In one of my current scrabulous games, I had in my rack one high scoring tile (J) and six 1-point tiles (AELINS). My opponent had just laid "ZED" for 24 points, and I was down by the same score.


I played around with my tiles for awhile. I came up with "SALINE" but I missed "ALIEN" or "ALIENS". Had I played "ALIENS" and "RICES" I could have gotten 25 points (I think), but I would have spent my "S" tile on a non-bingo, which is something I try to avoid. I was really trying to come up with a 5-letter word that ends with "A" so that I could play it on the triple-word space and make "ZA". But, I couldn't find any such words ending in "A" (and I still don't think there are) so I kept looking. I've been holding the "S" for a few rounds and if I get desperate, I can make "QIS" and "SEX" but I'm really hoping for something better, plus I want that bingo.

So, I went defensive and played "LAZED" (16). I guess that's not a great defensive move, in retrospect. Actually, it's pretty bad. There are a couple of great hooks to play on the front, but at least they won't cross the triple-word-score square. I'll have to cross my fingers and hope my opponent doesn't have a "G" or "B" to lay on it and get another 10 points out of the "Z".