Getting a 500 point score?

[Utah Bogglicious]

How does one get a 500 point score without cheating. The time is three minutes and the pressure is on. I have gotten many over 400 but never 500. I believe there is cheating going on. Anyone agree or disagree?

[ataraxia]

When I see that a certain player getting high scores routinely finds all the biggest and most unusual words, I suspect cheating. Sometimes I get suspicious when I see someone dramatically improve over a short period of time also. Unfortunately however, you never know.

[bionicflutist]

I don't often get over 500 but I assure you I never cheat. Sometimes a board just "clicks" for me and I'm finding more words than usual. It also helps that I type fast. And that I play a lot. Practice, practice, practice!

I'm not saying the cheating never happens, but a high score doesn't necessarily mean that the player cheated to get it.

[Nafets]

It's not necessarily cheating -- I've had plenty of games over 500, and even two games over 700, and I have never cheated on a boggle game. When I'm warmed up, I can usually top 500 on a board with more than 100 common words. And when I get a board that "clicks", like bionicflutist said, I can get even more. The key is practice (and a fast enough typing speed -- I can do 80wpm sometimes). I'd played a lot of word games for a while before finding this site, but when I started I didn't believe some people's scores either. I remember getting my first game over 400 and being really happy . I have improved a LOT since then, and believe me, you will too. Just learn lots of words that can show up a lot together (like steen(s), tene(s), teene(s), nete(s), sten(s), snee(s), sene, enes, etc.) and give a good look at the lists of words found for the boards you play, because that's the best way to improve. You'll get a 500-point game before too long.
As for cheating, I'm certain some goes on. I think most cheaters just try to get a couple really high scores and then get bored, so they're not a very permanent problem. Also, some people use boggle-solving as a programming exercise, which is how crazy 1000-point plus games happen. The admin has a tool to remove them from the monthly competitions, but I think they have to pm him first.
And sorry for rambling

[NoahWebster]

Exactly what is considered cheating? Is there a set of rules posted somewhere that everyone is expected to follow? Since the game is run by a computer, I would think the only real rules are those enforced by the game itself, and the only cheating would be to attempt to bypass or work around this enforcement. For example, I have seen posts complaining about players cherry picking the games with the most and/or best words, however this is only possible because this information is given for every game by the software, and it allows players to skip games once they know this information. If this were cheating, it would be simple for the software to disallow it.

[wraptor347]

I think the more aggregious form of cheating would be people using programs to solve the boggle boards for them. If people are scoring 2000 points on a board, and getting their scores with really long and difficult words, than cheating is probably evident.
As for cherry-picking games, the game stats are all posted before you select start, so I don't know if I'd consider it cheating. To prevent this, the admin could either hide the stats or scale all the boards to the same value. So scoring 600 on a 1200 point board would be the same as scoring 200 points on a 400 point board.
As for getting over 500 points. It's possible once you get your typing speed up, you play long enough that you recognize patterns quickly and remember enough words. Also, try to keep typing no matter what. If you can't find words just try making up words. Seriously, that's probably where I get a quarter to third of my points. You'll be surprised by what is actually a word (or at least a Boggle defined word).

[Crovax]

I can't really explain it in words, so how about a video?

That's 4x4 too, probably more challenging to score high there. 5x5 is a lot different though, it's less fast typing and more deciphering the puzzle finding words. On a good 4x4 board you can be punching the keys nonstop and still have a couple of wordchains on the board you haven't even looked at when time expires. 5x5 I think you have to move around the map more. I don't play it too often so I can't say.

Regarding unusual words... alone it's not a reason to suspect cheating. If you see someone play nine letters of alphabet soup that by some miracle actually means something, your first thought might be "I can't believe someone would know that word". Mine is to remember that word I've had plenty of accusations of cheating in scrabble thrown my way for using brilliant words someone else has found, legitimately or not, in wordtwist.

[NoahWebster]

Originally Posted by wraptor347

I think the more aggregious form of cheating would be people using programs to solve the boggle boards for them.

Why is using a program cheating? I'm not arguing that it isn't, but what rule is it breaking? It may just seem like common sense, but is it also cheating to look at a list/book of valid words while solving a puzzle? Are there rules that cover these issues? If not, isn't it just variations on how someone wants to play? Most players may like to play with no aids, but that doesn't mean it's cheating to use aids. Some players may enjoy the challenge of (or want to practice) typing quickly more than the challenge of searching for words. Or using a program will help them learn new words that they can remember later when they play the real game with their friends (with real rules ).

Originally Posted by wraptor347

If people are scoring 2000 points on a board, and getting their scores with really long and difficult words, than cheating is probably evident.

I've seen similar comments about 500, or even 300, point scorers If it's possible to average 2000 points, is someone scoring 700 points a bad cheater or a great player?

[wraptor347]

I see what you're saying. So I guess technically the "rules" are unwritten ones and technically speaking nobody is cheating, and yes people ought to be able to use the game as they see fit. Using a program skews the high scores though; which some people might like to use as a measuring stick and bragging point.
As for scoring 2000 points... Well, I didn't say it was impossible, only highly improbable considering that 2000 points is over 11 points a second... I may be wrong, but it seems pretty ridiculous. I've scored over 700 a handful of times, and my hands are pretty tired afterwards. They were just good boards with lots of 'ers' or 'ing' or 'ed'.

[Nafets]

Perhaps we ought to put rules in place, formal or informal ...
Thoughts?