Ned Luce

What are you doing to pass the time during your pandemic imposed “staycation” at or near home? 

The boredom, frustration and mild depression resulting from the annoyance and irritation may be getting to you by now. The good news is that the building bitterness of 2020 and all of its challenges is arguably half over. Maybe!

To survive, many of us have turned to a variety of tools to stay in touch with friends and family. BJ has chosen many avenues to maintain contact, including the omnipresent Zoom. Are we getting tired of that product or what? She has a few 1,000-piece puzzles at home but also seems to either get another one as a gift, (Mother’s Day, birthday, etc.), or she has borrowed them from friends. Also, it seems that every week there are one or two gatherings of friends, always outside with reasonable attempts at using masks and staying apart. She even precipitates a few of them.

However, how can one really fill the rest of those hours? The phones we carry around that are used for texting, email, books, and videos are rarely used for phone calls anymore so one can use them to find all sorts of games to play. BJ plays “Sudoku,” “Threes.” “Letterpress” and “Words with Friends,” a game based on “Scrabble.” 

I learned to play “Words” several years ago while we were on vacation in Michigan with BJ’s longtime friend Jill Truitt and her husband. We played several evenings and she kept on beating me very badly, permanently distorting my perception that I had a great vocabulary. 

Finally, late one night she told me about the “cheat” she was consulting. You can also get it on your phone or computer and it will help you find high scoring words in the game. I was on my way and I could finally become competitive. 

Jill remains a regular opponent in the game with me although I think as time has gone on she has become less focused and rarely uses the “cheat” she taught me. My record over time has improved to 165 wins versus her 99 wins. Yes, “Words” keeps track of it! My record against BJ is 363 wins versus her 125 victories. 

The important thing to note is that BJ requires me to refrain from using the “Cheat.” I reluctantly agree since, well, she is my wife. I confess the games against her provide a much different challenge for me without the crutch of the “cheat.” A new opponent for me is Lucrezia Paxson who actually is a “ringer” because of her occupation as a professor teaching communications for WSU and her life as a broadcaster for a national TV network. Nonetheless I have hung with her with a record of 3 wins over 2 losses. Frankly though, the series with Lucrezia is suspect since I do use the “cheat” and she does not! Karen Hills, Fran Gross and Laura Lovas are regulars in my circle of opponents. I think Karen actually plays under different user names to maximize her playing time. I have been very successful against them because, well, I use the “cheat” and I suspect they do not. 

Then, my friends, there is my superstar friend Diane Wilcox. As I recall, one nice evening a few years ago down at the yacht club’s “Wreck Room,” I overheard Diane talking about enjoying playing “Words.” I told her I also enjoyed it and would enjoy playing the game with her. Well, we exchanged user names and we were off. 

Not surprisingly I was very successful playing her several games and the next time she saw me she commented about how good I was conjuring up these obscure words. She also commented about regularly losing to her son. So, I confessed to using a “cheat” and now regret giving her the address for the website. My won/lost against Diane is a competitive 91 to 96 but it was far better before I told her about the “cheat.” The games have become bloody. (Not really because I haven’t seen her in months.) Notably, Diane has 15,634 all-time wins whereas I have 903. She must spend a lot more time playing and plays with many more folks than I do. 

Clearly you can quit talking on the phone and fire up some of the games available as an innocent strategy for surviving the next few months. You will stay in contact with your friends near and far, make new friends and develop/enhance your language, math, physical or other more exotic skills. If you are on Facebook or TikTok or Twitter you can also take a picture of your dinner plate tonight and send it to all your contacts.

Love a curmudgeon, wear a mask and have a great week!

(Ned Luce is a retired IBM executive who lives in Port Ludlow and relied on his own vocabulary to write this column.)