Word Poker Trophy Tips

Let's Hit the Basics

Word Poker is a game that tests your knowledge of vocabulary and sometimes typing speed. You are given eight randomized letters and your job is to think up as many words as possible using those letters. To make the game a bit more interesting, it is split up into six different categories: 3 letters, 4 letters, 5+ letters, Full House, Flush, and Wild. These categories matter, because you can only submit the score for one category each round to add into your total score. Now, I assume at this point you know how all these categories work. You want the trophy, not a beginner's guide! Well, let's move on then.

Now, getting a trophy is no easy task. There are a lot of factors in play that can affect your overall score and your chance at getting a high score. You need luck and skill to compete.

Luck

The biggest part of Word Poker is the letters you get. Those simple eight letters can really turn the tide of the game. You could end up with a round of only 50 points or 1,000. Here are some examples to really show you the power of the letters you get.

RSTLNEGI

There are exactly ten bonus words you can create from this set of letters.

STERLING

GRISTLE

GLISTEN

RINGLET

STINGER

LINGERS

GLISTER

TINGLES

RESTING

RINGLETS

That is a whopping 500 points to your total score and you haven't even started on the categories!

Now, let's say you go for the 5+ category with this set of letters and end up with 40 words at the end of the round. That's 320 points. However, the bonus words you put in also counts towards the 5+ category. So in actuality you put in 50 words for 400 points. Combine that with the original 500 and that's 900 points in just one round!

Of course the letters can also be your downfall. Let's continue with the example. So in the first round you obtained 900 points. You're excited and you can feel that trophy within reach. That is until you move on to the next round and see...

QXODJHZO

The letters are completely randomized, so it has probably already happened to some poor Neopian just trying to earn some NP.

Honestly, the most points you can earn from this awful set of letters is 10. You type in HOOD for the Flush category and dejectedly move on to the next round.

These examples really show the sheer importance of obtaining the right letters to ensure victory. However, I only covered the luck aspect that comes up when trying for a trophy. There are still more factors that determine success.

Skill

Of course, even with the right letters, you can't expect to earn a trophy without having an incredibly strong vocabulary. The most important words are the 7+ letter bonus words. You need a good amount of those to even have a chance at seeing your username on the high score list. However, if everything falls into place just right, you might see that golden shine just yet.

Vocabulary

Quick, how many bonus words can you name from this set of letters?

EINSHRGA

If your answer is 12, then pat yourself on the back, you got them all! Vocabulary is everything in getting the trophy. You need to be able to think up long bonus words and even short 3 letter words. Of course, if you're stuck with fulfilling the wild category, you need to be able to think of as many words as possible in a short amount of time. From the example above, I can tell you that there are over 100 words possible that you need to think up and type out. The words you know matter.

Neopets Vocabulary

Word Poker not only accepts English words, but also Neopian ones, too. For instance, the words GELERT and GELERTS are acceptable and one of them is even a bonus word! You must not only have a good grasp of the English language, but also store in your head various Neopets words in order to boost your score even more. Any Neopet name is free game as are other words such as NEOPETS, PEOS, NEOS, and EESA. If you notice, these words do not appear in a standard dictionary, so they are Neopets specific words that you must brush up on before attempting to get a high score.

Typing Speed

Now let's say you got an amazing set of letters, your brain is filled with various words and you're ready to get that trophy! You start up the game and you feel good. You're typing in words left and right, you're racking up a score when suddenly... wham! The Elephante's stick goes down and you have to choose your score. You're upset, though; you still had at least 30 more words you could've easily typed in. What happened?! Well, unfortunately, this is the last aspect of the game: your ability to type.

You need to be able to type fast. In my previous example there were over 100 possible WILD words to type out. Without a decent typing speed, you will never be able to type them all out, even if you knew them all. This is something you can easily work on, though. There are numerous ways to test your typing in order to improve both your speed and accuracy.

The best advice I can give is practice, practice, and practice! If you are a novice typist, then you should first work on touch typing. Touch typing is typing without looking down at your keys. This skill will greatly help with accuracy, because you can then see what you are typing out and you can catch yourself making mistakes. Those 8 points you missed because of a typo could be the difference between 2nd and 1st place!

Once you have touch typing down, you must work on speed. A good way to do this is to copy type a paragraph or two from a random source. Time yourself while doing it. If it takes you one minute to type it all out, work on trying to type it all out in 50 seconds. Keep lowering your time until you start to master it. Make sure you constantly change the paragraph you are copy typing to make sure you aren't just typing from memory; it will help improve your speed greatly. You must also watch your accuracy during this time. If you make too many mistakes, do not lower the timer until your accuracy improves. Having a lot of typing practice is key to winning that trophy of your dreams.

Trophy Tips

So, you finally practiced enough and you are confident in your skills. Your repertoire of Neopets words is rivaled by no one and your fingers can quickly fly across the keyboard. However, there is still the luck aspect of Word Poker that stands in your way.

Tip #1:

Start over until your first round is absolutely amazing. Just keep on hitting that refresh button until you know that jumble of letters will help pave the road to victory. You can tell when the letters are just absolutely awful. Here are some letters you want to avoid seeing: X Q Z J K. These will ensure that your word possibilities will not be good at all. Another thing that should make your finger slam down the F5 key is multiple letters. The letter S is quite nice and so is E, but if you had three of either one, you can expect your score to be quite low. So, refresh and use your best judgment. If you play Word Poker enough, you will be able to tell if it's a good word set or not. If the letters are amazing, you will be able to type out quite a few bonus words.

Tip #2:

Bonus words are the key to victory. There are only so many words in a category and only so many points you can earn. You must couple it with bonus words in order to gain enough points for the trophy. Bonus words should always come first. There is a time limit, so it would be better to miss out on four 3+ letter words in the Wild category for 16 points than it would be to miss 50 points from a bonus words you didn't have time to type out.

Tip #3:

This one applies to all games, but try for the high score at the beginning of the month. This is incredibly important. The highest score in the month of Gathering this year was around 2,700 points! That is a very large amount. To get a score that high, you need to be incredibly lucky with your bonus words and your letters. Now, if you had seen the scores at the beginning of the next month, the month of Collecting, the high score did not even reach 2,000 points. It was closer to around 1,800. That is a huge difference. That is 18 less bonus words or 112 less 5+ letter words you have to think up. So, timing is everything.

Final Thoughts

Word Poker is a game that requires a good combination of luck and skill in order to earn a gold trophy. However, if everything comes together, you may soon be seeing that golden treasure chest in your user lookup, shining brightly.