Not many high points/high letters lately

[HoumaGirl]

I hope the big words dont disappear. Part of the enjoyment is finding a huge word with a lot of points and letters. It's that challenge that I enjoy and I love seeing everyone's big words on the monthly hall of fame. Thanks Stephen for providing so much enjoyment for us.

[Naboka]

Maybe a better idea for 4x4 since 16 letter words aren’t all that rare.
it’d be interesting to see the high scores for boards where a 25 letter word has been found and see if that’s 1000+ threshold has been reached

Since, being lazy, I only play 4x 4, I have no experience with 5x5, thus can only extrapolate.

Yeah, the 16/30's aren't uncommon with 700 word plus boards. When you start adding in the x, q, z, k, j, the number of available words begins to shrink. So you get a 16/35 word that sits found on a board that isn't recycled potentially for years.

Sometimes I wish that when a longest/best word of a certain magnitude is discovered, the board would be recycled. Knowing that the word is there, like seeing 16/33, immediately reduces the search parameters. You know what you're looking for. It's like having an obvious piece for the jigsaw puzzle--not much challenge to find.

But I'm a computer halfwit, so have no idea what annoying procedures are required to tweak such things. Probably more trouble than it's worth.

[boysmom]

Maybe a better idea for 4x4 since 16 letter words aren’t all that rare.
it’d be interesting to see the high scores for boards where a 25 letter word has been found and see if that’s 1000+ threshold has been reached

[Naboka]

Correct me if I’m wrong, Admin, but I believe 4x4 boards are recycled after a score of 701 points has been reached and for 5x5 after 1001?
With that being said, I’d personally love to have those numbers increased considering last month 4 players averaged over the 700 number for 4x4 and more are capable of doing so.

Recycling boards with the 701/1001 threshold, IMHO, provides the long/best word players more opportunities to get those records on recycled boards. Some boards sit for years after the long/best word is found.

To increase those thresholds also guarantees that only a tiny few reap the records, closing the door and hope of the dozens of players capable of hitting the 701/1001 occaisionally.

Guess I prefer as much fairness and opportunity as can be achieved balancing all factors.

ps: with all the tech available to average players, I sometimes question scores. It would be nice to know if a player is using computer assistance, such as words entered at impossible speeds.

[boysmom]

Correct me if I’m wrong, Admin, but I believe 4x4 boards are recycled after a score of 701 points has been reached and for 5x5 after 1001?
With that being said, I’d personally love to have those numbers increased considering last month 4 players averaged over the 700 number for 4x4 and more are capable of doing so.

[admin]

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

That is correct!

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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]

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.

[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.

[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 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.

[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.