Not many high points/high letters lately

[DawnasMom]

Is it just me or does anyone notice a lack of larger words with 20 letters and over and points 40 plus? I haven't seen many this month. I started noticing it towards the end of March.

[Spike1007]

I go for those too, but it hasn't hit me that there's been an unusual lack of those lately. Slow periods come and go for me, but nothing has really stuck out. The last few days, I'd play until I got one. Today I got 6 so far. Anybody else?

[John13verse34]

Yeah, it's also seemed to me like there's a shortage of long words... i've noticed it for a while now. Since the time Lalatan announced his departure, i've felt like the boards aren't as fun as they used to be. The number of boards with no 7+ letter words seems unusually high.

[DawnasMom]

I have been noticing this for a while, now but Stephen says he didnt change anything and actually checked into it. I see Lalatan is back, though..I was so glad to see that.

[debbiedoo]

I was thinking the same thing. I have tried hundreds of games and no words with over 20 letters or higher points over over 40. That is my favorite part about the game...getting large words with a bunch of points.

[DawnasMom]

I finally got a 42 point word with 20 letters but it took almost two weeks to find it. Seems puny though compared to some of the words in the past.

[admin]

Hi everyone -

No game changes on our end in 2026 - I think it's just the fact that words longer than 20 letters are vanishingly rare. In fact, only 0.7% of our entire library of 5x5 boards has a word in it with > 20 letters. And that's not changed since we first launched ultra-long words many, many years ago.

[Naboka]

"vanishingly rare" Yikes.

Are we witnessing an extinction of sorts?

An attrition?

My feeble understanding was that boards were simply recycled. The vanishing aspect suggests retirement.

Over time, certain words have seemed to become more scarce or simply disappeared. Is that the case?

[admin]

Still recycled, never retired. Every board that was part of our however-many-years-ago update that added the super long words is still in rotation.

[jbud1980]

Still recycled, never retired. Every board that was part of our however-many-years-ago update that added the super long words is still in rotation.

How often are the boards recycled? I began playing in 12/2020 and all of the boards were recycled a few months after I began.

[Spike1007]

That recycling was part of a larger change/update to the site I believe. Normal recycling goes on all the time. I think now boards are recycled after 40 plays. It's not immediate, so you will see some with more. There may be other situations that trigger recycling of particular boards, but I don't really know.

[admin]

I think now boards are recycled after 40 plays. It's not immediate, so you will see some with more.

That is correct!