Based upon the words in the ENABLE list, I believe I've found the highest possible score for a single word in Golem's Word Game: 1,296 points. The word scoring this amount is "carboxymethylcelluloses." By itself this word is worth 36 points. Naturally, to obtain the above score it would cover both of the red triple tiles and both of the blue double tiles (3*3*2*2 = 36) and thus this score would be multiplied by 36. (36*36 = 1,296). Of course, after August 16, 2002, under the new rules the point value would be doubled, for a whopping point total of 2,592! Note that other words in the ENABLE list score more points but would not be possible. For example, "phosphatidylethanolamines" by itself scores 37 points, but this word contains three H's and not counting wild cards, Little Golem's Word Game only contains 2 H's. "Electroencephalographically" scores 39 points but this word is not valid since it contains 27 letters. Can anyone find a higher scoring word than carboxymethylcelluloses? By the way, this word is a derivative of cellulose whose sodium salt is used in the manufacture of processed foods as a stabilizing and emulsifying agent, but you knew that, right? :)
carboxymethylcelluloses..........arrrr. Now you've given away my next move against BBW (in my dreams). I have a silly question. Where is the ENABLE list??
If you find one, please post it here. Earlier this evening I wrote a computer program to read through the entire ENABLE list, and while doing so, add up the point totals for each word, based upon the rules here. The results I obtained showed there were a few other words worth more points than the 23 letter "carbox" word I found, but those words were not possible with the rules of the game. (Too many P's or too many H's, or too many letters, etc.) It's possible my little program has a bug, or returned incorrect data, but I don't think so.
Did you also check what happens if you have *'s in it? (a 26-letter word with 39 points is also very likely to be a 25-letter word with 37 points if two consecutive 1-point letters are swapped for a *)
You made a point of not finding words that have too many of certain letters. But that could be where the wildcards can help you. Even though not worth any points, they could help use more letters and gain higher value overall.
Hjallti and Randolph - yes I did think of both of these points. Thank you. There is only word worth 39 points, one word worth 38 points and two words worth 37 points. The 39-point word is simply too long and the two 38-point words would lose too many points if any of the extra letters not found in the game were replaced with wild cards. And finally, only two other words tie the long carbox word for 36 points, but one of these uses three Y's and the other uses three H's. Thus, so far, I still think the carbox word is the highest scoring word.
Well, let's see. ZAX and ZEK would each earn 180 points. (10 points for the word, with each letter falling on a corner, obviously with two of the letters being on a triple corner.) If I find a higher scoring word I'll post it here.
Whoops. My mistake. Quiz scores 11, not 10. So the highest scoring word that uses the fewest TILES appears to be QuIZ. (Three tiles, four letters, 198 points.) The highest scoring word that uses the fewest LETTERS is either ZAX or ZEK. (Three tiles, three letters, 180 points.)
Little Golem