The strange, the bizarre and the unexpected

[crazykate]

So... I don't actually have a very large active vocabulary, I just know a good number of prefixes, suffixes, and Latin and Greek root words, and occasionally manage to cobble together something good.
I just found the word "lithology" in a 4x4 - study of rocks, pretty straightforward, I thought, and then I noticed the prefix "aero" just sitting there next to it.
Long story short, AEROLITHOLOGY is an acceptable word, referring to the study of meteorites. Makes sense, but I wasn't actually expecting the combination to work!

[2cute]

Woo Hoo ... I just played a game I had played previously - no, I didn't beat my score, yet that's so unexpected. A great New Year present!

Screenshot 2024-12-31 at 16.25.59.png

[DrPlacebo]

Just got points for REMOTECONTROLLERS, which is not a compound word I've seen anywhere else.

[DrPlacebo]

STONKS scores points.

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(Actual dictionary definition of STONK: a heavy artillery bombardment.)

[crazykate]

I just found HEMAGGLUTININS on three consecutive boards, without turning down any boards in between. Even with boards being seeded with long words these days, what are the chances of the exact same 14-letter word showing up on three in a row?

Very odd! I'm guessing those monkeys will be close to completing Hamlet soon!

[DrPlacebo]

I just found HEMAGGLUTININS on three consecutive boards, without turning down any boards in between. Even with boards being seeded with long words these days, what are the chances of the exact same 14-letter word showing up on three in a row?

[JJBeanie]

Just got points for BEERLESS.

There's an Australian song made famous by Slim Dusty from the 1950s called, "A Pub With No Beer" about a pub here in Queensland that was, well, um, beerless

"Oh it's-a lonesome away from your kindred and all
By the campfire at night we'll hear the wild dingoes call
But there's-a nothing so lonesome, morbid or drear
Than to stand in the bar of a pub with no beer"

[DrPlacebo]

And NOMMED. I may or may not have been thinking about food.

[DrPlacebo]

Just got points for BEERLESS.

[dannyb]

Well they still don't accept nage.

[bwt1213]

I continue to be surprised at some of the non-English words that count. Just got points for ARROZ.

Foodie stuff tends to be accepted, from my experience. If it's part of the name of the dish, it's probably good.

[DrPlacebo]

I continue to be surprised at some of the non-English words that count. Just got points for ARROZ.

[Brisul]

Anyone who plays enough games will score 12,345 points or more -- and most people playing TextTwist do, routinely. For them to land directly on 12,345 points is a matter of chance that depends on the number of points you score per game. If you average 500 points, you'd have a probability of about 1/500 of hitting that number, and if you had an average of 1000, then you'd have about 1/1000 for your probability of landing on that number exactly. You could change those odds a little if your average score varied very little and your average score divided evenly into 12,345 (or close to evenly). You could distort the numbers a lot if you discovered that you needed to score exactly X points to land on 12,345 and then suspended play on a board once you had reached precisely X. That latter method makes the total 12,345 not nearly as amazing and in fact very achievable by practically anyone with enough patience. Therefore, I assumed that the really amazing thing was not simply the total of 12,345 but the fact that you had done it in only 11 games. Yes, the score is interesting; you'd probably get that total only about once every three years of play at your current average score per game. A more ordinary player like me might get it once every two years or less, and some of the players here might see it twice a year just by coincidence. But of course we could all play until we were just a little under the needed total and then play games and throw them away until we at last scored exactly the number needed.

Therefore, I celebrate your real achievement -- an average score per game that I will never approach.

I appreciate all the thought you put into this response! The way I'm playing now is just to keep up with the really high scorers. At best, I will finish in third place this month. To do so, I can't score any lower than 1100 points in a game. I was actually looking at my totals for this month so far and comparing them to the person ahead of me when I noticed that I had exactly 12345 points. It just struck me as funny and unlikely to be replicated with the way I play.

[bwt1213]

I just meant it would be highly unlikely for me to get my points to be 12345 again. It was totally unplanned.

Anyone who plays enough games will score 12,345 points or more -- and most people playing TextTwist do, routinely. For them to land directly on 12,345 points is a matter of chance that depends on the number of points you score per game. If you average 500 points, you'd have a probability of about 1/500 of hitting that number, and if you had an average of 1000, then you'd have about 1/1000 for your probability of landing on that number exactly. You could change those odds a little if your average score varied very little and your average score divided evenly into 12,345 (or close to evenly). You could distort the numbers a lot if you discovered that you needed to score exactly X points to land on 12,345 and then suspended play on a board once you had reached precisely X. That latter method makes the total 12,345 not nearly as amazing and in fact very achievable by practically anyone with enough patience. Therefore, I assumed that the really amazing thing was not simply the total of 12,345 but the fact that you had done it in only 11 games. Yes, the score is interesting; you'd probably get that total only about once every three years of play at your current average score per game. A more ordinary player like me might get it once every two years or less, and some of the players here might see it twice a year just by coincidence. But of course we could all play until we were just a little under the needed total and then play games and throw them away until we at last scored exactly the number needed.

Therefore, I celebrate your real achievement -- an average score per game that I will never approach.

[dannyb]

That is quite an amazing consequence and an impressive total.