How would you improve Boggled.org?

[admin]

I would love to hear from some of our players how they think Boggled.org can be improved or streamlined. The site right now is still in its infancy and I'm constantly working out bugs as and when I find them, and I'm sure there are a number of other improvements that can be made.

If you have a suggestion or criticism, post it here - thanks!

[smyleegrl]

I think it would be a good idea to allow players to turn off the timer when playing the games. I have a dial-up connection, and many times the timer has run down before I can enter more than a couple of words. Obviously, without the timer, you can't compare scores or make new records, but sometimes just seeing how many words you can find at a leisurely pace is nice too.

[admin]

Hi Smyleegrl -

Great suggestion! I think it might be nice to offer two options when starting a game - play "competitively", i.e. timed, or play for fun, with no timer. The resulting score for "play for fun" games would then appear as normal at the end, but would not be tallied to your account, nor would it be considered for record scores or words found.

I'll look into creating a feature like this with the next upgrade.

Thanks again for the suggestion!

[Timmypunk]

In my opinion it think it would be good if it could be set up, were i dont have to click on the word entry box at the start of each game. Make it easier on some, isnt so bad when im at work but at home i have no mouse, just the touch pad and that can be a pain some times.

Other than that cant think of anything right now.

[pattrishy]

I agree with the timer idea...I would also like to be able to pause the timer, so that I can answer the phone, etc...and then continue with the game I started.

I also agree with TimmyPunk about the word box. I am also on a laptop at home and sometimes I forget to click on the box, losing those precious seconds.

Thanks for asking for feedback!

[admin]

In my opinion it think it would be good if it could be set up, were i dont have to click on the word entry box at the start of each game. Make it easier on some, isnt so bad when im at work but at home i have no mouse, just the touch pad and that can be a pain some times.

Another great suggestion - this is now done. Thanks!

[admin]

I would also like to be able to pause the timer, so that I can answer the phone, etc...and then continue with the game I started.

Thanks pattrishy! I'll have to think of a way to implement this so that its fair for those who want to compete, but I'm sure it can be done. Just need to have it so that if someone pauses a game, their scores/words for that game will be taken out of competition. (Because a person could theoretically take a screenshot of a game, then pause it, solve it offline for 20,30 minutes, then restart it and get an amazing - and undeserved - score).

But still a good idea - I'm sure there are plenty of folks who want to enjoy the game without having to go nuts to beat the timer.

Thanks again!

[rdt]

Is there a Qu cube? I haven't come across it yet...

[Master of Noodles]

@rdt: I haven't seen one either :O

My suggestions:

•The amount of words you have gotten in a game should appear next to the points (during game play).

•New stats for hall of fame - Points per word, longest word, most points for a word, words per game, and points per game.

•You should be able to organize stats on the hall of fame by total words. I think it would be neat to be able to organize stats by flag (alphebetical by Country first name), and games played.

•It would be good to not allow scores on hall of fame until something like 25 or 50 games.

•I think it's a good idea to have tournaments where players can go and play against others. While your playing you could see the other player's score. Winners would be displayed somewhere on the site.

[scudwig]

I love your game, but am starting to get a little bored with the possibities presented. Have you considered changing the letter choices on a number of the dice so that some new words (letter combinations) might pop up? Thanks a bunch, Scudwig

[admin]

Hi scudwig -

Thanks for the suggestion. Right now the game employs a random selection of letters, which is slightly weighted toward the ETAOINS group. I will be altering that weighting in future game sets to provide for some more challenging boards.

Thanks -

- Stephen

[hyperjump]

i would like to have the choice to use your mouse or to type. I was playing boggle on another site and both options were available. Hyperjump.

[kaz25]

I am soooooo annoyed at what atari have done. This site up to now is the best substitute for boggle I have found hopefully they will change the controls to the mouse good luck kaz!

[poslfit]

I agree that high scores should be ranked only after some reasonably large number of games. I'd like to see "number of records held" as an added column. To discourage fishing for games, maybe also "ratio of games requested to games completed". And definitely, as I asked elsewhere, include the whole Collins word list so that Scrabble players don't have to unlearn a whole chunk of their vocabulary.

[poslfit]

Oh, and 5x5 boards please! No one I know plays 4x4 in real life!

[anonymuse]

When you're finished a game and are viewing your results, it would be nice to have the option to sort the words by alphabetically by length (instead of just alphabetically as it presently is.)

I think this Boggle version is wonderful--this must be a labor of love for you! Thanks for all of your efforts!

[poslfit]

I agree with rdt that it's a little weird playing Boggle without a Q or Qu cube. Why the omission?

[admin]

There are a handful of boards with a Q in them, just not very many. I've set it this weekend however so that the new boards that are generated have a slightly greater likelihood of containing a Q.

[carol]

hi :) i am new here, and first would like to say tho i am new to playing boggle, i have looked at many sites and found this best one (not that i played on the others) but iliked the fact that your email address was optional and of course that is free! My suggestion is could you double click on last letter instead of pressing submit? I dont know how much work goes into being able to do that. I read that your site is new, so well done, you seem to be having fun. Carol:)

[anonymuse]

I'm a person that uses my mouse very minimally. It would be nice to be able to get to a new game after the completion of another with a button to just hit the enter key.

[Miff]

I'd love to be able to pause the game - my kids seem to have a 6th sense about when I am playing. If I could hit pause (the letters would need to be blanked out the letters), I could get them the tenth glass of water, tuck them back into bed and then get back to the game. My average isn't great anyway but their little interuptions and no ability to stop the game make it look worse than it should.
Have a happy day.

[debbiedoo]

I see that other people are having trouble with having to click submit on the first word...losing enough time to add several words.

Also, sometimes when you submit it and type in the next word it doesn't go in. I have to physically click the mouse in the box to add the word. My husband always knows when I am putting in my first word...knowing a lot of words can be dangerous..especially the ones I say when clicking that @#$% box!

[poslfit]

I've been seeing more Q boards lately, thanks!

[jackpat50]

debbiedo, i had to laugh when i read your comments. i have a feeling you and i are using the same vocabulary when the clicking doesn't go our way!

[hollygolfs]

Miff, I understand your frustration, however pausing a game would unfortunately give players an unfair advantage. They would be able to study the board and look for those long words, scoring more points.
I wish there was a quit button for that very reason, to pause. That way it doesn't ruin an average........... Although I don't think it would ruin my low average as it is...:o
holly

[aleydawn2003]

In real boggle the Q is a Qu. Why isn't it here? Also, I tried to enter leak in a puzzle earlier and it said that the word was invalid. Yes I tried it a few times to be sure of spelling.
All in all this site is pretty sweet. Way better than playing against the computer on the boggle game that you take from disk.

[chiman]

as i sometimes misshit the "enter" button would it be possible to have the
"space bar" AS AN ENTER ?

[chiman]

for these boards will we be getting two of the letters that are not quite as
common ,such as L D P C P M G at some point?

[pigletta]

Thank you SO much for listening to suggestions and adding the 5x5 board!! A lot of us "Atari refugees" are very happy about it!

I have a couple suggestions for you:
1. I'd like to be able to pause a game. Obviously not so you could still see the game and the board but for those times you have to stop in the middle of a game (okay, okay so I play at work sometimes) and you don't want to get a horrible score.
2. I think the "best words" category could be improved. It doesn't seem right that "testers" would be a better word than "tsetses."

Thanks again for a great site that's improving all the time!

[pigletta]

I just saw your reply re pausing after I posted (below). It should be possible to pause a game where you wouldn't see the board or be able to study it while your paused. A screen could come on that says "PAUSED," for instance, and the actual game is not visible. I've seen that in other games, like Tetrus.

[Miff]

Brilliant idea. Just like typing a sentence!!!
A BIG gold star to that idea.
Miff

[AliGator]

I know there's a Hall Of Fame, but so far I haven't seen the possibility of challenges. OK, so I just joined about 20 minutes ago!

I would love to be able to challenge a particular user. I was doing this with a friend on another site, with a version of Boggle called "Word Up." It was fun to send each other challenges.

While I think we've both converted to Boggled (LOVE it, by the way), it would be fun if we could compete against each other. And it'll make her register, too. ;)

[admin]

Thanks as always for your suggestions!

I'll try to reply to the issues raised above.

1. Qu instead of Q

I realize original Boggle uses a "Qu" option instead of just the "Q" we have here. I'm sort of 50/50 on whether or not to change that. If I do make that change, I'll have to alter the bonus points allotted to the "Q" since that will make using that letter quite a bit easier. If the consensus is that Qu is preferred, I can make that happen - but it will only apply to newly generated games... those already in circulation will continue to have just a "Q" until they are retired.

2. Space bar option, same functionality as ENTER

This is a great idea and should be easy to implement. Its now on my list for the next code update. Thanks!

3. Pausing a game

I'm open to this idea, however it would have to work in such a way so that when a game is paused, that game no longer counts in competition. This is because a person could just start a game, write down the letters on a piece of paper, pause it, solve it in their sweet-old-time offline, unpause the game and enter in a bijillion words all at once.

So in the end, I'm not sure if that will actually invalidate the whole reason behind pausing a game - i.e. being able to pick up a game later so that you don't lose a potentially great score during the competition. If the game's going to be invalidated anyway, there's probably not much reason to implement a pause in the first place. But I'll think some more about it.

4. Improving word-rankings

Yes, unfortunately, there are still some words in the system that are ranked as "Rare" or "Ultra Rare" when they're actually somewhat common (or at least in "Wide" usage). I do have a plan in the future to start tracking words played on the site and re-weighting the dictionary so that its based not off everyday English-language but rather actual Boggled.org word usage. That way words like QAT which is Ultra Rare in everyday language, but which a large portion of word-puzzlers know and play all the time, would be weighted instead as "Wide" or "Rare" instead. However, this would require some heavy-duty reprogramming, so it will be a while before this sort of thing is implemented.

5. Playing/Challenging other players in real time

This is one of our most common requests and all I can say is, I'm working on it! Its currently under production but not very close to completion - there's just a ton of coding that needs to be done to make this work smoothly with numerous, simultaneous players. When the time comes I'll likely be asking for some volunteers to "Beta test" it before I release it for general consumption. If you want to be on that list just send me a PM.

Thanks again everyone!

- Stephen

[Miff]

On the Pause issue - it would not bother me if those scores had no value, basically because average scores are calculated, if my kids interupt I'd rather pause, help them, return and not have that score effect my average (like it REALLY matters...) I have had to abandon many games becasue my kids have an innate radar system that tells them when am doing something fun just for me!!
Very happy about the space bar/enter too! Can't wait for that to be implemented
All the best
Miff (well and truly hooked!)

[one4love4truth]

3. Pausing a game

I'm open to this idea, however it would have to work in such a way so that when a game is paused, that game no longer counts in competition. This is because a person could just start a game, write down the letters on a piece of paper, pause it, solve it in their sweet-old-time offline, unpause the game and enter in a bijillion words all at once.

So in the end, I'm not sure if that will actually invalidate the whole reason behind pausing a game - i.e. being able to pick up a game later so that you don't lose a potentially great score during the competition. If the game's going to be invalidated anyway, there's probably not much reason to implement a pause in the first place. But I'll think some more about it.


Either that or some type of untimed option that doesn't count towards statistics. Sometimes I want to try for completeness and not speed.

[chiman]

how about a page for the least used word? eg.

players name no. of letters times found

after a grid has been played a certain number of times , and at the end of each month the words can be revealed.If a word has been played 5 or 10 times it won't get on the list, and the last 5 or ten words from a game won't
count because they have not been there very long; maybe to do with how
soon aword has been played over all.

[chiman]

on the 5x5 could there be a turn option?

[JBKR]

to make it fairer for those of us who type a little slower or don't have voice responses, it would be nice to have a little more time in the 5x5 game.

[hollygolfs]

I have no idea what voice responses is.

I think if you are going to have a pause, the game should not count at all in the ratings, including the addition of new words. I think if you need to pause it just cancel it and start a new game when you are ready. Really it is just two minutes. If my phone rings I let it go and then call the person back, since I am boggling and I have priorities! :) Although I understand kids are a different matter but still let it go it's one game. I vote no to pause! ;)

I would love to be able to rotate the board in the 4x4 room as well.

Holly

[hollygolfs]

I am terrible about remembering to log in. I can't tell you how many times I play and realize I forgot to log in. Could you make that Logged in HUGE font; and if a player is not logged in have it say Logged in as a guest HUGE. It might help me remember.

I love this site, and I am completely addicted, I have to play in secret now or my family freaks..........................

boggle anonymous coming soon.......................

[bionicflutist]

I'd like to see a line at the bottom of the game stats box showing the total number of words.

I would like the "Qu" cube also but I'm getting used to not having it so that when I go back to "regular" Boggle I almost can't play it that way anymore!

[angelinaxox]

I like how it tells you before you enter a site the number of each type of word that the board has. Is it possible to also put somewhere in there the greatest word value that the board has such as the best word on the board is worth 14 points or 16 points? I like the challenge of trying to find the high scoring words.

[flexykat]

I have noticed a lot of people cheat. Not sure how, but hey, they must. If you could see to that problem then all the true bogglers would be seen. Thanks a bunch and I love the website.

Celia Arya Flexandra Way

aka flexy

[flexykat]

oh no that sounded bad. I mean to say, i think people are hacking into the website to get as many words as possible, and that is unfair to the true bogglers. I just wanted to get my say in. You can ignore me if you want to, of course.

[Miff]

Hello,
just wondering if anyone else would find it helpful to have the word number added into the word sheet so over the minutes you can guage how many words you have, and for those record chasers, how many more you need.

Also, it is probably impossible, but sometimes I get the feeling I have played a board before. Is there anyway that can be recorded. E.g. You have played this board before and scored blah blah blah. More of a curiosity factor than probably a real useful tool for players.

Love the site. TOTALLY HOOKED
Al the best
Meredith

[elif]

I'd like to know how many times I've played a particular board before, too. Great suggestion. I'd actually prefer it even more not to get duplicate boards.

This is a great site and I can't go back to any of the other ones I used to play on (WEBoggle for eg), they are just so tame now! 3 whole minutes seems like an eon.

I am all for changing the Q to QU... the non-QU words are well-known to everyone and it really skews scores to get 10 or more points for QAT, QIS, SUQ.. (are there any others?).

Also, does it tell you if you are the one who retires a board (ie finds the last few unfound words) -- this could be another statistics -- how many boards did you retire. And then there could be an archive page to view retired boards, where it lists the number of words first found by each different user....

My 2-cents...

[elif]

Also... when will it stop saying that I am an unknown quantity for my ranking? Have played over 2000 games now....

[bluevoter]

I'd like to get a little more comparative data. After a game, we see the high score and the most words, but it would also be useful to see the average score and average number of words. This feature should be easy to implement.

[IkeArrumba]

How about a 6x6 board, but the minimum number of letters per word would only be 4. A 6x6 board with minimum 5-letter words would be fun too.

[OpenYourMind]

i think it'd be cool if there were a minimum number of games played required to be listed in the hall of fame. in the sports world, the hall of fame often has some sort of minimum requirement, so it wouldn't be unprecendented.

and i only mean something like 5 or 10 games as a minumum (or more or fewer or whatever), so that people who show up, check out the site, play one game (and maybe cheat), and then move on don't hog the top spots in the all-time rankings forever. it'd be cool if those slots were achievable by regular players here.

i mean, i can't say for sure that a player who played only one game and scored 479 points and 101 words was cheating, but i still think it's unfortunate that -- cheater or no -- said player gets to sit on top of the average score and average words rankings. it seems like someone who plays only one game and leaves shouldn't be enshrined in the hall of fame. right now, 11 of the top 50 players in 4x4 avg score and avg words played 5 or fewer games.

anyway, just my two cents...

[ataraxia]

I think OpenYourMind's suggestion is a very good one. I personally think the minimum amount of games for average score should be quite high, at least 100.

[OpenYourMind]

i wouldn't mind a higher threshold... i just didn't want anybody to think i was being exclusionary, so i set the bar low :D

[OpenYourMind]

i'd still love to see some sort of entry criteria for the hall of fame, although number of games played wouldn't be perfect, as evidenced by the fact that the current #1 in the 4x4 hall of fame has played 84 games with an average score of almost 600 points, an average words of 121, and a high words of 308.

i can't say for sure there's cheating involved, but i'm skeptical that a human playing on just brain power could achieve those scores.

sure, it's not really a big deal -- it's just a game -- but i hate to see people take advantage of the system that way and put a crimp in other people's fun. i guess the honor system doesn't always work...

[ataraxia]

Yeah, I would have to see it to believe it myself.

[angelinaxox]

I was wondering if there was anyway to see the chatroom while you are playing a game or at least be able to see who is in the chatroom while you are playing. There are times when I and other players I routinely chat with just miss each other in the chatroom, because one of us goes into play the game. Also, is there a way for the "who's online" to change as people come and go into the site? The screen never changes unless you click onto a different tab and then back into the chatroom to see who's online. And when someone is in the chatroom for a long time, it doesn't even show them online. One last question, was wondering how the work with trying to add competitve play was coming along? I know it was posted that it would take some time to design it and figure out all the kinks. I really miss playing others at the same time on the same board.

[susanml138]

:) Hi Steve, I'm just wondering the same thing as Angelinaxox is. You gave us the 5 x 5 board which was absolutely great and then due to work pressure you had to defer the individual games and chat!! I just love this site and have met some wonderful people. Can you please give an update Cheers Susan

[admin]

Unfortunately my experiments with a multiple-player environment ended miserably... I guess I'm not as good a programmer as I once thought. :-)

I've not given up just yet but I will likely need to hire some extra help to make it happen, so it will still be some time before this will become a reality. Its still #1 on my priority list however.

As for seeing the chatroom while playing, that presents some difficulties as I'd think most folks would find it distracting to have information constantly updating while they're trying to concentrate on the game boards. I may be able to make something along these lines but if so it will have to be an option that players can opt-in or opt-out of, depending on their preferences.

Thanks as always for the feedback, and happy holidays!

[angelinaxox]

That's what I was thinking; that maybe it could be an option while you were playing for people who would like to see who is in the chatroom. Maybe there could be some kind of enable and disenable feature. Thanks for posting such a quick response and thanks for not giving up on trying to add the competitive play feature, even though it is a difficult job.

[WurdyGurl]

I am so loving this site! One thing that I find annoying is when a guest holds the record. I don't know why, but that bugs me.:confused:

[ataraxia]

Some of those "guest" records might be mine. I used to just infrequently experiment with this site, and then I grew to like it enough so that I logged in and played regularly.

[Crovax]

I think it'd be nice if you were notified upon breaking a personal record (monthly or all-time) much like you are when you set a board record.

And definitely have a minimun number of games for the average score page. About 20 of the top 100 haven't even played 10 games :\

[ataraxia]

I sometimes still forget to log in. Usually it remembers me automatically, but sometimes if someone else has used the computer I normally use, it does not. Sometimes I use other computers and have the same problem. Would it be possible after a game to set up a reminder that one is logged in as "guest"? It's especially bad when I beat one of my own records.

[oboehobo]

I would love to see another option which would be a 5x5 board with the minimum letter count being 5-letter words. I know this is a lot of work to set up, but I used to play this way on Tangleword (iwin.com) which is now defunct, and I know there are others like me sadly drifting through cyberspace looking for another game like that.
Also could you have an option that says "new game--same size board" for those of us who play only one type of board? That way we don't have to go back to the previous screen and click on 5x5 again.

[admin]

I think it'd be nice if you were notified upon breaking a personal record (monthly or all-time) much like you are when you set a board record. And definitely have a minimun number of games for the average score page. About 20 of the top 100 haven't even played 10 games :\

Both of these are great suggestions, thank you! They're on my to-do list for the next code release.

Would it be possible after a game to set up a reminder that one is logged in as "guest"? It's especially bad when I beat one of my own records.

Right now the way to tell is if you see no welcome message at the top-right of your screen, you're a guest. But I think you're right, I could make it a bit clearer. Will add this to my list.

I would love to see another option which would be a 5x5 board with the minimum letter count being 5-letter words.

I'll think about this some more. I think in the new year I'll open up a poll to see which people prefer - 5 letter minimums or 4 letter. Running both at the same time might be a bit difficult.

Also could you have an option that says "new game--same size board" for those of us who play only one type of board? That way we don't have to go back to the previous screen and click on 5x5 again.

You can set your preference (for 4x4 only, 5x5 only, etc.) via your profile page - if its set, you'll never again need to select the type of game you want. The system will just take you there automatically.

Go to this page and scroll all the way to the bottom to set your preferences:

http://www.wordtwist.org/forum/profile.php?do=editprofile

[ataraxia]

I just had a game where I was given a score of zero for all the categories even though my real score was around 250. I don't know if I did something wrong or if it's a glitch in the system. This has happened at least once before to me. Has anyone else had this problem, and is there anything that can be done to prevent it or perhaps have "zero games" thrown out of the average scoring?

[admin]

Hi ataraxia -

The system should ignore any "Zero sum" games so that should not have been applied to your ongoing statistics. Usually this happens when the results page is double-loaded accidentally... on the 2nd load, it realizes the game has already been tallied, and shows a zero sum. (I need to improve the feedback on this page).

But on the whole you should be ok, stats-wise.

[ataraxia]

OK. Thanks for letting me know that.

[Lindylou]

Hi,
1. I think it would be great if the 'guests' scores wouldn't be posted in each of the game stats. For example; longest word, best word, highest scorer, etc.
2. It would also be nice to see new games coming in.. some games have been played too much.. no chance of me making any points!
Thanks.

[mandc]

is there still a possibility of the space bar being used as an ENTER button ?

when looking at the results page, i am interested in knowing if there is a longer or higher scoring word , if you dont want to reveal the number of letters or points of the word , perhaps just have a PLUS sign in brackets after the details ? and a smiley or tick for when the longest/best has been found.
C

[OpenYourMind]

I think it would be great if the 'guests' scores wouldn't be posted in each of the game stats. For example; longest word, best word, highest scorer, etc.


i was going to make that same suggestion... it would be nice if high scores were only available to registered users.

[paigle]

Short time player, first time poster.
I'm glad to hear you're looking into displaying the average score for a given board on the results screen. Something that'd be really cool is, rather than in a list fashion, to list the words found so far in a table similar to the player's results (keeping the great color-coding and bolding and whatnot, since we're all used to looking for the bolded green and reds) but with number of times found next to each word. A bar graph would be over the top, but I'm a visual learner, so I'll put that out there in case it interests you coding-wise. If you were to do this, it would probably make sense to list the player's words alphabetically, the better to match up to the all-time list.

[paigle]

Hey again! While I'm getting better at monitoring the clock, I often get really lost in typing and don't realize when time's up. Typing furiously, I sometimes hit the backspace key to correct a word I'm typing just as the screen is refreshing to the results page. This bumps the page back, which triggers code on your end to bump the page forward (which is great) to an empty results page (which is so sad!). Nothing is more frustrating than not being able to see the results. If there's anything on your end that would preclude this happening, it'd be so fabulous. Disabling the textbox along with the submit button at timer's end could help, since that's where I'm focusing, or somehow canceling any "Back" command, be it backspace or whatever? Or just retaining the results for the last board even if the page gets reloaded? Dunno. Probably a low priority considering all that's on your plate, but I thought I'd throw it in the mix anyway. Thanks as always.

[Cheddar]

I agree about the timer, I am unable to pay much attention to it while I'm typing either.

I introduced my aunt to this website this past weekend. She loves it by the way. She and I were discussing the timer thing, and we were thinking it might be helpful if there was a way to have it make a noise when time is up? I think even that would be helpful.

[Crovax]

I listen to music when I play, so I can tell how much time is left based on where the song is at. Maybe that could work for you?

Although there's not really much benefit to paying attention to the timer. And if they moved it closer to the board, I think that would just be distracting. Maybe a few warnings (60-, 30-, and 10 seconds) could appear as text over/under the board? And of course a notice right in your line of sight when time runs out would be helpful too.

[LexIcon]

First off, thanks for maintaining this addictive site. Sometimes I wish I could replay a game to see if I'd do any better. I would want to see how my score compares, but in fairness, I don't need replay scores added to my statistics.

[Nafets]

I like Crovax's suggestion of having an end-of-timer notice in your line of sight -- say, red "Time's up!" text pops up in front of the grid. I don't often have problems with not realizing time is up, but when I do it's very annoying, and I think that a message on the board itself is probably the best solution.
As always, thanks for all you do on this site.

[Pixelthecat]

This would probably be a record-keeping nightmare, but it'd be interesting to also log one's running percentile (you know, the spot along very low/low/average/high..). That particular score wouldn't be penalized for playing harder boards.

Of course, this is the score per board that changes as more people play that board, hence the record-keeping nightmare. An approximation would be to update the player's average only when a statistically significant number of plays have been done on that board.

[pelkia]

Don't know if anyone else has this problem but having to grid of letters to the very left throws me off. Wish they could centered it or a little to the right of the middle.
Thanks

[Biloxidebbie]

I know it has been mentioned before, but it would be so nice if there was a ding or something when time is up. I just typed about twenty letters after the game was over. I guess it really doesn't matter in the scheme of things but I was really thinking hard and typing as fast as I could for nothing! That was twenty letters of stress....wasted!

[BubbaBoBob]

Recently found the site and enjoy it greatly. I'm a competitive person and a bad boggle player so I am using this a great trainer for the game.

I'd like to make a few suggestions for changes for the game:

1. On the end of game summary/review, present a list of all invalid words entered. It would help me learn what mistakes I make over and over again. It would be even more helpful, but probably much harder to include a reason why - not in grid, not a word, already entered.

2. In addition to listing the words alphabetically, list them by descending point value. I'm interested in finding the words that other players are often not going to be finding.

3. Include a optional 'training' mode that is not timed. These could be just on boards that are retired if you are concerned about people having too much time to train on 'live' boards.


Thanks again for the game.

[Mawmaw]

I agree with Biloxidebbie that an audible tone should sound when time is up. It must be hard to do because admin would have probably done it by now.

I know what she means 20 letters of typing stress for nothing because it just happened to me. I was frantically typing and time was already up!!

[bowl231]

I would also like the grid to be more towards the middle
specially the box I am typing in - on my screen it it almost off the
left side.

Having the typing box have a little bigger text size would also help

I agree with having the word results in alphabetial order would help or maybe
have where you can click on the headers to sort them - know that would probably be a lot to do
There are many times where I could have sworn i typed a word in but it
isn't there

[Fenchurch]

Just started playing, and just registered, but I really love this site! I wonder whether there is a way to rotate the board during play? Maybe I haven't found that, but if it isn't programmed I think it would be a great addition!

[Joesgirl]

I would like to hear a tone of some type when the game is finished. I don't know how many times I have kept typing like a maniac after the game was over! I am concentrating so hard that I can't see the timer and type at the same time. Stephen, I know you have your hands full keeping up with this great site. We appreciate all of your work...

[bowl231]

When the game is over have a sound or move the 'TIMES UP"
to be over the board or just below so that it is in my line of sight.
Also please have the backspace, right/left arrow keys stop being
effective at the end. I have been typing away and backspacing to
correct what I typed and I end up losing my finishing score.
All that comes up is GAME OVER with all zeroes and I can't forward or
back IE to see my finishing score. This has happened a few times

Thanks - love this game

[LookingForTheLight]

I'd like to second the suggestion made earlier that only users who have registered should be able to get up on the scores list for each board. It seems to me like that should be a perk of signing up, so there aren't so many boards where Guest has the high scores.

[AgentOfChaos]

As others have mentioned, a tone to indicate that the game is over would be helpful. For most browsers the backspace key acts as a shortcut for the browser's back button when there are no input fields in focus, so after the time is up if someone makes a mistake and tries to delete it they go back a page and there score doesn't get counted.

On a side note, using the backspace key is really slow. Unless you're a really slow typer it should be much faster for you to just hit enter when you realize you've made a mistake and try to type the word again. This is also a good idea because you never know when the way you misspell one word will actually be the correct spelling of a different word. There's no rule against being lucky.

[Bubba]

I love to play boggle but this site doesn's have the competitive feel as others i have played. I suggest we should have a room where many people could join and play boggle simultaneously (same game at same time) then we would be able to compete for stats and also meet new friends in chat rooms there.
It would be great if that could be added to this website because it can get lonely playing against yourself and stats. Playing against others can be fun both competitively and socially.

Feel free to comment or answer with any information regarding this request.

[DawnasMom]

PLEASE incorporate an audible tone when the time is up. I think I just typed 50 letters not realizing the time was up! Peripheral vision isn't very good when you are concentrating so hard and typing at the same time!

[jilli_mc]

Have you considered earning extra points if you are the first to find a word on the board? For example, if the word is a 6 point word but you are the first to find it on the board, it is scored as 7 points.

Jill

[debbiedoo]

I see in prior posts that other players are asking for a tone or beep, anything to indicate the end of the game? It is frustrating when you realize you have typed ten words after the game is over. l can't see where it says time's up while I am still looking at the board. Makes you feel like a fool!!

[admin]

Hi folks -

I'm in the process now of developing a Flash version of the game board. This version will contain a number of improvements, including:

- ability to "mouse-drag" over letters to form words, i.e. you click down on the first letter, then (while holding the mousekey down) you drag over other letters until you finish a word, and then release the mousekey - and the word will be submitted automatically.

- ability to rotate the board 90/180 degrees in any direction.

- an audio indicator that the timer has expired.

- better timer management

I hope to have the Flash version ready for prime-time within the next month.

Thanks for all your input!

[AdamsMuse]

You are the man! We appreciate everything you do to keep this site running smoothly. I love it...

[jilli_mc]

The new version with the new enhancements sounds great! As someone who types slowly, and currently uses the "click on the tiles" method, I am really looking foward to the "mouse-drag" option :)
Thanks!!

[nana4xs]

Angelinaxox, I love the idea for the chat to be right there in the game room. You could chat if you wanted to but don't have to. If it was at the bottom of the screen on right side it would not be distracting. Great idea Angelinaxox!

[ThisIsIt]

It's a small thing, but I think it'd be cool it if the colors for the different categories in the word usage graph on the player profile page would be the same as the colors used when the words appear on the game page (green = common, yellow = wide, orange = rare, red = ultra rare).

I just think it would make for an easier visual correspondence between the two.

[bowl231]

I would like to see the game square in the middle
of the screen instead of the far left. It would make
it easier to focus on the board. Sometimes it will shift
when words are being added to the list you have type
with it in the middle it would be easier.

Might also see how it is with the timer directly above it.

Thanks for upgrading the site.

[wraptor347]

I think it's been mentioned before, and it's a small thing, but it would be nice if the forum accounts were linked to the game accounts. That way people could see posters' scores and such. Thanks for a great game.

[bowl231]

In the last two weeks in the 4-letter game the grid
and box I type the words in has been shifting right/left
about 1/8-1/16 inch back and forth during game.
Sometimes it is moving left enough where the first letter
I type is almost not there and the Grid column is a bit
gone not totally lost.

I think it may be caused because the number of letters
in the word being recorded is changing. I don't know what
might have changed but it did not do this or at least not
this bad a month ago. It is making it hard to focus and type
words cause when it shifts I lose what I was looking at and
I will also unknowingly shift my hands/fingers to match it.

Can you move the recorded list further right or divide the
screen into two sections so they don't affect each other.

Sorry - Thanks love the game and play as much as I can

[Darkside]

I'm new and I'm hooked!

I realise from time to time that I'm playing a board I've played before - which I don't mind in the least - and it occurred to me that I've love to see how how did compared to the last time I played the board.

In fact I'd like to be able to replay boards by choice (ie - play against myself).

Any chance of this?

[monalle]

Love to see all the changes you will make, especially rotating the board. Totally addicted. Thanks:)

[admin]

Just want to let everyone know we're putting the finishing touches on the new game board this weekend and I hope to have a "soft launch" of the new playing surface within the next few days. New features include:

1. Click-and-drag method - users who prefer to use their mouse can now click-and-drag on the board to submit words, instead of having to individually click on each letter. Just click on the first letter of the word, then drag your mouse over each subsequent letter and click on the last letter of the word to submit it.

2. Letter hi-lighting - those using their mouse will see new letter hi-lighting behaviors while using the click-and-drag method. Selected letters will turn to one color, while adjacent and still-playable letters will change to a different color to help visually indicate word possibilities.

3. Board rotation - users will be able to rotate the board with the click of a button.

4. Audio "ding" at the end of a game - by popular demand, there is now going to be an audio indicator that the game has finished.

5. Timer improvements - the new board will have a much improved timer. Problems with timers not starting, going too fast or too slow, or stopping in the middle of the game will now be a thing of the past.

Note that the new board requires that you have the flash plugin installed in your browser. The vast majority of browsers already have this - and if you don't, you will automatically be prompted to download and install it the first time you try to load the board.

Again - I hope to do a "soft launch" very soon (meaning both the old and new boards will be available and users can opt to use one or the other) to allow players to get used to the new format, provide feedback, bug reports, etc.

Thanks again everyone! I know this upgrade has been a long-time coming, and I appreciate everyone's patience.

- Stephen

[bowl231]

The new 4 grid is very nice. I love the finish Ding and that the letters are bigger and clearer in both the grid and typing box.

The only things I would like changed is to move the two buttons (Board rotation ) below the Word typing box. For me it keeps the letters closer to what I am typing. Visually and sizewise it would help to move the grid and typing box just a bit further up and if possible to the right/middle. Otherwise that portion is very bright and clear

As for the drag/drop - it is good just took me a few times to even get a word to register. I have a habit of keeping the click down and it won't do the letters. Guess I am a bit better at typing lol

Great job thanks for all the hard work

[swimboy3355]

I think you could make the hall of fame keep going on so you could see everyones stats

[gautam]

If you have a suggestion or criticism, post it here - thanks!

It would be nice to save the option of choosing the version 2 or version 1 game automatically so that when you click new game at the top of the page, it begins to load the game immediately.

[chuckofalltrades]

Me and my friend were addicted to the physical version of Boggle, and to add a twist and make it a little more interesting, we used to repeat tiles.

It would be great if WordTwist actually comes up with a feature which lets you do that. Imagine the number of highest scores! Plus, you'd get to see lots of cool 7-12 letter words as well!

Just a suggestion!

ChUcK

[odomit]

I am not fast enough to feel like I can find all the works. I would like an option to play without the timer. Has that been done?

[chiman]

When we played the physical version of boggle there was a pot of 50pts.
and a joker, these were used to play on words you thought the other players had not got. The joker 3x the word score.

There is also a puzzle where you have about 7 letters, not in any particular format; with these you can use the same letter as many times as you like.

[acecraft]

Hello, only suggestion from me:

If a record for high score/best word etc. is held by a 'Guest', i.e. not a registered user, and a registered user equals this record, could the guest's record be replaced by the registered user's? After all the guest is going to get very little pleasure from holding the record in the first place.

Acecraft

[Chelonia]

Acecraft, I've thought of that one as well.

Also, I would love to be able to rotate the board without taking my hands off the keyboard. The Scramble game on Facebook (also a Boggle game), for example, allows this (using the space bar).

And also, a little more variety in the boards would be great. For example, allow two L's on a board, or two D's. When I play Scramble, I realize I'm getting a different set of words than when I play here.

[ThisIsIt]

in the past, i've suggested reserving all of the records on the boards for registered users only, but it's never generated any response here.

[StrawberryCancer]

I really don't want to scroll through 11 pages to see if my suggestions have been put in ( sorry D: ), but I have a couple ideas:

1.) Rotating the board using a keystroke
Maybe make it possible to rotate the board using a key on the keyboard (I think the spacebar would be a great use personally)

2.) Null out the numbers
I don't know how many other people do this, but sometimes when I move my mouse to click "rotate" and then put my fingers back on the keyboard, I may misplace them and type numbers instead. The suggestion is that if there is a way to null out the numbers, that would be amazing.

3.)Word Counter
Last suggestion- when I type the words, I like to know how many words in the puzzle are left(Edited) during the session of play (/edit), that way I try to achieve them all. If there was a way to check off the words as you score them, I would love that. If you still don't follow, here's an example:
I find the word "Mixer" and the marker says: 1/65 words complete
I find the word "Mixers" and the marker says: 2/65 words complete
Etc...

I hope I didn't do any reposts! D: