You didn't offend me, Elisa, and I thank you for the compliment on my playing, but one rule of the games is that they're not meant to be played solo - that's why Tom says in the instructions it's a cooperative game and the games are set up to block players after one play. I learned to play one game at a time and have never played more than one word at a time. If you're blocked from a game because you already played a word, well, you're supposed to wait for someone else to make a play. I accept 2 words in a row (many players do that), but it drives me nuts when someone plays more than 2 because I'm often trying to play but can't because someone is hogging a game.
I don't disagree about the players that sabotage the games, but there seems to be nothing to do about them except try to work around them. The friction between the copperative/uncooperative players goes back a looonng way and has never been resolved (and, I think, will never be resolved - you can't force someone to play the way you want them to play). Every now and then, one of us loses it, posts a message, there's a verbal war, and then it all calms down again.
What I find particularly sad is that if certain of those players spent half as much time playing with others instead of playing to wreck the games, we'd have some pretty good scores -- watch dsl, for example. He/she has made some pretty incredible plays that show he knows full well what he's doing, and if he concentrated on cooperating instead of blocking, the score would improve and other players would welcome him into the games instead of abhorring his presence. I admit I've been astounded by some of the ways he's come up to block the triples.
Anyway, I didn't mean to get you worked up when I placed the message about taking over games. You may not see it this way, but taking over games is as uncooperative as making intentionally bad plays - both actions are frustrating to other players. To learn how to play like the experts, check out the archived games with scores over 1000, just watch some games being played (and how Mikey, Curtis, Otto, Laura, etc. and those hitting triple/triples play) and ask for hints; that's what I did. You're already a good player (one I like to see at the same time I'm playing), and I believe your plays will get better if you do. |