Written by @SailorJ
So your “friend” is kicking your ass at Words With Friends (WWFs)? Here are some useful tips to help you become a better player and win games more often.
First off, I’ve heard it said, this game is 25% luck and 75% strategy. You can’t choose what letters you get, and a crappy set of letters will make it difficult to score big.
Tip #1 – know the two letter words.
http://wordswithfriends.net/?page_id=77
AA AB AD AE AG AH AI AL AM AN AR AS AT
AW AX AY BA BE BI BO BY DA DE DI DO ED
EF EH EL EM EN ER ES ET EX FA FE FI GI
GO HA HE HI HM HO ID IF IN IS IT JO KA
KI LA LI LO MA ME MI MM MO MU MY NA NE
NO NU OD OE OF OH OI OM ON OP OR OS OW
OX OY PA PE PI QI RE SH SI SO TA TI TO
UH UM UN UP US UT WE WO XI XU YA YE YO
ZA
That’s all the two letter words that the game will let you play. These are the foundation for a winning game.
Playing words next to other words will multiply your higher scores.
Tip #2 – Use the Power squares. Double Letter (DL), Triple Letter (TL), Double Word (DW), Triple Word (TW) score squares. Use them before your Friend uses them.
**When using these squares, try and play a high scoring letter in DL or TL and run it over a DW or TW square.
Tip #3 – Long Words
This is the double edged sword of the game. If you use all your tiles, you get a bonus of 35 points.
Long words open up the board for your friend to play on you and get even higher scores potentially.
If a person is playing lots of long words, and they are words you are confident they don’t have a clue what the word means, there is a good chance they are cheating.
Tip #4 – Use blocking letters.
When you put a word down and you are next to a power square, use a letter that can’t make a two letter word, so they can’t run a word over the power square.
Those letters are C & V.
Tip #5 – Guessing.
There is no penalty for guessing at words in this game. You should try to guess at words if you are trying to make, say a 5 letter word to go over a TL & TW score.
Tip #6 – Cheating.
Don’t do it! It isn’t necessary and takes the fun out of the game.
Tip #7 – Power Letters.
The power letters are J, Q, X & Z. All but the X is worth 10 points. The X is 8. The idea is to minimally use them on a power square. If possible use them in two directions on a power square. That will give you either 4 or 6 times the value of the letter.
Remember JO, ZA, QI, XI, XU, AX, EX, OX can let you play power letters on power word squares in two directions.
Tip #8 – Swap out crappy letters.
If your letters suck, no time like the present. Get rid of ‘em and try to see if you can score some letters that will word. Your opponent is making it happen, so don’t delay.
Tip #9 – S and Blank.
These letters are handy equalizers. Hold them back if you can. They will let you build off existing words with ease.
Tip #10 – Don’t give openings to power squares.
If you place a word down, and you place a vowel next to a power square, you open yourself up to having a word played in two directions. Playing consonants next to power squares will make it very hard for your opponent to score big off you.