His mistake being even more optimal than any legal word makes it so much funnier

"The board after vibrator is significantly more difficult to score on" was not a phrase I thought I would hear today.

If I would ever play Nigel, and he would misspell a word, I would just assume I've spelled it wrong all my life.

I love when Nigel makes an end game move and the computer says it's not the best, announcers just assume the computer is wrong... ...and it usually is!

love him or hate him, not a single computer on earth could have spotted the brilliant move HIARNETS

I bet it happened because the IA are adjacent in that order in Therians, he may have just scooted them over together on the board without realizing.

We really take it for granted how these tournaments archive all their games, such that even almost 15 years later you're able to recreate these games and perform extensive analysis on them, like at 5:28. I'm sure there are even more fantastic games that were just never preserved and are now forever lost. Great video, Will. One could say you are the Landorus-Therian of textbook editors

H I A R N E T S

What would be even more insane is if he had done it on purpose, knowing that his opponent would just assume that he doesn’t make mistakes.

Adding the orange for possible plays and green for optimal makes the videos so much more readable thank you!

And here I thought we might see the infamous B(Y)AGEE phoney. Maybe you should use that in your next video. That one was even funnier because not only did it stay on the board, his opponent later hooked it with an S, leading to Nigel challenging of course.

WHY AM I SO ADDICTED TO NIGEL VIDEOS

As someone who has never played Scrabble, I have no idea how you made it so hype and intense...

nigel trying to prove he's not a robot:

Crazy. And what's even more amazing is that Nigel *still* should have lost even after his play went unchallenged.

The fact that nigel doesn't play phonies honestly is amazing. Even in losing endgames he doesn't attempt to trick people to save the game or reduce point spread, he just plays the most optimal "fair" way.

When Nigel misspells a word, the dictionary is changed.

Impossible. Nigel is human? He's imperfect?

Fantastic as always, I'd like to shout out the quality of the graphics in these videos. High quality and beautifully legible, no unnecessary fluff or guff.

I think this type of thing happens in chess to, where the best players in the game will hang a piece, and even with plenty of time to think about each move, the opponent, who is also an expert, will miss it. Generally what happens after the game is the opponent that missed he could just win a piece says "I didn't expect my opponent (well-renowned Grandmaster X) would simply just hang a piece"

I wonder how much “BAERDNETS” would score in that position

Wake up babe, new Nigel video!

I wouldn't even challenge "tnetennba" if the goat played it

I clicked on this video because I had no idea who on earth Nigel was and the fact that he was referred to by just his first name was quite funny. Definitely glad I clicked.

I don’t even play scrabble, these videos are just amazing

Great job, Will! A few observations I'd like to share, being new to this forum. I thought long and hard when I had ACEEILS, and you are correct about my brain-freeze blending it with CELOSIA and CELESTA. Nigel put me on hold quite a while before challenging. I recall thinking had I simply played CAKE (14F, 16) for a 257-213 lead, keeping EILS on a very closed board may have been best, but then thought, "If CELESIA is good and I fail to play it, 14 years from now, Will Anderson's audience will all chime in, in unison, with: 'BWAAAHHAAHAHAHAA!'" :) .... Again, you were correct about my seeing Nigel's powerful rack and knowing he had many options. (I think it may have been AENRST?, making the AI-IA transposition less noticeable on both our parts.) The following year at NSC, I saw Nigel at Table #1 before Round 1 started. He looked at me, mussed his hair, and delightfully offered, "How do you like my HI-AR-NETS?" :) With a smile I replied, "It's okay, Nigel. I know how intimidated you must have felt." :) BTW, in the then 32-year history of the event, that was the first time a sexagenarian occupied first place at a NSC (David Gibson, Chris Cree, and Robin Pollack-Daniels have done so since), and I suspect Nigel may later become the first septuagenarian to do so. Love the game, love the memories, and...enjoy every turn!

I've only ever played scrabble a few times, I never expected this amount of strategy in top level scrabble

i love watching in-depth commentary for things which are way beyond my understanding

If people start using "Hiarnets" as a joke term to mean "an accidental mistake that leads to good fortune" and it starts to spread and get popular enough in the language, could it one day actually be a legal word spawned from this exact scenario, I wonder?

plays "celesia" which is not a word "right yeah" then Nigel makes a very sharp play and does phooey for 25 "I guess that counts as a word" *looks at video to see board to see PFUI* "how can these people be serious.."

I had no idea this board game had a competitive scene. Interesting video, thanks.

At 1:16 you said 16 points for Mike Baron's second move when it was worth 26.

i loved this video and tensed up till the end i dont even know how to play scrabble

Can you make a video on how Scrabble Novices (like me) who got interested in playing but don’t really know where to start or how to prepare for a first event, I.e. what words you must know by that point (like that cheat sheet of words I didn’t know existed until now). You have pulled so many people into having an interest in Scrabble, and you have the knowledge to get us all into playing the right way. We just need the right guide to get us there

Even his mistakes are amazing!

Every community needs a Will Anderson, aGameScout, Pannenkoek2012, etc. These are my favorite channels.

When he misspells, a new word is created.

Wtf bro? Suddenly I'm interested in scrable and idk why! Really enjoying your videos...

The crazy thing that we can infer from this is that Nigel intentionally found two bingos so that he could play the optimal word without being challenged. My bet is he found the words and planned out how he would switch them in a hurry like he's flustered that he's almost "lost the game." This would make the opponent think he was going for HAIRNETS as the optimal play so he could tag on the end of them. But all Nigel did was open up the A so he could play QUALE without losing tiles. What a genuis. ;)

Thanks for the video

I can't believe he let Nigel off the hook!

.... I didn't realize that Scrabble got this strategic.

Purposefully misspelling is something crazy

Since Nigel is not human he probably did it on purpose

that's halirious

Calculating optimal play... Playing: THERIANS Observing opponent... Opponent distracted successfully. Playing: HIARNETS Ending turn.

6:27 start of misspelled word 6:40 misspelled word

Playing against Nigel Richards must be stressful enough to make anyone tear their hiar out.

I dont know why youtube decided im interested in scrabble but im glad it did

I haven't played the game since i was a kid and now I just happen to stumble on this video. I know the conclusion is that all of them are just human beings but the way this is played i blowing my mind xD incredible skill.

even when phonying he can't lose. this is insane LOL

"a V in a very defensive spot" I'm 2 minutes in and learning things I didn't know were things

First question: why do I even watch a scrabble video? Second question: why do I enjoy it that fking much?

this game in particular reminds me of barry bonds, his reputation alone is a tool almost as powerful as his word knowledge and strategical skills. how many times has an opponent challenged one of nigel's plays? it has to be way less than any other top player, right? makes me wonder if he'd win even more games if he phonied more

it was definitely intentional and actually a really smart play! (im joking, its definitely not worth it)

What if Nigel did that on purpose to convince us that he is a mere human instead of a scrabble god?

I wouldn't be surprised if this was a deliberate play and Nigel casually acting normal so it goes through

This is like the Magnus effect, where Magnus Carlsen blunders a piece and the other players assume he knows what he’s doing and don’t take it.

Nigel should play more phonies. People would have a very hard time challenging him on long words and it would get people to start challenging his legit words.

Nigel doesn't misspell a word. He stares it down until it becomes the new spelling.

He's got so bored of the regular ole dictionary that he's inventing his own words. IT'S FINEEEEE...

The dictionary corrects itself, of course.

ngiel the GOAT 💪💪

Plot twist: Nigel indeed did it on purpose, winning the metagame too!

bro this guy nigel is chosen by god

I think _jus_ (when it means meat juices) is often anglicized "zhoo" (rhyme moo). That's how I typically hear it on U.S. cooking videos mentioning _au jus_ and the primary pronunciation in dictionaries I use (Merriam Webster, Collins). The pronunciation when it means law/justice (e.g. _jus soli_) is different. Also if it helps: AY-luh (*ala*) and KEE-luh (*chela*). Great content as always 👍

Please add to Scrabble History Playlist - I only see 25 episodes there - so is this Episode 26 or 27? If the latter, which one is 26?

He was just playing on hard mode where you have to win by psychological domination.

hes doing tricks on it 😭

While watching I was kinda hoping this was in fact an intentional blunder for some crazy endgame.

bravo

It shouldn't be "comforting" to see someone make a mistake.

so this is how it feels to watch a chess video as a normal person

Second comment: *his misspelling was intentional.* Nigel knew he was blocking bingos with the misspelling. Nigel knew, beyond any shadow of doubt, that Mike would look away to tile track and allow Nigel to place a different bingo down without Mike checking because no one would check his spelling. I capitalize on Magic the Gathering games by knowing the *way* my opponent plays just as much as I understand *how* they can play and take full advantage where the rules allow. Nigel knew he was taking an insane risk of losing the whole game to guarantee he would not lose, and did it all without cheating (even if that is quite a sneaky strategy to actually follow throw with.) But he also knew that, because he was playing a Scrabble Book Author, he would NEED a strategy that even Mike would never see coming. Mike likely had the finish he had to that tournament because he knew that whole day that Nigel had thoroughly outplayed him in a way that he never dreamed existed. I’d be second-guessing every play, over-tracking every tile arrangement, and throwing off my normal rhythm to account for that gameplay anomaly. Not only did Nigel do it on purpose, Mike knew he did, too. And they respected each other as the ruthless competitors they are.

Imagine if he changed the word to make Mike assume it would be correct anyways and put IA isntead of AI on purpose to get a better shot at winning

Incerdible! I'm surpirsed it wasn't noticed. It changed the dircetion of the endgame.

When he misspells a word, it is added to the Oxford Dictionary

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Im semi pro in european junior league, I wish I was that good as them, really impressive

I know this is a small thing but if you have the time to add a graphic correcting something you say in the voiceover, you have the time to re-record that line of the voiceover. (this is about the "*6-way tie" at 0:37)

the only explanation is that he's lived that day over and over a million times and that was the only way he could win

What happens when both players turn in their scoresheets, showing hairnets on one and hiarnets on the other, and there's a question later about the score?

I feel like if you ever play Nigel, you're gonna be too star-struck to think straight 😂

Actually it was a calculated mistake on Nigel's part because he's an almost perfectly polite player who focuses on playing the game rather than playing the player, but there's a mischievous gremlin in all of us and occasionally he sees if he can get away with something.

chess reference at the sart

Hey Wirtual!

5:29 Richards wanted the za

Hiarnets hit harder than a rock 💀💀💀

what, is the ruling different for specifically nigel

It's 3AM why am I here And why have I not discovered this sooner

What did I stumble across!?

My only claim is that I am mentioned in Mike's book.

Could that have been done on purpose? With the initial different word there~

One of the words in this sentence is misspelled.

I can't believe PFUI is a word

Is there a rule to how long you have to wait to draw tiles to give the opponent an opportunity to challenge?

I believe Nigel had VERBY* challenged off once, though I could be misremembering

What happens in a live game when you know a word is valid, but it's not in the official Scrabble dictionary? I tried my hand at a video game version, and thanks to the placement of GO and an R further down the column, my rack of AEIHMPT almost made me possible to play a word that would likely get me laughed out of any serious tournament, but I know for certain is a valid word: Had I only had the Z instead of a P, I would have been able to play a word so incredibly absurd, yet I assure you is very real: THAGOMIZER. What is a THAGOMIZER, you may ask? It is the structure of spikes at the end of a stegosaurus' tail. The word was coined by Gary Larson, of The Far Side fame. Paleontologists realized they did not have a word for those spikes, so they wound up officially adopting the word! Alas, I had to play PRIME somewhere else on the board instead.

I don't understand the "Retina" stem in the "Hiarnets/Hairnets" context

I sure do love pretending to know what any of this means