Wordfind! - jump right in and play

[Something_Smart]

ego

you all missed enmity last round

[Something_Smart]

I will say the WIFOM element is kinda nasty, in that you want to pick words that you think other people are unlikely to pick. For instance I had 11 words on my 5+ list but I took out Taxed because I thought more people would find it; if I had taken out Dealt instead that would have had a huge difference in Kat's score but no difference in mine.

And putting a shorter word that nobody bothers to write (like Look, which I'm sure we all saw) can sometimes be worth more than putting a longer word, but there's not really a reliable way to know if that will work, and it incentivizes mindgames over actually finding the longest possible words. Maybe unique words should be +1 rather than double?

[Something_Smart]

I think it feels bad. I like searching for words. I don't like trying to guess which words which players are going to pick, or worrying about whether I should sacrifice potential points by including a shorter word that I think people are less likely to say.

I do like encouraging people to find creative words, but if you double the points then it makes the game less about who found longer words and more about who decided to include which words in their list (for instance, NeenieKit's words were by far the shortest and yet she got the second best score). I brainstormed a few possible changes that would improve this:

• Remove unique bonuses entirely. In my opinion, better than the current system, but it doesn't really reward clever words at all. Probably not as fun as it could be.
  
• Have each player submit a list as long as they like, and use the entire list in determining unique words, but use only the first 10 words on the list to determine their score. That makes about what words you think the other players will FIND, not what words you think they will PUT. However, it also penalizes those who don't have enough time to devote to something so exhaustive (though as long as two people make an exhaustive list of 2-4 letter words, they should cover most of the problem words).
  
• Give a fixed bonus to unique words rather than double. +1 seems like not quite enough given that the top contenders will likely have ROUGHLY the same number of unique words, but +2 means that a six-letter word that multiple people happened to find can be worth as much as someone writing down a random four-letter word that nobody else chose to put. +1.5 is interesting, and if you don't mind giving out half points, this would be my recommendation.
  
• Pick a number, probably between 1 and 3, of key words each player must designate each round. There are no unique bonuses, but key words are worth double points for anyone who wrote them (including the person who picked them). This is better because players are motivated to pick longer words that they think other players won't find, but they only have to pick out a few words that they think other players won't find. It doesn't solve the issue entirely, and it's a bit complicated, but it still retains some of the strategy element if you want that.

[Something_Smart]

-deleted-

Edit: I AM A DUMBASS WHO DOESN'T KNOW WHAT A PM BUTTON IS.
For fairness I will keep the original post and not use these words, up to BuJaber if he wants to ban them or not. Sorry

Edit 2: Since Kat deleted her response I might as well delete the post. If BuJaber wants me to reveal what words I mentioned I will.

[Something_Smart]

no you are supposed to chastise me for discussing words in the thread, not answer my question

my apologies BuJaber. Was a complete accident.

[Something_Smart]

VOTE: 2

[Something_Smart]

Razor

(sorry to bust your bubble insanity but there's only one R )