Quick winning principles
- Buy E, S, T patents before opponents—passive income compounds.
- Long words score points; short words deny opponents patent triggers.
- Stockpile $ before patent auctions on J, Q, X, Z—they're cheap and block bingos.
- Use community letter only when it completes a patent royalty chain.
Ideal strategy
- 1
Patent priority queue: E > S > T > R > N for income; J/Q/X/Z for denial. First patent should be E unless table is 3+ players, then S.
- 2
Word length calculus: 6-letter word with 2 owned patents often beats 8-letter word with 0—royalties from 3 opponents = 6 extra dollars.
- 3
Auction timing: bid aggressively on letters appearing in your hand's likely words; pass on letters you'd need to dump to use.
- 4
Community letter exploitation: play it on the letter opponents need for their longest word, not yours—denial > personal score.
- 5
Endgame liquidity: convert patents to cash only when you can buy the last high-value patent; holding 3 patents with steady income beats one expensive letter.