Congratulations

[pat]

... to the new word superstar on the scoreboard. All 102 possible words in 7 minutes. Wow.

[mkenuk]

We all know how she's doing it; the question for me is why?

Surely the novelty of seeing your name at the top of the scoreboard with a cup next to it must wear off after the first hundred or so times?

 

MK

[ensiform]

Well, the novelty of my name up there with no awards of any kind hasn't worn off yet, so...

[pat]

We all know how she's doing it; the question for me is why?

Actually, I don't know how she's doing it. It's obvious that she's not actually playing the game. To get all of the words so quickly, and with 100% accuracy, would suggest some sort of automation.

I agree with you on the 'why' though, Mike. She must have a need to see her name at the top of the scoreboard: I guess that must give her as much pleasure as most of us get from getting an occasional rosette through perseverance.

Nowt so queer as folks.

[mkenuk]

We all know how she's doing it; the question for me is why?

Actually, I don't know how she's doing it.

I would guess it involves the use of two devices - one logged onto Chi, the other onto one of the many anagram solvers to be found on the www.
Type the 9 or 10 letters for the Chi game into the anagram solver, hit 'search' (or whatever), and lo and behold! - you have in front of you every available word that can be made from those letters.

 It won't take a competent typist long to add yet another cup to the collection; even quicker if you have a partner to dictate the words while you type.

MK

[pat]

I get that, but I think there must be a bit more to it. While Chi's word list is very similar to those of many anagram solvers, it's not identical; some words allowed in Chi aren't found on other lists and vice versa. So if people were simply using anagram solvers on the internet you'd expect their hit rate to fall below 100% sometimes (as indeed it might do with the puzzles that don't show the hit rate) or for them to occasionally fail to get a trophy.

I suspect that the people who consistently get trophies for all games must have their own database of words which they keep updated according to Alan's additions. It would be easy enough to write a program, feed it with the 9 or 10 letters and have it produce a list of all the possible words.

[a non-amos]

It is possible that they might maintain their own private copies of the Chihuahua dictionary database, with frequent updates, and they might have some sort of database engine to query it, but this might not be the easiest way to accomplish their goal.

I hesitate to delve into the details of other possible methods to do this.

- It might irritate Alan.  It's better to be a good guest and try not to irritate the host.

- For me it's much more fun to play the game than it would be to game the system.  Playing the game is much more enjoyable than proving that I can type 14.5 words a minute.

- If I put my mind to it and came up with a foolproof way to game the system, it might ruin the game for others.  People who had not previously been tempted to "cheat" (in quotes) might do so, and this might detract from the enjoyment they would have had.

A

[TRex]

From a techie perspective, I can see the appeal of creating an program which would be able to automatically enter all possible words with 100% accuracy. It is the satisfaction of being able to out-program another techie. And seeing one's name at the top each time the program runs gives the programmer satisfaction that he has not yet been stopped/bested. Of course, if Alan had the same mindset (not all programmers have it; it isn't necessary to be a good programmer), he would get satisfaction from finding a way to counter it.

I haven't looked at the code, but it is conceivable that a program could query the server to determine if a word is deemed acceptable before 'playing it' under a specific name. It is also conceivable that someone might be accessing the word list directly. There are lots of possibilities from a programming angle.

From my perspective, it isn't worth worrying about it. I just play for myself, knowing that some 'names' are not really people -- people struggling to use human thinking to recall all the possible words as the majority of us do.

[a non-amos]

TR, I do see the appeal of this but you seem to have gone to some extremes.

Querying a server?  Why?

[TRex]

TR, I do see the appeal of this but you seem to have gone to some extremes.

No doubt.

Querying a server?  Why?

Because that is where all the information is stored. Every player queries the server to get the puzzle and to get the scores, so it isn't unusual in and of itself. It is only the way the information is (mis)used.

[Hobbit]

I don't know if anybody has suggested it but one possible solution is for 2 people in the same room to sign into Chi independently.  One gets the solution up and the other copies it.  Simple but pointless.  I get more pleasure from my (very) occasional hard won rosette!