Newcomer to Scrabble cubes...

[Feonixx]

and i was just wondering what program you guys use to record your games. I've read both wonderful guides by Johan, and am scoring high 500s into 600s about every game, but seem stuck at those numbers. So, for that reason id like to know how to record my games for some constructive critisism

thanks

[Jacob]

Hi Feonixx! If I were you, I would check out either Camtasia or Hypercam to record your games. Once you've downloaded either of them and need help recording, let us know!

[Feonixx]

kk, thanks very much!! I downloaded Hypercam, and im assuming i set the region, and click start recording correct?

[Jacob]

Yup, you got it.

[Feonixx]

Alright, heres my first Practice game of the day, not the best, not the worst, but this is what i usually average per game. Ive broken into the 700s once or twice, but i seem stuck here. Feel free to critisize away, comment on ANYTHING you see wrong :] Thanks.

EDIT: Not sure how to embed the video, tried the <object> code, but eh, heres the link anyhow,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6VByI18aA0

[rahnnyboy]

you took way too long to open, it makes you rush later (i do this sometimes too though)
i open with cheater, recheat, and probably french....you have the CH, and you need to combo the dark blue with the pink...

when you did formed, you had fermion...

are you interested in the words you missed or the strategy??

you used the TWS cube before you uncovered the TLS cubes, usually a bad idea...comboing those together is how you can really get huge points with the TWS...

[Renaldo Moon]

You actually played that really well for a newcomer. I see that you were looking for -ER and -ED a lot, too, which is something I want to address about your opening.

It was good that you tried to make use of that -ER to add a few letters to your words, but TONER and GONER didn't make very good use of this (only 5 letters each.) I think you realized that once you did CHEATER, though. The thought pattern I would encourage you to have is upon seeing that opening board, recognize TCH right next to an ER immediately, and see if it could connect somehow.

In this case, you wouldn't have been able to make any words ending in -TCHER, but the H and T are extremely versatile, especially with the vowels that were around it (another E and an A). Cheater is one example, but another one you could've done that was worth a whole lot of points is to delete the cube with the C on it and play "FEATHER." Of course, if you can get some plays out of that C first (CHEATER, RECHEAT), it would be even better.

I also noticed near the middle you had a bit of concern with the -ED. Specifically with HEED and GAME. You paused for a second after HEED, and I think it would have been wise to look a moment before playing that word and recognize that you could just as well play HEEDED, which would be a pretty hefty score. For GAME, I noticed that you were thinking of playing that D for GAMED, but were unsure. If you're unsure but it seems plausible-- go for it. You're playing free-games after all, right? If you learn a few things through trial and error, you'll well-remember it for the future. GAMED is a valid word, by the way.

I also think you rushed a bit when playing STONER. If you ever see an E, R, and S connected, it's almost a guaranteed bingo, so take a second to see if you can play ----ERS. (In this case, FATHERS or GATHERS would have been possible.)

I know it's a bit tough to try and take all this in and apply it, and I don't expect you to do all these things perfectly now. That'd be unreasonable. Hopefully though, if you can recognize some of the things you can do better, you'll make a little progress. You're still doing really well for a beginner, but perfecting some of the ideas takes a lot of practice, and none of us were doing much better than you when we first started, so don't get discouraged.

[Feonixx]

First of all thanks for taking the time to look that over and find some things i missed . Concerning the ERS and the ER, i tend to get boxed in and find words ending with E so its only really adding one letter.. I guess thats still a problem with me not fully recongizing the words on the plane, but yea practice makes perfect. As far as the other comment about how i open to late and start rushing towards the end (which i end up doing every game) is there any tips maybe? or is it just a matter of recognizing andg getting the better look at how the board works.

Also, im interested in the strategy as well to max the points up as much as possible to start pushing into the 700s, i know that u should use the TLC and the DWC in the begginning, but then i get lost after that

Thanks again :]