Achievements and Accomplishments Thread

[BoggleOtaku]

Congrats, rosedraws! I like setting that goal too.

[lalatan]

That's impressive, rosedraws, especially w a score over 500.

Last night I set 2 records for a 25 letter word previously unfound by anyone: QUINQUASEPTUAGINTILLIONTH. Interestingly for me, the previous record was 40 pts, the highest pt value I have ever bettered. A while ago, I wondered on the forum where the games are with 25 letter words in them nobody got yet. So, I guess they may be out there but are Extremely rare.

[folkslinger]

01-01-2022, 02:52 PM lalatan posted:



"Happy New Year to you, mdyak (and everyone else).

Congrats to folkslinger on getting the gold in 5x5 APPW. Welcome back to the games"



From folkslinger,

Happy New Year to everyone and congratulations to all of the competitors.

A special thank you to lalatan. I am humbled that you noticed that I was gone. 2020 and 2021 have been rough years for a lot of us. I have been following many of the forums even though I have been unable to type for much of that time. My hands have gotten so bad that I can no longer play my instruments. I am grieving the loss of my music along with my beloved dog Bear and many friends over the past couple years.

I want you all to know that following the game and reading the forum has brought me a great deal of joy and distraction. The intelligence, wit, and caring displayed on these forums is very encouraging when times are tough. I'm currently on a med that has allowed me to type (two fingered). And so with some trepidation I attempted the big word game again. I'm honored to be competing with all of the big word chasers and I thank some of you (you know who you are) for not going for the trophy last month.

Again, thank you lalatan for the welcome back. That meant a lot to me.

Typed by Seamonster for Folkslinger.

[lalatan]

My condolences on your many losses, folkslinger and Seamonster. I find the "golden years" aren't really that golden in many ways. Like yourself (and many others here, I suspect) I have many limitations on what I can do. Nevertheless we can still take pleasure in some activities like playing Boggle and reading the forum. I'm glad you can still manage to play the long word game. (I don't know if you read that I retired from APPW competition for the foreseeable future after winning the gold in 4x4 and 5x5 for a year. I got burned out on all the clicking through games that's required and finding the words didn't challenge me like it used to.) Enjoy the games.

[Balderdasha]

I just beat stolch14 on a 4x4 game which is an achievement for me as I rarely beat their records.

[Naboka]

I just beat stolch14 on a 4x4 game which is an achievement for me as I rarely beat their records.

That's a big fish.

[Naboka]

Anecdotally, announcing one's successes is like throwing chum into the water.

All the fish are hungry. Suddenly, they see you. No longer are you swimming in obscurity. No longer a shadow in the coral.

Which fish now see you as a desirable meal depends on the fish.

That said, in the universe of other analogies, getting attention and being seen as a desirable might be downright flattering.

This month, my goal was to reach 800 high score records. Since hungry fish seem to be eating my records as fast as I can put them up, that took a lot more games than I wanted to play. But, today I reached the goal.

In spectacular fashion. This came against one of the fish I suspect has been feeding on me for a while. I've been studying their boards (and others), memorizing the words missed.

Screen Shot 2022-01-19 at 10.39.58 AM.png

[Naboka]

Just tied my highest score. Sure do love a mess of k words.

Sad part, reviewing the word list, there were three words I know I tried to type but guess mistyped: itas, kat and nies. That would have been another 17 points. Dang!

Happy part: tomorrow is another day.

And there's always another game.

Screen Shot 2022-01-19 at 1.13.38 PM.png
Might as well add this. Hot off the press. Second 600 in a day. What a day.

Screen Shot 2022-01-19 at 4.19.51 PM.png

[bwt1213]

On my last game, I scored 578 points on 108 words (decent score for me for 5x5, but not in your league). The board had been played once before, by a newbie, who found 78 words. The point: I counted 34 words I know and know well and didn't find. Not three. Thirty-four. And I know those words only because the newbie found them and I did not. I am willing to bet there are at least three times that many words I know and didn't find on that board. If I could type much faster, perhaps I would have run into those words and entered them. Perhaps. A good part of my problem is that I am not being systematic when I search the board for words, and thus miss words I know. The other part is having to type a word over and over to finally get it right and get on to the next.

[Naboka]

On my last game, I scored 578 points on 108 words (decent score for me for 5x5, but not in your league). The board had been played once before, by a newbie, who found 78 words. The point: I counted 34 words I know and know well and didn't find. Not three. Thirty-four. And I know those words only because the newbie found them and I did not. I am willing to bet there are at least three times that many words I know and didn't find on that board. If I could type much faster, perhaps I would have run into those words and entered them. Perhaps. A good part of my problem is that I am not being systematic when I search the board for words, and thus miss words I know. The other part is having to type a word over and over to finally get it right and get on to the next.

Not having to retype and retype...

...grrrr...

and retype...

wouldn't it be nice?

Systematic search of the board.

Wouldn't that be nice too?

You're a fast reader, so searching the board is a plus for you. For me, a hinderance. Reading 230 words a minute is about my pace--and that's words correctly ordered--no assembly required.

I've picked up and modified a "system" used by dannyb, who types hunt-peck style so has to focus on the keyboard rather than the gameboard. By memorizing a storehouse of words, I glance at the board, then start pulling stuff out of my mental storehouse. Thats working incredibly well...

when it works.

Sometimes, it's a complete disaster. Got an unplayed board today, and when done, thought, "well, someone's gonna think he's completely incompent."

Some games end up being complete disasters because the connecting letters don't connect or don't connect in the right order.

But, other games are pure magic.

Also, have been working on a modified system used by megaword and boysmom that employs varieties of anagrams.

Speaking of mistyping: just played this game, and I know I "typed" zep, zest, lig and ligs, but they didn't count because I'm an incompetent typist. It would have been my 3rd 600 pointer today.

Screen Shot 2022-01-19 at 7.13.16 PM.png

[jbud1980]

I just beat stolch14 on a 4x4 game which is an achievement for me as I rarely beat their records.

Congrats, Balderdasha!

I don't think I've bested Stolch, who is one of the best players here, hands down. However; and I mean no disrespect, but I have always considered you a big fish and one of the best players here. If I see a grid that you have played and have the highest scores I will play it, but only to build up my high score as I will undoubtedly not best your high scores. Congrats again, and happy playing.

[jbud1980]

Just tied my highest score. Sure do love a mess of k words.

Sad part, reviewing the word list, there were three words I know I tried to type but guess mistyped: itas, kat and nies. That would have been another 17 points. Dang!

Happy part: tomorrow is another day.

And there's always another game.

Screen Shot 2022-01-19 at 1.13.38 PM.png
Might as well add this. Hot off the press. Second 600 in a day. What a day.

Screen Shot 2022-01-19 at 4.19.51 PM.png

Awesome, Naboka! Congrats on tying your best score and moving closer to becoming a 700 club member.

It seems that studying has paid off here.

I feel I'm somewhat fading away from the 4X4 grids as I've found some decent success playing the 5X5 grids (until the 5X5 big fish annihilate my scores). I will always play the 4X4 grids as they are my favorite, but I find myself not trying as hard when I play them lately. Maybe I need a break from playing...

Happy playing, Naboka.

[2cute]

I always envy beautiful penmanship. Mine is basically chicken scratch. When I retired and started helping my wife in her kindergarten class, I was embarrassed that I couldn't print letters that the kids could distinguish. I had to work hard to make it legible.

After Vietnam, I felt lucky to be alive and in one piece. Lot of people I fought with weren't so lucky. Lot of lost lives. Lost hands. Lost legs. Lost minds. I know the end is coming, but for me, the end was over fifty years ago, and I got a reprieve. Each year is extra.

So many things I can't do that I once could. Sometimes I feel like the Black Knight in Monty Python's "Holy Grail:" completely oblivious to the damage done and obsessively fighting on.

When I started getting arthritis pain in my knees 20 years ago, walking was painful. My doctor gave me the best advice. He said that I should try to walk normally, as if there wasn't pain. Muscle and neural memories would reinforce the pain or not, depending on my approach. So instead of allowing my body to function in pain mode, where it was constantly bracing for pain, I kept reinforcing normalcy. When I got up from a chair and it hurt, I'd sit back down and keep getting up until it was smooth and not painful.

We used to practice some of that in martial arts. You learn to direct the energy through and away. When a person gets hit, the body tenses up and fights against the pain and damage. But, you can train your body to allow the energy to to flow through with minimal resistance. There are probably videos on Youtube of a particular martial arts school where the guys get punched in the throat or kicked in the kawhompsas without damage.

Physical therapy seems to be basically a method of teaching your body preferred muscle/neural memories. But sometimes the damage won't lend itself to improvement.

Hopefully, science will find answers to those more serious things we fear as we age.

I practice 'mind over matter' all the time. I'm not as successful as I would like (no pain) yet I keep on attempting it as it helps me to endure the pain I'm currently feeling.

Of course the best method for me is diversion. Think about something ELSE while I'm enduring the pain. That why I seem to be addicted to playing games, while I'm doing it I feel no pain because I'm thinking about the solution to the game and not how poorly I feel.

Now I wish I could just tell myself 'I don't feel pain' & it worked, I wouldn't feel pain. Truly gifted people have mastered that. While I have been attempting to master it now going on 30 years, I don't know if I'll ever succeed. Thank goodness for gaming!

[littlemarph]

image_710.png Last month was a record-breaker for me. I found my longest/highest scoring word ever, and I am so excited to see my name this far up on the list! (I acknowledge it makes no sense that overintellectualizations is worth more points than ballistocardiographically or quinquaoctogintilliards, but heck, I don't make the rules!)

[dannyb]

What a month 11 folks averaged 500 0r more points a game and 23 folks averaged 400 points or more per game and 14 people averaged 100 or more words per game and the top 50 averaged more than 4.5 points per word.