Fairly obvious eight-letter word. Other than that, this game's even worse than the last.

There's a few sixes in there too (at least 5)...but yeah, could really use an 's'!

I was hoping for a good one today instead of scratching around for bits and bobs!!! Ah well!!!

"Treeoak"
- Oh yeah.

Got one bird...wonder if there's some more

Haven't seen a bird I don't think... but then again, when do I?

Ah ha! er.. I think. Thanks T

yay! my first 8 letter word. cool.

yay, me too!

Heh, we are so sad. ;)

speak for yourself I'm happy!
Anyway I never would have discovered this if it wasn't for you.

And I never would have found this if it wasn't for Robin Hobb so really she's responsible for getting us all addicted. ;)

she is responsible for so many of my addictions...

Deadly, I tell you.
James out for eight hours.
--FREE PLAY Begins now--
52 words 4.62 599
Seven six-letter words
One eight-letter word

'Till tomorrow, no post whoring from me. =)

Ha! Fooled you again. NOW I'm done.
55 words 4.60 625
I cannot imagine anyone scoring over 800 points in this game. If Vanya gets 1,000+ on this, I'll purge myself.

I think this one's easier than yesterday's, I'm not spending all my time looking for words with 'Z' when I'm supposed to be writing an essay!
Oh, the addictions...

It's definitely easier than yesterday's.
Koe is in there today.
And it won't let me use kaha. that is so a word.

I have eight 6 letter words :)

'reda' is so a word...

jeeeez.. i can't keep up with the messages anymore... like babble doesn't take up enough of my time... heh

Found the 8. :) Took me a surprisingly long while though.

Unfortunately, I didn't start this one while at work. No english majors to help me do well for once. DAMNIT

I quit for now.
46 words 4.57 520

If Vanya uses the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary V2, he'll get 69/773. 70/781 on the ispell dictionary. (He doesn't do so ... there's alway a difference of <=7 words during the last few days. Not more, though).

And I just want to point out that I didn't "steal" anyone's words. Or used anyone else's program. I'm not a Script Kiddie >:-| I wrote all the 213 lines of C code plus 49 lines of Tcl code by myself. It's not in the Babble Rules not to use such ressources (though I see why one could consider this "cheating". I saw myself not as participating in a contest, but as a harmlessly proving my programming abilities. In public).

Oops! That wasn't a valid word!

46 words 4.61 535

Come on, someone give me a hint on the eight... I suck!

The eight is very similar to one of the sixes...

Ysegrim - I hope that you are not implying that I use software or other such devices in any way. I too classify this as "cheating" and do not participate in such acts in any way. If anything, I guess that I am just sad, spending too much time on here, just trying random combinations of letters when I run out of words that I know of.

beluga under an alias here with a hint: it might kill you not to find this word.

Got it. Hot stuff. So far sitting at 36 words, 410 points.

General Vanya -- That's good to hear, as the two of us have then disproved Delta. Who said it was questionable whether the two of us could, actually, achieve the same words (and lots of them) independently. (Though there is a dependency, as the said Scrabble Dictionary and the Babble dictionary should, in fact, be very similar.)

So let's conclude what people here seem to agree on about "cheating":
* randomly entering words that "sound right" is OK
* reading other's *old* entries and use their words is OK
* copy&paste from some external solver is NOT
* writing your own solver is NOT (that's what I would disagree, but I bow to the majority, and won't bother you)
* Cracking the software and steal someone else's words is, of course, NOT (and a crime, btw)
* What about using an electronic wordlist (where the border to an "illegal cheating program" are rather fuzzy?
* What about paper word lists, lexica, dictionaries, ... ?

... and I want an edit button ... my mistakes in my previous post annoy me!

As far as "paper word lists" go-- I think it kind of depends on what everyone is doing. If everyone can't check dictionaries, then should anyone?

It is all personal I guess, what you define as 'cheating'. In the end of the day it's all down to the reason you play babble. If, like me, it is an intellectual competition in which one relies on brain power, then to have people using electronic methods seems slightly unfair to those who don't. If you want to win and prove that your computer programming is the best then I guess there is nothing stopping you, unless Dr God thinks you are cheating.

my own, self-serving definition of cheating is relying on aid, be it electronic, print, or even other people, to achieve scores. the important point is not to be a cheater, ie. someone who cheats regularly and heavily. to be a purist about cheating, you couldn't even read the messages because they may contain hints.

This is really only a contest against your own brainpower. If you feel the need to use technology to get some edge, then you should take up these issues with a qualified therapist!

Meanwhile.

My nomination for goofiest non-word of the day (and proposed definition):

lidohick - that guy strolling around the cruise ship wearing mud boots and denim overalls.

Haha - I see those kind of words everyday but am afraid to post them since they might give inadvertent clues ........

it doesn't require much brain power to start typing in letters, hoping to hit on a word, so is that a form of cheating? not necessarily disagreeing, just raising an issue.

Hey all. Fairly new player. Just wanted to shout ARRRRRRRGH at today's tortuous puzzle and express my disappointment at the absence of 'turder' as a proper word.

Now as it goes for me, using a dictionary should not be considered cheating. You have to pull it out, look for words SPECIFICALLY, ones already in your head and all, and turn pages, to find proper spellings or proper beginnings/endings. I guess I am new to this whole word puzzle thing, but sometimes I need my dictionary. Alas, I am a 'cheater'. Look at my scores everyone, you will see I need to 'cheat' with a dictionary at times. Still, it takes brain power to use it.

oh, one last thing, my dictionary doesn't have half the strange goofy non word words that appear in peoples word lists, so, guess it doesn't give much of a boost of points now does it?

I never use a dictionary. But I try out silly random letter combinations that sound possible, once I run out of sensible words.

If I am responsible for anyone feeling defensive about this cheating issue, then I apologize. I mentioned this out of curiosity, not to initiate anything more than thought. In case I haven't been clear about my beliefs, I'll add my own principles to this philosophical jumble, to help clarify my side.

Point 1. If the function of PlayBabble were to service a online tournament, and we, this large group of players, were competitors for the highest ranking spots, then I would say that most of what Ysegrim listed would be cheating. Justified competition would be to sign in with only the tools with which we've come equipped, to keep silent (no messages, no external contact), and to sign out of Babble each day without any personal gain. A test of words, a battle only of what we know; both guessing and getting words wrong would warrant disqualification.
As I understand it, this is not the function of Babble.

Point 2. If the function of PlayBabble were to host a friendly yet competive game, and we were competing with one another for the best average game results but not necessarily to rank at the top above everyone else, then I would say that what Ysegrim listed as OK is okay. Justified playing would be to sign in with all our words, guess as many as we can, and to encourage others to do the same (this keeps it fun and friendly). All methods of word searching would be acceptable, short of having exact words that are today's-game specific provided by any external source (Neither yesterday's game nor dictionaries are today's-game specific.). The fact that the game is friendly allows encouragement, but the fact that this style is competitive disallows word solvers. Dictionaries list words without bias to the game, and would be little more helpful than skimming through Hobb's "Royal Assassin" to look for additional solutions. This makes dictionaries (and Robin's books) acceptable. Where contact between users is allowed, guesses should also be allowed.
As I understand it, this is the function of Babble.

Point 3. If the function of PlayBabble were to facilitate an unlimited gaming resource that was friendly and not at all competitive (meaning point values and ranks are not considered at all), then I would say that all of what Ysegrim listed would be acceptable gameplay. The friendliness of the game would permit that we can all share words with one another, use any resources available to try and solve this game to its 100% completion as a family-unit large group, or in personalized small groups, as it were. It would be a fun task for each player to work at with one another.
As I understand it, this is not the function of Babble.

That's the conclusion of the three-point explanation to Babble. I must be crazy.

This will be my last post on this subject, but I'm not sure how you "disproved" me. My point was that you were probably using external means to find words. Ysegrim proved that to be true in one of his/her posts, thus I was right. As for GeneralVanya, if you say that you're not cheating, then I'll believe you and I'm sorry for the accusation, it's just tough to believe you found every single word in the puzzle without accidentally missing one. A couple of the solvers that I went and found that day I made the accusation had logs, and both had that day's puzzle in the log (meaning someone had used it).

I should reinforce that these are only my understandings. Ysegrim and nil seem to lean toward the two other points that I mentioned, and that's fine by me. I actually like the fact that Ysegrim pointed out his intentions and method for playing this game. I also like the fact that nil described the purist approach. We all see this game as a device with different functions, and that just makes the game more versatile. I can see where Ysegrim's apporach and nil's approach butt heads, or anyone under my Point 1 umbrella and anyone under my Point 3 umbrella might conflict with competition versus total solution.

Hopefully we can all work through that and live together under the same playbabble.com roof.

Hick-tum - An official pronouncement made by a guy in overalls and a piece of straw sticking out of his mouth.

delta, commend you for your detective work. just found a boggle solver myself, and i see someone has used it on today's babble. it's not me--i'm actually beluga--since i'm sitting this out. (when i sit out, i sign in as nil. i'm doing this so i won't wreck my standing when i just want to read messages, although if i don't enter any words apparently it's the same as not logging in)

Sometimes I don't have time to play, but I just come to look at the puzzle for a second. It doesn't appear to record a zero for your score if you don't enter words.

I hate the 't' and the 'c'. Every time I see them it makes me itchy - but it's not a word! Arrrgh!

it's also an s short of an icthus, which may not be an allowed word anyway.

I could do so much with a well-placed 's'.

is there only one 8 letter word? and if so, is it 55 points?

Why is everyone getting so up-in-arms about cheating? It's not like this is the NBA with players on steroids or anything - it's just a fun game to play online. I think using a bunch of external sources would take the fun out of it, personally. I know I'm nowhere near half as good as some of the people on here, but I don't care, because I still like playing anyways.

Oh, and ladylikebag, I've only found the one 8, and yes, it is 55 points.
Wow, I have the exact same number of words I got yesterday...

I use Babble as prep for the verbal portion of the GMAT - and as fun. It's understandable that some take it pretty seriously - but as for me, not so much.

22 words 4.55 267 i feel i'm doing pretty good so far. i play just for fun and because its so addictive.
and thank you runningforhome, usually people tend not to reply to my posts, i'm not sure why

my math teacher will be here in an hour and i didnt do any work!!! cancel and babble or work?? AHHHHH

yak yak yak. How about sharing some scores ? I want to feel bad.

cheater or non-cheater, let's have the scores.

46/4.48/490.
One eight and only four sixes.

40/4.53/435

runningforhome, we must be the only ones playing. Hello? Let's see some scores!!!

30 words 4.63 366. And that's probably going to be as much as I get, since i'm really supposed to be working.

Hurrah! Finally an 8 letter word(55 pts.) 5-6's. 30/4.60/365. Not so great, but I think I'm through.RET, I like hick-tum. Sounds like a perfectly good word where I came from!! Ha Ha .

46/4.65/546 and stuck

I have not played at all since I slept, so I'm still right where I left off, and that's probably where I'll be straight through to the end.
55 words 4.60 625

I am obviously missing some longer words. I keep telling myself it's only a game. &*%$#@

cards 11 mets 4
giants 5 cubs 3
brewers 3 expos 2
As 3 tigers 2

some people should sleep more and chat less!
either play or don't.
analyze this.

jakoff

488 and running out of gasssssssssss

Sure wish it would accept redrum! Grrr....It ought to be a word ;)

and isnt there an insect called a lerp?

if you are interested, lerp is a "sweet waxy secretion of certain insects, eaten by Aborigines" (from my Australian Pocket Oxford) and according to dictionary.com its some sort of semi-acronym for a logarithm or something.

It also doesn't accept 'leed'... doesn't that have something to do with an instrument of some type?

30 words 4.50 336
im not doing that great =/ i should give up

don't know but its a Chaucerian word for cauldron...

Doing better than yesterday. Got a 6 letter word :)
I feel better knowing some people use dictionaries & such, when I don't use anything. Still I can't quite convince myself that everyone doing better than me had a dictionary :(

i want to do better!!
37 words 4.49 403
i want at least 40, but trying for 45!! rawr

You know through everything that's being said all I can think is "It's just an online game, you don't get credit, prizes, money, fame, fortune, or honestly anything at all from playing this game. It's just a good way to spend time playing a fun game. All these 'essays' on cheating and not cheating, and blah blah blah are so old. We've talked about it, we've discussed it, we've done it at least three times... now is it possible to play the game, who cares if someone cheats this is a game. If they have the urge then let them do it, it's not killing you, do the best you can and worry about your own play."

As for me, I'm still looking for words...

i've given up on this one, i want the next one!

delei - when you leave Hawaii. . .

cracked me up PJ lol

512 and i'm done done done

Finally hit 40 and it was a struggle to do that... ARGH, tough puzzle and the one I needed to get 40 was sitting there staring me in the face, I'd gotten parts of it in several words previously! I give up at this stage, waiting for the next one now!
40 words 4.67 491

Okay so I got one more... but hey I was inspired I'm hungry! LOL

how nice for you! i got 42 but only 462