Words With Friends idiots

[Kodos]

Phiz
Vires
Neem
Fen
Qat
Suq
Loge

I hate people who play bullshit words in Words With Friends. Those are all words from just one game against my friend, and I know for a fact that his vocabulary is not THAT good. I know there are sites out there to get words from, but I refuse to use them. Whatever happened to the days of Scrabble when it was a game of strategy and vocabulary?

[jeff061]

Qat has been the biggest continuous offender in my games.

[Autumn]

I hate the same thing in Scrabble games, all those lame-ass words people only know because they're useful in Scrabble.

[Ksyrup]

My mom got my wife into playing that game, and she was bitching about this last night.

[cartman]

There is no penalty for trying random combinations in the hope they work, like there is in Scrabble.

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by Kodos

Phiz
Vires
Neem
Fen
Qat
Suq
Loge

I hate people who play bullshit words in Words With Friends. Those are all words from just one game against my friend, and I know for a fact that his vocabulary is not THAT good. I know there are sites out there to get words from, but I refuse to use them. Whatever happened to the days of Scrabble when it was a game of strategy and vocabulary?

I'm with you on six of those seven, but 'loge' is a word I wouldn't be surprised to find in a casual player's vocab, even if only in a sporting venue context.

Fen is reasonable, if a little more obscure.

The other five, yeah. Dodgy.

[AENeuman]

Originally Posted by Kodos

Phiz
Vires
Neemou
Fen
Qat
Suq
Loge

I hate people who play bullshit words in Words With Friends. Those are all words from just one game against my friend, and I know for a fact that his vocabulary is not THAT good. I know there are sites out there to get words from, but I refuse to use them. Whatever happened to the days of Scrabble when it was a game of strategy and vocabulary?

but, come on, now that you know, you would use "qat" if you had the chance?

i've always thought the perfect game would be using only two letter words.
here's the list for you to continue the bullshit

* AA AB AD AE AG AH AI AL AM AN AR AS ATAW AX AY
* BA BE BI BO BY
* DA DE DI DO
* ED EF EH EL EM EN ER ES ET EX
* FA FE FI
* GO
* HA HE HI HM HO
* ID IF IN IS IT
* JO
* KAKI
* LA LI LO
* MA ME MI MM MO MU MY
* NA NE NO NU
* OD OE OF OH OI OM ON OP OR OS OW OX OY
* PA PE PI
* QI
* RE
* SH SI SO
* TA TI TO
* UH UM UN UP US UT
* WE WO
* XI XU
* YA YE YO
* ZA ZO

[MJ4H]

This is amusing. As a reasonably competetive Scrabble player, none of those words offend me. All words, no matter how well known, are treated equally in these games. Think of words as an arbitrary string of letters that is legal to play instead of words and it is much better for your sanity.

One of the first things a decent Scrabble player does is learn all (ALL) of the 2 letter words and the Q no U words. QAT and QAID are the most commonly played on that list. SUQ is pretty common, too.

Any three letter word shouldn't be a surprise to a decent player, either. Most reasonable Scrabble players know all of them. There are just under 1,000, I believe. Here is a list of them.

http://www.yak.net/kablooey/scrabble/3letterwords.html

I don't think people that know the basics of the game you are playing with them should be called idiots.

Now, if you have reason to believe they are cheating, that's different. But just calling people that play those words idiots is, well, not too smart.

[Rizon]

You have to assume that not playing someone face-to-face they're gonna cheat. Why I don't play anyone chess/scrabble/words with friends/biscuit unless they are within punching-in-the-face range.

[Apathetic Lurker]

When I used to play scrabble we had to know the definition and the use of an obscure word before we could play it....

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by MJ4H

This is amusing. As a reasonably competetive Scrabble player, none of those words offend me. All words, no matter how well known, are treated equally in these games. Think of words as an arbitrary string of letters that is legal to play instead of words and it is much better for your sanity.

One of the first things a decent Scrabble player does is learn all (ALL) of the 2 letter words and the Q no U words. QAT and QAID are the most commonly played on that list. SUQ is pretty common, too.

Any three letter word shouldn't be a surprise to a decent player, either. Most reasonable Scrabble players know all of them. There are just under 1,000, I believe. Here is a list of them.

http://www.yak.net/kablooey/scrabble/3letterwords.html

I don't think people that know the basics of the game you are playing with them should be called idiots.

Ding ding ding. Growing up, Scrabble was very serious business in my household. We used the Official Scrabble Dictionary. By the time I was around 9 or 10, I had memorized every single legal 2-letter word. Those are the key to winning the game. If you think Scrabble is about vocabulary, then you're just not very good at Scrabble.

As far as those specific words, "Qat" and "Suq" are must-have words for any decent scrabble player, and "Loge" and "Fen" aren't really vocab stretches. And has someone has pointed out, the fundamental flaw in Words with Friends is that you can try any letter combination without penalty.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by Apathetic Lurker

When I used to play scrabble we had to know the definition and the use of an obscure word before we could play it....

Well, if people want to use House Rules, that's certainly their right, but in the rules of the game, there's nothing that indicates you need to know what the words mean.

[EagleFan]

Originally Posted by Apathetic Lurker

When I used to play scrabble we had to know the definition and the use of an obscure word before we could play it....

+1

It's what makes it fun. Plus you learn as you go.


I stopped playing Hanging with Friends because of this same BS. I certainly wouldn't consider it a victory if I had to search the internet to come up with the most obscure word that I could with the letters I was given.

[EagleFan]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

Well, if people want to use House Rules, that's certainly their right, but in the rules of the game, there's nothing that indicates you need to know what the words mean.

But there are rules against using outside sources to come up with the word.

[Drake]

I stopped playing Scrabble with my wife because she wouldn't play without the official Scrabble dictionary.

I don't mind the dictionary existing to resolve disputes, but my wife would dig through it *during the game* to find words to use. Her excuse? "You know my spelling sucks. I need to know I'm spelling it right before I try to play it."

Here's my thing: I'm not a huge fan of word games anyway. When you make me sit there for 20 fucking minutes while you troll through the dictionary for a word you can use...well, I've got better things to do. If I had any power over the rules of Scrabble (even in my own house)...it would be this: when it's your turn, you've got 90 seconds to put your tiles on the board or you lose your turn and 20 points.

If four people are playing, that's more than five minutes to look at 8 letters and come up with your play. I can't say I've ever thought even half that long about a Scrabble play, so that's probably even being over-generous.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by EagleFan

But there are rules against using outside sources to come up with the word.

Outside sources, sure. I don't do that. Like I said, I just have all of the 2-letter words memorized, and most of the 3-letter ones. To be good at Scrabble, you really don't need outside sources during the game.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by Drake

I don't mind the dictionary existing to resolve disputes, but my wife would dig through it *during the game* to find words to use.

Heh. Now that ain't right.

[cartman]

most of the 4 letter ones I know aren't in the Scrabble dictionary.

[Kodos]

I expect my friends to play words they know. If they've picked up some words along the way, fine. But when half their turns are crap words, I get annoyed.

I would fully expect a random internet opponent to be an idiot. I expect more out of my friends.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by Kodos

I expect my friends to play words they know. If they've picked up some words along the way, fine. But when half their turns are crap words, I get annoyed.

I would fully expect a random internet opponent to be an idiot. I expect more out of my friends.

If your opponent has played highly competitively most of his life and therefore just knows a lot of legal words without knowing their meaning, that's not an "idiot." That's "someone who is good at Scrabble."

[Autumn]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

Outside sources, sure. I don't do that. Like I said, I just have all of the 2-letter words memorized, and most of the 3-letter ones. To be good at Scrabble, you really don't need outside sources during the game.

I understand this is how serious Scrabble players play, and is why I would never want to be a serious Scrabble player, or play with one. To me it's no longer the game it was meant to be once players have memorized every two and three letter word, or know every possible six letter word with a Q, or what have you. I'm sure it's still fun for those people, to play against each other, but it's become a different game.

To me the game is about being able to recall words as you look at your limited selection of tiles. Learning new words just to use them in the game seems to miss the spirit of the game to me. But that's true, to me, about most really competitive sports/games. They become something different once you have every permutation and possibility memorized, and they no longer interest me much. Like in board games, when you know a game so well that there are certain moves you just never make because they're not maximum efficiency ... it loses the immersive fun for me to step back and look at things at that level. I'd rather make a fun move, that doesn't make perfect strategic sense, just like I'd rather play some low scoring word in Scrabble than one I don't really know, but scores better.

[AENeuman]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

the fundamental flaw in Words with Friends is that you can try any letter combination without penalty.

My wife and her friends all say this is the only reason wwf is fun. totally changes the game, but there seems to be a relaxing yet mildly stimulating thing in this trial and error type of game play. seems like a male/female competitive thing to me.

[Pumpy Tudors]

This thread brings me much joy.

Also, I agree with MJ4H.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by Autumn

I understand this is how serious Scrabble players play, and is why I would never want to be a serious Scrabble player, or play with one.

That's fair. And I rarely play against people who aren't aware of how serious the Lewises are about Scrabble.

To me it's no longer the game it was meant to be once players have memorized every two and three letter word, or know every possible six letter word with a Q, or what have you.

Here's where I completely disagree, though. If it was intended to be about playing words you know, then there'd be a "define the word" provision in the rules. Also, the fact that the company that makes the game also puts out a dictionary of legal words tells me that they "intend" for people to go all out.

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by Autumn

I understand this is how serious Scrabble players play, and is why I would never want to be a serious Scrabble player, or play with one. To me it's no longer the game it was meant to be once players have memorized every two and three letter word, or know every possible six letter word with a Q, or what have you. I'm sure it's still fun for those people, to play against each other, but it's become a different game.

To me the game is about being able to recall words as you look at your limited selection of tiles. Learning new words just to use them in the game seems to miss the spirit of the game to me. But that's true, to me, about most really competitive sports/games. They become something different once you have every permutation and possibility memorized, and they no longer interest me much. Like in board games, when you know a game so well that there are certain moves you just never make because they're not maximum efficiency ... it loses the immersive fun for me to step back and look at things at that level. I'd rather make a fun move, that doesn't make perfect strategic sense, just like I'd rather play some low scoring word in Scrabble than one I don't really know, but scores better.

+1

To explain my position a little better, I play these games with my friends in the hope of replicating childhood Scrabble games, where you played face-to-face with no external resources allowed. A dictionary would be agreed upon as the final authority, and challenge rules were in place. If a challenged word is not in the dictionary, the person who played the word loses a turn. If a challenged word is in the dictionary, then the challenger loses a turn.

I am not a tournament player. I’m in this just for fun as a way of interacting with my friends. I expect my friends not to use outside sources when coming up with words. Clearly, to play in a tournament, you need to memorize lists of words. That’s fine. I have no desire to spend my time doing that. I don’t want to play people who want to play that way. I just want a competitive game with a friends with mutually agreed-upon rules in place where our vocabulary and strategy skills in large part determine the winner. If I were entering a tournament, I would have different expectations. This is just supposed to be for fun.

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

If your opponent has played highly competitively most of his life and therefore just knows a lot of legal words without knowing their meaning, that's not an "idiot." That's "someone who is good at Scrabble."

I know my friend. He is not a competitive Scrabble player. He's never played in a tournament. He is clearly using a word generator. That isn't what I signed up for.

[gstelmack]

Originally Posted by Rizon

Why I don't play anyone chess/scrabble/words with friends/biscuit unless they are within punching-in-the-face range.

FWIW, when designing split-screen features for video games, this is a key rule when deciding if a feature is worth it or not. If your friend wants to be an idiot, you can always punch him, so we focus on what's fun, not on trying to keep everyone in line in the game design.

Online is a different story.

An example here is online, bringing up a pause menu is a big no-no, you have to let the game run in the background, we have to force you to spawn in at some point, etc. But we can allow the pause menu in splitscreen, because if your buddy keeps pausing the game and being a jerk about it, you can always punch him in the face.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by Kodos

+1 I expect my friends not to use outside sources when coming up with words.

I guess that's my question, though: how do you know for sure that they're using outside sources? Do they play WwF frequently? Could be as simple as they've been burned with "SUQ" in a previous game, and thought "need to store that one away." For example, when I was growing up, "QI" wasn't in the Scrabble Dictionary, but it has made its way into legal use. Someone played that one on me in the FB Scrabble. I challenged it and lost, and then of course immediately it was in my own arsenal.

And again, the fundamental flaw with this game is that you don't have to use an outside source. You can just try to play a word, and if it doesn't work, try something else. Based on the words you put up there, my guess is that your friend was doing that, not using some internet source. I'd think an internet source would yield longer words than that.

[Bobble]

"When a patient gets difficult, you quone them." Suq that, Neems!

[Ksyrup]

Speaking of scrabble-like games, has anyone played Spelltower? Just picked it up on my ipod. Pretty fun.

[cartman]

It is perfectly cromulent to embiggen your word knowledge for the game.

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

I guess that's my question, though: how do you know for sure that they're using outside sources? Do they play WwF frequently? Could be as simple as they've been burned with "SUQ" in a previous game, and thought "need to store that one away." For example, when I was growing up, "QI" wasn't in the Scrabble Dictionary, but it has made its way into legal use. Someone played that one on me in the FB Scrabble. I challenged it and lost, and then of course immediately it was in my own arsenal.

And again, the fundamental flaw with this game is that you don't have to use an outside source. You can just try to play a word, and if it doesn't work, try something else. Based on the words you put up there, my guess is that your friend was doing that, not using some internet source. I'd think an internet source would yield longer words than that.

There are longer words too, just not in the particular game I referenced. Our series is still fairly equal. I think he's ahead 6-4 at this point. And to his credit, he is a very bright guy. So it is possible the bulk are just from experience. He's also a competitive person, so I'm sure he does learn from getting burned exactly as you described above. I guess I will make a list of odd words to add to my arsenal. I immediately used SUQ against his wife after he used it on me.

The lack of a challenge rule (along with the ability to test words until something is accepted) really does hurt the game.

[Bobble]

Originally Posted by Kodos

I immediately used SUQ against his wife after he used it on me.

You might want to rephrase...

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by Kodos

I guess I will make a list of odd words to add to my arsenal. I immediately used SUQ against his wife after he used it on me.

..and somewhere, on some message boards frequented by her, she is complaining about Words With Friends Idiots who use B.S. words.

[Ben E Lou]

Oh, and I've never played in a tournament, but I've read about them. More often than not, the champions of the big tourneys win (or lose) by bluffing, actually. Play a 7-letter word that may or may not be actually a word, and see if the other guy has the chutzpah to challenge it. I recall reading a tidbit in SI in the 80s about a guy who won 50 grand on the strength of a late-game 7-letter bluff word that gave him a small lead. The other dude thought it might have been a word, and figured he'd have a better chance to win by not challenging it, but he lost by a few points. The guy who played it was 99% sure it wasn't a word, but figured it was his only chance at that point.

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

..and somewhere, on some message boards frequented by her, she is complaining about Words With Friends Idiots who use B.S. words.

She uses those kinds of words all the time as well. Once she came up with some 7-letter word for the root of a nearly extinct tree in Florida. Or something like that.

[Logan]

Originally Posted by Autumn

I understand this is how serious Scrabble players play, and is why I would never want to be a serious Scrabble player, or play with one. To me it's no longer the game it was meant to be once players have memorized every two and three letter word, or know every possible six letter word with a Q, or what have you. I'm sure it's still fun for those people, to play against each other, but it's become a different game.

To me the game is about being able to recall words as you look at your limited selection of tiles. Learning new words just to use them in the game seems to miss the spirit of the game to me. But that's true, to me, about most really competitive sports/games. They become something different once you have every permutation and possibility memorized, and they no longer interest me much. Like in board games, when you know a game so well that there are certain moves you just never make because they're not maximum efficiency ... it loses the immersive fun for me to step back and look at things at that level. I'd rather make a fun move, that doesn't make perfect strategic sense, just like I'd rather play some low scoring word in Scrabble than one I don't really know, but scores better.

Reminds me of the FOFC (the game, not the message board) experience for many.

[Warhammer]

We played this for the word building aspect. So, if you played a word, you better know what that word meant. That said, you have to play with challenges, bluffing is an important part of this game as well as others. We also agreed on dictionaries that had definitions, not word lists.

You would also have to play fast, with the exception of my mom, who would always take at least 5 mins per turn. That is why I loathe Scrabble to this day.

[Pumpy Tudors]

I DON'T KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS SO IT'S NOT A WORD

[Rizon]

Originally Posted by Pumpy Tudors

I DON'T KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS SO IT'S NOT A WORD

If a word falls in a forest and nobody is around to hear it is it really a word?

[MJ4H]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

I guess that's my question, though: how do you know for sure that they're using outside sources? Do they play WwF frequently? Could be as simple as they've been burned with "SUQ" in a previous game, and thought "need to store that one away." For example, when I was growing up, "QI" wasn't in the Scrabble Dictionary, but it has made its way into legal use. Someone played that one on me in the FB Scrabble. I challenged it and lost, and then of course immediately it was in my own arsenal.

And again, the fundamental flaw with this game is that you don't have to use an outside source. You can just try to play a word, and if it doesn't work, try something else. Based on the words you put up there, my guess is that your friend was doing that, not using some internet source. I'd think an internet source would yield longer words than that.

QI and ZA were the biggest additions to the repertoire back when TWL06 replaced TWL98.

In your later post, the "bluffing" thing is fairly common, but it is more rare that it works than one might think. Taking out challenges from the game is a practical decision, but a disastrous one for the game itself.

By the way, words that aren't words are called "phonies" in Scrabble terminology.

[Danny]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

Well, if people want to use House Rules, that's certainly their right, but in the rules of the game, there's nothing that indicates you need to know what the words mean.

I use words in my everyday conversation that I have no idea what they mean. Splazzle doop mopshop

[Autumn]

Originally Posted by Logan

Reminds me of the FOFC (the game, not the message board) experience for many.

Yes, exactly, which is funny, I was trying to think of a parallel experience. I knew there was one, and I think FOF was exactly what I was trying to think of. [duh] When you get to the point where you've got it all figured out and you're able to put together a perfect team by using the same formula every time then yes, yo'ure better at the game, but in my mind the fun is gone. Making a team that maybe isn't that good but lends to the immersion, for me, is where it's at. Good call, very similar for me.

[Kodos]

Agreed. FOF2001 was more fun than later versions because it wasn't dissected so much. You just built a team how you thought it should be, and that was usually good enough to enjoy some success in the game, but still lose enough to keep things interesting. With later versions that introduced multiplayer, the optimizers forced others to adopt whatever the current optimal strategies were or be left behind. Which turned out to be less fun in some ways.

[ShaneTheMaster]

It is imperative to know the 2 & 3 letter words to be competitive (especially the 2 letter words).

Oh, and War of Words on iOS is SO much better than WWF. I don't have the urge to play WWF or Scrabble anymore.

[Young Drachma]

Words With Friends Stats

For the dorks who want to keep track of their stats. It only counts extended stats (aka, rankings) between players also registered for the site. But there's a way around that if you just want to see your #s, etc.

[Butter]

I just got a smartphone, so I don't even know if anyone is still playing this... but if you are, my username is priceg75. I will beat you. Yes, I will.

[CrimsonFox]

yeah Joey Rachel and Ross are just idiots I agree.
Chandler and Phoebe are cool tho.

[Kodos]

What about Monica?!

[CrimsonFox]

Fuck that bitch!!!!!!!!!!!