How can I maximize my score in Today’s Hurdle?

[AARPLynne]

In Today’s Hurdle, the goal is to win all five of the word puzzles. You’re going to want to plan your moves carefully, as the fewer guesses you need, the more points you get.

The score breaks down like this:

• 1,000 points for completion of a puzzle
• 100 points for each unused line

So if you finish a puzzle on your fourth guess, you’ll have two unused lines — which means you get 1,200 points!

These rules are the same for all five puzzles — no one puzzle is more important, score-wise, than the others. However, you get an extra bonus for finishing the fifth puzzle, in which the board pre-fills with your previous four answers. You still get 1,000 points for solving the puzzle, and 100 points if you have an unused line. This time, though, you’ll get 4,000 additional points for winning!

If you want to maximize your score, you should try to finish each puzzle in as few guesses as possible. Don’t worry about taking time to think through the best path forward, though, as there is no time limit or time penalty in Today’s Hurdle.

Or Play in Hard Mode. In hard mode your score will be multiplied by 1.5 so the highest score is 10,800 * 1.5 = 16,200 points.

To enable hard mode, click on the "hamburger" menu in the top left corner, click on Settings and enable the Hard Mode.

[8strts]

Why are people so bent on trying to get the highest score? I just love playing it, so my brain gets all “wired up”! 

[Kim4Him]

Great attitude!  I thank God that I have a well-functioning brain, plus the time and means to play it.  Many people do not have these luxuries.

[r767831w]

I would really like a response to my question about how people are scoring higher than the scoring system permits.  Please respond.

[KeithB811680]

as a test I went to arkadia and played the game there first - the responses were identical to the game via the aarp website - using those answers to get the answer on the first try every time I get a maximum score of 10,800 points. - however apparently if you go to "hard mode" the score is increased by 1.5x - so... pretty much guaranteed that anyone reporting this maximum score cheated.

[DeboraC341201]

I wonder if they are solving hurdle in another location and then using the answers here...

[SusanS345618]

Play in Hard Mode. Change the setting to hard mode prior to playing and you will find you get more points for each puzzle you complete.

[polio1949kid]

Yes, definitely playing in the Hard Mode is key if the score is important to you.  (I never even noticed there were “hints” available in the regular mode so I never used those.)  I simply play this and several other similar games to give my senior brain an exercise when I can’t sleep.

[r767831w]

Then how is it possible that the top scorers each day have 14,000+ points?

[SusanS345618]

Play in Hard Mode. It gives you more points for each puzzle completed.

[garyfish49]

For an answer to the question above, check out AARPLynne's post on 01/04/2023 at the following link:

https://community.aarp.org/t5/Games-Talk/Today-s-Hurdle-FAQs/m-p/2476031#M2800