Word Wipe Strategy

I figured out the scoring.  Certain letters are worth certain points.  Each time you add a letter to a word, the points are multiplied.  For example, for the word "GATE," a G=10, A=2, T=8, E=2.  So, 10+2+8+2=22 and since it's. 4 letter word you multiply the 22 by 4 getting 88 points for the word.

Sorry the image is not rotated.   

Today the top score was 300,000+ !   How can that be??

The highest I've ever gotten was around 35,000 and I was "on fire".  But I agree what the trick is to try to use all the letters and make good use of the B's and G's since they are worth so much, especially with a bigger word.  ReneeB720366 figured out scoring and that was immensely helpful.

The highest I've ever gotten was 42,000, but I rarely break 35,000. I have gotten better over time, so practice does help. However... 

....and I probably shouldn't even mention this, but since so many people here are frustrated by some of the impossibly high scores that are posted, there is one very plausible way that people are cheating and just knowing about it may make all of us non-cheaters feel better.

When I showed my son the high scores that were 60,000 and even up to 200,000+ on occasion, he guessed that they are probably taking screen shots of the whole board and then pausing the game while they study the screen shots. Then he said, "Mom, I certainly hope you won't do that!"

For me, there is zero satisfaction to be had from cheating, so it's not in my nature to do that, but it seems that would be an obvious way to do it. 

I also agree that the rules for scoring should be much clearer! They are really pretty useless. Thanks to all here who have figured out some of the letter values and shared that!

I can't find the "new message" button, so maybe this is just for you, Brad. I think the trick is to take the 2 bonus bombs every time they're offered - which happens in every round! (I always assumed it was 2 per game, but no!) And beginning in Round 16 (I think) you only get 60 seconds, but the time doesn't decrease after that. I discovered the thing about the bombs today and still am not scoring that well because I can't resist making more words as time runs out. I think my last game I got around 22K and left more than 20 bombs unused. I do use the pause button sometimes... Whether or not taking extra bombs and pausing are "cheating" is up to each player, I guess. I just want to have fun, and if I occasionally make the Leaderboard I am pleased with myself... That would be the *daily* Leaderboard." If only you can see this and you want to share, please do. 

There are also some good tips in the "WordWipe Scoring" topic.

1. I have never been offered "bonus bombs" and have no idea what you would do to get them.  I have gotten more than 2,000 points in a round and then was able to double that, but not because of a bonus bomb. Usually, I run out of bombs about level ten or so, but I've managed to push through far enough to score almost 40,000.  Maybe I'm stupid.  Or maybe it's because I don't have a touch screen and have to use the **** mouse.

If you score less than 11,000, you're probably not using the bombs to clear the board and not clearing the board without the bombs.  If you clear the board, you double your score.  So anything you can do to clear the board is really good.  From the way you write, you seem like you're probably good enough to reliably get more than 20,000.

Has anyone made it to level 20? I assume that would be the end of the game.

The insanely high scores are because players who play the game on the Washington Post website are somehow mixed in with those playing it via AARP site even though the WaPo players are playing a game in which they can collect unlimited numbers of bombs. They are not playing the same game, imo, and it is wrong for AARP to include those scores. (Although I think the scores are actually from Arkadia)

WaPo allows you to literally keep collecting bombs by agreeing to watch ads. I played on WaPo just to see how it worked. I collected 22 bombs, and by that time, the game just became about bombing your way off levels. I was so bored before I got to the end that I quit the game. Raching up points that way was simply not challenging at all.

I racked up tons of points, but it seemed so pointless to play it that way. So now I just play without paying attention to the scores which are, quite honestly, rigged against the players on the AARP site.

AARP should make it clear that that is how Word Wipe works, but I'm sure they want to keep the players on the AARP site instead of losing them to WaPo.