Scrabble Wizard but Scrabble Cubes Chump

[emanuelinmontreal]

I am one of the best players in Canada at Scrabble and have represented Canada at the World Scrabble Championships in 2003 but I am having a very hard time getting my score on scrabble cubes anywhere close to where it needs to be in order to make money on this site. My highest score has been 600 which is pathetic when the top echelon of players who are making good money on this site score 950+ on a consistent basis. What am I doing wrong?
If people like Nigel Richards and Brian Cappelletto are on this site I won't even consider trying to win money here. I know Rahn from Jumbletime and although he isn't one of the best scrabble players in the world he is one of the best scrabble cubes players in the world so what is the key skill in scrabble cubes? I don't think it's word knowledge.

Emanuel

[Renaldo Moon]

Haha, don't worry. Nigel Richards and Brian Cappalletto aren't on here. I doubt they've even heard of Scrabble Cubes.

Rahn and Brian Shumble are the only serious Scrabble-players playing Cubes, I think.

How long have you been playing, may I ask? Most of this game is recognition, not knowledge. It's about being able to look at a jumble of words and see what's available. It's a trait most Scrabble players already have honed, but if you're new to Scrabble Cubes, it can be awfully daunting.

To give an example, I'm one of the top Scrabble Cubes players. I'm hesitant to give myself a rank, since I'd have a biased viewpoint on the matter, but perhaps Brian (bmy) or Rahn can give a good estimate of where I'd rank within our peers.

Regardless, I'm one* of the top Scrabble Cubes players, but my word knowledge is weak, at best, compared to the rest of the players. 80% of the words I play are words an elementary school student would know, "PITCHED" "PUTTERS" "TATTERS" "TELLING", yet I'm very successfully competing with players who know the 8,000 most common 7-letter words.

It's really nothing too special except getting familiar with the mechanics and layout of the game. I recognize words in the clutter a lot faster just from practice and repetition.


Some of the other top-rankers include college students (myself, 19), musicians, writers, and very generic people who just happen to like playing Scrabble. Not too many Scrabble experts.

[emanuelinmontreal]

I have been playing for a couple of days now. What I am having most trouble with is strategy. I've watched your videos and when you play it seems so easy but when I play I always seem to get parts of the cube with bvxqw that are unplayable. And I never get close to finishing on time because I focus so much on finding seven letter words. I don't play words less than six or seven letters. Can you give me any other key strategy tips that help with scoring high and finishing the cube? My word knowledge is probably even stronger than Rahn's so I feel that I should be good at this game and if people with regular vocabulary can excel at this game such as yourself i must be missing some particular insight into the game that you have mastered.

[Renaldo Moon]

Well, don't be so harsh as to only play 6 and 7 letter words. The videos I've recorded are good boards that I've gotten, so if I'm able to finish off a set using almost entirely 6 and 7 letter words, it's an exceptionally good layout.

You're probably more apt to get 7 letter words than me, but don't bog yourself down with it so much that you can't finish. Play some 4 and 5 letter words when you don't see any 7 letter words.

Have you read the strategy guide I wrote in this word games section? (Not that it answers everything, but if you've read it, then I'll try my best to give you new information, rather than sounding like a broken record of myself)

Also, in Cubes you can't connect the Double Word and Triple Word bonuses together for a big combo, so use them separately for what they're worth.

Do you have a screen-recording program like Camtasia? If you want to record a video, I'd be happy to give what criticism and advice I can. Or if not, then a screenshot of your wordlist, perhaps? Or if you're stuck in a rut in the middle of a game, take a screenshot of the current layout and post it, and we'll take a look at it to see what kind of plays are possible/wise.

[emanuelinmontreal]

I have read part 1 and 2 of your strategy guide and eagerly await part three. I am having a hard time finishing the cube and I noticed in your videos that you often delete cubes. I have started doing that and was once able to get to 600 once. I can't imagine ever getting to 1000. Can you explain your thought process from start to finish with a particular cube? Could you do a video tutorial and then write out what's going on in your mind from early game to mid game to endgame strategies. I saw one of rahnny's post to THInKr in which he accused him of cheating and he alluded to several strategic errors THInkr made during the game yet he still managaed a score of 1269. I know there must be more to the game then just seeing words.

[Renaldo Moon]

Sure. In fact, I can do a voice-over of the thought process of a video if that'd be any better.

I won't be able to until about Tuesday, though. I'll have a busy weekend! Practice up until then!

And to perhaps put things in perspective, I was scoring in the 400-500 range for my first few weeks of playing Scrabble Cubes.

[rahnnyboy]

E...

The best way to get better is to improve your ability to see the words.
This is more like boggle than scrabble, so if you improve your boggle skills, Scrabble cubes will follow...

I am one of the top 10 boggle players (not sure how to qualify this, but it would be safe to say "in the world")...
From having developed this skill (which took about 2 years of playing tangleword), and about 6 months to re-hone it for scrabble cubes, I really don't "look" for words anymore, I see a board of words, and then make strategic choices...
So first piece of advice is to get better at boggle, I'd recommend Scramble at facebook...
Once you are there, I operate like this...
two basic concepts:
1.) maximize word length while minimizing the # of cubes used
2.) combine letter multipliers with word multipliers

if you have unwieldy cubes, feel freer to use those to build longer words at the expense of minimizing cube usage...

here is a comment on how I play the opening board:
firstly, on the opening board, there is 1 cube with 3 faces showing, 6 cubes with 2 faces showing, and 12 cubes with 1 face showing...

1st and foremost, the front three cubes (the ones closest to you) should be used first, if possible. If you are really lucky, you can make a 7 letter word or 2 from these, as this will be optimum cube usage (minimum using for a 7 letter word is 3 cubes)...
try not to use ANY OF THE 1 FACE CUBES...especially if the 1 face cube has a letter that is prone to making extensions (E, R, S).
Feel free to use any of the 1 face cubes if they have letters which are normally clunky or are currently in a clunky pattern that will help you eliminate other clunky cubes.

keep applying this strategy as you go and open up the cube. As you open it, you will get more and more multi-faced cubes to deal with, so it gets more important to conserve cubes.

[emanuelinmontreal]

Thanks Rahn and Johan. You both have been very helpful. I scored 740 yesterday which is my highest score in the 3 days I have been playing so that is encouraging. I would still like to hear you do a voice-over Johan while you are playing as that may offer even more insights.