WORDS WITH FRIENDS TIPS

I’ve been playing Words with Friends about a year now. It resembles Scrabble, but Scrabble takes an hour to play, and WWF can be played a couple of minutes at a time and scattered over the day or saved until several contests appear at once. I often wait for four or more.

Why offer tips? Do I think I’m a master? Far from it. Yesterday I won a game by 100 points and lost to someone else by the same amount. However, I’ve lost by 100 to the one I beat, and won a few from the one who demolished me.  However, I do have learned some stuff, and perhaps you’ll comment to sharpen these tips and add others – or maybe even show I’m wrong! I WAS wrong once. I think. And btw, some of these apply also to Scrabble, but you get to argue in that game over whether a word is permissible. In WWF, there’s no appeal from the software.

1 – Play defense. The single thing that is most likely to improve you game is not setting up your opponent. The biggest thing to watch out for is the triple word and triple letter squares, especially if both are open. Try not to play in the other three if you can’t land on the triple word square. To do so is to make it too easy for your opponent to hit the triple word for a big score. An exception is when you can play an 8 or 10 point word on the triple letter for 24 -30 points.

2 – Try to save and play S and ED where words join, thus making two words plural at the same time. Double points. Occasionally you can join two closely placed words with another letter. Watch for it. Make every S count. Unless it extends a word to a double or triple word score, save your S for better use. Otherwise it only counts one point.

3 – Same advice for the blank tiles, which I most often use as an extra S. But they can also finish out a word on the ever important triple letter/word areas.

4 – Aim for as many triple word/letter combos as possible. And note the game first totals the triple letter, then multiplies that by three. So if you have a choice, put the biggest point letter on the triple letter square.

5 – To a lesser degree this also applies to double words. Don’t forget to see whether you can put a big letter on a nearby double or triple letter square.

6 – Two double letter squares are only five letters apart. One of the strongest scoring moves is to play a five or more letter word across them. Thus a good use of S is to gain entry to that area. Often you can pluralize a word with the S at the first or last of the two spaces, leaving only a four letter noun to pluralize for points.

7 – Luck – Equal players’ games will often be run by the luck of the draw, not only by whether you get high value points, but whether you get tiles that allow you to play those high value points. I have won and lost by 100 points in consecutive games with the same person. Over time, the more skilled will win more games.

8 – All consonants or all vowels. The first makes you look for open vowels to bracket with consonants to make a word. With all vowels you often can only play one letter, which makes it harder to add consonants, but sometimes you can play that vowel next to a Z, J, Q, or X and collect a few.

9 – If you are new, you will soon find weird words that work: ZA, XI, XU and QI. For some reason they don’t allow IQ or IV, which are ok in most Scrabble games I play in. And OK isn’t ok? Huh?

10 – Be careful about swapping letters. It’s tempting to get rid of useless letters in hopes of getting better letters. But consider: when you swap, you not only get NO points, but your opponent does continue to play. Most of the time, I think I’m better off playing one or two letters for 8 or 12 points than getting none at all. Even two beats nothing.

11 – An exception may be at the end of the game. Recently I had four I’s with less than a dozen letters left. I swapped all four and was able to eke out a win in a close game. Note that I also left four I’s for my opponent to draw.

12 – Cheating. Is using a helper app such as Win Every Game (a website that is an acronym finder) cheating? People differ. I won’t use it against beginners or weaker players. I will use it against strong players, especially if I think they are using it against me. I have a personal rule not to use really weird words that I have no clue about. I only use it as a memory jogger to see possibilities. Remember, you still have to select the word and put it on the board in the best place.

13 – A teen I play taught me to keep trying letters even if I don’t know the word meanings. He opposes “cheating” (see #12) but freely substitutes one letter after another until the computer accepts one. I recently played “pung,” on this principle and scored points!

14 – Don’t get discouraged. This should probably have been #1, but I’m not going back and change all the numbers now! When you begin, you will likely get your plow cleaned by most or even all those you play. Keep playing and keep learning. Soon you will win a game here and there, then more. Eventually you will become an experienced player and win more than half your games.

15 – Control addiction. Don’t play when you don’t have time. It’s ok to skip a day or even a week. You don’t have to accept every game or sign up for a new one as soon as you finish the last one. Pick it up when you have time and always play for a good time, not as a duty.

Well, that’s it for now. Add in your comments below and help us all out!