lexulous

have recently been playing lots of lexulous with damien in facebook. it's a revised version of scrabulous. after playing so many games, i can only conclude that while luck has a small part to play, to win the game, strategy is of utmost importance.

here's some thoughts. (1) control the game. it is not necessary to lead decisively all the times, at times let your opponent lead. but when you do so, make sure he is only marginally ahead, (2) plan ahead. always have alternate solutions one to two steps ahead. at times you may even need to count the number of tiles left and assess what your opponents' tiles are, (3) shape the game to your advantage. always play in such a way that you deny him the double/ triple word scores. go for the double/ triple word scores yourself and if you can, shape it such that your opponent place his tiles for you to leverage it to your advantage. to get the double/ triple word scores, you might have to bait him by giving the double/ triple letter scores, (4) keep your opponent motivated. at times, even when you have the chance to widen the gap, refrain. keep the tension. let him think he is catching up. too big a gap demotivates your opponent, (5) when you kill, do it decisively. otherwise, make sure your opponent has an outlet. always place enough tiles to let your opponent play the next step, never corner him. if you want to corner him, do it to kill.

and reflecting on this, many of the strategies are also applicable in one's daily life. yes? no?

:-)

ps: everything said above do not apply if the sole motivation of playing is "just to have fun"... and i have a friend who enters a game simply to do that... and usually, after a few steps, he will stop playing!