Achievements and Accomplishments Thread

[Naboka]

Thanks lalatan! Yes, I'm still doing catch & release. I keep going for a high APPW, but it is getting somewhat tiresome. I keep thinking of changing goals, but I haven't come up with a suitable replacement. Your goal of setting lots of records is great. Congratulations on your milestones! What sticks out more than that though is the sheer number of boards with your name on them.

Spike,

Your comment brings to mind a question about the new dictionary and old records.

If the new dictionary allows words that someone who previously played that board and tried entering that same since approved word that wasn't previously accepted, what happens to the record holder?

It seems unfair to the long word players who knew and could have used newly accepted words, but now find their records deleted from accumulated totals because someone else comes along later and gets words that weren't previously accepted for that board.

Hope this makes sense.

Just curious how this has been handled in the past, and what the approach might be this time.

[Naboka]

folkslinger, you do indeed have much to be proud of. Congratulations on all of your achievements! It has been interesting to watch your development as a long word player and impressive to see where you're at currently. You and Spike had a couple of epic battles for 5x5 APPW supremacy. I admire your and Spike's perseverance to reach such lofty heights but have no desire to emulate it. Another significant aspect of your 11 month run is that you always maintained at least a 1 word/game avg, which in my mind is a bona fide championship. (Since 2014 I've seen the APPW golds won anywhere from .1 to <1 word/game avg.)

I hear you about taking at break. In Sept 2019 I set myself a goal of winning both the 4x4 and 5x5 APPW gold trophies with a >1 word/game avg for a year (using my thinkbig_aka_lalatan ID primarily). I succeeded but it burned me out on the competition. You spoke of achieving a sense of accomplishment and so you should. I felt the same way after surpassing MegaWord's best/longest word records total earlier this year and then subsequently reaching 50 k 5x5 records. However, I was somewhat vexed by the lack of congratulations on reaching both those milestones. For 50k I got 3 likes and 1 comment from mdyak. After Naboka tutored me on people's attitudes about someone has too much success compared to their own I have been at peace with it. Now I just enjoy finding new long words, finding them quickly and beating certain people. I have no goals for the future. I'm at 63k lifetime records and I'm just going to putter along for the love of the game. I play about 1/2 the games/month I did the beginning of this year.

If I were to dress up for Halloween it would be in one of those t-rex costumes with the floppy head. I think they look hilarious. Finding a hippo costume would probably be too hard.

Spike, congrats on your personal best APPW avg of 47.393! Impressive. You seem to be a catch-and-release type of player now, only keeping the trophy words.

Genuinely confused.

How does one manage to reach the high APPW with less than 1 word a game?

As for people acknowledging achievements here, it seems to be a silent audience. One that enjoys the show, memorizes the lines, but seldom claps.

Maybe insecurities? Shyness? Not wanting to intrude or seem silly? Intimidated?

Who knows?

Probably different for each.

Think most people here are in awe of your prowess. When you post, people read the achievements, think ,"wow," and don't realize that their approval and participation actually matters. It's like an audience that doesn't understand how to clap.

Megaword would probably post more in the comments, but never did get much feedback either. He tried posting various things, like word combos. Boysmom tried and gave up. John gave it a short shot. Probably many who have achieved something really impressive here have tried to get acknowledged, didn't and gave up posting.

That you have persisted through the silence speaks of your resilience.

The audience exists.

Silent.

Untutored.

As for APPW, have no clue how you guys do it. When a board pops up, it's like being at the dessert bar at a buffet restaurant. You just want to try all of it. How anyone ever manages to return to their table with just one dessert, properly proportioned...?

[folkslinger]

Lalatan, I humbly apologize for being so in awe of your record setting performances that I have neglected to give you my hearty congratulations on all your achievements.
My only defense other than awe, is the typing. My last post took me an hour to type so that does contribute to why I have taken a break and why I'm having my lovely wife Seamonster type this for me.

To all those who play this game,
This is a great community and I have learned and continue to learn a great deal from all of you. I haven't left, just slowed down.

[Spike1007]

Thanks lalatan! Yes, I'm still doing catch & release. I keep going for a high APPW, but it is getting somewhat tiresome. I keep thinking of changing goals, but I haven't come up with a suitable replacement. Your goal of setting lots of records is great. Congratulations on your milestones! What sticks out more than that though is the sheer number of boards with your name on them.

[lalatan]

folkslinger, you do indeed have much to be proud of. Congratulations on all of your achievements! It has been interesting to watch your development as a long word player and impressive to see where you're at currently. You and Spike had a couple of epic battles for 5x5 APPW supremacy. I admire your and Spike's perseverance to reach such lofty heights but have no desire to emulate it. Another significant aspect of your 11 month run is that you always maintained at least a 1 word/game avg, which in my mind is a bona fide championship. (Since 2014 I've seen the APPW golds won anywhere from .1 to <1 word/game avg.)

I hear you about taking at break. In Sept 2019 I set myself a goal of winning both the 4x4 and 5x5 APPW gold trophies with a >1 word/game avg for a year (using my thinkbig_aka_lalatan ID primarily). I succeeded but it burned me out on the competition. You spoke of achieving a sense of accomplishment and so you should. I felt the same way after surpassing MegaWord's best/longest word records total earlier this year and then subsequently reaching 50 k 5x5 records. However, I was somewhat vexed by the lack of congratulations on reaching both those milestones. For 50k I got 3 likes and 1 comment from mdyak. After Naboka tutored me on people's attitudes about someone has too much success compared to their own I have been at peace with it. Now I just enjoy finding new long words, finding them quickly and beating certain people. I have no goals for the future. I'm at 63k lifetime records and I'm just going to putter along for the love of the game. I play about 1/2 the games/month I did the beginning of this year.

If I were to dress up for Halloween it would be in one of those t-rex costumes with the floppy head. I think they look hilarious. Finding a hippo costume would probably be too hard.

Spike, congrats on your personal best APPW avg of 47.393! Impressive. You seem to be a catch-and-release type of player now, only keeping the trophy words.

[Spike1007]

folkslinger - Thanks for the congrats, and congratulations yourself for your impressive 11 month run in APPW trophies!

[folkslinger]

There’s a lot to relate so I will try to keep this confined to the Achievement and Accomplishment idea and will later post more of the why’s and what’s in another forum post.

Last month I evaluated my 5x5 competition stats and realized that I achieved the personal feeling of accomplishment I was seeking.

Thank you to all my fellow 5x5 big word trophy competitors!

I have won the 1^st place 5x5 average word score trophy 11 months in a row and I am proud of that.

I set a record for the highest average word score at over 48 points and I’m proud of that.

I finally found Quinquasexagintilliardths (been looking for it for most of a year)

I have not retired from competitions but I need to take a break. I will still play the game. I LOVE it.

One more thing I am proud of is that I have never had any help from man (or woman) or machine in playing competitively (my wife and I play as a team for the fun and love of the game but never for any of the trophies).




I thank Lalatan, for the example set and the knowledge shared in both the game play and posts.

I congratulate Spike1007 for a new personal best average score last month! Wow I think you and I hold the top 4 average word scores as of the end of October.




I will finish with a last longer word gifted from a friend : hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia (a fear of long words...real thing), If you could add another a and another n you would have hippopotomonstrosesquippdalianophobia or…

fear of people who use long words.

Lalatan you could dress up for next Halloween in a huge Hippo suit with one of your word lists fixed to the nose and strike sheer terror into the hearts of all who suffer from that phobia… or would that be to “on the nose”?

Sorry couldn't resist that one.

[JedMedGrey]

Was just about to finish "credentialing" when the timer ran out . . . I did get credential, which is the longest word so far for that 4x4 board after 15 plays.

[JedMedGrey]

Welcome, Squaredle! this is a fun game, and a great group of players - supportive & helpful even to folks like me who will never score over 300 pts a game, much less 700 or 1500! Have a good time!

[Squaredle]

First day playing, and I managed to set a new record!

Granted, it was on a puzzle that had only been played once before... still, I was proud of my best word, RIVEL (shrivel), and longest word, DRIVELED (spoke drivel).

Fun game. I found it while looking for similar games to the one I made (Squaredle). The timer adds a load of stress!

[JedMedGrey]

Chalet Cheese Co-op, N4858 County Hwy N, Monroe, WI 53566. https://chaletcheesecoop.com/ Only company in the country to make Limburger! They just opened an outlet in New Glarus - at the former Maple Leaf Cheese & Fudge Shop. Neither the website nor the FB page have much, but you should be able to send a message through the latter, or call them. Website does say that they are not shipping right now until it cools off.

[bwt1213]

bwt1213 - Thank you! Have you tried Chalet Cheese Co-op's Pannaro yet? It is a Gouda/Parmesan blend - Parmesan flavor and Gouda creamy meltiness. Quite good!

I will have to look for it. I hope it's made in Wisconsin, though; cheeses that are not have trouble passing the Cheddar Curtain.

[JedMedGrey]

bwt1213 - Thank you! Have you tried Chalet Cheese Co-op's Pannaro yet? It is a Gouda/Parmesan blend - Parmesan flavor and Gouda creamy meltiness. Quite good!

[Spike1007]

Naboka, what I said seems right for 5x5. (There, for a word with n letters, the value is r*(n-1)+s, where r is a rarity multiplier (which 1 for common words, 1.3 for wide, 1.6 for rare, and 2 for ultra-rare (rounding down to the nearest integer when necessary)), and s comes from the special letters as in my previous post.) For your 4x4 board, scoring seems different. I assume that HOT and OAT are "common", but they're both 3 points. OAK and OAKS are both worth 4, which is weird unless there's a difference in rarity values (which I doubt) or something else is going on. My guess is that, for 3-letter words (which aren't accepted in 5x5), scoring is r*n+s (with n = 3), while for 4 or more letter words, it's r*(n-1)+s, the same as 5x5, with s the same in both. (I assume OAT and OAK are both common, and the K in OAK just adds one point.) Maybe I'll play with some 4x4 boards & test my thoughts...

[Naboka]

I used to think there should be a rarity difference between American & British spellings, but the score difference just comes down to word length (like using -OU- rather than -O-) & "special" letters. Q is worth 4, Z is 3, X is 2, and J & K are 1. (Each letter can only contribute once per word. For instance, two Qs still only add 4 points.)

Always thought k's and j's generated more points. Maybe I'm misunderstanding what you mean.

Here's the k portion of a game I just finished. Seems like a lode of points. And who knows what didn't get typed.

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