Achievements and Accomplishments Thread

[bwt1213]

The top scorer beat my score by 140 points and 76 words. That's a typical result for me. If you can't type really fast, make the words count! It's the only way I can compete for high score with some of the speed typists. And a bunch of them can find really good words better than I can, too. We all know who I'm talking about.

[bwt1213]

Never thought I'd ever see it: My first 800+ game. And I was trying vainly to type in a high-scoring word as time ran out and mistyped it five times in a row. There were other related words I wanted to type, too, but at least now I know that if my fingers cooperate I might even see 900 someday.

Game Results

YOUR STATS:
Total points: 849
Total words: 94 (44 common,21 wide,3 rare,26 ultra rare)
Best word: SQUITTERS (20 pts.)
Longest word: REQUITERS (9 letters)






PUZZLE STATS:

Played: 15 times
Average Score: 725 points
Average Words: 109 words
High Score: 989 points by
Most Words: 170 words by
Best Word: SQUITTERED (22 pts) by
Longest Word: SQUITTERED (10 letters) by

[Brisul]

Career highs in average score per game, average words per game, single game score and single game word count. It's funny, because when the month started I wasn't even planning on competing! Happy new year, everyone!

[bwt1213]

I just submitted my highest score ever since I started playing 5x5 in September of 2017...only to find out that my one game high score is this month's average score for FastEddieB. Yep, much work to be done.

No idea if you'll get there but you've been improving. I remember a guy I ran cross-country with in high school. He wasn't very good but he worked at it. When I was a senior he was a sophomore and I wasn't very good, either (11:15 for two miles was nearly a minute off the varsity times), but he was distinctly worse, by more than a minute. I ran intramural cross-country in college and was much better. He made the varsity and led the team by the time he graduated. Lesson: as long as you improve, you can get anywhere. Another lesson from cross-country: it always feels great when you start running the others down and passing them. I don't know if you'll ever pass FastEddieB, nor whether he's improving, nor whether he sees it as a competition. The thing is to have fun with it.

[Brisul]

I just submitted my highest score ever since I started playing 5x5 in September of 2017...only to find out that my one game high score is this month's average score for FastEddieB. Yep, much work to be done.

[Brisul]

Well, I may have gotten bumped out of the top three in the 5x5 average score competition now that FastEddieB has qualified, but at least I've got a hold on the #2 spot in all time average score for 5x5 Kind of like Rogers Hornsby.

[Brisul]

Any tips?

You're being way too kind, but thank you. It's really a game of memory and pattern recognition. I don't find long words, but I tend to find a lot of ultra-rare category words which help my scores. I also only play boards that have tons of words. Once you figure out the root words from the ultra-rare category, look for the plural and past tense versions. It probably doesn't sound like any mind blowing advice, but that's because I'm not one of the real superstars on this site. That would be players like FastEddieB, RussDNails, Estive, ThunderRock, MegaWord, etc...I just know this; once you get the taste of scoring really high on games, it becomes very addictive

[jbud1980]

I haven't played 4x4 in over 5 years, but I remember how great it felt to finally hit 700. Awesome work!

Thank you Brisul. I also play 5X5 and you are a phenomenal player. Any tips?

[crazykate]

I just found HETEROCHROMATINIZATION for 45 points. I didn't know that was a word. The board just looked promising with lots of puzzle pieces that seemed like they could be part of a long word, and I tried several combinations before stumbling on this one.

[Brisul]

Finally scored over 700 playing 4X4. I was beginning to think it would always elude me by one point.

Total points: 714 New record!
Total words: 118 (35 common,20 wide,10 rare,53 ultra rare) New record!
Best word: DINKERS (13 pts.)
Longest word: CLINKERS (8 letters)

Happy Holidays everyone, and happy playing.

I haven't played 4x4 in over 5 years, but I remember how great it felt to finally hit 700. Awesome work!

[bwt1213]

I thought I might as well pick up some digital hardware if it's available. I thought I'd euthanize 2 avian creatures with 1 projectile of a mineral substance, although in real life I have difficulty conceiving how that could ever happen w/o gunpowder being involved.

I used to hunt with rocks (and spears, but that's another story), and I can assure you that it is indeed possible without gunpowder if a flat stone is used. When I was 15 or 16 or so, I could throw a flat rock on level ground well over 600 feet and did so a number of times to prove it (I think my best was a little more than 800 feet, and I'll bet there were a lot of similarly gifted young men). I was also accurate enough to hunt with rocks successfully, but a sling greatly increases velocity and accuracy. I remember watching a TV program featuring a champion slinger, and the kinetic energy imparted to his throwing stones was about the same as that of a .45 caliber handgun load. Goliath may not have stood a chance. Birds? A slinger might get a lot more than two with one stone. I have no idea if they did, but I assume they would have hunted that way. Yes, I hunted for food, and my family was happy I did; money was tight.

[jbud1980]

Finally scored over 700 playing 4X4. I was beginning to think it would always elude me by one point.

Total points: 714 New record!
Total words: 118 (35 common,20 wide,10 rare,53 ultra rare) New record!
Best word: DINKERS (13 pts.)
Longest word: CLINKERS (8 letters)

Happy Holidays everyone, and happy playing.

[lalatan]

As for the avians, the rule says nothing about the size of the stone. Ayers rock could kill not only a couple of birds but an entire downtown--if dropped on them.

Nor about the temperature. Hot enough rock dropped into a small pond might just boil every duck floating.

loopholes.

LOL, I just don't have enough imagination. Great stuff. Loved the loopholes ending.

[Naboka]

Oh yeah, I found a few long words in some games that were played 40-50 times. Some others like Spike and crazykate have too. Now I only play those games if the stats tell me there's a strong possibility there's something worth more pts. Also, if the word I found isn't worth enough pts and will drag down my APPW I will dump the game. For the word "simultaneously" I wouldn't even play the word if I saw it since the pt value is too low. Most long word players would skip it as well, which may account for some of these words being unplayed. Just my theory but I think we all have blind spots for certain words. I took me 5-6 times before I played REPETITIOUSNESSES while the timer was running. Previously I'd examine the board afterward because I knew something worthwhile was there. And there it would be; I'd missed it again... irritating.

A few days ago, I decided to play only plurals of words I find. I thought I'd advise you so when you play a board where I have the record you won't have to wonder if the singular was valid or not. I want to raise my APPW for the month. I had a good avg because I was finding mostly words in the 28-33 pt range. I thought I might as well pick up some digital hardware if it's available. I thought I'd euthanize 2 avian creatures with 1 projectile of a mineral substance, although in real life I have difficulty conceiving how that could ever happen w/o gunpowder being involved.

I was curious all this year if I could get a winning APPW and the required 51 games all in 1 day. I was pretty sure I could but didn't try because it would bum out the other competitors. It turned out that it happened w/o me noticing the first day I played 4x4 this month. Oops, oh well, I can cross off that on the "I wonder" list.

dumping games has become a cleansing ritual. almost a sweat lodge dripping unwanted words.

The s is a very weird letter here.

played a longest word the other day. forgot which one. but adding an s actually reduced the point value of its singular. by about 5 points--?.

Crazy how an s can turn a 3 point word into an 8 pointer or turn a 6 pointer into a 3 pointer.

As for the avians, the rule says nothing about the size of the stone. Ayers rock could kill not only a couple of birds but an entire downtown--if dropped on them.

Nor about the temperature. Hot enough rock dropped into a small pond might just boil every duck floating.

loopholes.

[lalatan]

Oh yeah, I found a few long words in some games that were played 40-50 times. Some others like Spike and crazykate have too. Now I only play those games if the stats tell me there's a strong possibility there's something worth more pts. Also, if the word I found isn't worth enough pts and will drag down my APPW I will dump the game. For the word "simultaneously" I wouldn't even play the word if I saw it since the pt value is too low. Most long word players would skip it as well, which may account for some of these words being unplayed. Just my theory but I think we all have blind spots for certain words. I took me 5-6 times before I played REPETITIOUSNESSES while the timer was running. Previously I'd examine the board afterward because I knew something worthwhile was there. And there it would be; I'd missed it again... irritating.

A few days ago, I decided to play only plurals of words I find. I thought I'd advise you so when you play a board where I have the record you won't have to wonder if the singular was valid or not. I want to raise my APPW for the month. I had a good avg because I was finding mostly words in the 28-33 pt range. I thought I might as well pick up some digital hardware if it's available. I thought I'd euthanize 2 avian creatures with 1 projectile of a mineral substance, although in real life I have difficulty conceiving how that could ever happen w/o gunpowder being involved.

I was curious all this year if I could get a winning APPW and the required 51 games all in 1 day. I was pretty sure I could but didn't try because it would bum out the other competitors. It turned out that it happened w/o me noticing the first day I played 4x4 this month. Oops, oh well, I can cross off that on the "I wonder" list.