QuikSand
09-13-2007, 09:43 PM
It's been a pretty long while since I posted an original puzzle/contest here -- thought it might be worth a try again. I will do my best to be clear with the setup and scoring.
The goal of this game is to find an English word that contains, in sequence but not necessarily adjacently, multiple letters of the alphabet. For a word entered under the letter "E" fir instance, it must contain an E, and then somewhere later in the word an F, and so forth. The more such letters you get into your word, and the more "efficiently" you do so, the higher your score will be for the word.
SCORING:
- Each consecutive letter of the alphabet that appears, in order, in your word is with an increasing point. For example, 4 such letters are worth 1+2+3+4 = 10 points.
- Each letter in your word that is not part of the consecutive sequence is a 1 point penalty.
- Each prefix, suffix, pluralization, or other change of your word away from its "root" is a cumulative deduction as well. The first add-on is a -1 penalty, the second is a -2, and so forth.
- If you submit a word that someone other than a Scrabble champion or a computer dictionary has heard of and even used, you will gain the hard-earned respect and admiration of your peers. Which is nice.
So... if we entered the word DEFYING, we would:
-classify it under the letter D, the first scoring letter
-award 10 points for the D,E,F, and G
-subtract 3 points for the 3 letters not part of that sequence
-subtract 1 extra point for using a suffix
D: DEFyinG = 6 points
In theory, we could allow up to 26 entries into the contest -- for words containing scoring sequences starting with each letter of the alphabet. We will use "Atari physics" for any series that reaches Z -- it will continue on to A if possible.
So, give it some thought, and submit your entries in this thread. High scores for any given starting letter will be honored suitably.
The goal of this game is to find an English word that contains, in sequence but not necessarily adjacently, multiple letters of the alphabet. For a word entered under the letter "E" fir instance, it must contain an E, and then somewhere later in the word an F, and so forth. The more such letters you get into your word, and the more "efficiently" you do so, the higher your score will be for the word.
SCORING:
- Each consecutive letter of the alphabet that appears, in order, in your word is with an increasing point. For example, 4 such letters are worth 1+2+3+4 = 10 points.
- Each letter in your word that is not part of the consecutive sequence is a 1 point penalty.
- Each prefix, suffix, pluralization, or other change of your word away from its "root" is a cumulative deduction as well. The first add-on is a -1 penalty, the second is a -2, and so forth.
- If you submit a word that someone other than a Scrabble champion or a computer dictionary has heard of and even used, you will gain the hard-earned respect and admiration of your peers. Which is nice.
So... if we entered the word DEFYING, we would:
-classify it under the letter D, the first scoring letter
-award 10 points for the D,E,F, and G
-subtract 3 points for the 3 letters not part of that sequence
-subtract 1 extra point for using a suffix
D: DEFyinG = 6 points
In theory, we could allow up to 26 entries into the contest -- for words containing scoring sequences starting with each letter of the alphabet. We will use "Atari physics" for any series that reaches Z -- it will continue on to A if possible.
So, give it some thought, and submit your entries in this thread. High scores for any given starting letter will be honored suitably.