Here is a graph showing accumulation of Double Digit Acros, for the leading players, over time. Graph
But wait ... there's more:
On December 6, 2021, those feats were topped (sort of):
Seven acros, all "basically the same".
The topic was the word "Now" and the letters were ATM.4 players wrote "At this moment."
Another player wrote "At the moment",
and another *meant* to write "At this moment.",
but dropped the first T.
And the last player wrote "At this minute.",
which ended up winning with most of the "At this moment." players voting for it!bilbolives: At this minute.
chicmic: At this moment.
kittypower: At this moment.
Blahblahblah: At this moment.
Soupboy: At this moment.
virgingoods: At the moment.
MrPuzzle: A this moment.
Other sites have based the length of the game on some player
reaching a certain score - typically 30 points.
Depending on how many points can be scored in a round,
such a game can be over after just 4 or 5 rounds,
or it could go on for 15 rounds or more.
How does that compare to Acrozilla, where all games are 10 rounds?
It turns out, not all that differently.
For the period Nov 25, 2017 to July 10, 2019, there
were about 1600 winners recorded here.
This includes some testing games, and also instances
where there were tie games with multiple winners.
Graph of data Nov, 2017 - July,2019
Winning scores range
from 21 - 56 and average 32.4.
They break down as follows:
Points ... Number of games
20-24: 90
25-29: 486
30-34: 515
35-39: 329
40-44: 126
45-49: 48
50-54: 16
55-59: 3
We see that in well over half (1001 - 62%) of those games,
the winning score was between 25 and 34.
The 35-39 bracket brings that total to over 1300 (82%).
Of the games which didn't reach 30 points, most probably
would have after one or two more rounds (the 25-29 range),
and only about 12% were runaway wins (with the winning
score 40 or higher).
The basic premise (and challenge) of the game is:
Write something that matches the letters, word for word. One letter, one word.Not "write something that matches the letters, and throw in some convenient words, too, if need be".
You can't skip over any letters, and you shouldn't add any extras, either.
& is just a shorthand for "and".
So if the letters are E I L L T I,
then writing,
Essentially, I'd leave AND let tourists invade.
is not ok.
and therefore, Essentially, I'd leave & let tourists invade. is not ok, either.
(& is only accepted because the program allows punctuation, including standalone punctuation such as ellipsis.)
A simple rewording avoids the problem altogether:
Essentially, I'd leave, letting tourists invade.
The only time I will vote for one of these is if there is no other choice: because the others are even worse, or if the acro is extraordinarily good.
Usually as soon as I see the &, I don't even finish reading them, because I know they won't gmv.
But when it comes to VOTING, there are no excuses.
Here are criteria I apply. (Which I myself occasionally violate in writing acros, but try to apply assiduously in voting.)
Don't start with "Ah" or "Oh".
Don't tack adverbs or exclamations on the end, either,
such as "obviously" and other adverbs or "indeed", "Ick!" or "Eww!".
Example: Watercooler gossip / ABC /
Bad: Asked Bob's cooperation. [Who the heck is "Bob"?]
Good: Alerted boss's companion.
Example: Favorite City / MLCP /
Mediocre acro: Most Loved City: Paris!
That could just as well be Prague, or Peoria, or Podunk.
Better acro: Magnificent Louvre charms Paris ... now it's actually about Paris
A + B = C is one of the most common topics for 3-letter rounds, but many players misplay it.
It's supposed to be "taking two things, which when
put together become a third".
The A and B should both
be the same part of speech, either both nouns (most commonly),
or both adjectives or verbs, with the result being a third of the same kind.
The canonical example often given is:
Dog + Cat = Fight
Take two sworn enemies, put them together, and a fight ensues.
It should NOT be a two-word phrase with a plus sign stuck in the middle of it. Or worse, a three word phrase with both punctuation marks just added.
A good test is:
If it works just as well WITHOUT the plus sign, it's not a 'real'
A+B=C acro.
Here are some examples, showing not-so-good acros, followed by improvements to them:
Flawed Acro | Reason | Improved |
---|---|---|
Dirty + Dog = Mud |
Most Adjective + Noun acros fail the "you don't need the plus sign" test. |
Dirt + Dog = Mess |
Cold + Day = Shivering | Make it two adjectives rather than just "cold day". | Cold + Disrobed = Shivering. |
Foreign + trip = Romania. |
You can't "add" 'foreign' to a trip, it's a 'foreign trip'. |
France + Trip = Romance |
Spill + Porridge = Mess | Verb + Noun acros are still just two-word phrases. | Sofa + Porridge = Mess |
Observe + Fossils = Paleontologist | SO close .... just make both parts nouns. | Observer + Fossils = Paleontology |
Broken + Head = Headache |
Again, this doesn't need the plus sign; use a noun instead of an adjective. |
Brick + Head = Headache |
Donald + Lies = Always | Here, all the punctuation is simply inserted, since lies can be read as a verb. | Donald + Lie = Alibi |
Duplicate acros (or near dups) are fairly common. But as the number of letters increases, the frequency DEcreases.
Tonight was one of those extremely unlikely cases.
For the topic of "Describe a perfect vacation", KLJ and MrPuzzle both wrote, word-for-word:
"Somewhere nice, good food, money's not used."
I put an exclamation point at the end, she used a period. That was the only difference.
Weird only begins to describe it.
Feb 9, 2023 - Another 6-bagger:
Round 9 (GGCDWO) (Topic was of a video of someone 'claiming' a lost purse.)
chicmic: Girl gets caught doing wrong obviously.
MrPuzzle: Girl gets caught doing wrong, obviously.
May 28, 2023 - Another 6'er:
The topic was a picture from a store showing side-by-side condoms and diapers, and a sign saying, "Take your pick."