Hey! Playing Word Ace? Curious what the letter distribution in the game is?
(E), (S) = backwards E/S
Number of each letter in the deck:
- E = 10
- A,I,O = 7
- R,T,N,L,C = 5
- U,D,P = 4
- M,H,Y,S = 3
- G,B,F,W,K,V = 2
- X,Z,J,Q, (E), (S) = 1
Point value of all letters:
- (E), (S) = -2pts
- A, E, I, O, U, S, T, N, R, L = 1pt
- C, D, P, M, H = 2pts
- G, B, F, Y = 4 pts
- W, K, V = 6 pts
- X, Z, J = 8 pts
- Q = 10 pts
So i dont fully understand the backword E and S are?
The backwards E and S are simply worth -2 points, instead of the usual 1pt.
E and S are particularly useful letters, so sometimes, you’ll want to use one even if it’s worth -2. If an E’s the only vowel, for instance, it still has tremendous value – or if an E/S lets you get into the 6 or 7 letter length bonuses, it’s worth some positive points.
I check the blog and the App Store every day to see if Word Ace is available, and I am growing despondent! Do you guys have any insight into the timeline?
Hey, Tycho – the only thing we’ve heard is that it should be soon. We got bounced for a simple issue, and resubmitted last week. It really should be any day now – believe me, we’re as anxious as you. The Palm version’s reception’s been really excellent, and we can’t wait to see how the iPhone community responds…
Thanks!
seppo
So the lowest-scoring word must be ‘sees’ (-8 points). What’s the highest? ‘squawky’ is a valid SOWPODS word and would be 49, that’s the highest I can think of.
Sees isn’t the lowest scoring word because there is only one backwards s and e according to the info up top. The lowest is something lik(s)(e)eve aide that’s -3/ -2–2=-4+1=-3
The highest scoring TWL words I’ve found are also 49 points. WAXWORK and JUKEBOX, neither one exotic.
The variation in point value and distribution from Scrabble gives some different power letters. W, K, V, and Y seem to be the game changers that open up possibilities in combination with the right vowels.
I think you may have a bug in your scoring within the app (Palm pre). Last night I spelled “REPULSE”, with no negative letters, and was awarded 28 points. By the info above, it should have been 35 points. I might have been a bit sleepy, but I’m pretty sure this is what happened (I wrote down the info when it occurred). I had a couple of other incidents before this where I thought it scored wrong, but didn’t have time to record the discrepancy at the rapid-fire table I was playing. Recommend you check it out…
Never mind – I was momentarily thinking the 7 letter length bonus was additive (2 + 5 + 20), but obviously it is not (just add 20 for seven letter word). False alarm!
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So that’s how it works. Would anyone out there be able to write a program that would calculate how much bodies of text would be worth if spelled in WordAce? I wonder how many points The Hitchikers Guide would pull if you tallied all the words…
The following are the lowest point scoring words at -3
USE, SUE, SEI, ENS, ELS, OSE, OES, ESS, ERS, RES, SAE, SEN, SER, SEL, LES, SEA, SEE, SET
If you allow Blanks and IF they get to keep the value of the letter they are replacing
you can make two words worth -8 points: SEES and ESES
oppositely you can make a 59 point word: ZYZZYVA