Ranking the variants in order of difficulty

[Ben Wilson]

This is something I was thinking of whilst browsing the 'most maxes' page, how some variants seem to be nightmarishly tough whilst others are cakewalks. So, assuming we're playing with the standard dictionary and 30 seconds per round against the same opponent (Prune, for example), here's my take on how they'd line up, from easiest to hardest-

Junior Goat
Junior
Goat
Standard
Touch
Omelette
Unlimited
Hypergoat
Hyper
Hyper Unlimited
Hypertouch

The only grey area is surrounding Touch, Unlimited and Omelette. Whilst few can argue about hypertouch's place as the hardest of the variants, standard touch is easy enough to get your head around eventually- certainly more so than unlimited.

Go on then, pick my list apart.

[Simon Myers]

I think your list isn't far off in terms of the human apterous-playing population's general fitness wrt differing variants. Whether this represents true "difficulty" is up for debate. What I mean by this is that the majority of players practice particular variants, and that your list may change drastically if players devoted a similar amount of practice to each variant (in particular omelette and unlimited I would imagine).

One interesting thing to look at would be how many words would a player need to "know" in order to max, say, 50% of rounds (I know this ignores numbers and conundrums). It's actually something I've been meaning to do with standard but haven't got around to doing it yet.

[Matt Bayfield]

I'm a bit of an Unlimited specialist, so either in terms of being able to beat a given bot, or in terms of my relative positions when the Duels are in these formats, my list would be:

RELATIVELY EASY
Junior Goat
Junior

MODERATE
Unlimited
Hyper Unlimited
Goat
Standard
Omelette

TRICKY
Hypergoat
Hyper

RIDICULOUSLY HARD
Touch
Hypertouch

I find Touchdown exceptionally difficult. Even Waldorf beats me, although I tend to fare better against human opponents.

[Charlie Reams]

(Have sneaked on here while the girlfriend is drying her hair...)

Interesting. For me personally I think Ben's list is exactly right, but it does depend a lot on how much practice you put in. Joe Denniss has proved that it's possible to get remarkably good at Unlimited with some degree of practice; no one has yet taken Omelette to that next level.

[Marc Meakin]

Omelette is too lateral for me.

[Phil Reynolds]

no one has yet taken Omelette to that next level

Perhaps they need egging on. (Sorry.)

[Kirk Bevins]

Perhaps they need egging on. (Sorry.)

Good one.

[JimBentley]

It's always going to be quite subjective - people's brains seem to work in different ways when it comes to anagramming - but my list would be something like:

Junior
Junior Goat
Standard
Omelette
Unlimited
Touch
Goat
Hyper Unlimited
Hyper
Hypergoat
Hypertouch

For some reason, I find it impossible to completely assimilate all twelve letters within the time, so I find all variants of Hyper very difficult. I also struggle with Goat as I've not really digested the first eight letters by the time it comes to pick the ninth, so often end up choosing something rubbish then realising after about ten seconds that I could've made a much better pick (which is why, oddly, I find Touch easier by comparison). Hypertouch and Hypergoat I've played so little that I can't really rank them at all, so just stuck them on at the end.

[Alec Rivers]

no one has yet taken Omelette to that next level

Perhaps they need egging on. (Sorry.)

Ha, you don't miss a chick, do you! (The punnery really should have been ova by now.)

(I'm terribly sorry.)

[Paul Howe]

This is something I was thinking of whilst browsing the 'most maxes' page, how some variants seem to be nightmarishly tough whilst others are cakewalks. So, assuming we're playing with the standard dictionary and 30 seconds per round against the same opponent (Prune, for example), here's my take on how they'd line up, from easiest to hardest-

Junior Goat
Junior
Goat
Standard
Touch
Omelette
Unlimited
Hypergoat
Hyper
Hyper Unlimited
Hypertouch

It partly depends on your standard relative to the opponent. If your opponent was better than you then I think you'd be more likely to win a game of standard than goat.

Also agree with Sid's point about unlimited, if you were playing both for the first time then unlimited is easily harder, but there's probably a smaller set of words you need to memorise to reach a given standard.

Here's my list, subject to the above caveats:

Junior Formats
Goat
Standard
Unlimited
Hyper
Hyper Goat
Omelette
Touch
Hyper Unlimited (never actually played this)
Hyper Touch

[Innis Carson]

Omelette's a weird one as it contains probably both the easiest rounds of any variant (three letter selections that spell out a word) and the hardest of any variant (where you need to spot some ridiculously obscure 10+ word or you can't get any points), so I would think how hard it is depends largely on luck. Moreso than any other variant anyway.

[Ryan Taylor]

Quite good yolks you cracked. I may shell out for a joke book to top those frieday puns.

[Marc Meakin]

Quite good yolks you cracked. I may shell out for a joke book to top those frieday puns.

I'm scrambling around for another one, but you havr poached all the good ones.

[Phil Makepeace]

I love Hypertouch while I struggle with Unlimited. Each to their own...