3 ms·

My stats: 1 - 0 (0%) 2 - 7 (17%) 3 - 13 (32%) 4 - 16 (39%) 5 - 4 (10%) 6 - 1 (2%) lose - 0 (0%) My strategy: - Always start with the same word, one tha

by timtas 5y ago

My stats: 1 - 0 (0%) 2 - 7 (17%) 3 - 13 (32%) 4 - 16 (39%) 5 - 4 (10%) 6 - 1 (2%) lose - 0 (0%) My strategy: - Always start with the same word, one that has the most common letters - Prefer more common letters to less common letters - Prefer more common words to less common words - Starting with round three, never guess until I know all possible common words - Don't repeat a letter unless the only other possible words are uncommon - Prefer consonant combinations at the start of the word over staring with a vowel - Never do plurals (I think the game does not use them) A guiding principle is maximize learning at each round. I have a manual written process for listing all possible combinations at each step and iterating on each to find all possible words. I usually start that on the third round. I've written a small program that takes a pattern (like ??EA?) and a list of eliminated letters and spits out all possible words. My wife says it's cheating, so I rarely use it. I don't think it's cheating because it only saves me time going through all possible combinations on paper. I guess there's some chance it will suggest a common word I would have never hit on manually. I don't deny that my high rate of second guess wins is partly luck. But I contend that the N is large enough by now that it's at least partly my strategy.

timtas 5y ago
EDIT: I misspoke saying that my strategy maximizes learning. I will explain. I always apply all learnings to the next guess. That is, with each guess I use all the confirmed letters and put them in the confirmed positions. This DOES NOT maximize learning. That would require using all new letters every time until you know the word for sure. But this would reduce overall performance by eliminating luck in early rounds. So it's more correct to say my strategy balances between learning and serendipity.

by timtas 5y ago

timtas 5y ago

EDIT: I misspoke saying that my strategy maximizes learning. I will explain. I always apply all learnings to the next guess. That is, with each guess I use all the confirmed letters and put them in the confirmed positions. This DOES NOT maximize learning. That would require using all new letters every time until you know the word for sure. But this would reduce overall performance by eliminating luck in early rounds. So it's more correct to say my strategy balances between learning and serendipity.