Contributor ⭐

Word Wipe Strategy

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
May 27, 2019
153 replies
215081 views

I see every day that the leading scorers are in the 40,000 range. I am far from illiterate, but I rarely score above 11,000. Is there a strategy, a technique to get more time or more words? The enormous but consistent discrepancy is a great curiosity. Any advice?

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dw42974553

Contributor ⭐

I don't know what I am doing wrong, but I can't get above 4200. Maybe I am just slow.

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ReneeB720366

Contributor ⭐⭐

It takes practice. If you use your bombs to clear a board, your score for that round doubles. The bombs will clear a 3x3 square and the bomb has to be placed on a letter. So, if you have a u-shape (with 3 squares on the bottom of the 'U'), you will not be able clear them with one bomb.

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filedris

Contributor ⭐

Same here.. I would also like any strategy tips as I am getting discoouraged with it.

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e480628s

Contributor ⭐⭐

I'm convinced the key is to consistently clear the board and double your score. When I fail to do it, it's almost always because I'm stuck with all consonants. You can usually dispose of vowels at the end with words such as "eau", "tau", "hie", "fie", "roe", "ahi" (don't ask me to define them; i just know they work!)

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SusanM351147

Contributor ⭐⭐⭐

I know a lot of obscure words from doing crosswords, but sometimes I pause Word Wipe to look up things up, which helps me remember them. Here's a brief list, some with derivations (I expect to keep adding):

fay: fairy; join tightly

foy (Scot.): farewell gift or entertainment

mim: prim, demure

holt (Old Eng.): copse; variant of hold

moa (N.Z.): 9 extinct species of flightless birds

ain (Arabic): precious

sook: female crab; crybaby (NOT past tense of "seek")

lept: fine; slender (NOT past tense of "leap")

ulu: utility knife used by Inuit women (NOT, apparently, men)

ich: fish disease, usually occuring in aquauriums (I thought it was "ick")

khi: variant of chi

fer: opposite of "agin"? (just guessing)

oca: South American wood sorrel (knew from xwords)

mun (Old Eng.): must; man

fey: pretentious (also xword-ese)

oes: ??? I could only find acronyms. My favorite is "Optically Excited Systems"

With all these strange and often foreign words (including "eau"!) why not "oui" or "moi"? I "objet."

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Dewb11

Contributor ⭐⭐

Thank you for sharing these words @SusanM351147. I have found that “moi” works. I didn’t know 90% of the ones you listed and I most appreciate it.

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e480628s

Contributor ⭐⭐

Before hitting "Begin" on the Level 1 screen, I look for common prefixes (sub, pro, re) and suffixes (tion, ing). So, instead of the word "start", it may expand to "restarting" (460 points). My highest single word score is 522 for "submitted". "Production" was worth 480.

I could never find these long words if the clock was running.

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e480628s

Contributor ⭐⭐

If I can't find at least two 7-letter words on the "Level 1 Begin" screen, I don't start the game. I get a new screen and keep looking. If I don't score at least 2500 on Level 1, I quit and start over. After Level 1, you have to keep going. If I don't have at least 4500 after Level 2, I quit again.

My best score is 32320 but that was three months ago!

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e480628s

Contributor ⭐⭐

Here's a tip that may help. I don't start a game until i've studied the screen that says Level 1 but is grayed out, so it's a little hard to read and the Level 1 label covers many of the letters. I find at least two 7-letter words BEFORE hitting Start. So, is it cheating? Maybe. My high score is 32320.

Give it a try.

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SusanM351147

Contributor ⭐⭐⭐

I've never scored that high. I do look for Q's and X's sometimes, before starting. Of course they may be hiding! I try to line up a few quick words before diving in, in higher rounds. Anyhow I'm going to try your suggestion - but those leaderboard scores are ridiculous. I occasionally get as far as Round 17, maybe hit 18 a couple times, but I'm out of bombs by then. Which reminds me, there's a "try this" button now, supposed to get you 2 additional bonus bombs if you watch a video? I've clicked on a that a couple times but it just leaves the page and I get nothing. And have to start the game over.

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ReneeB720366

Contributor ⭐⭐

I figured out the letter values and scoring. The values of the letters are different. (See pic) A word is scored by the value of each letter in the word multiplied by the number of letters in the word.

As far as the bonus bombs, I've never been able to get them on this site (AARP), but on another site (I think-- USA Today.) I was able to. However, it makes the game super long. A game on AARP, takes me about 30 minutes to play (I average 16 rounds per game). So, the game on the other site, can take hours since you can get up to 3 bombs per round (one awarded bomb and 2 bonus bombs). I actually prefer the AARP site when I play.

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lliefveld

Contributor ⭐

Understanding how it's scores will help. The letter 'B' is worth 7 points. G = 5 points. 'CMPTU' are each worth 4 points, and 'DRSHI' are each worth 2 points. All other letters are worth 1 point. Add up the letters in the word, times 2 times the number of letters in the word (unless all letters in the 'word' are the same, in which case just add up the letters times 2).

As you can see, the rarely used letters are only worth 1 point (contrary to Scrabble), but it's still good to try to use them if you have a chance, so you don't end up with letters that don't go together. I usually try to get any 'B' and 'G' words first. Then, I try to use the bombs early on - if I can use just one bomb to clear the board. I don't think it's worth it to use several bombs just to clear the board.

Knowing the value of the letters will help you decide whether you should choose 'BAG' or 'BUG', for instance.

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SusanM351147

Contributor ⭐⭐⭐

I get in trouble when there's a Q - I become preoccupied with trying to line it up with a U, and then hopefully an A or IT. The letter X also gets me trouble at times... I've despaired of ever making the leaderboard and just try to play as long as I can.

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ReneeB720366

Contributor ⭐⭐

You don't always need a "U" to use the 'Q." QIN, QIS, QAT are some "Q" words that require no "U."

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wp79107020

Contributor ⭐

Something else I just noticed - there's an exit game button. Click this and you get an Exit screen asking if you are sure you want to exit, and this screen is even smaller than the Pause screen. So hit the exit button and you pause the game with most of the board revealed, then just refuse the exit to resume play.

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wp79107020

Contributor ⭐

A number of folks seem to think the game has been hacked, but I think the explanation for the seemingly impossible scores is much simpler: there's a pause button to the lower left. When you pause the game a Pause screen covers perhaps a third of the board - just like when the Start screen comes up - but this still leaves a large area of the board visible. This is a great advantage in a number of ways, if you want to cheat, since it takes away the time pressure and allows you to explore the visible board at your leisure. Yes, only part of the board is visible but it is still a huge advantage. You have all the time in the world to find the longest words, or find ways to use the really tough letters, map strategies about how you want letters to fall, etc. And this advantage, at least to some degree, makes irrelevant the decreasing game times at higher levels.

I think a pause button is essential, but the Pause screen really needs to cover the entire board to disable the cheaters.

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SusanM351147

Contributor ⭐⭐⭐

I've been "cheating" using the pause button. If you're strategic in how you attack the board there will be enough visible below and to the right of the pause screen to bail you out at the end. So I often now make it to 16, but my score still isn't close to the leaders - and time is so short that it seems you'd almost have to plan every move while on pause... There are people who claim to solve the NYT crossword faster than I can type - not saying they're lying, but I prefer not to compare my skills with theirs. Same thing here, but I still want to get to 16, or beyond! Maybe longevity isn't the answer, though, and the trick is to use a bonus bomb to clear the screen and double your points whenever possible? I should try that...

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e480628s

Contributor ⭐⭐

Thanks for the pause button tip. I use it frequently. You asked about bonus bombs. I use them to clear a screen when I have only a few letters left and no possible word. A bomb will only eliminate 6-8 closely-bunched letters, so don't waste them if you have more letters than that. Take your lumps and move to the next round. The biggest frustration is when you have only 1 or 2 letters left in a round, but no bonus bomb to clear them.