Clash of the Scrabble Titans, Vol.2

[@boshvark]

I remember talking with David after this, as we were both standing outside the venue waiting for our rides to the airport. He was very gracious. I also got to play him in this tournament and somehow won that game, which I will always treasure as an achievement against one of the all-time greats. RIP David Gibson.

[@wanderer15]

0-3 career record for me against the legend. Great achievement by you.

[@Wirtual]

This is fantastic! Love hearing about the history of this amazing game. I crave more

[@randomboii9166]

ly wirtychan

[@Hottodoggu.]

Wirty chan uwu nya nya

[@gdstuff7666]

Wirty Chan uwu nya nya

[@thwartificer]

Scrabble stream when

[@mtgteeto5286]

Wirt chan

[@EebstertheGreat]

I don't really know anything about Scrabble, but these videos do expose me to all kinds of weird words. The only "mew" I knew was the sound cats make, but apparently it was also once a noun meaning "prison." And from that, we get "mewed up" meaning "imprisoned" or just "cooped up," and thus "unmew" is a verb meaning "release from bondage" or just "let out." Knowing that a mew was a prison gives me new insight into the pokemon Mew.

[@wanderer15]

Nice etymological rabbit hole there!

[@joshuawinters4907]

Rest in peace David. Thanks for this history lesson, Will.

[@CyberchaoX]

2:39 Those standings are wild, most of the people behind our two stars have spreads of over +1000 and then there's just this one guy who's at -12 despite a 19-11 record.

[@Lmjacks]

i suppose he got clobbered a couple times and then had small margin wins. definitely interesting to see the massive range for that tiebreaker stat!

[@fesh]

@@Lmjacks hi celeste tas

[@klawiehr]

I think the key to getting people interested in a sport or competitive hobby is a great story… this is definitely a great one

[@morrisgreenberg5223]

One thing to keep in mind about NORTHING is NORTHED* is invalid, while SOUTHED, SOUTHING, and NORTHING are all valid. It is a nuance that even if you are pretty sure of that being the outlier in the group, over a long tournament, it is very easy to be cautious that you are mixing up your preparation.

[@BrettMKW]

On a similar note, NORTHERN SOUTHERN and WESTERN all take an S, and EASTERN does not. I love nuances like this.

[@tacosatism]

@@BrettMKW Why does Northern need an S?

[@BrettMKW]

@@tacosatism It doesn't NEED an S, it just makes a valid word if you put an S on it.

[@c.y.hollander5592]

@@BrettMKW To my mind, the flagrant arbitrariness and inconsistency of the word lists used by official Scrabble tournaments is a disgrace to the organizations that maintain them, hardly something to celebrate. It wouldn't be that hard to clean them up.

[@Sam_Hue]

NORTHING is said twice

[@jepptheclairvoyantdwarf9498]

I love the low tier god lightning around Nigel

[@FenrizNNN]

SCRABBLE YOURSELF

[@lizg6515]

A beautiful tribute to David Gibson, who was a kind, gentle soul in addition to being an all-time great Scrabble player.

[@Harriet1822]

Your generosity of spirit is beautiful. Thank you.

[@Earthen_Jar_Hands]

Never even thought about competitive scrabble until 30 minutes ago but both parts of this were very entertaining and well explained! 😃

[@wanderer15]

Comments like these make me so happy. Really glad you enjoyed!

[@dvened]

i don't even play scrabble but started binging these videos, such an interesting sport

[@joshuatatum8519]

Fantastic video, I hope Scrabble can have a moment in the sun like chess has had in recent years.

[@vitaliigryshko]

A 2200 (2500 online) chess player here. As for me, scrabble is much more complicated and deserves more fame!

[@wanderer15]

I think they’re complicated in different ways - in fact, I’ve done a bit of work on a video comparing and contrasting the two games…hope to publish sometime soon!

[@slugstory]

RIP KING damn im in love with scrabble, the lore is beautiful

[@JeiShian]

I was waiting for this and I don't even know the rules of Scrabble. That's how good you are😁😁👏

[@joshcoughx]

I love this video! I was so happy to see that David won later. To come back from a truly crushing defeat is something very admirable.

[@zapender]

I don't even play or watch scrabble but I find these videos so fascinating!

[@OfficialGidfather]

I am emabrassed to say i didn't know the result of this game, thank you for educating the youth Will!

[@wanderer15]

Thanks for watching, GFather!

[@SlickRieck]

My fiancé REALLY likes scrabble, and I'm more of Jeopardy kind of guy, but I really appreciate your channel; I get factoids about scrabble and it's history for me, and conversation to share with her about something she cares about - cheers

[@Huwpuw]

Love this video. Maybe against anyone else he would have played northing, but he knew that Nigel would know for sure if it was good.

[@AlexDings]

Z(AG) is a great example of what sets Nigel apart, it's not that others don't know the word or can't understand the idea behind the move, it's just that it wouldn't occur to most players over the board because getting rid of the J first is so normal. He's so good at thinking outside the box. PS, this is some fantastic content. Exactly what we need to get people interested in the game.

[@wanderer15]

Agreed & thank you!

[@mikewarner3597]

Love these videos, you tell these stories so well.

[@manub8786]

I havent played Scrabble in years but for some reason your videos are still highly entertaining

[@Kirmo13]

wow these videos got me on the hook!

[@jayamo-addae415]

You're amazing with these. May you never tire. And, RIP David.

[@Einveldi]

This is a fascinating flip from most your videos that I've binged over the last couple of days. I've seen so many seven and eight letter words that have bamboozled me, wondering where on earth they came from. And yet, I use "northing" just about every day at work because the UK Ordnance Survey uses a grid-reference system where any location in the country can be pinpointed using the distance from an arbitrary point off the south-west of England, using metres east from that point (known as eastings) and metres north (**northings**). Language is fascinating, and so are these videos.

[@wanderer15]

Thank you for this comment! It does go to show that one person's obscure word may be another person's everyday word - though some Scrabble words are so obscure that I doubt they're anyone's everyday word anymore. In this case, the combination of David likely not being sure of the word's definition and the fact that he was facing the one player who flawlessly knows the dictionary was the decisive factor.

[@standby75]

I'm not a big scrabble player (last time I played was more than a year ago, and 2 years before that) but these videos make it sound super tense and interesting. Really well done video!

[@wanderer15]

Thanks for stopping by and for the kind words!

[@Dashie-]

I’m surprised that David wasn’t sure of NORTHING. I would have thought that even a normal person would know the word because northings and eastings are used so often in geography as a way of expressing co-ordinates, similar to longitude and latitude

[@MrSfein1]

Really interesting and informative...I wish I had learned more about competitive Scrabble at an earlier age.

[@SteveBennett1]

Amazing to think of all the crazy words that a scrabble player might doubt as real, NORTHING was the one that threw him off. Maybe it's just the field I work in (mapping), but to me, eastings and northings are pretty familiar concepts. A northing is basically akin to a longitude, but on a flat map (as opposed to a round earth). Also by chance I played EASTINGS in a game today. :)

[@andrewbradley1453]

Great video Will, keep them going!

[@sonofsun1320]

I just want you to know this my favourite thing now. Thank you!!!!

[@MrZaddax]

I barely ever play scrabble but these videos has got me hooked! Subscribed. These guys are amazing and your videos are extremely addicting and entertaining!! Great job!💯

[@noahjz]

Another fantastic entry in what I assume will eventually be 500 hours of scrabble history!

[@mr.raccoon4536]

these videos have inspired me, i'm going to try to get involved in some local scrabble clubs

[@Cloiss_]

these videos are excellent, thank you for making them

[@brazzzzz]

What a great channel . Thank you for the excellent content!

[@patrymaxim7603]

Why is this so entertaining

[@stuartleslie5421]

important to realize that this is played from the North American "Scrabble Dictionary, which is different from the International Collins dictionary which he most commonly plays from. Consequently, Nigel had to edit his mental lexicon to fit the differences, which makes his play more amazing. It may also be the reason that North Americans have only won the World Championship three times and not for years. They don't adapt to the vastly expanded Collins dictionary though no one doubts their skill. C .

[@TrondArneAusdal]

i love these quirky videos of interesting history

[@An1ma]

I didnt even know there was a competetive scene for this game, but these videos are awesome. sort of like scrabble version of agadmators chess videos, love it :) very interesting even though i do not play

[@BLSKYZ]

Fantastic telling of this great story! I wished that we could contribute more than one thumbs up :-)

[@wanderer15]

Appreciate the one!

[@evanrman8048]

Excellent videos, please keep it up!

[@AmaranthRBY]

Another great video Will! A suggestion: could you cover the history of Scrabble engines? I think it'd be an interesting watch, Kasparov vs. Deep Blue sort of games always seem to get a lot of interest, and Scrabble engines are in an interesting place currently in terms of current strength and future potential. Looking forward to more either way. Keep it up

[@wanderer15]

Great suggestion, and thank you!

[@cantaloupegodling352]

I must say that there is an intimidation factor to Nigel like no other. When he makes a play you don't understand, it doesn't feel like a mistake, it feels like a calculated set up (whether it's actually set up ot not which it often is) anyone would lose focus from that stress.

[@ferriferoustourmaline]

Fantastic video, well done.

[@wanderer15]

Thank you very much!

[@hridaysamtani5797]

Loving this series! Great story, Will. Keep it up!

[@yukikoloritz8250]

Thank you for this history, Will! I feel like grabbing a bucket of popcorn and binge-watching more.

[@rumpelRAINS]

Great video Will!

[@jessehammer123]

Hey, props to Steve Pemberton for using “ADJUTANT” in Taskmaster! In Hangman rather than Scrabble, but still!

[@yzhkkhzy]

Great video!

[@Kirmo13]

With this great storytelling, I can see this channel going far. Keep up the good work!

[@jamb0810]

Outstanding video and series, Will. Enjoyed every minute of it.

[@samlin8089]

another great video. thanks!!

[@eric-smith-egg]

1:02 is that Will Anderson to the right of David Gibson in the background

[@terrianabraham4048]

I could also see Dave Weigand and Jesse Day in the books who are really good in themselves

[@rondobrondo]

Great video like all the others, but one thing I'll say as a recording engineer is that you should make sure to keep your recordings from having really harsh amplitude dynamics in your audio levels. Maybe some slightly better mic placement, or eq/dynamic eq, or some light compression or something. There are parts where your audio levels get a little harsh on the ears, especially on sibilants. So using a de-esser would probably be the easiest to implement and the most advisable. Just dont accidentally turn up the de-esser so much that you accidentally give yourself a lisp lol. Keep up the great work tho!

[@brogansmith1342]

Ok so 2:50 was... quite surreal for me 😅

[@wanderer15]

Wow! That must have been a surprise... :)

[@paperpopper1290]

more videos like this!

[@Yshtola.]

RIP David Gibson man

[@FlowCreators]

You couldn't even write a scripted outcome this good. That's some destiny level sh!t.

[@VladickHelms]

On Davids first move, could he passed and hoped that Nigel played an E, allowing him to bingo with glaciers? I know that Nigel might now have played it, but is the risk worth it for the chance at an early bingo? (I'm also super proud of seeing glaciers)

[@YOHANTALSUBRAMANIAMMoe]

On your video learning scrabble words. You recommended three vowel 4s q words with no U. Where can I get all the word lists. Because in some lists most words arent valid.

[@wanderer15]

Try using the program Zyzzyva to generate your own word lists. I made a video about it here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/foTLXml9jN2krdU

[@FlavouredWater]

Anyone know what’s in the fannypack?

[@tataktak6737]

Nigel live in Malaysia??

[@Truthmane2]

8:20 Jesse Day cameo 🤩

[@aciditygaming4469]

8:30 you should Scrabble NOW!!

[@aehzamahmedbvs5883]

isnt glutaei and garlics word

[@wanderer15]

Good catch, but only in the Collins dictionary, not the one these players were using.

[@sittingstill3578]

Why is Nigel based in Malaysia? Is he a TCK or missionary? His intelligence reminds me of the missionary kids I knew growing up.

[@Truthmane2]

YES

[@TonyLeah]

Fantastic, gripping video. Well done Will - I hope thousands of people watch this. One very small quibble - David had one last shot at winning the championship with an almost-impossible to find play on his 13th move (holding AELNOR?). Were you aware of this and left it out so as to not complicate the story?

[@Kingoflettuce]

VICARIES?!

[@TonyLeah]

@@Kingoflettuce VICARIES# is CSW-only, and besides it would create IR, and was not possible with David's rack.

[@Kingoflettuce]

@@TonyLeah Yes, silly me. Pray tell what the possible move was!

[@matthewoconnor3362]

@@Kingoflettuce OuT for 2 using the blank for two points! It blocks WEFTS and threatens LEARN/ROUT. Nigel's best play is either WAIFS for 22 leaving it alone or EF for 20 but both win the game by exactly 168 and lose nationals by 2 spread points!

[@kevint8887]

It's hilarious that the judges wear black and white stripes as if it's some sort of major sport.😂

[@xl000]

I know almost none of the words they’re using. I feel illiterate

[@theanthonyx_]

at least the gen alphas (except me, who different) don't play scrabble often* so that they don't see this vid saying "wOw, [some gen alpha bonkers]" after the word "mew".

[@NotAGingerISwear]

So "veinule", "melanite" and "zag" were all valid, but "etics" wasn't? Yeah, that seems about right :/

[@axcertypo]

First

[@wanderer15]

In the comments and in my heart

[@socksygen]

hamburger

[@TobyLerone76]

You do realise being struck by lightning isn't a good thing right

[@kyanleong8014]

exactly, he missed the opportunity to play NORTHING

[@HazhMcMoor]

I was confused because regarding intelligence, being struck by lightning usually visualizes a good this lmao