MadMup.com

Some of you might know I love to play Scrabble. My chances to do so are few and far between these days, but I enjoy it when I get the chance. Lately I've been embroiled in a match with an Internet friend (Charley) that's been fun, except for the fact that I've slacked on getting my latest turn back to him. We're using this program here, which makes it easy to play games via email. If you buy it, let me know and we'll get a game going. It's lots of fun. It also allows for live Internet games, so if that's more your thing, let me know.

I like words. I like learning new words, especially if they're useful. I appreciate a well-turned phrase and wish I was better at turning them myself. I think it's why I started with an English major in college. Games like Scrabble and Boggle (but, oddly enough, not UpWords) are my favorite types. You can keep your games of chance and your fast-paced, all-cards-flying-at-the-same-time games, thank you very much. I just can't keep up with those very well. My little brain can't deal with them.

I've recently rediscovered that I like crossword puzzles. And by "recently" I mean "last week." I was doing server upgrades last week, and there are points in the process where files copy for a long time and not much else can get done. There was a local paper handy, so I started doing the crossword puzzle. I like the local paper puzzles because I can usually get 90-100% of them. I'd be no good at the New York Times puzzle, but I do all right with the local paper ones.

Unfortunately this new soon-to-be-an-addiction means that I have to buy a paper every morning so I have a puzzle to do at lunchtime. Nevermind the fact that it costs me fifty cents, there also isn't a good place along my route to work for me to get a paper. I have to go blocks out of my way to get one at the Burger King or the McDonald's, and if I'm there, I'm tempted to get something to eat, and that's just no good.

I'm seriously thinking about getting a subscription to the paper, but I think I'm going to wait and see if the addiction takes hold. It might just be a passing fancy. I used to do the local paper crossword when I was as ecurity guard back in college, but that was because the workplace had an available paper every night.

You might be thinking "Why don't you go out and buy a book of crossword puzzles and do those?" I've tried that, and it's not as fun. I don't know why. Maybe it's that the newspaper crossword doesn't have the answers in the back. Maybe it's the idea of finishing one of the day's tasks, even if that task isn't crucial. For whatever reason, I'm enjoying the daily crossword puzzle.

One more plug to buy Scrabble Online. It's only $15 at Amazon, and if you're even a passing fan of Scrabble, it's a good investment. you can play against Maven, the computer player, and sharpen your skills with all sorts of mini-games. The real fun comes from playing face-to-face with someone, but the computer version is a pretty good warm-up.

Labels: Scrabble