What happens to high scores when games are retired?

[Arabesque]

I'm curious as to what happens to high scores over time. Let's say I that I start a session holding 100 records for "high score." I'm the first person to play a board, and I get a score of 500. Obviously that is a high score, and it is added to my personal high score record; I now have 101 high scores.

Along comes somebody better than me (not hard!) and they get a score of 600. Now my high score records drop back to 100.

That seems pretty straightforward and I'm pretty sure that's how it works. But .... let's say my score of 500 is actually pretty awesome, and 49 more players try the board, but no one tops my score. So I still count that board among my records.

Then, the system sweeps through, notes that the board has been played 50 times, and either (a) retires the board or (b) resets the board to zero players, no stats attached, and the board is in circulation again.

Am I correct in assuming that (b) is usually what happens? (I think so, because I'm pretty sure I've come across boards I played in the past but which have very few games played.)

If so, what happens to my high score? Do I get to keep it?

The reason I ask is because I often change my goals for playing. For a while (playing as JakartaJane) I was single-mindedly focused on making the top ten each month for highest average score - but for me that required "gaming the system" in ways that got pretty tedious. I've set other goals for myself too, like scoring a certain number of points on boards with extremely few words. Right now, I'm amusing myself by trying to increase the number of high score records I hold. If I get to keep high score records when a board is retired, it might make sense for me to focus on boards that have already been played 40+ times, because then there will be fewer opportunities for other players to top my high score. On the other hand, if high score records disappear when a board is reset/retired, there may be a chance I'll hold a high score longer if I focus on boards that haven't been played much.

[bwt1213]

I'm practically certain that if you hold the record when the game is retired, you hold it forever. The reason I think so is that there is no other way I would hold any records for high score or most words found. I'm just not that good. Oh, I've improved enough that I can play a decent game now. I'm a far better player than when I began. But I don't even have to come up with the usual (famous) names to list people who are much better than I and would set my record counts to zero. I could list Sheffek, for example, or Ellen. Look at their statistics and they probably won't impress you THAT much. But find a game they hold the record for and then try to better it. I've outscored RussDNails, but I've never outscored Sheffek or Ellen. Those are just two examples of many. There are a lot of players who will play (apparently) nearly any board and don't care a whit about averages, standings, or any of that stuff at all. They just play it for fun. I'm just too competitive for that.

[Spike1007]

If you're talking about the "Current Records" section, yes, that can go down. If someone beats your record on that board (before the 50 games are up), your count goes down by 1.

If you watch your records, say from when you stop for the day & where you start the next day, some of your records can change. The larger the number of records, the greater the change. I don't know if this applies to all records, but the system did appear to screw with best or longest words.

[Arabesque]

If you're talking about the "Current Records" section, yes, that can go down. If someone beats your record on that board (before the 50 games are up), your count goes down by 1.

If you watch your records, say from when you stop for the day & where you start the next day, some of your records can change. The larger the number of records, the greater the change. I don't know if this applies to all records, but the system did appear to screw with best or longest words.

Yes, I already know that records go up and down - if someone beats my high score on an active board, then I lose that record. But my question is: if a board hits 50 games and all the stats are wiped out and the board goes back into circulation, do I get to keep the record I set, if I had the best score of all 50 games that were played (sometimes 51 or 52 if a board gets played again before the automatic crawler finds it)?

As long as I'm playing to maximize my number of high score records held, the answer influences my strategy.

[Spike1007]

Yes, you keep your personal records for retired boards.

[Arabesque]

Do all boards get retired forever after 50 games? I thought they were re-set to zero but went back into the pool of available boards, for a while anyway. (I could swear I've played boards that had 45 players, then played them again a couple of days later with only 3 players. But, it's hard to be sure.)

[Spike1007]

Of course I've never really kept track, but yes, I'd guess they're almost all recycled. I'd think that they would introduce new boards occasionally, and maybe they'd permanently retire some too.

Longest/best word lists are pretty similar from month to month, so it seems like real "new" boards don't show up that much. I guess that depends on the lifetime of a board (when it hits 50+ plays). I've tried to figure that. Since that's really hard to track, I went by how long I can keep a most words or highest score record. (I go for long words. If I find a board that hasn't been played before, so I see if I can find a good one (and only one). If I'm happy, I keep it. Of course that gives me 4 new records, with most words = 1 & highest score is whatever that word is worth (45 at most). The next person to play (unless they play like I do) will easily beat my scores there & my record goes away.) When I've kept track, losing a record took 1-5 days. If a board takes an average of, say, 3 days between plays, the lifetime should be about 5 months. No idea if that's right though.

Anyway, if I had the energy (I have the time) I'd try looking through best/longest word lists from the past to see if some words do come & go.