Not many high points/high letters lately

[AdamsMuse]

Me, too. After a third of the month has passed, I still dont see many. I see some 20 letter words few and far between but I was looking for words with more letters than that. Another thing I noticed when I did see a couple of 44 point words, etc. that they were extremely difficult technical or medical words that I have never seen in my life. And I have seen plenty. Not words that we would have ever run across. Not a normal word like oversentimentalizations, etc. but like this one Antiacetylcholinesterases. I have never seen that word in my life!!! Too hard for my feeble brain. By the way that word was played by LALATAN whose brain is NOT feeble...lol. A definite wordtwist hero.

[John13verse34]

It's inevitable, because of the way the game is constructed. Suppose you have a board with lots of nice words in it...

I agree with you on board recycling. Faster recycling of barren boards would be great.

But regarding the lack of high points & letters, i find that it's not the fact that i see high-point/letter words that have already been played (which would be solved by retirement), but it's that the boards have so few high-point/letter words to begin with! i could swear i see many more boards than i used to that have no 7+ letter words at all (on 4x4). or have only a few. so there are more boards where the longest word is 6 letters and the highest score might only be 8 or 9 points.

I know the Admin said nothing has changed, but it sure feels different to me than it did last year. Perhaps it's just wishful thinking on my part as i'm a long-word-focused player

[bwt1213]

It's inevitable, because of the way the game is constructed. Suppose you have a board with lots of nice words in it. A good player will happen upon it and post more than 1000 points and retire it almost immediately. The board is retired and will eventually recycle, upon which the same thing will happen. The good board will almost never be played and your chances of ever seeing it are almost zero. A poor board that has an only theoretical chance of ever being played for more than a thousand points will sit for 41 plays and only then be recycled. Your chances of seeing such boards are almost 100%. It's very likely that you'll see it and dismiss it and not even play it. Boards that are poor for high-point players and bad for big-word players will be seen perhaps thousands of times before being retired.

The solution is simple and I've proposed it a lot of times. The fewer times a board is played, the faster it should be recycled. The longer a board sits without being recycled, the more certainly it should be recycled and the longer it should sit before returning. In fact, the really poor boards -- ones with the lowest top possible scores, the shortest or least valuable words -- should be dismissed permanently.

This is a game of entertainment, right? Boards that aren't entertaining should be removed, permanently. Ah, but I'm shouting into the wind.

[pdiddp]

I finally found a puzzle with a decently long word, 22 letters and 46 pts. First one over either threshold in three weeks!

Screenshot 2026-05-11 150058.png

[DEBBIESEAWINDS]

I, too am finding the words with a lot of letters and points are few and far between. I have been trying to find a word with over 40 points and 20 letters but have not come across any at all. I usually see them come up all the time. I wonder why they aren't there anymore. Admin said nothing was different but it seems like it is.

[DawnasMom]

I hope so...it made it difficult to see the words at a glance as crazykate said.

[Spike1007]

The zeroes seem to have disappeared.

[RussDNails]

Board is also shifted up in my browser screen (Chrome). Very disorienting!

[John13verse34]

Its weird. I wish they weren't there.

Me too! I was confused to see them today.

[crazykate]

Its weird. I wish they weren't there.

I preferred the blanks as well. I often choose boards according to the board stats, and with the new system with the zeros it's more difficult to see at a glance how many long words there are. The blanks made it easier.

[HoumaGirl]

Its weird. I wish they weren't there.

[Spike1007]

I saw those too. Glad to know it's not just me.

[BoggleOtaku]

I think they are new maybe as of today

[johnnyknight]

While looking for some larger words, I noticed zeroes in the letter breakdown on the grids. Were those always there? Seems like it was just blank if there were no 9 letters words, etc. I didn't come across any words over 40 points or 20 letters either. I gave up. Tried the 4 x 4 boards instead.

[AdamsMuse]

I thought it was just me but I have been struggling to find larger words with over 40 points and 20 letters. I feel so much personal satisfaction when I find those huge words and then when my name appears in the high scores/most letters at the end of the month with all of the great players we know. This month I have tried to find some boards but have not been able to find as many those big words as usual. I figured something had changed but admin says it hasnt.