Comments on: Don’t play this game.

By: Cindy Scroggins

Cindy Scroggins — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 16:04:11 +0000

Well, I’m a word person and I love word games. It’s all a competition against myself, though–I don’t have a need to win. I like the challenge of coming up with something as fast as possible. When I play Scrabble, I tend not to pay any attention to the board or what anyone else is doing–I’ll watch TV or read. Then, when it’s my turn, I look at the board and my letters as if it’s all brand new. Then I make a word very quickly.

Of course, it’s usually a pretty kick ass word, if I do say so myself.

By: Dave Vogt

Dave Vogt — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 04:12:49 +0000

That game got me through quite a few mind numbing lectures last fall.

By: Amanda Mae Meyncke

Amanda Mae Meyncke — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 03:53:14 +0000

Also, what Sheila said last.

By: Amanda Mae Meyncke

Amanda Mae Meyncke — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 03:52:34 +0000

I can’t stand games either, India. I just watch. Unless it’s RISK. I will always play RISK.

By: Sheila Ryan

Sheila Ryan — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 23:14:00 +0000

I wonder, India, whether I might be better at word games in which the words are in some form of context. I can’t think of any right off-hand because my brain shuts down when I commence to ponder games. But I know that they exist.

It’s funny. I adore words, but there is nothing I have found in Scrabble that entertains me.

Of course, if I were honest, I’d admit that the only games I like are the ones I’m confident I can win.

By: India

India — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 22:32:07 +0000

Sheila, I’ve always thought that the reason word lovers tend to suck at word games—or, at least, Scrabble—is that we’re always looking for the clever seven-letter word, instead of going for the two-letter word that gets you forty points.

To prove this to yourself, try playing the software version of Scrabble, against the computer. When there’s nobody to impress with your vocabulary, you start focusing exclusively on how to maximize your points. The cheat dictionary helps, too. My game improved enormously after a week or so of nonstop playing . . .

Yeah, I had to take that one off my computer, too.

By: Sheila Ryan

Sheila Ryan — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 20:09:14 +0000

What Cooper notes about word games touches on something he and I have discussed, albeit briefly. I don't much like word games. This is because I am rotten at them, a surprising revelation, perhaps, from a woman who slings around words like psittacine. But there you have it. Any other more-or-less literate folks out there who wince when the host trundles out a word game? I console myself with the knowledge that Alan Turing was a dreadful, dreadful chess player. Come to think, I am also a dreadful chess player. But I am not Alan Turing. No wonder I loathe most all games.

By: Cooper Renner

Cooper Renner — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 16:11:26 +0000

I like PathWords (which I play via Facebook). Generally I don’t like computer games, but I like word games.