From Bluberry

PASSING AND WEIRDOX GAMES

ON PASSING:
I've said it before and I'll say it again. Passing IS a strategy... Just as playing only two tiles when you can play more is a strategy. Just as not clearing when you can, because you are far behind, is a strategy. Expecting me to make a stupid play against myself (oh... I DO that alright, but never on purpose) instead of passing seems, quite simply, asinine to me. And the 'pretend attempts' by the people who say they would never pass, are just pathetic.
ON WEIRDOX:
For as long as I have been playing there have been variations on the game. Now there are more and the reason there are more is because most of us have been playing a long time and the new formats present a challenge to us. If you think it is because we are such poor players that we need the playing field leveled, think again. There's a whole lot more to this game than spelling. Some of our superior spellers are not so great at strategy and so they complain about the "weirdox" games as they have tagged them. I say this: If you want to show your superior spelling abilities off, go get in a spelling bee. If you want to truly excel at WORDOX, which is the game we are playing, learn to play all the variations well. I really don't know how some of you can be so smug about your abilities when you refuse to step out of your comfort zones.
I disagree with mums. I don't think the many variations make it easier for the new player. I think it makes it harder because they have so much to learn. The new games like A-B-C and some of the others are a challenge for those of us who have been around a long time, so I know they have to be for the newcomer.
I thought about that the other day when I was playing Barefoot. She is learning the game and she's learning all the variations. She is going to do some serious butt kicking in the future and you people who refuse to play anything but regular ox won't stand a chance against her, superior word knowledge or not. Again, and as simply as I know how to put it... If you want to just compete using your spelling abilities, you're playing the wrong game. Strategy is a part of the game of wordox and the variations step it up.
These are my personal opinions.
Thanks for listening,
Bluberry50

more about passing

Shadow said...

"Funny. I was looking through the official rules (http://hoylegames.sierra.com/rules/hoy_wdx_rules.jsp) for Wordox and nowhere did I find that passing was acceptable.What an odd occurrence."

Want to talk about odd... I have the Hoyle Word Games CD with the rules for Wordox in the manual and it states
"If you choose to not make a word on your turn you may pass to your opponent" .

Are we in The Twilight Zone?

If need be i guess i can have the rulebook scanned and posted online for any naysayers out there that still dont understand why a pass button was included on the game.

And for anyone that cares i may not choose to pass or then again i might , depends on how i feel the odds are gonna fall so if you want to give me a free win on the chance that i might pass feel free :-)
Cya at the tables

For the Anti-Passers

"Opinions are like assholes , everybody has one. "

Every league out there states in its rules that passing is an acceptable strategy. If i dont like a games rules i dont play the game. Makes perfect sense to me. I have been passed on and passed myself. It is a gamble, it can backfire. You can pass and the other player makes a play , your turn comes and you are stuck with nothing or a pass situation again and pass the other player plays gets more points etc etc. Or you can get what you wanted which was a win. Otherwise why would you play? Oh yeah , just for fun and not for ladderstats or tourney wins or a 100 other reasons. I would rather see someone pass on purpose than see them put up a bullshit play that we both knew was bullshit when you put it up there. And i have seen a number of players do just that. Other players opinions of me and my game philosphy can be summed up in 5 words ... Dont like me... bite me And i shall leave this post with a quote from a player that read the blog and emailed me

"WORDOX RULES STATE THAT
PASSING IS ACCEPTABLE. IF YOU DON'T LIKE PASSING, OR THINK PLAYERS WHO PASS
ARE "SCUM," THEN DON'T PLAY WORDOX. FIND A NEW GAME."