Scrabble with a Random Wheel of Punishment!

[@weee50]

Some ideas for Scrabble-related punishments: - You can only play/exchange 1-point tiles (no using blanks either) - You can only play letters in the first half of the alphabet (A-M) (You can use blanks, but only for first half letters) - Don't cover a premium letter square (premium word squares are fine) - No hooks/overlaps - Your main word must start with a vowel - Don't play/exchange duplicates (so if your rack is like AEIINRS then you can't play an I) (this is free if you have no duplicates) - Don't play/exchange a vowel - Play a phony (this is functionally identical to "PASS" but it's worth it for the content) - Spin the wheel twice and follow both restrictions (If you get this again on one of your extra spins, you must spin another two times.)

[@mackmeller]

All great ideas - thanks!

[@AmaranthRBY]

Need a human opponent spinning their own wheel. Get Sokol in on the pain train or something

[@axcertypo]

I used to do a bunch of this stuff during the pandemic on twitch! It's a great way to make the game more entertaining to watch. I'll do many a spinning wheel if Mack but decides to switch to playing Collins with me. That can be his only handicap. I also used to play after hours with Ben Schoenbrun something he called Stipulation Scrabble (or something like that) where both players had some handicap. Glad Mack is bringing this sort of thing to KZbin.

[@jessehammer123]

@@axcertypoSo like drawback chess? Like “your queen can only move like a king” or “after any piece captures, it must return to its starting square before it can capture again”? I don’t know a ton about Scrabble, so chess is my best comparison.

[@axcertypo]

@@jessehammer123 yup, that sort of thing :) we did like "you can only play odd number word lengths and I can only play even number word lengths"

[@eighthcoda]

Agree with others that this could be a great recurring feature-- if and only if you're up to it. No need to demean yourself for KZbin's sake. Remember what happened to Kenny in the "Fat Camp" episode of South Park-- a cautionary tale for any would-be daredevil. (Spoiler Alert: Kenny dies.) That said, if you are up to it, I think you ought to get more drastic with the wheel. For instance... • None of this candy-ass hot sauce: "Da Bomb Beyond Insanity" from Hot Ones. That stuff'll mess you up but good. • Spins: +5 every time you land on it. That is, 5, then 10, then 15... • Five or Dive: Either play 5 tiles or exchange 5 • Q-stuck forever. If, and only if, the Q is on your rack right now, you can never play or exchange it. • Make what is in your estimate, the worst possible move, getting rid of your best tiles for cheap and keeping QVW. • Make your move blindfolded • Balance something weird on your head for the rest of the game, like a banana. If it falls off, game over. You'll need to have multiple bananas handy, just in case. Has anti-synergy with spins and jumping jacks. • Get a sponsorship from some food company (in advance of the video, naturally) and eat some of their food. Hopefully it's not Purina Cat Chow, but rules are rules. • Sing your favorite aria from Carmen. If this comes up repeatedly, your second favorite, third favorite, and so on. If you run out of arias: game over. • Start a second, simultaneous, Wheel of Misery game vs. BeginnerBot, so you have to play both at once. (Hopefully you can make the wheel spin faster. Assuming you make 13 moves per game, it's likely that a new game (or an endless chain thereof) gets started at some point, and time is money.)

[@mackmeller]

Thanks Carl -- not sure how feasible some of these ideas are, but like them all!

[@richards31415]

I thought 5 spins meant spin the wheel 5 times, that would be punishing

[@mackmeller]

Oof imagine if I hot 5 spins, hot sauce, hot sauce, hot sauce, hot sauce, 5 spins, hot sauce, hot sauce, hot sauce, hot sauce, 5 spins, hot sauce... I could end up in a vicious cycle where I have to keep drinking hot sauce for all eternity!

[@violetasuklevska9074]

These aren't nearly bad enough for beginner bot. Here are some suggestions: -Can't cover bonus square -Trade your 2 best tiles -Play the most amount of tiles you can or subtract 30 from your score (can't trade)

[@ValkyRiver]

I was surprised that “must play phony” isn’t on the wheel until I saw the opponent was a bot Also, hey Mack, do a little dance 🕺

[@mackmeller]

Haha yeah against a human I'd 100% have made it "must phony," and in fact I was about to, then I realized I was playing a bot

[@SongNicole-vv6kz]

Actually, BeginnerBot is not THAT bad at scrabble, unlike Martin at chess. BeginnerBot’s CSW Rapid rating is constantly higher than 1700, and its CSW Blitz rating is constantly about 2000. It can defeat most scrabble beginners.

[@r.869]

imo you should do this but with bestbot or hastybot instead, this was a walk in the park

[@LeviATallaksen]

That's gotta be too hard, I certainly think it should be an opponent that Mack would normally beat pretty easily. After all, the Scrabble related restrictions can be horrible in a close match, depending on the timing. But I agree that his opponent shouldn't be THAT bad to make it more exciting.

[@r.869]

@@LeviATallaksennvm I misspelled, I meant hastybot lol

[@miskee11]

In case you do this again, here are some new punishments for ya! 1. Must play horizontally (pass if can't) 2. Must play vertically (pass if can't) 3. Must have overlap (pass if can't) 4. Can't have overlap (pass if can't) 5. Clabbers special #1: Must play as alphagram 6. Clabbers special #2: Must play as a normal word 7. Can't play vowels 8. Can't play consonants 9. Blindfolded for 2 turns... AND 5 spins per turn 10. No hands (elbows permitted) 11. Must use the word as a punchline in a joke 12. Must make a hot spot for something you don't have (easy hook, X bomb etc.) 13. Must add a piece of winter clothing (jacket, scarf, beanie, mittens) 14. Must trade

[@mackmeller]

Awesome, thanks!

[@Superb17C]

Oven mitts would be an INSANE penalty with a physical Scrabble set...

[@galoomba5559]

If only there was an easily accessible list of common words made specifically for scrabble...

[@bro91wn]

Some other ideas for the wheel: - Cannot play vowels (no exchange allowed) - Cannot play consonants (no exchange allowed) - Make lowest scoring play on the board (cannot exchange) - Hold breath for 10 seconds - Cannot use hands for a play (this could be interesting OTB, though not particularly sanitary) - Cannot cover any bonus squares - Do commentary in a baby voice for the next two turns

[@mackmeller]

Lol I love the baby voice thing

[@ryanlind5239]

This was fun. I'm gonna quibble a bit and say I don't think Jeep js a common word. I mean, it's a common brand name but I would not have thought it would be good in scrabble! But of course the definition of "common word" will always be subjective It would be fun to see you take on BasicBot next, and work your way up. As for suggestions, I would swap out oven mitts which seemed pretty easy for another scrabble-related restriction. Maybe, can't use vowels or something like that. Look forward to the next one!

[@snandor]

I’ve definitely heard jeep as a non-proper noun a LOT, and even a few times as a verb. might be a regional thing idk

[@ryanlind5239]

@@snandorwhat's the context? Especially as a verb? I have only ever heard it in the context of the brand of cars

[@snandor]

@@ryanlind5239 as in, say, “He’s jeeping around”

[@ryanlind5239]

@@snandornope, no clue what that means lol

[@mackmeller]

Interesting, I didn't even hesitate but you definitely have a valid point. My thought process was "everyone knows what a Jeep is so it's a common word," which, as you correctly pointed out, doesn't mean everyone knows what a jeep is in the sense of what jeep means as a Scrabble word (which is of course different from the Jeep brand). I do still think it's fairly well-known as a non-proper noun as pointed out below, but I'm not sure it qualifies as "common" in that sense. For sure debatable, and if I'd realized this I probably wouldn't have played it

[@Superb17C]

Tons of great suggestions by others in the comments! I brainstormed several more: Scrabble-Related: - Must play exactly 1 word - Must burn all S's and blanks - Must score an odd number of points - Must touch previous play - Must open new TWS if possible - Can't cover more than 1 premium square - Can't play nouns Non-Scrabble-Related: - All tile placements are permanent (can't press "backspace", "reset rack", etc.) - Headphones (distractingly loud music) - Blindfold - Sour lemon - Must waste 30 seconds And finally, a few "power-ups" that are even better than the "nothing" spaces, to give you some reprieve from the torture: - Can check the validity of a word - Candy (or any of your favorite foods/drinks)

[@mackmeller]

Ooh sour lemon would be a great addition to hot sauce! Headphones might actually be a plus for me since I literally always listen to music whenever I'm studying or practicing Scrabble if I'm not making a video haha

[@hansle170]

RAT for 6 points was absolutely hilarious 😂

[@cooperkomatsu329]

this is amazing, would love to see this with even more punishments!

[@jahonasnapkins]

You should stream this and the viewers vote on the punishment each time!!!!

[@itchy7879]

You could try and check words in CEL or something for the "common word" restriction if you do it again. Would be funny to do it against another person and have a special challenge computer or something

[@squadxzo]

A blind wheel made out of viewer submitted punishments (that have been vetted) which are hidden until they have been spun would be hilarious since you have no idea what's coming next. But I assume that's probably out of the option due to its complexity to set up. Some harmless punishments you could add. Recite the alphabet backwards. No two letter words Must play or trade 6 tiles only Watch a Josh sokol short for inspiration 1 point letter tiles only 2+ point letter tiles only

[@Hdudjfjdiduegsgxbxjcifirhwbagd]

Bring this to a live tournament

[@itchy7879]

I would love to see this as a fun side feature on a stream some time, like the burrito game that was streamed one time for the canadian scrabble classic

[@choco1101]

The Scrabble related were all direct negatives. Maybe can add something like (play ________ (something a bit difficult to achieve), or pass) for variety.

[@AOOA926]

A beginner is not playing glial

[@AOOA926]

Also tapa

[@SuperN57]

True KZbin style yes we need more

[@quinnbartlett7233]

How were 5 spins affecting you at all!? I'm confused, it should be the tamest thing but you were "worried" about it haha. Instead of oven mitts I'd go with nose-typing but you'd definitely need a different camera angle for that!

[@debblez]

yeah i dont get it

[@jaredjacoby4621]

Spinning makes me nauseous, I would also be wanting to avoid it the most

[@dansmith9308]

That was funny lol, definitely need stronger opponent though.

[@coolnath99]

that was fun

[@KevinMkay-y5i]

Biggest Mack Meller fan😊

[@mackmeller]

Thanks!

[@Superb17C]

Next time you can play Wheel of Punishment against BasicBot, then BetterBot, and so on - Keep moving up until you lose!

[@bensomeone]

Something interesting would be doing a wheel of languages of origin

[@extremepayne]

Jefe is common in Spanish but I wouldn’t count it as common in English

[@mackmeller]

Yeah that's kinda what I figured too

[@debblez]

why do you dislike spinning?

[@XANDOAndy]

Win and analyze an ultra blitz game against beginner bot before you can make your next play

[@JDHinten]

It's my personal rule of thumb that if a word is the name of a variety of apple, it's valid in Scrabble. Even PAZAZZ! But for some reason, the definitions listed on Woogles for them are never apple related 😅

[@mackmeller]

HONEYCRISP* = HYPERSONIC!!! (honeycrisps are my favorite kind of apple too)

[@jessehammer123]

Your spins seem to me comically slow for something that seemed to affect you so much. I could spin twice as fast as you appeared to be doing it on 2x speed (so four times as fast) and be fine, and my balance mostly sucks. Very funny, though. :)

[@choco1101]

This vs elementary schoolers lol

[@johnlee7166]

What's with high-level Scrabble players and publicly drinking hot sauce? We're going to have an epidemic of GI problems that will wreck the next generation of Scrabble >___

[@Frank_E_Scialdone]

Sorry buddy. But oven mitts. Five spins. Drinking hot sauce. It's not gonna affect your scrabble play. I suggest redoing this video and making everything scrabble related

[@100beep5]

9:32 "obviously" yeah, right