Achievements

In a tense fifth game of the Canadian National Scrabble Championship finals, Adam Logan found a triple-triple play scoring 113 points to go ahead 450-229. His opponent was a 44-year-old computer programmer David Boys, who never missed a beat. Overcoming a 221-point deficit at this point was overwhelming, and Logan prevailed 492-354. It was a hard-fought battle, with Boys overcoming a two games-to-none deficit to force a fifth and final game.

After Logan won the tournament he memorizes this event as one of his favourite. Logan won a trophy and $7000 for his first place finish, claiming his unprecedented third title. One of his most challenging games of the tourney came against Maxim Panitch, who caught up and won by three points because Adam played a phoney.

Phoneys are part of the game. But with top-level experts like Logan and Boys, they are usually only played in a desperation move or in a moment of absentmindedness. Some of the thousands of valid words that they cram into their Scrabble lexicon can get confused with words that are only good in a different word source, such as the one used in international play. Adam’s favourite word that he played in the tourney was EXODIC, even though it's not good in the dictionary. That play may have cost him the championship.