Unplayed Boards?

[pdiddp]

I have seen several hundred boards at least, and I have yet to see even one of them played more than 33 times. In fact, I have only seen that one with 33 and only a couple with 32. I am even more sure now that the upper limit before the boards are recycled is 30 plays. The logic probably has something like "if totalplays > 30" in it somewhere. When the reaper comes through, every board played more than 30 times is cleared and recycled. It's similar to the logic for deciding who has played enough games to get on the lists -- the text SAYS that you have to play at least 50 games, but the real number is 51. There's probably a "> 50" check in there. I still like the changes. Good job!

And that would help explain the large rise in new boards, with 20 or 21 less plays til recycling the refreshed boards show up that much faster.

[bwt1213]

I have seen several hundred boards at least, and I have yet to see even one of them played more than 33 times. In fact, I have only seen that one with 33 and only a couple with 32. I am even more sure now that the upper limit before the boards are recycled is 30 plays. The logic probably has something like "if totalplays > 30" in it somewhere. When the reaper comes through, every board played more than 30 times is cleared and recycled. It's similar to the logic for deciding who has played enough games to get on the lists -- the text SAYS that you have to play at least 50 games, but the real number is 51. There's probably a "> 50" check in there. I still like the changes. Good job!

[Nylimb]

I didn't know boards were retired. When I never saw a board with more than 50 plays, I thought only 50 players played here.

They're not really retired. They just have their statistics reset, so the next 50 players aren't competing against all of the previous ones. Without that reset, all boards would eventually get really high scores and hardly anyone would ever set a new high score.

[LillyLilly]

The most plays I've seen on any board recently is 33. It looks like the new upper limit has been reduced from 50 to 30. That will make it a little easier to retire a board with your score being the best, your word the longest, or your word the most points. It also means that many of the board with no plays are really not all that good; they had just been played more than 30 times. But it still increases the odds of getting a good board! So I do like it.

I didn't know boards were retired. When I never saw a board with more than 50 plays, I thought only 50 players played here.

Why would it be a good thing to retire a board with your name listed as best, if nobody ever sees it?

[bocci]

I'm only an average player, but I am awed by the passion I see from the great players here. So glad I found this site!

[Spike1007]

I'm curious what happens to our records that were gotten from boards that have since been recycled.

You keep all records for you held for boards at the time they're retired or recycled. (Of course they can go away if someone beats you while the boards are still active.) Once it's recycled, the board is basically "new."

[Naboka]

Just replayed a game that I was the only previous player. It had decent points and words and word lengths, so ...

[komil4]

I'm curious what happens to our records that were gotten from boards that have since been recycled.

[JJBeanie]

I'm certainly feeling the pressure to perform well on all the new boards, but in a good way!

I think I suffer from the unplayed-wordtwist-board version of white coat syndrome

[Spike1007]

Stephen, thanks!

[admin]

We've increased the number of fresh boards that will be generated each week based off user feedback. Glad you're enjoying them!

[mjzerella]

All these unplayed boards are not helping with my wordtwist addiction. :-)

[bwt1213]

The most plays I've seen on any board recently is 33. It looks like the new upper limit has been reduced from 50 to 30. That will make it a little easier to retire a board with your score being the best, your word the longest, or your word the most points. It also means that many of the board with no plays are really not all that good; they had just been played more than 30 times. But it still increases the odds of getting a good board! So I do like it.

[DrPlacebo]

Perhaps the threshold for recycling has been reduced?

In recent weeks I had been playing exclusively boards with 40+ plays (for the satisfaction of finding words that 40+ people had failed to find), until the last day or two when I was suddenly seeing only a few boards with more than 30 plays.

[Naboka]

Yes, noticed lots of new boards in the 4x4 recently. Lots of decent boards with less than 3 plays also, indicating they're fairly fresh.