New York Times Games has launched Crossplay, a new two-player word game. To help players improve their Crossplay skills, The Times has also created Cross Bot.
What is Cross Bot?
It’s a tool that analyzes your play, highlighting strategies and useful words to sharpen your skills. Guiding you through a recap of each game, the bot will:
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Calculate your overall strategy and luck score.
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Highlight three to four key turns that had strong plays or learning moments to help you improve.
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Show you the best possible moves for each turn, ranked by both points and strategy.
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Allow you to view any turn in the game that you’re interested in.
How does Cross Bot help me improve?
Think of the bot as your Crossplay coach. It helps you understand why a game unfolded the way it did, points to your strongest plays, and finds areas for improvement.
No one expects you to memorize every word in Crossplay. But over time, Cross Bot can help you learn strategies and identify helpful words to become a more skilled player.
How do I use Cross Bot?
Once you finish a game, you can have Cross Bot review the game in the Crossplay app. Any completed game can be reviewed if it was played against another player and has at least five turns. Currently, games against the computer cannot be reviewed.
How do I view potential moves on the board?
Cross Bot shows five potential moves for each turn. To view a move on the board, tap the “View” button.
In the lower right corner of the board, there are two additional board views: The grid button turns on the heat map, and the magnifying glass button adjusts the zoom to show the full board.
The heat map highlights the locations of the best plays on the board, called “lanes.” The brighter the lane, the larger the quantity of high-scoring moves possible to play there. Over time, understanding the patterns of where to play helps you become a stronger Crossplay player.
Can I review any turn, even my opponent’s trays?
Yes! While the bot guides you through three to four key turns, you can explore any move, including your opponent’s.
Use the bottom navigation bar to select any move, or step through the game turn by turn using the left and right arrows. Swiping the navigation bar left and right will also let you browse the game turn by turn.
How does Cross Bot calculate the best move on each turn?
Each move is evaluated based on its ability to help you win the game. On some turns, the best move is the one that scores the most points. On other turns, the best move limits your opponent’s options, or sets you up to score more points in the future.
Cross Bot starts by creating a list of possible moves for each turn; there can be hundreds, or even thousands, of options. The bot selects a handful of strong moves by looking at two elements:
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How many points are scored by the move
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What tiles remain in your tray
Scoring more points is better. But your remaining tiles are important too. A move that leaves you a mix of vowels and consonants (like E, R, S) makes it easier to score in the next turn. On the other hand, a move that leaves you with only vowels (I, U, U) or consonants (C, G, V) can make your next turn tougher.
The bot then compares the top moves by running simulations, seeing how each move might change the game over the next two turns:
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What your opponents could play on their turn
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What you could play on your next turn
Some moves make it easier for your opponent to score a triple-word bonus; other moves make it easier for you to have a high-scoring move in the next turn. These simulations also consider how well you and your opponent have played so far.
The bot’s algorithm balances time and quality. The bot will run as many simulations as possible while still completing your analysis in a short period.
What do the strategy and luck scores mean?
Strategy is a measure of how well a move sets you up to win, from 1 (lowest) to 99 (highest). After each simulation, the bot looks at the difference in points between players and how many tiles remain in the bag. The bot compares those numbers with outcomes from millions of other Crossplay games, and it then averages the results of many simulations per move.
For instance, if you’re leading by 100 points and there are no tiles left in the bag, you are very likely to win. If you’re ahead by 5 points, your odds of winning are much lower. The moves that give you the best chance to win are scored 99, and those that give you the worst chance are scored one.
Luck is a measure of how useful your tiles are, from 1 (lowest) to 99 (highest). To calculate luck, the bot draws 100 random trays from the bag, and calculates the expected value for each rack. It then compares the value of your tray with the value of the random trays.
For instance, a tray like AEIJNRT will probably score more points, and have a higher luck score, than a tray like UUUIIIJ.
Isn’t the highest-scoring move always the best move?
Not always. Imagine a case where the highest-scoring move places an E next to a triple-word bonus tile. Playing that move gives your opponent a good opportunity to get a triple-word bonus on the next turn. Instead, imagine playing a lower-scoring word that puts a V or C next to that triple-word bonus (there are no valid two-letter words using these letters). You might get fewer points now, but your opponent has a much harder time using that triple-word bonus to get a high-scoring play, and is more likely to play something that benefits your next turn.
This example highlights why board placement is an important part of Crossplay strategy, and it’s one of the biggest reasons the highest-scoring move isn’t always the best. Other factors, like which tiles you save in your rack and how soon you end the game, also influence what is the best move.
Eve Washington creates interactive articles, tools and quizzes for The Upshot.
The post Introducing Cross Bot appeared first on New York Times.
