High score games retired early?

[BoggleOtaku]

I have been wondering for a month or two now... I want to raise my high score games and look for games played by MegaWord, RussDNails, etc. with 5x5 scores approaching 1000. But recently, over the last few few months, I feel like fewer such boards are appearing. For example, I have seen many boards with RussDNails holding the record with scores under 600 and (almost?) none over 600, yet his monthly average is 700+. This is making me wonder if boards with high best score records are being retired early. Has anyone else noticed this?

[Naboka]

I have been wondering for a month or two now... I want to raise my high score games and look for games played by MegaWord, RussDNails, etc. with 5x5 scores approaching 1000. But recently, over the last few few months, I feel like fewer such boards are appearing. For example, I have seen many boards with RussDNails holding the record with scores under 600 and (almost?) none over 600, yet his monthly average is 700+. This is making me wonder if boards with high best score records are being retired early. Has anyone else noticed this?

I've noticed it on the 4X4's.

I've been clicking through 2,000 -3,000 plus games a day for the same reason as you. Looking for promising games to learn new words.

I know it's that many games because I alternate fingers on my right hand, holding down "control" and clicking "r," counting a hundred each finger before moving on to the next. To spread the stress on tendons.

So, in the last 60 days, that's at least 150,000 games. That should be a pretty good sampling of games available.

Finding anything over 600 points is rare. 700? 800? 900? 1,000? forget it. Maybe a 600 pointer once a week or so.

I see dozens of games I've played in the 500's so I know there's a constant stream of repeated games. But only came across one at exactly 600 points this morning. And, I've done a couple dozen games over 600 this month alone.

Seeing it made me wonder your exact same question. What's happened to all the high scores?

Could retiring boards early be an additional source of all the new boards appearing flush with lots and lots of words? And the stream is flooded with new boards.

Now that I think of it, I haven't seen a game played by ThunderRock in months. And nothing by Megaword or Boysmom over 600. (Well, there was a single 800 pointer by Boysmom last month--which really stood out because of the above.)

[BoggleOtaku]

Like you, I have not seen my higher score games repeated (almost all are under 600), and no boards recently from players like Brisul that only go for high score games (>1000 average)

[Naboka]

Curiouser and curiouser.

[bwt1213]

Like you, I have not seen my higher score games repeated (almost all are under 600), and no boards recently from players like Brisul that only go for high score games (>1000 average)

Some time back, I suggested that boards only be retired because they'd been played too many times, and not for scores. The previous programming had been that any board on which a score greater than 600 had been achieved would be retired as soon as the daemon found it. My objection was not so much that I thought I could beat that score, but that I'd know the board was worth playing. If RussDNails got 860, maybe I could do well, too. And if MegaWord or Fasteddieb scored 1200, I'd play that board in an instant and hope to get more than half their score. At this stage of my game, I don't really expect to beat anyone's high score any more. But if I recognize the player and they scored more than their average, perhaps I could, too.

[BoggleOtaku]

Thanks, bwt1213, I guess that explains it--I'll look for your earlier posts. Yes, it makes it hard to go head-to-head with a high scoring player. It would be similarly disappointing if board with 24 or 25 letter words were retired as soon as the word was found. I hope at least they are recycled back quickly.

[HyacinthBucket6]

Before the new update and dictionary(or dictionaries) were added and all the boards reset, I thought the board (at least in 4x4) was retired or reset after the 51st person played it. I always thought that was how it was done. I'm not sure if it's changed now.

[bwt1213]

Before the new update and dictionary(or dictionaries) were added and all the boards reset, I thought the board (at least in 4x4) was retired or reset after the 51st person played it. I always thought that was how it was done. I'm not sure if it's changed now.

Yeah, it was "score over 600 or more than 50 plays". Here's the thing: Suppose you're me, but unlike me you really care if you get credit for the high score on a board and want that added to your lifetime total. If you score 633 on a board, then you want it retired before someone else can beat your score. You don't want Megaword or Fasteddieb to see it and realize they could probably score over 1200, or some other game gunslinger to see it as their ticket to a 1000+ point game -- and if I scored 633, that's EXACTLY what it would mean, too. There are players who enjoy adding "highest score" boards to their trophy case and I mean no insult to them; we all play the game for our own rewards, and we should. But if boards were retired only after 51 plays, posting the highest score for a board would become much harder. Really strong players would take "highest score" on almost every board and players like me would almost never get one. As I said, that wouldn't bother me in the least. But it would bother others.

[Naboka]

Boards aren't really "retired" are they? Aren't they simply wiped clean and reinstalled into the system as "new" boards?

[bwt1213]

I strongly suspect that boards are retired by wiping their records clean, and eventually they return. But they don't always come back right away. I also suspect that there are a lot more boards available than there used to be and only a fraction of those boards are in play. So a retired board might not come back for a month or so, or even longer. I remember, perhaps five years ago or so, that retired boards would come right back. I would remember a board and remember who had the record on it and about what that record was, and I'd see that same board again the next day as an unplayed board or maybe with a few plays on it and someone else having a much lower best score. But I don't see that now. I think there are enough boards now that if they recycled one I am very unlikely to notice it. I have a good memory, but I'm not superhuman, so even if I had seen it before the chances of me remembering it now are less than they were. Back when I first started here, I even recognized boards that had been rotated 90 degrees or 180 degrees. I haven't seen that in a really long time.

[HyacinthBucket6]

I agree with Naboka, in that I don't think any boards are actually retired. The statistics are simply cleared and the board returns to the pool. With so many different possibilities for boards, it probably wouldn't be unusual not to see a certain board for months at a time. I guess it's just "luck of the draw" as they say!

[2cute]

I've noticed it on the 4X4's.

I've been clicking through 2,000 -3,000 plus games a day for the same reason as you. Looking for promising games to learn new words.

Yay!

I know it's that many games because I alternate fingers on my right hand, holding down "control" and clicking "r," counting a hundred each finger before moving on to the next. To spread the stress on tendons. So, in the last 60 days, that's at least 150,000 games.

Wow! When I first began playing I felt like I was cheating not playing every game that came up, yet over time I got board since I could never get even close to the record already established for that game, so that's when I too began sift through games where I might add a new word or come close the achieved score. Of course, I've never done your marathon sifting, if I sift more than a minute & can't find a game, I'll either switch type of games or come read the forum, I just don't have your patience.

I think the recycling of boards is for the rest of us who can't get 600 points per game. While you & many who participate in this forum are the elite players, not everyone can keep up with your excellence, so the boards are recycled so the rest of us (yes, including me) can continue to enjoy playing the games).

[Naboka]

Yay!

Wow! When I first began playing I felt like I was cheating not playing every game that came up, yet over time I got board since I could never get even close to the record already established for that game, so that's when I too began sift through games where I might add a new word or come close the achieved score. Of course, I've never done your marathon sifting, if I sift more than a minute & can't find a game, I'll either switch type of games or come read the forum, I just don't have your patience.

I think the recycling of boards is for the rest of us who can't get 600 points per game. While you & many who participate in this forum are the elite players, not everyone can keep up with your excellence, so the boards are recycled so the rest of us (yes, including me) can continue to enjoy playing the games).

Excellence, is perhaps, in the eye of the beholder. Kind of you to consider me an elite player. You might think differently if you saw me without make up. If you saw me floundering and scoring 200 points where someone else has the high score over 500.

If someoner were writing a check for our successes here, how well we do might become more meaningful than personal satisfaction. But, as long as personal satisfaction is the paycheck, a 300 point player can be just as well paid as a 1,000 point player.

Fascinating how each player's approach to the game evolves. How we set rules and standards for ourselves. We're like snowflakes: each formed into its own distinct shape.

clicking through games goes pretty quickly. I put on music and time becomes irrelevant, all movement part of an elaborate dance.

Repetition can have meditative qualities. Time without reference to changes in matter and energy is pure repetion. It's the kind of purity that Zen Masters give up bacon to achieve.

Of course, repetition can make one seek newer ground. Like how many times do you want to type the e a s t r combos?

The thrill is discovering the new stuff. That's when the endorphines kick in.

I don't play just to get the highest score. I play a lot of games that the program cheaters have maxed out. That's one way to find the mystery words. Playing those games makes it impossible to get recognized as scoring the most. Playing those games is just a means to an end, a stroll to discovery.

Finding new words can become frustrating. I've played some games where I'm only a few short of all the played words, but can't find the dozen or two words not played. No matter how long I study the board after time runs out.

I suppose that's the silver lining to computer aided cheaters.

Which begs the question: if retiring a board with the capacity for well over 1,000 points simply for the 600 point rules makes sense, why aren't smaller boards with all the words played by cheaters recycled?

[mclag]

One way to find the missing words is to enter the completed game into a solver to see what was missed.

[2cute]

One way to find the missing words is to enter the completed game into a solver to see what was missed.

Hmm ... I've never heard of such a thing. Where would I find one?