not sure what was going on but i was able to get it downloaded a few hours after i posted this. great game!

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The last line in the chat seem to be overflowing with the textbox. It just started happening after the update.

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The only time you should be able to see other people's cards is if you both go all-in, and I'm not even sure about that, I don't mind the way it is now.

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Hey seppo,
I think the award "Jackpot Goalie" (the icon has an upright seven with boxing gloves) might not be working. I have won a number of times with a seven letter word against another seven letter word, but I still not have received that award. I might just be doing something wrong, though I don't think so. Sorry, I don't mean to be a bug or sound like a jerk who is only interested in the awards.
ACG4444

P.S. Each time I join a new table, someone says something like "Oh, so you're the champ?" or "The master is here!" It's quite funny.

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LOL! (re: "The master is here!")

Thanks for the heads up on the Jackpot Goalie award. It's been fixed, server-side, and the fix will propagate out over the next day. The next time you get a 7 vs. 7, you should get the award.

Thanks!
seppo

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Great game and fantastic work coding it up. I have a question about invites. A friend and I just did a quick test so maybe we did something wrong but: if I invite someone on my friends list that is listed as offline, do they get a notification if they do not have the game running? Our experiment seems to indicate no. Seems weird that the interface would give us the option to invite if it won't actually do so until the other party actually opens the app. Again, may be network issues or user error but I was just curious how this works.

Thanks again for stealing all my free time.

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Again, I love the game...but again I'm going assert that people are cheating using online anagrammers and it's really decreasing the fun level.

I just played against an individual who used the words "BEWORM", "ZYME", and "FLOC". FLOC is in Merriam-Webster's 11th. Cool. I've never heard of it, but maybe it's a popular word somehwere, and it is in a reasonably heavy dictionary. ZYME is not in MW's 11th, but is in MW's unabridged. BEWORM is in neither MW's 11th nor MW's unabridged.

I don't know the word source that Word Ace uses (I'm guessing it's the Scrabble dictionary, which allows words from some unabridged dictionaries even if they're not in others), but I'd love to see a toned-down word list, maybe only the level of MW's 11th. Doesn't mean only words like "CAT" and "ME", but at least give the non-cheaters a fighting chance.

I love the idea of this game too much to quit.

- Eckless

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Word Ace uses a commonly used competition-level word dictionary. ZYME is actually a word you might find on the loading screen, so I could see how someone might spell that off the cuff in-game, but there's no question that people are using anagrammers as well, and yeah, unfortunately, it sucks.

The worst part is that it's very, very difficult to tell the difference between a very hardcore, experienced word game player and a cheater.

That said, we're looking into a lot of options, from user reporting to various ways to automatically screen out players who are playing "at that level" from players who are playing at more normal levels, to allowing people to select different levels of play, in addition to their blind/buy-in sizes.

So, we're considering our options, and trying to figure out the best way to deal with the problem from our end.

What I'd suggest from your end is that when you find someone you like playing with, who's a legitimate player you're pretty sure isn't cheating, add 'em to your friend list. When you fire up a game, hit up your friend list and see if they're online, and you know you'll have at least a few honest players at the table.

Thanks!
seppo

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re: inviting offline players - you're right - it doesn't push any sort of notification to them unless they've got the game open (yet). The reason we did that is that you can basically invite anyone on your friend list, and if they open up the game while the invite is valid, they'll immediately get a note that you're online, and want to play.

We're working on ways to invite people who are offline, and ways to notify your friends you're playing - but it is currently behaving as it's supposed to.

Thanks!
seppo

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Seppo -- thank you for looking into ways to level the playing field! I wouldn't want somebody who actually _is_ a champion-level Scrabble player to be held back, but I have a hard time believing there are so many champion-level Scrabble players playing against me all the time.

Again, a great game, love the social aspect, and the trophies are a nice touch. I got the "you had a seven letter word but still lost" trophy today -- made an otherwise miserable experience a bit better.

- Eckless

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Great review and wonderful game! Feel free to add me 26615

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More issues/glitches updated with screenshots.

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It took me a while to get into it, but I absolutely love this game. Add me: 2974

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This game is aweome..
Are you guys looking into making this game available on PC? I think it would be perfect. I have been searching for something similar on the pc ever since I've played it on a the Pre.

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I don't know if it'll be on the PC or anything. I'd assume it'd be pretty trivial to make it a browser game though. And it seems they have plans for it at least being on some other devices, based on the "On: Palm Pre" when you tap on someone's picture.

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Also, I think maybe if you get an invite, it should tell you what the dollar amount at the table is. I'm used to playing games where people start with $400, and was a little confused for a second when I accepted an invite to a $40 table.

And one thing that might cut down on the cheaters is maybe making the timer a second shorter or so?

Wouldn't help at full tables though.

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We're working on it right now. It'll be a little while, still, 'cause we devoted all our resources to the Pre version (we're only five people!), but we've got a playable alpha version already. As soon as it's ready to go, we'll post news on our blog.

Cheers!
seppo

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We've been talking about a couple possible variations - having tables where there are other variations - faster timers, an "advanced" letter distribution, other dictionary variants, etc. Right now, we can't divide up the player base - but when there are more people playing, we can provide a couple more "custom" options for expert players.

How 'bout this - you get us to 100K players, and we'll get you more options.

seppo

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The Human Dictionary achievement at this point is unfortunately misleading - the text is incorrect - it should just say, "play 25 hands..." instead of "win 25 hands..." - we'll update the text ASAP.

And re: the scoring issue, which doesn't seem to be on the issues list anymore, the way the length bonus works is that it doesn't stack - you get +2 for a 5-letter word, +5 for a 6-letter word, and +20 for a 7-letter word. Not 2/7/27. I can see how that could be confusing - we'll probably add a little UI to make that more clear at some point.

Thanks!
seppo

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I would like a beep or something to tell me when its my turn in case I got distracted.

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