalued in Collin's whereas they feel properly valued in NWL. V should be worth 5 but that's a personal gripe and Q should be 12+ for both CSW/NWL. Love the content man, keep it coming!
Myoneural… unbelievable… absolutely incredible.
Russell Honeybun for the win!
wow!
Ya letters!
You gotta make these videos over 8 minutes so that you can cash in on that extra adsense! Just one extra midroll would get you so much extra money. You deserve it!
I appreciate this comment a lot, thank you! But: I don't run mid-roll ads because my objective is not to make the most money. It's to get as many people watching and enjoying Scrabble content as possible. Any advertisements beyond the minimum represent unnecessary friction towards that goal.
@@wanderer15 Not the hero we deserve, but the hero that we need
hey it's me
(not actually me, the person who typed this comment, I was quoting Will's little joke when showing the rankings)
hello feasible
Play to your outs. If theres only one path to victory, no matter how slim, you might as well assume youre going to be lucky enough to capitalise on it. You lose anyways otherwise
Under an hour Gang!
😢
Under 10 mins for me
me too
Yooo
here
AND SUDDENLY HE CAN PLAY...miaou.
Inigolf
Meow =)
First comment❤
So what?