Scrabble using fake words!

Discussion in 'General Game Discussion and Questions' started by rustyjaw, Aug 18, 2008.

  1. rustyjaw

    rustyjaw Well-Known Member

    Jul 31, 2008
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    #1 rustyjaw, Aug 18, 2008
    Last edited: Aug 18, 2008
    I bought Scrabble just over a week ago and have been enjoying it for the most part. Although I think there are a few UI issues that need fixing, it's a fun game. I play in custom mode so I can set the computer difficulty to "hard" which usually kicks my ass, but provides a good challenge.

    Many times I have seen it play words that I don't know, but I assume that it's a real word because the machine has the entire dictionary at its disposal. However, this morning, it played the word "PL" which struck me as highly unlikely to be a word, so I looked it up online, including in Hasbro's Scrabble dictionary, and it is not.

    Suddenly this game has gone from being a fun, if flawed, diversion to a waste of time. I can work around the UI problems, but using real words is fundamental to the game, there is no game if the words are not real.

    For reference, I took a screenshot of the game, I put a red box on top of the fake word. But rest assured this is NOT doctored in Photoshop, this is exactly how the game was played.

    [​IMG]
     
  2. VeganTnT

    VeganTnT Moderator
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    Jul 19, 2008
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    bad news

    pl is a digraph, a combination of two letters used to represent one sound

    I've also seen it use ey and it has allowed me to use ph, which are also digraphs.

    that's what happens when you play on hard ;)
     
  3. rustyjaw

    rustyjaw Well-Known Member

    Jul 31, 2008
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    Thanks for the info, I had no idea and none of the searching I did today suggested that...which might be my lousy searching.

    It's OK that I don't know the word, I expect that will happen. But it's not in the Scrabble Dictionary which is a problem, which dictionary is it using then.
     
  4. VeganTnT

    VeganTnT Moderator
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    Jul 19, 2008
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    The app page says it is using the Fourth edition scrabble dictionary
    http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Official-SCRABBLE-Players-Dictionary-Fourth-Edition/Merriam-Webster/e/9780877794202/?itm=2
    this is the hard cover version that came out in Jan '06

    the online dictionary is using that version

    However I think it is using the new Onyx edition which is a revision of the 4th edition and added 4 thousand new words and alternate spellings for international play and came out Oct '07.
    http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Official-SCRABBLE-Players-Dictionary-Onyx-Edition/Merriam-Webster/e/9780877796459/?itm=3

    Might explain some things, but still doesn't make it ok. scrabble is hard enough without the computer having a slew of words at it's disposal that aren't technically valid
     
  5. taniyan

    taniyan New Member

    Aug 22, 2009
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    Where can I play a multiplayr fullscreen, good, game of scrabble for free? notice I said fullscreen so no Pogo? I need a multiplayer game of fullscreen scrabble that is free and not facebook either because i dont go on that. I love to play scrabble and to play it online wt ppl from all over the world.
     
  6. VoodooVyper

    VoodooVyper Well-Known Member

    Jan 25, 2009
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    Ya, Pogo Scrabble is terrible, there's an ad intermission every 10 or so minutes that lasts 30 seconds and they have very distracting ads at the top of the screen, some that flash and shake constantly and even some that play a loop of music that can't be disabled. Turning down the volume won't work either because you won't be able to hear the clock when it's about to run out of time. They really butchered a good game.
     

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