Scrabble GM vs. AI -- the Rematch! Game #73

The Scrabble AI BestBot got the best of me in my 100-game Human vs. AI Ultimate Scrabble Battle, but I'm not ready to cede to our AI overlords! Introducing... the GM vs. AI rematch!
This 100-game series, running every Monday and Wednesday at 5pm ET for 50 weeks, will feature 20-minute games against BestBot with post-game analysis. Hope you guys enjoy, and wish me luck!
BestBot is the upcoming ultimate Scrabble AI from Woogles.io, to be launched in 2024. For questions, please email [e-mail].
Want personalized help taking your game to the next level or a fun gift for a friend? Check out www.mackmeller...! for more info or email me at [e-mail]!

[@capn1100]

Clearly the bot was reminded of the chess grandmaster Emmanuel Lasker’s quote (paraphrased): when you see an adequate move, look for a better one.

[@bradfooks4485]

Pun intended

[@mrtmantohead]

getting slowrolled by the bot like that would tilt me as well 🤣

[@AlexDings]

Agree that the 20 second think by the bot on turn 13 is puzzling. I've also seen the reverse a lot, where BestBot will take like four seconds to commit to a mediocre-looking move in pre-endgame situations that to me don't seem straightforward at all.

[@dhu2056]

I got deja vu from Will Anderson's recent video where ADEQUACY was played as a triple-triple in the same exact spot.

[@nickpurifoy8685]

Good work, Mack.

[@aaronpuetz4394]

I think I can understand the bot’s slow roll at the end from a previous comment on one of your videos. According to them, when you get down to 0 or 1 tiles left in the bag, Bestbot switches to an exhaustive solver. So my understanding is it will only make a play before 3 minutes if everything is exhausted, regardless of how obviously best a play might be. With 1 left in the bag and a blank available, there’s exponentially more possibilities and it’s almost guaranteed to take the full time. I’ve got no explanation for adequate though, maybe the bot was trying to inflict mental damage 😂

[@bro91wn]

I'm excited to settle down to the Monday Mack Match!

[@blueboybob]

Time for a Q&A with the programmers of best bot

[@cesardelsolar3971]

yeah i fixed the slow roll bug for endgames. it's a little harder for pre-endgames because it's actually trying all its possible plays with the blank and solving all the endgames. I'll think of some shortcuts.

[@brianfromoregon]

Pos/neg vibe difference between mack and dweeb vids is striking

[@bro91wn]

WA is a very common phoney 2. It's always fine to play that.

[@bro91wn]

Also OT!

[@Para20Site]

Today in "Why didn't Mack mention that Bingo? Oh, is that Collins only?": SEALINES

[@JohnDoe-ti2np]

Starting at 1:59, you spent over 2 minutes on your next move. I wonder if you could improve your clock usage by systematically doing pairwise comparisons of your options and eliminating the worse of the two. This would prevent you from going in circles. It's a thinking technique that works well in chess and it seems to me that it should work well in Scrabble too.

[@banananana2]

The bot really thought on adequate which was almost 100 points better than the next option! What could it even be evaluating?? Even if it’s really concerned about the two unseen blanks it just doesn’t make any sense

[@bro91wn]

Most players complain about the bot being too good. Mack complains about the bot taking too long on obvious plays.

[@MrBrain4]

The bot did not play BOT with a leave of NOT?.

[@eugenerichardson7691]

what's your schedule for these videos?