AARP Online Community and Discussion Forums - Re: WordWipe Scoring

el58092270 · ‎11-14-2019

I have been unable to find any information as to how WordWipe is scored, so I set out to figure it out for myself. This is what I know so far.

Each letter has a value: A=2, B14, C8, D4, E2, F2, G10, H4, I2, J2, K2, L4, M8, N2, O2, P8, Q2, R4, S4, T8, U8, V2, W2, X2, Y2, and Z2. I don’t know how those values were assigned.

The first 2 letters in a word earn: (the value of the first letter plus the second’s) times 2. Adding the third letter earns the sum of the values for the first three letters times 3. The fourth letter earns the sum of the four letters times 4. Etc. Your score thus is maximized if you make longer words. An exception to this formula is when a sequence of any length of the same letter is cleared, it is scored as each letter being worth only 2 points.

There are 10 horizontal lines and 10 vertical lines, or 20 in total. Therefore, there are 100 letters on the board. If you clear all 100 letters (all 20 lines) on the board, your score for that whole board is doubled. There is a potential for up to 20 rounds (levels) in a game. A raw score for each round that ranges between 1,000 and 2,000, when doubled, yields a score of 2,000 to 4,000 for each round. For reference, if your average score is 1,500 per round (including any doubled rounds) and you clear 15 lines (rounds) in the game, your final score will be in the neighborhood of 22,500.

Timing: The first 10 rounds give you 120 seconds (2 minutes) each round to complete your game. For the 11th round, the time is reduced 10 seconds to 110 seconds. For the 12th round, the time is again reduced by 10 seconds, giving you 100 seconds to finish your game. Ten seconds are reduced for each successive round.

Bombs: I have not yet figured out exactly how “bombs” are earned, but it seems to be a matter of clearing a certain number of lines or squares in a certain period of time. Clearing squares later in a round does not seem to earn as many, if any, bombs. It is easier to earn bombs in early rounds, and apparently impossible after Round 10. Bombs can be used to clear multiple spaces at a time, with the maximum being a 3x3 square. For reference, it looks like if you clear at least 2 lines within the first minute, you earn one bomb. If you clear at least 2 more lines within the first minute of the second round, you earn a second bomb. You also can earn 2 bombs per round in the first round and perhaps in later rounds, but I’m not sure what the rule is. More research is needed.

I am in awe of the people who are earning scores of 30,000, 40,000, 50,000, or even 60,000. I don’t know how they do it. I do know that I have increased my scores from around 15,000 up to 20,000-30,000 mainly by knowing more about the scoring system. I hope this helps you, too. (And yes, I know, I have too much time on my hands. Isn't retirement great!?)

Jiggerj · ‎02-16-2021

I just tried playing word wipe here. The reason for the low scores is that the game here doesn't offer two bombs on each level if you watch a one minute ad. Try playing right on the Arkadium website. https://www.arkadium.com/games/word-wipe/

el58092270 · ‎02-17-2021

I use an ad blocker so I don't see any ads on AARP. That same ad blocker prevents me from playing on the Arkadium site.

Jiggerj · ‎02-17-2021

I have three ad blockers and I still play on the Arkadium site. Every once in a while I have to turn them off for a second, then turn them back and I'm good to go.

el58092270 · ‎01-29-2020

OK, I'm calling it. This leaderboard for WordWipe is at least 80% BOGUS! For absolute certain, the number 1 score of 122,266 is mathematically impossible. I would also challenge the "people" in positions 1 thru 8 to prove their scores are valid, otherwise, they never deserve credibility. These 8 "people" occupy the top of the leaderboard virtually every day. I'm calling BS on all of them. Prove me wrong.

The "GamesOfficial" needs to curtail this stuff. They need to at least verify the credentials of the accounts on this leaderboard. This is the leaderboard for 1/28/2002.

Jiggerj · ‎02-10-2021

I can hit 50 to 60,000 almost daily. As for those 100,000 scores, you're right, they cannot be possible. For those that want to up their scores a bit I wrote up an article on what I do to hit 60,000. I'm no expert, but I hope I can help. I love the game and I want everyone else to love it too. https://jiggerj.medium.com/how-to-increase-scores-playing-the-arkadium-word-wipe-game-b7bbe67957d6

Just figured out something. When you're in the upper levels where the time is short (and you have a bunch of bombs) Try clearing the board starting on the right side and work your way down. That way when you need to use the bombs with only a few seconds left you aren't losing precious seconds dragging those bombs to the other side of the screen.

MarieB28049 · ‎03-16-2022

I reached level 125 last night, score: 141,866, and it's all authentic. It takes many tries but it can be done which I just proved!

StephenK299223 · ‎04-10-2021

I haven't played this one yet, but I can tell you, I've played several hundred games of Ballistic and the top 10 leaderboard turns my stomach. I've scoured the Internet looking for a video of someone breaking 10k, let alone a million or more. NOTHING. My highest score is still under 5k. If scores over a million are legit, then why aren't there ANY videos on the Internet? I even went as far as contacting Arkadium and they couldn't point me in the direction of a video of at least a few hundred grand. Sounds like the leaderboard's been hacked. Too bad. I'll keep playing and dry my damnedest to break the 5k mark.

Jiggerj · ‎02-10-2021

After months of heavy play I hit 70,000 once. Those scores of 100,000+ (by the same people every time) are impossible. It bugged me so much that I tried something. In the early rounds with plenty of time I would screen capture a whole level and then pause the game. I pasted the level into the paint program and took my sweet time looking for the longest words. Then I'd unpause the game and hit those words. Doing this with the first 12 levels should have increased my score quite a bit, but nope. Those high scores just aren't possible.

el58092270 · ‎02-10-2021

Congratulations for your high scores! I'm amazed at your patience. To pause the level, screenshot it, find a long word, unpause and play that word, let the new arrangement of letters appear, and then repeat the process for each word must have taken a huge amount of time. I tried that method and it took so long I gave it up. BUT, I think that's about the only way you can get scores above about 45,000 given the time and luck constraints of the game. I'm wondering if the people who always score in the higher ranges might have found an even more efficient way to play the way you have described (like an algorithm) or if they are just bogus.

The tips you gave in your post and article are all very helpful. I play it the same way, looking for the potential for longer words all over the board before I start each level and always trying to find fixes or suffixes that will lengthen each word. My highest score is 45,700, but I normally score around 30,000 to 35,000. I agree with you that those highest scores are almost certainly impossible. I suspect it's being done either with some kind of algorithm or hack of the leaderboard.

Jiggerj · ‎02-10-2021

I know there's a way to go into the regedit part of a computer, find the internet part, locate a game your playing and your score will be there. You can change it. I suspect this is what those high scorers are doing.

You are right about how long it takes to paste into the paint program. I stopped that after just a few tries, especially since it wasn't increasing my score. Plus, I was just doing it to see if that's what the high scorers were doing. No point in playing if I'm going to cheat.

p996364w · ‎02-01-2021

The Washington Post Word Wipe scores are Always incredibly High!! I once saw a 1 million score, not that long ago. Well, that did it, there's some kind of hack going on in these games and the Word Wipe on MeTV has the same people getting Consistent scores....how can you be consistent every day in this game? It always gives you a whole bunch of H's and T's...how are you to make long words out so many of those letters? The #10 spot today on AARP's leaderboard is 66,434 and the #1 spot is 124,171. I used to get 6 figure scores on Letter Garden until they stopped supporting/maintaining that game. At least you could find words in that game. It's Very Frustrating!!

kathy19531995 · ‎12-20-2020

Somebody had 270,000 yesterday. That is impossible.

MaryanneP98749 · ‎02-03-2020

I just scored my all-time high tonight- 31,550, but I don't have a picture. I don't even login most of the time because I can't get near the leaderboard. I tend to agree that there is luck involved. Have you ever had a board that had hardly any vowels? I don't care how skilled you are, you're not forming words in English without vowels. Or if you have a q without a "u" nearby.

I tried and tried to find Word Wipe tips and finally came across a site with a tidbit I didn't already know. It indicated you could spell a word made up of two smaller words and you didn't have to do so in a straight line. For example, you could get credit for basketball by clicking on "basket" down and then clicking the letters for "ball" going across. I thought I hit the jackpot! I don't know if it's even legit, but if it is, I've never been able to try that even once. I don't know if I'm so used to using words going in one direction, that I don't see them or what. I'd love to hear about it if anyone else does this.

kathy19531995 · ‎12-20-2020

I lucked out one time and just stuck my remaining letters together. One was a "Q", so I knew it wouldn't word. Well, knock me down with a feather! It DID work! I think it was "qat". As I read your notice, I decided to see if that was the one and only word in English where "Q" doesn't require "U". When I googled I found (hold onto your hat!) that there are 47 such words in the English language!

Dinata · ‎02-05-2020

I have noticed that I mostly see left-to-right words. I regularly see words that snake around. Ocassionally see backwards words, and almost NEVER see words on a diagonal or going up. Even if I stop playing and just look for diagonal words, I don't see them. I guess my brain does not look like that.

el58092270 · ‎02-04-2020

MaryanneP98749 -- Congratulations on your high score. In my estimation, you're getting close to the highest believable scores.

In WordWipe, you know, you can string together letters in ALL directions. So "basketball" could be in all directions as a single word.

It's a LOT of luck, for the exact reasons you cited.

Don't forget "QAT".

kathy19531995 · ‎12-20-2020

I'm going to try that! I never even thought of it. Would basketball have to use that same initial "B" for both words for this to work?

el58092270 · ‎01-26-2020

WordWipe Breakthrough

Last evening, I had a breakthrough score in WordWipe. I made the highest score I have ever had – 39,599. This was 5,000 points more than I had ever scored before.

Everything worked to my benefit. Four and 5-letter words seemed to automatically form themselves. Words seemed to magically place themselves adjacent to each other. I didn’t miss a single second “mis-mousing” words. Even though I used 2 or 3 bombs in the first 10 Levels (rounds) to completely clear Levels, I still had 4 or 5 bombs left at Level 15 which allowed me to get to Level 17. I completely cleared and thus doubled my score on probably 15 of the 17 Levels I cleared. I had no boards where at the end I had a clot of consonants or vowels preventing me from clearing the board. It happens, right?

I have never been so lucky before. This level of luck could not be experienced on a consistent basis, certainly not by the same 6-8 people every single day. All this is to say, EVERYTHING went perfectly and my score was still “only” 39,599.

I have written several posts under the topic “WordWipe Scoring” and they can be seen after this post. One of the later ones I wrote was about how WordWipe is scored and what it takes to score at various levels. I spoke about the very significant role that luck plays in scoring well in WordWipe. I concluded that “it is highly likely that there are some bogus scores being reported for WordWipe”. This “breakthrough” score that I had reinforced that conclusion and gave me strong confidence that any score above about 45,000 is highly suspect, and scores above 50,000 are almost certainly bogus.

Why? Because everything worked perfectly for me in this breakthrough game and I still scored less than 40,000. I don’t see how anything could go significantly better. I had the best of luck in all ways.

In a prior post, I challenged anyone who consistently scores high, say around 45,000 and above, to post a screenshot of their score page to help establish its probable authenticity. In the post below (due to space restrictions for long posts), I have included a screenshot of a score page (not for my breakthrough game, unfortunately, but just to show which screen I'm talking about). I repeat my challenge for anyone who scores around 45,000 or above to post a screenshot, especially the same 6-8 people who appear on the leaderboard every single day. I can give you a list. I’m not trying to embarrass anyone but I am trying to keep the leaderboard understandable and honest.

In Windows 10, you can post a screenshot by holding down the Windows key and tapping the PrtScn key. This will take a screenshot of your score page as a .png file and store it in your Photos app. I would “Save as…” the file to your Desktop. Then open a Reply to any post in this thread. At the top of the screen is a button that says “Photos”. Select this button and then “Choose Files”. Find your screenshot on your Desktop or wherever you stored it and double-click on the file name. This will place your screenshot into your Reply. Easy peasy. I used the Windows Snipping tool to crop mine down to a smaller size but you don’t need to. I’m sure Apple has an equally easy way to take and post a screenshot.

Of course, a screenshot will not give a 100% guarantee of authenticity because there are other ways to produce a high score. For example, you may have discovered a way to freeze the board while you locate the best words, freeze the timer clock, use a word unscrambler, etc.. You can even produce a totally bogus score by hacking the score reporting system, thus eliminating the need to play the game at all. However, I’m betting that hackers will not bother to post screenshots but I’m hoping honest players will.

So take the challenge! Post your screenshots! You high scorers should be proud of what you have achieved if you have achieved it honestly. And share your tips for scoring high. It’s just a game.

kathy19531995 · ‎12-20-2020

YAY for you!! I am SO relieved to read about all of the fake scores on the "Readerboard". AARP needs to fix this. It takes some of the fun out of when I make "only" a 32,000.

el58092270 · ‎10-05-2020

This is an update to my posts earlier this year regarding how Word Wipe is scored. I believe now more firmly than ever that any score above 45,000 is almost certainly BOGUS. Since January 2020 when I was scoring in the 20,000-30,000 range, I have achieved a high score of 43,022.

That was my ONE time above 40,000. Currently I regularly score 30,000-35,000. But I continue to see scores reported of 50,000 to over 100,000. I don't believe them.

Everything went so perfectly in my high round that it reaffirmed my already firm belief that scores above 45,000 are almost certainly bogus. I repeat my challenge to anyone who reports scores above 45,000 to prove that their scores are honestly earned. If you did, you should be proud. Take a screenshot and post it. Or you can use the "Camera" icon above to post a photo. You can look at the Leaderboard toward the end of each day to see that it's always the same "people" reporting these ultra-high scores. Are they really bots?

kathy19531995 · ‎12-20-2020

I've never been over 32,000. Remarkable that you made over 43,000! That's GREAT! Yes, the stupid Leader Board is FAKE and must be corrected,

BChevrier · ‎10-12-2020

I have some tips, but I just joined the forum and I apologize if these are repeats. Hint 5 is the most important, if you don't know about it already.

I try to average about 2500/level, and get to at least level 12 every game. I consider that a "successful game" for my level of play. I can get in the high thirties pretty regularly and hit forty thousand sometimes.

1) Your goal on each level is to get the board down to a shape that can be totally removed with a single bomb. Eliminating every letter doubles that board's score, and this is very important. You can eliminate up to a 3 by 3 grid with a bomb, unless the letter in the middle of the 3 by 3 grid is missing.

2) The best way to achieve hint 1 is to not leave single columns of letters standing alone. If one springs up during the game, I concentrate on working on the base of the column, hoping to bring to single columns together.

3) It's important to attack the board with the goal of keeping it as one fairly large blob with no "cracks" or "spires" (see hint 2). I do this by attacking the left side of the board first, for example trying to get columns 1-3 totally gone before moving on. Then I do this again with columns 4-6. Once all of those columns are gone, I start at the top of columns 7-10 and try to shrink the remaining columns at about the same rate, trying to get to where I can apply hint 1.

4) Keep an eye out for your vowel/consonant mix. Don't make a word with a lot of vowels in it if you feel that there are not enough vowels on your board.

5) If you see a group three or more of the same letter together, that counts as a word. I tend to eliminate groups of the letter "I" this way because I always seem to have too many. You won't get many points this way but it's a great way to balance your board if it's too vowel-heavy or consonant-heavy. I've eliminated as many as eight of the same letter this way.

6) Although I typically attack the board left-to-right, if I see the letters "K," "J," or "Q," I start looking for words to use them in before I work on the rest of the columns in which they reside.

kathy19531995 · ‎12-20-2020

Great information. I've gradually been figuring out those same "hints" myself, but 32,000 is still the highest I've gotten. Just gotta keep on trying!

el58092270 · ‎10-13-2020

These are all good tips. I would say that, with respect to Hint 1, it is even better if you can clear as many boards as possible by forming words. That way, you can double your score on each board and save your bombs for later rounds when, I have found, you really need them because the time allowances are reduced and it is very difficult to acquire bombs in later rounds.

I had another unusually lucky round tonight, scoring just over 40,000 -- second time over 40,000. So much went right that it reinforces yet again my belief that any reported score above about 45,000 is probably bogus.

kathy19531995 · ‎12-20-2020

I just started saving my bombs yesterday, and was amazed at what a difference it made as I got to the highest levels! I'd never thought of that before, and it was really fun!

BChevrier · ‎10-13-2020

That's a good point about trying to save bombs for the harder levels. In fact, when I get down to 12 tiles left, if there's time, I look at the block of letters to see if I can see four separate words remaining and picking those, to clear the level without using a bomb. That way, I don't shoot myself in the foot by picking an easy word but leaving myself stuck without any other words.

Also, if you're running out of time on a level and haven't yet qualified for the next level, you are better off using all the remaining bombs before the round ends.

One other thing I thought of: especially on the early levels, when there's plenty of time, I try to see if I can't add a fourth letter to a three-letter word I've spotted. For example, if I start "DIE" and look around at the surrounding letters, I might find a "T" and play "DIET," which I hadn't even thought of. If I push myself hard to do this it can add 200-300 points on a level. If I clear the board on that level, it can be the difference between a 2400 point level and a 2800 point level.