Word Wipe Strategy

[BradK250887]

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?

[joeysback]

I don't think I've ever gotten past 13th or 14th.  Congrats!

[lom8642450]

Thank you for the tips.  I can’t get to 25,000 but I doubled my score from 3,000 to 6,000 and will get better.  

[Parmenion]

Okay...The MOST IMPORTANT thing to do is CLEAR THE BOARD!!! It's all well and good looking for big words but if that board is not cleared your score will not double up. I generally score between 25000 - 35000, and to reach these figures you MUST clear 90% of the boards you play. Beware of letters like Q,Z and J. Try to remove these as early as you can. Qat and Qis will save you time and time again. Use your bombs to clear the board if you have to. DON'T leave a board uncleared if you can clear it by using a bomb. Remember...speed is of the essence...the clock is your enemy. Hope these tips help...and if anyone has tips on how to score 40000+...I'm all ears!

[KristiW221704]

QIS is another 'saver', along with PST, HMM, GRR, BRR, and SHH.  I think AIA is the only all vowel word I've used.  You can also use strings of the same letter (e.g. EEEEE) for the levels that have lots of vowels.  I usually start with the hardest letters to make words with - C, J, X, Z, Q, etc. and try to clear them.  I'll try multiple combinations of letters (for words I've never heard of) before I use my bombs

[e480628s]

I spend too much time on this site and don't claim to be any kind of expert. I see many comments recommending that the troublesome consonants are "q, k, x. etc."
I find, however, that "h" is as much of a problem. So, if you see "huh" or "hie", "hue", etc., delete it.
You'll be happy you did.

[BoiseEd]

Whenever I see a "J" or "Z" or "Q", I focus on that for a few seconds. It's best to get them gone before going for the low-hanging fruit.

[dw42974553]

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

[filedris]

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

[e480628s]

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!)

[BoiseEd]

"eau", "tau", "hie", "fie", "roe", "ahi" (don't ask me to define them; i just know they work!) -- "eau" is French for water; I have no idea why the puzzle accepts that. "tau" is a Greek letter. "hie" is an obsolete word for "hurry". "fie" is an expression of disgust. "roe" is fish eggs. "ahi" is a kind of tuna. There are some others, like "qat", which are odd but very useful here.

[SusanM351147]

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."

[LindaLooky]

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.

[e480628s]

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.

[e480628s]

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!

[e480628s]

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.

[SusanM351147]

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. 

[lliefveld]

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.

[joeysback]

How in the world did you find what the letter values were?

Did you know that if you have 3 or more same letters connected you can wipe them out?  (Say you have 5 "H"s, you can wipe out 3, 4 or all five if you like as long as they are connected like a word.)

[pamjets12]

how would i have known the value of the letters.  I never actually saw any instructions!!

[e480628s]

I don't know the value of each letter, but my highest word score was for "submitted": 522. "Barracuda", with the same number of letters was only worth 432. BTW, I could never find these longer words with the clock running. I never start a game till I've studied the board at Level 1. If I can't find two or three 7-8 letter words, I clear the screen and start over. After Level 1, I use the pause button regularly to stop the clock and find four and five-letter words. My high score is 36,798 but I've never gotten past Round 14.
I'm far from a genius, but I seriously question those who claim scores of 50K and above.

[SnowRose47]

You mention using the pause button to stop the clock and find words with more letters. When I pause the clock at any level, a large summary board appears in the middle of the game board. How do you see around or get rid of that summary board so you can find letters?

[carolinajoy]

The lack of information on how to play the game (other than the obvious basics) is what brought me to this forum. I read about the value of some of the letters in a post here, which was a big help. My strategy is just to start on the left and try to knock out 3-4 of those columns before tacking the right side from the middle and up. I grab longer words if I see them, but can move quickly though the three and four letter ones. I try to clear the board, but won't use more than one bomb to do it until I get up into the higher levels (8 and above, usually.) I'd assume longer words are worth more points, but have not read that as fact anywhere. Anyone have info on that? Thanks!

[GinaW223822]

I've played Word Wipe on several different websites for about two years now.  I've settled in on one board the last year where my scores were often the highest.  But another player passed me by many months ago.  And then another, and another but that's been a couple months now, too.  More oddly, some of the players that had similar scores to mine have all of a sudden doubled, and just a few days later quadrupled their regular scores.  I've looked up all the tips I can find... no new strategies to find unless I start pausing which I'd rather not.  

I just don't understand how several players who I've been playing against for two years can all of a sudden... and at the same time... increase their scores.  

[GloriaAnn]

I would definitely like to know the same thing. How do these people manage to get these scores approaching 400,000. I wish there was a place to read tips. I know if you highlight 3 of the same letter that are next to each other that they will be erased. I've also learned to save my bombs for the later levels. But I just don't see how some people are obtaining those scores. I sometimes make words that are 6 or 7 letters, but I still can't get past 26,000. Oh, and a couple of good Q words are qua and cinq.

[SusanM351147]

If you figure it out will you come back and tell us??

[SusanM351147]

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. 

[wp79107020]

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.

[wp79107020]

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.

[emdunn]

Where is the pause button??

[MargW372402]

the pause button is at the bottom on the left side at eh very bottom, it looks like this (=) next to the sound on or off.