Saturday, November 3, 2007

GLINTiNG for 140... Leaderboard says "not so impressive"

So, I've been challenged by a bunch of friends in Scrabulous (the Facebook App) and I'm winning pretty much every time. Well, I haven't lost yet... But I'm sure I've just jinxed myself. By the end of the weekend I may very well be 20-0 (or 19-1).

I just placed GLINTiNG across a triple-triple for 140 points. It may be my personal best (I think I've only ever had one other triple-triple, but I can't remember what it was or how many points it was worth).

One of the cool things about Scrabulous is how the developers keep layering on polish and advanced features. The top 10 plays are displayed in rank order. And, if you choose to, you can view the board (and word placement history) to see what these top plays are.

I figured that my score of 140 points in one play would likely have qualified me for a top slot. Nope. The top 10 scores are all above 190.

Upon verifying the games, it is clear that one or two of these scores were "legit" (that is someone managed to score a nice triple-triple in a competitive game). One or two of these scores was due to a power mismatch (like my game where the weaker player unknowingly opened up an obvious bingo spot across a triple-triple). The remaining scores are from people dinking around (either one player playing both sides, or two players colluding) in order to cheeze their way up the leaderboards.

Ah, leaderboards. They seem to bring out the best and worst in gamers.

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