Achievements and Accomplishments Thread

[Naboka]

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Sometimes the difference in scores playing the same game can reach supermindbogglingness. (-nesses?)

The game had been played 17 times. I had the highest score but...

beat it by 138 points: 475 to 337.

WTF. How does that happen? It's not that there was a sudden increase in mental capacity or stored words.

Since every day I lose between 4 and 10 from my "highest score" tally in the current records held...just makes one wonder.

So much wonderingnesses.

[bwt1213]

I think it works like this: Every game has at least one and usually several "honey holes". Once you discover one, you get all or nearly all the points to be had from it. Finding that honey hole is a matter of chance. You found it this time, and you didn't find it before. Maybe next time you won't find it. I've beaten my previous score by more than 200 points, and I've fallen short by more than 200 points. Maybe you're getting better, too. I'm sure I'm not -- or not that drastically.

[lalatan]

The game had been played 17 times. I had the highest score but...

beat it by 138 points: 475 to 337.

WTF. How does that happen? It's not that there was a sudden increase in mental capacity or stored words.

Since every day I lose between 4 and 10 from my "highest score" tally in the current records held...just makes one wonder.

So much wonderingnesses.

Many years ago I read an article about the "mystery of performance." It was about pro athletes but it seems to me it would also apply to mental performance. Basically they concluded it's a mystery why some days you can do nothing right and the next day you can't do anything wrong or even during the same game. I experienced it myself in athletics and playing games requiring mental performance. You got me wondering if I ever found WONDERINGNESSES. Negative, lol.

Regarding your experiment on another thread, it seems you experienced the same conundrum I encountered as a 4x4 player trying to pile up pts. To play longer words or get more short ones, that is the question. I started leaning toward playing longer words and look where there that got me.

Good to see u posting again.

[Naboka]

Many years ago I read an article about the "mystery of performance." It was about pro athletes but it seems to me it would also apply to mental performance. Basically they concluded it's a mystery why some days you can do nothing right and the next day you can't do anything wrong or even during the same game. I experienced it myself in athletics and playing games requiring mental performance. You got me wondering if I ever found WONDERINGNESSES. Negative, lol.

Regarding your experiment on another thread, it seems you experienced the same conundrum I encountered as a 4x4 player trying to pile up pts. To play longer words or get more short ones, that is the question. I started leaning toward playing longer words and look where there that got me.

Good to see u posting again.

Thanks.

You've definitely taken the most productive route for you. Lots of records. An amazing ability to find and piece together long words. My envy is tempered by the self realization that I'm prone to the lazy approach of finding the easiest route.

"Efficiency over effort" provides a justifiable philosophy for a slothful disinclination to labor.

Records are elusive for most of us. We play a game, get the highest or best in some category, then poof--it's gone. No record of our record as the bigger fish come along and take their bite. Today, for example, I've set 11 highest scores. But, my "current records held" shows me having lost one from the total. (I can sometimes be compulsive about data collection.) So, somewhere during part of the day, someones (pl) have erased my efforts plus one.

Whereas, your results are nearly always chiseled in marble.

It's not that I'm playing less well or poorly. Simply that bigger fish swim these waters. I just finished a game that had been played 25 times headed by a couple of people I would never have been able to beat last year. I beat their highest score by 43 points. Most of the games I'm beating have been played 14 to 25 times. Beating someone's score is a mixed feeling. Setting a record feels good. It's feedback on having succeeded. But, it also makes me realize that taking someone else's record probably doesn't make them feel good. After all, if it makes me sad that I've lost ground today despite doing well, others must feel similarly about their Sisyphean "success."

Watching the boulder roll down hill makes one question its retrieval. After all, the wind and weather will eventually grind it to dust. Maybe in a couple million years someone can come along with a large bucket and move the conserved matter when it's reached the stare of nonrollingness.

Though hope is probably a better motivator than despair. Maybe next year I'll be devouring the fish that ate my records today. Fillet almondine. I imagine that some of the slightly better players who ate my previous records today will run across some of the games I played today while "in the zone" and wonder WTF when they can't beat it.

As for the mystery of performance: I was always amazed at how inconsistent performance could be. Go into the gym feeling like you owned the world and yet couldn't move anywhere near the weights you expected. Go in feeling like crap and set new personal records. I know that "being in the zone" tends to accompany better performance. But, how one actually, consciously "gets in the zone" I'll probably never know.

[Naboka]

I think it works like this: Every game has at least one and usually several "honey holes". Once you discover one, you get all or nearly all the points to be had from it. Finding that honey hole is a matter of chance. You found it this time, and you didn't find it before. Maybe next time you won't find it. I've beaten my previous score by more than 200 points, and I've fallen short by more than 200 points. Maybe you're getting better, too. I'm sure I'm not -- or not that drastically.

The "honey pot" reference is sweet. They seem to come in unexpected place.

200 points! I'll probably have to get better to suffer that arrow. Higher point totals give more leeway as a percentage in ups and downs. 20% of a 1,000 is 200, but 20% of 500 is only 100. My meager play gives the mixed blessing of reduced point shock.

[lalatan]

...Records are elusive for most of us. We play a game, get the highest or best in some category, then poof--it's gone. No record of our record as the bigger fish come along and take their bite. Today, for example, I've set 11 highest scores. But, my "current records held" shows me having lost one from the total. (I can sometimes be compulsive about data collection.) So, somewhere during part of the day, someones (pl) have erased my efforts plus one.

Whereas, your results are nearly always chiseled in marble.

It's not that I'm playing less well or poorly. Simply that bigger fish swim these waters. I just finished a game that had been played 25 times headed by a couple of people I would never have been able to beat last year. I beat their highest score by 43 points. Most of the games I'm beating have been played 14 to 25 times. Beating someone's score is a mixed feeling. Setting a record feels good. It's feedback on having succeeded. But, it also makes me realize that taking someone else's record probably doesn't make them feel good. After all, if it makes me sad that I've lost ground today despite doing well, others must feel similarly about their Sisyphean "success..."

I had a look at your scorecard last week and saw you won 4 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze trophies for high score in a month category (congrats on that!). Even though you somewhat disparage your achievements I suspect that amount of trophies eclipses the majority of players. I also checked the HoF today and saw that you are already in 130th position for lifetime total pts with 24k games played (far less than some of the other players). Those stats will always be there and you will likely improve on them. For me there is no HoF category for best/longest words. So once I quit for whatever reason there will be no record of them other than my scorecard (I think I can pretty boldly predict very few know my totals even now.)

I do sometimes feel remorse for overtaking other people's records but justify it by thinking this is a competitive game or if I don't take it someone else will or most players probably won't realize it even happened. Once in a while I will allow a record holder to retain it, if I have a soft spot for them.

[Naboka]

I had a look at your scorecard last week and saw you won 4 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze trophies for high score in a month category (congrats on that!). Even though you somewhat disparage your achievements I suspect that amount of trophies eclipses the majority of players. I also checked the HoF today and saw that you are already in 130th position for lifetime total pts with 24k games played (far less than some of the other players). Those stats will always be there and you will likely improve on them. For me there is no HoF category for best/longest words. So once I quit for whatever reason there will be no record of them other than my scorecard (I think I can pretty boldly predict very few know my totals even now.)

I do sometimes feel remorse for overtaking other people's records but justify it by thinking this is a competitive game or if I don't take it someone else will or most players probably won't realize it even happened. Once in a while I will allow a record holder to retain it, if I have a soft spot for them.

That there is no HoF category for what you do is a shame. Your accomplishments here should be better recognized.

One of the trophies I got I was going to give up. A player was putting in crazy numbers of games and on the threshold of winning the bronze. I just planned to drop out of the top 3 so they could have it. But another good player came out of nowhere and was going to win it if I didn't, so...

so, you're right, if you don't someone else will.

Winning trophies requires more time and effort than I'm willing to spend these days, so I'll probably never get another. The opportunity costs are too high. Too many other things give me more satisfaction. Though scoring a million points in a month was kind of fun. Not many have accomplished that here. Boysmom pushed me across the line on that one because giving up is easier than pressing on.

A "millionaire's club" might be fun. It's like climbing mini-Everest.

Those gold trophy announcements crack me up. The site is behind in announcing winners for the month: eg. October's winners get announced in November, but actually won September.

[lalatan]

That there is no HoF category for what you do is a shame. Your accomplishments here should be better recognized...

Winning trophies requires more time and effort than I'm willing to spend these days, so I'll probably never get another. The opportunity costs are too high. Too many other things give me more satisfaction. Though scoring a million points in a month was kind of fun. Not many have accomplished that here. Boysmom pushed me across the line on that one because giving up is easier than pressing on.

A "millionaire's club" might be fun. It's like climbing mini-Everest.

Thanks Naboka. It would be nice if there were a HoF category for it but when I decided to be an exclusive long word player sometime in 2016 I knew that would likely be the case. (I never in my wildest dreams thought I'd be this successful back then.) I'm so grateful that this game has been available; It has taken my mind off chronic pain and boredom, exercised and stimulated my brain and allowed me to chat w interesting people such as yourself who like words from all over the world. I find it to still be very entertaining even after playing 80k games.

Yes, I believe getting over 1M words in a month is a notable achievement. Congrats for that as well! It's a long haul and a mini-Everest describes it perfectly. That's 1 good thing about competition; it pushes you to do things you wouldn't if it wasn't there. I feel the same way about winning trophies. I probably could win both 4x4 and 5x5 APPW gold trophies every month. (I did so for a year after I set a goal to do so. Ironically, it's also what led me to quit the competition. Finding the words isn't a challenge like it used to be and there's way too much clicking thru games to find a suitable board.) There were times when I stepped aside and let newbies who were going for it to win.

I think of the total pts/month competition as a marathon and what I do as a sprint. You guys play hard every game for 2 minutes (or 3 in 5x5), whereas some of my games are over in 5-15 seconds and usually the longest I take is 2 mins if I'm going to find a word worth keeping.

[Naboka]

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I think it works like this: Every game has at least one and usually several "honey holes". Once you discover one, you get all or nearly all the points to be had from it. Finding that honey hole is a matter of chance. You found it this time, and you didn't find it before. Maybe next time you won't find it. I've beaten my previous score by more than 200 points, and I've fallen short by more than 200 points. Maybe you're getting better, too. I'm sure I'm not -- or not that drastically.

Sir,

I found the honey holes.

I think it's a game I play within the last week. Your post was on the 1st, so it must have been just a couple of days ago. I remember studying the board and thinking "honey pots." Then, a few minutes ago, the game popped back up.

First time I've ever beaten my previous record by over 200 points. First time I've ever scored over 600 points.

Not sure if it should even count, considering I'd seen and studied it so recently, but...

600 points!

A milestone.

I'm celebrating regardless.

[2cute]

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Sir,

I found the honey holes.

I think it's a game I play within the last week. Your post was on the 1st, so it must have been just a couple of days ago. I remember studying the board and thinking "honey pots." Then, a few minutes ago, the game popped back up.

First time I've ever beaten my previous record by over 200 points. First time I've ever scored over 600 points.

Not sure if it should even count, considering I'd seen and studied it so recently, but...

600 points!

A milestone.

I'm celebrating regardless.

Congratulations!

[dannyb]

This morning I had an incredible 40 minute run. I was scoring out of my mind, setting new records. Then the proverbial clock struck twelve and my coach became a pumpkin and I returned to my old form. I am sitting here wondering if it was all a dream.

[bwt1213]

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Sir,

I found the honey holes.

I think it's a game I play within the last week. Your post was on the 1st, so it must have been just a couple of days ago. I remember studying the board and thinking "honey pots." Then, a few minutes ago, the game popped back up.

First time I've ever beaten my previous record by over 200 points. First time I've ever scored over 600 points.

Not sure if it should even count, considering I'd seen and studied it so recently, but...

600 points!

A milestone.

I'm celebrating regardless.

Congratulations! See, here's the real trick that I suspect the top players know: They can find those honey holes almost every time. I am guessing, but I think they have a search strategy -- start at the upper left and go left to right and then right to left. Then down a row and repeat. The first letter used in your word is the letter you're on. When you hit a honey hole, you work it hard until it's done. Then you continue. I'm just guessing. I'm not a top player, so I don't really know what they do. But there is almost certainly a strategy.

[Naboka]

Congratulations! See, here's the real trick that I suspect the top players know: They can find those honey holes almost every time. I am guessing, but I think they have a search strategy -- start at the upper left and go left to right and then right to left. Then down a row and repeat. The first letter used in your word is the letter you're on. When you hit a honey hole, you work it hard until it's done. Then you continue. I'm just guessing. I'm not a top player, so I don't really know what they do. But there is almost certainly a strategy.

I tried following megaword's videos frame by frame to see his strategy, but...

soon got distracted

and figured out nothing.

I know he approaches the game completely differently than I do. I rely on memorized pattern groups, where he does something like what you suggest. I have no clue how he maintains the discipline and order to return to new lines of attack without wondering if he's typed that word already or not.

My attention bounces around the board like crazy. I notice a new possibility and immediate get pulled off what I'm working on before clearing it. Then, if I come back, I can't remember which of the 8 words I had planned to type were actually typed.

My guess is that even knowing his strategy, I would be incapable of maintaining the discipline to implement it.

[Naboka]

This morning I had an incredible 40 minute run. I was scoring out of my mind, setting new records. Then the proverbial clock struck twelve and my coach became a pumpkin and I returned to my old form. I am sitting here wondering if it was all a dream.

40 minutes. Lucky you.

Mine lasted 2 games just now, then, I couldn't find normal stuff sitting right in front of me.

But, for just those fews games, isn't it wonderful? It's like another world.

And the difference is measurable. One of the games I had gotten most words but not high score. Beat it by 31 words and at least 173 points. Wouldn't it be nice to play like that all the times?

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[dannyb]

40 minutes. Lucky you.

Mine lasted 2 games just now, then, I couldn't find normal stuff sitting right in front of me.

But, for just those fews games, isn't it wonderful? It's like another world.

And the difference is measurable. One of the games I had gotten most words but not high score. Beat it by 31 words and at least 173 points. Wouldn't it be nice to play like that all the times?

Screen Shot 2021-11-05 at 12.32.04 PM.png

Good job Naboka. I have noticed you getting better over the last few months. Keep it up.