How do you explain this?

[Naboka]

A new player has gotten the highest score on 98.4 % of their games played: 490 highest scores out of 498 games played.

By comparison, Megawod only has a bit over 75% of played games to highest scores. Put this in perspective: Megaword has highs of 256 words and 1364 points.

Something isn't adding up.

In the few minutes it took to write this post, their score increased another 7 high scores. 497 out of 505. How long does it take to play 7 games? Certainly longer than 10 minutes.

[jbud1980]

I know who you are referring to and I was wondering when someone was going to say something...

[Naboka]

I know who you are referring to and I was wondering when someone was going to say something...

Honest people just want to trust that others are being honest. It's the advantage every con artist holds. Trust.

On the plus side, it provides fodder for pondering human choice.

[Estive]

Actually when I first started out, my stats were similar. 500 games isn't really a lot as a sample size. And potentially all the early boards are new prospective boards to be highest points.

[Naboka]

Actually when I first started out, my stats were similar. 500 games isn't really a lot as a sample size. And potentially all the early boards are new prospective boards to be highest points.

I can buy that. Sort of. With caveats.

Only time and attrition will tell.

New boards immediately reward the player with all 4 records. That parity of records doesn't disappear in 9 days even if you're medicocre.

Out of curiosity, have you ever played 565 games in 9 days? That's closing in on 2,000 a month. And the 9 days isn't up yet.

Just as an experiment. As good as you are, Estive, it would be curious to see if you could come down into the trenches of 4x4 and see what win percentage you would gain playing every game--or with minimal skipping. Click through and find some of my recent games and give it a shot. I suspect the subject of this discussion is having no problems doing that.
The results might be interesting.

I'd like to believe the best of fellow players, but people can be jaw droppingly...(pick your favorite word or phrase.)

[2cute]

A new player has gotten the highest score on 98.4 % of their games played: 490 highest scores out of 498 games played.

By comparison, Megawod only has a bit over 75% of played games to highest scores. Put this in perspective: Megaword has highs of 256 words and 1364 points.

Something isn't adding up.

In the few minutes it took to write this post, their score increased another 7 high scores. 497 out of 505. How long does it take to play 7 games? Certainly longer than 10 minutes.

I'm not sure really BUT there's this other section on here called 'Cryptograms' where people figure out a coded message which is a sentence where none of the letters are filled in & you have to guess what letters go where. Well there's this one player there like Megaword is here that can actually solve the puzzle in less than 4 seconds. It's amazing. He like Megaword, recorded himself playing the game. He actually types the solution to the puzzle with all the letters filled into all the spaces in less than 4 seconds.

So a while back you were saying you practice like an athlete in order to be as good as you are @ this game. Maybe this player is like you & Mr Cryptogram, able to solve the puzzle or in this case find all the words in the square in an amazing amount of time without cheating.

Again, I'm not sure, I just think it should be a consideration.

[Estive]

I can buy that. Sort of. With caveats.

Only time and attrition will tell.

New boards immediately reward the player with all 4 records. That parity of records doesn't disappear in 9 days even if you're medicocre.

Out of curiosity, have you ever played 565 games in 9 days? That's closing in on 2,000 a month. And the 9 days isn't up yet.

Just as an experiment. As good as you are, Estive, it would be curious to see if you could come down into the trenches of 4x4 and see what win percentage you would gain playing every game--or with minimal skipping. Click through and find some of my recent games and give it a shot. I suspect the subject of this discussion is having no problems doing that.
The results might be interesting.

I'd like to believe the best of fellow players, but people can be jaw droppingly...(pick your favorite word or phrase.)

You mean just play 4x4 without skipping? I guess I could

[Naboka]

I'm not sure really BUT there's this other section on here called 'Cryptograms' where people figure out a coded message which is a sentence where none of the letters are filled in & you have to guess what letters go where. Well there's this one player there like Megaword is here that can actually solve the puzzle in less than 4 seconds. It's amazing. He like Megaword, recorded himself playing the game. He actually types the solution to the puzzle with all the letters filled into all the spaces in less than 4 seconds.

So a while back you were saying you practice like an athlete in order to be as good as you are @ this game. Maybe this player is like you & Mr Cryptogram, able to solve the puzzle or in this case find all the words in the square in an amazing amount of time without cheating.

Again, I'm not sure, I just think it should be a consideration.

Your points are perfectly valid. Watching videos of Megaword helped me reassess my approach to boards.

Humans can do some absolutely amazing things. Jaw dropping abilities that we just can't wrap our heads around. The world is filled with prodigies and geniuses.

And scammers and schemers.

I don't really doubt that we can communicate with those who have passed. It's a mysterious world. But, some "mediums" just use gypsy tricks to sucker us in and make us believe they are actually talking to our dead loved ones. But, it's just a ruse to get our money. Not real at all. If believing a scam makes a person feel better, I suppose there's some benefit that goes beyond the con.

When statistical probablity becomes problematic, my scam radar goes clanging.

There are amazing people who have proven my distrust to be embarrassingly unfounded.

But, mostly it's just a fraud, where someone is trying a con.

Over the years, the frauds far outnumber those with amazing ability. Cons big and small, significant and trivial.

Does that make me doubt amazing ability? Not in the least. Especially when I've seen proof. (though magicians can manufacture "proof" that we can "see with our own eyes." And there are all manner of magicians conning us in most walks of life. Even photographs and video are no longer reliable as both can be manipulated.)

My probabilty radar has gone off, and the inconsistencies I'm seeing make me trust my instinct to not trust in this case--until the inconsistencies become explicable.

No one owes me proof of anything. And, I'm not asking for it.

On the other hand, no one is owed my trust simply because it's in their interests.

A con is utterly dependent on our trust. It's a currency that shouldn't be spent indiscriminately--or you'll end in poverty.

[Naboka]

You mean just play 4x4 without skipping? I guess I could

Just as an experiment. I'm not nearly as good as you, nor as consistent, so I really lack the ability to test the thesis.

It's the difference between having an oustanding or merely competent runner test whether a human can break the 4 minute mile barrier. For years, inferior runners proved over and over that it wasn't possible. Then...

[Estive]

Just as an experiment. I'm not nearly as good as you, nor as consistent, so I really lack the ability to test the thesis.

It's the difference between having an oustanding or merely competent runner test whether a human can break the 4 minute mile barrier. For years, inferior runners proved over and over that it wasn't possible. Then...

Sorry fell asleep, anyway it's tough to switch from 5x5 to 4x4 since I miss all the 3 letter words by habit haha. Will try though

[Estive]

I have concluded the following:

1) I am terrible with 3 letter words
2) Co-relates with being terrible in small boards
3) Megaword is on a different planet (as usual)
4) Others are okay, do come close if not above but again really terrible with 3 letter words
5) I shouldn't play when I am sleepy
6) My hands hurt from trying to type within the 2 mins
7) Lastly, I guess the new guy remains suspicious.

Okay back to 5x5....actually bed is more appropriate. Have fun!

[Naboka]

I have concluded the following:

1) I am terrible with 3 letter words
2) Co-relates with being terrible in small boards
3) Megaword is on a different planet (as usual)
4) Others are okay, do come close if not above but again really terrible with 3 letter words
5) I shouldn't play when I am sleepy
6) My hands hurt from trying to type within the 2 mins
7) Lastly, I guess the new guy remains suspicious.

Okay back to 5x5....actually bed is more appropriate. Have fun!

Estive, appreciate your effort. Fun is good. Hope you slept well.

You do average around 700 points on the 4x4's, so please don't sell your efforts short. Even tired, you're playing far better than most of us. You're one of only 3 or 4 that I've never topped on highest scores in a game.

It's just harder down in the trenches of 200-400 point games than one would anticipate. Even Megaword is beatable when he's playing in that range. (But, that's a secret, so shhhh, say no more.) (Would love to see ThunderRock sacrifice the high average throne and play with the proles.)

Hurting hands is always a problem when you're going full out. On 4x4's it's such a sprint that even a few seconds wasted can cost you 50 points. I've resorted to a "coasting approach" for most games, where the effort level is a more comfortable 80%. Makes for lower scores, but far more sustainable.

Most 3 letter words don't help with high scores.

With e,a,s,r,t I'll ignore all of the 3/4 letter words worth 3 points such as ears ares sear and hit the ones worth 6 points, like eas tas tes ers, aret--only coming back for the others after exhausting whatever seems to have a higher point density. Lot of games I don't even come close to making it back to pick them up. Like when you find "angiomyoneurom" and bothering to type ear, are, era seems like such an insult.

Your effort highlights the difficulty of getting the highest score on every game. With sooooo many exceptional players competing in the 4x4's. Like you, ThunderRock, Megaword, Boysmom, Stolch14, Skinnylaura, Chop Chop, meeep, dannyboy, Turbo2, gav, jbud, 2xyster, and all the others who can score 600's ... (And I'm leaving out a lot of good players.) Not to mention the hundreds of games still remaining that were perfect and played by bots. Also, not to mention the tough outs in the 200-400 point games, like chiman, autu_m_n, sunheart.

No one is at their best for every game. Playing the exact same game can result in flucuations of 300 points depending on the dictates of the gods. Maybe the fluctuation is even greater than that. If you score 200 points less on one previously played game, but score 300 more on another...

Ergo, point 7) remains unresolved.

[dannyb]

Naboka that east combo i91 points and can be typed in about 15 seconds. I don't "cherry pick" the points out of that combo. It has fine points per second. I do cherry pick from slower to type combos though.

Right now it dosent matter. I have a very bad case of "frab-u-jab" fingers.

[Naboka]

Naboka that east combo i91 points and can be typed in about 15 seconds. I don't "cherry pick" the points out of that combo. It has fine points per second. I do cherry pick from slower to type combos though.

Right now it dosent matter. I have a very bad case of "frab-u-jab" fingers.

You're absolutely right. Sorry for the fingers.

Different games require different approaches for me. The puzzle stats will dictate which. A game with no 7+ letter words and low ratio of words to points (high score 400/ most words 95) means grab everything you can.

Or the stats show: Longest word: 11 letters, Best word: 10 points, it means grab everything regardless of point value. Frequently, I see longer words that are very common and worth less than a point a letter so don't bother to type them--except as a last resort.

If the stats show (high score 575, most words 118) high possible points per word, experience says to ignore the lesser reast grouping and just grab the higher grouping. (I've put them into two groups mentally so it doesn't become a distraction.) Then I lock onto the higher scoring anagrams and let the possible word elements group and regroup in the back of my mind. Funny how much value re and er can add to words.

I get the frab-u-grab fingers daily. Five games will be fluent, and suddenly I can't convince my finger to hit the "w." Seeing this, the other fingers suddenly rebel like a group of unruly teens in tough-neighborhood classroom. Spitballs go flying, a chair goes through the window, cigarettes are suddenly creating a smoke screen for other mischief.

Of course, the little finger on the right hand has long been recalcitrant. Getting him to bother with the "p" is a delicate negotiation steeped in passive resistance.

There are some low point words I use to "grease the flow." Words beginning with "g" go very fast. The ore combo makes the fingers work smoother.

Regardless of the fine sentiments expressed in democratic documents, not all fingers are created equal.