Scramble with Friends (SWF) - Containment /Strat Thread

[thedirtydirty]

Originally Posted by JL514

i dont think so tim

[keepitreal]

Originally Posted by offTopic

How to? I just started playing a couple of days ago.

I was able to drop JET/JIVY for 55 on the penultimate turn, and then closed out with BUILDER for 69.

on the iphone if u simultaneously press the bottom center button and the power button, it'll flash and put a pic in your photos.

but your description does the trick, well done!

[Michaelson]

I wish you could get stats on wwf. Win percentages, average scores, average scores per turn etc.

Been taking wwf much more seriously of late having started betting on it. Some random observations:

People don't swap tiles enough. Sometimes it's much better not to have to move and fish for versatile tiles instead.

In terms of value, I think there's no doubt that X is the best tile for the reason mentioned earlier in this thread: there are two letter combos with all the vowels. You can hold onto Xs with almost certain knowledge that an opportunity will arise to score big. Z, Q and J are second tier and all roughly equivalent, and S trails just behind them. I think V is probably the worst because you can't make any two letter words with it and it can be hard to get rid of.

People who get annoyed by the trial and error approach should stick to B&M scrabble. wwf is much more a board game than a word game.

[IcyHotMonkey]

You should almost never swap tiles!

And I typically use a strategy of immediately using my blank tiles...

[Michaelson]

Why do you say you should never swap tiles? I find there are fairly regularly situations where I have a pretty bad rack, and any move I make is going to have a negative net result by opening up the board for my opponent. In those situations I usually pass the torch. I think I do this on average probably once every couple of games.

[offTopic]

I just had to do it pretty effin late - good time for no vowels

[imjosh]

+! for V being the worst letter, though I also hate C, for the same reason. I don't often swap and I'm sure there are many cases when I should have swapped but I didn't; I think that is one of the biggest leaks in my game.

[Yeti]

if you have a horrid rack and the only move you can do would be to get rid of 2 or 3 of them for a handful of points, it would be bad to not swap.

similarly if you have a horrid rack and there's only a few tiles left in the bag.

or what michaelson said.

so basically tons of situations!



oh and getting rid of blanks immediately seems very bad. if you have a blank and an S you're in excellent shape to get a bingo very soon providing the board isn't too clogged.

[Omar Comin]

C is an awesome letter. I really hate playing 1 turn every 2 hours on this, so I play everything at the same time and hope that someone is willing to just go back and forth for a while till I get bored/beat.

[IcyHotMonkey]

Pretty rare that you can't place 1-3 letters down without opening up the board... guess if you're good enough you find the right fit instead of having to swap,

Not saying that I never swap, but its not common. Approx. once every 10-12 games.

[Michaelson]

New strat question: How should you conceptualise the net gain of a particular move?

Obviously just going '46 points, sweet!' is insufficient, because it doesn't take into account how you may have set up your opponent for their next go. If they turn around and put 60 on you then you've come out behind. But then of course it's your go and perhaps the board is now open for you...

Obviously this chain only sorts itself out at the end of the game, but when considering one individual go is there a good way to conceptualise all this strategically? Perhaps it's different in every scenario. For the most part I don't think much further ahead than my opponents next go, unless it's a situation where there are lots of vulnerable value squares, and that doesn't happen too often.

Not sure if that makes sense...

[Michaelson]

Originally Posted by IcyHotMonkey

Pretty rare that you can't place 1-3 letters down without opening up the board... guess if you're good enough you find the right fit instead of having to swap,

Not saying that I never swap, but its not common. Approx. once every 10-12 games.

Yeah, but putting down 1-3 letters for 10 points and a ****ty rack is often not as valuable as paying 10 points for the potential to get some good letters to play with.

[Roy]

I probably swap once every 2-3 games and feel pretty good about it.

[imjosh]

My friend and I were playing and we ran into a terrible bug where on my screen it says I played a word, on his screen it says I played a word too but is no longer showing the word he previously played, and his game says it is still my turn, so neither of us can resign to end the game.

[mdm13]

Originally Posted by IcyHotMonkey

You should almost never swap tiles!

And I typically use a strategy of immediately using my blank tiles...

this is not good. swapping tiles is not a bad thing if its going to take multiple turns to get something decent. blank tiles should be saved for using all your tiles or another very big play.

very basic strategy advice would be

-try to keep a balanced rack of vowels and consonants even if it means sacrificing a few points in the short term
-look to building racks of common letters (a,e,i,o,d,l,n,t,r,s) that you can use all your tiles
-learn obscure two and three letter words for purposes of hooking
-use blanks and s's wisely. these are very valuable to make seven letter words and being able to play them

i really wish i didnt have a palm after seeing the world playing all these scrabble clones