WordTwist Addicts - Please help!

[cyclewriter]

Oh the countless hours spent, the compulsion, obsessive, beyond conscious control, the torturous need to play, to play just-one-more-game. Words, virtually meaningless three and four letter combinations swirl around in my head - reo, roe, ore, tea, tae, eta, ate, eat, rail, liar, lira, lair. I am dying for the day when I can use "zoaea" in a conversation, or "xyster", or "yex", or... somehow, somehow to connect this addiction to reality. I'm wasting my life away in two minute chunks of time. And for what? Awards? Money? Trophies? The respect of my peers? Fame? No. Just a brief moment of transitory glory, my name at the top of the list until MegaWord, ThunderRock, chiman, boysmom, or whoever, crushes me, wipes me aside like a bug on the windshield of life. Please help. Tell me what you do to fight the addiction. Or...is it even possible?

[Turbo2]

Oh... What a question, cyclewriter! I have been pondering all of that for the last... twelve years or so! Often wished that word games had real tournaments like they have for poker, so I could at least get rich and famous out of this addiction. But no. It seems I do it for the beauty and the thrill of the game. Of feeling like I know all those players who make me want to be better all the time. I even have a fantasy of playing a perfect game (getting all the words to a board) one day.
I figure it's probably better than downing that bottle of wine. Especially when I finally remember to add “nates”, which seems to have no singular version, at the end of that series of anagrams, or when I remeber that “setae” is also a word.
So... cheers!
Really looking forward to hearing from anyone who might have a good answer for you.

[DonGuy47]

Cyclewriter, you are probably asking the wrong group of people! Also, most people who quit their Boggle addiction (as I have done so many times) probably end up addicted to other games anyway. To make your Boggle life very slightly more meaningful, I recommend keeping track of your own statistics, so that at least you can see your progress. My focus is on average points per game, so that's the number I record every month, hoping for improvement. Another suggestion: do some typing practice. Boggle typing and Actual typing aren't exactly the same, but they do correlate. Practicing typing will help your Boggle scores, and also make more efficient the life of anyone who spends a lot of time at a computer.

Turbo, I've often wondered why there aren't Boggle tournaments. Our community isn't the same magnitude as the Scrabble community, but we are mighty! But Boggle doesn't even have an official website.

[bwt1213]

Let's get brutally real. Scrabble is a fraud. Their dictionary is a joke. It's an invitation to memorization, to fake stupid games with letters sorted in alphabetic order with word equivalents, to making people play like computers -- and not very bright computers, besides. Actual words are disallowed, because they're not in "the dictionary". Words derived according to standard English rules are not allowed because they're not in "the dictionary". Tell you what, Scrabble fans, the only dictionary that really matters is the Oxford Dictionary, all the volumes and all the words. Every. One. Of. Them. And then, any word that isn't in the Oxford list but can be derived by standard rules from a word that IS -- why, that's a word, too. I've played Scrabble and done really well at it, and I can still play it and do really well. But then I'll play a word that is damned well a word and isn't in their stupid dictionary and I will just flat stop and refuse to play again. Ever. There are some things you can't put up with, and official Scrabble is one of them.

[Tomtomg]

OK, first I do not participate in message boards but this one caught my eye as I do have an answer. I am 66 and I use Boggle to keep my active inventory fresh in mind even if I never expect, or would use zoaea in a sentence. I am using it as a pre-emptive strike organize one. I wonder if I should?inst senility. I like to compete but have no chance as a one finger typist , I use the dragging method but so be it.

However, I am intrigued that there are no boggle tournaments. Professionally, I am the kind of guy who could orga

[rosedraws]

Nodding in agreement here. But think of this: if you were reading a book, would anyone scoff? Or doing a jigsaw puzzle on the table? Or playing solitaire? I think of Wordtwist as a recreation activity. It's downside is that it's on the damn screen (which is what my keister is parked in front of 80% of the day), so I pay attention to how long I spend. At the start of the new year, I endeavor to track my screen time -- how much for games/facebook/email etc... but I forget after a while. I'll try again come Jan 1st, because I'd love to have that data!

[stacibug]

DonGuy, I agree on the typing. I work in data entry, and Word Twist is a fun way to keep up my fingers nimble.

[floppers]

You are all so funny (and correct), and really entertaining.

[sadied]

Cyclewriter, I feel exactly the same way. Must sleep. Can't stop.

[floppers]

move here, it 9.40am, Monday. You would have a whole day of Boggling ahead of you.

[iBnutz]

Wow floppers! 8 hour time difference. Where do you live?

[p2p]

You can try what I do although it doesn't solve the issue. I set a little rule for myself. I always play the board suggested. I have to win or tie in any of the four categories (most points/ most words/ longest word/ highest scoring word ) in order to continue. If not, I quit. The algorithm seems to have figured me out though, often feeding me boards that haven't been played too many times. Why would the algorithm or website care how much I engage with it? Anyway, I mentally run through words in my head when I'm not playing, especially while meditating or even dreaming. Its a curse that goes nowhere. Good luck with this one...

[DonGuy47]

> have to win or tie in any of the four categories (most points/ most words/ longest word/ highest scoring word ) in order to continue.

I often (attempt to) use the same system.

[pickerel]

Cyclewriter, I can sooooo relate! And I've been playing for many years and am not very good at it! But my dreams are full of word making! Just one more game! LOL

[floppers]

Wow floppers! 8 hour time difference. Where do you live?

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia (I suppose the time difference means that Christmas comes early for us?)