The VBOB 'Word Up' / 'Word Soup' Mafia Resource

In association with E.W. Quality.

Murals and Tapestries / Heroes of the Cosmos
Oneupmanship Toolkit / Understudies

Note: to find out what 'Word Up' is, see Wikipedia.
Other Note: see a video of a filthy hacked clearance by 'unknownpseudonym'.
NEW Note: watch an outstanding video of VBOB building QUIZZICALITIES.

Photo Gallery

Some Word Up photos and Puzzle Word screen-captures.

National High-Score Boards

We have compiled the best scores from all the various machines we have visited, and formed the overall high-score boards, including scores by other people/teams.

Tactics

Can't clear the board? Always get screwed over by that last Q? Just generally shit? Never fear, E.W. Quality has finally condescended to answer your begging letters. To enable you to become slightly less completely inferior to VB, we unhumbly present a brief lecture on tactics.

Players and Teams

This only covers players/teams we have encountered, or who have submitted their scores etc. Anyone can submit an entry to this bit if they want, although you need to have either some decent scores/words, or a dominance of a certain area. These are in no particular order at the moment.

Team Name: "PETERHOUSE"
Members: 4 (JM, JA, EM, DP)
Base: Peterhouse College, Cambridge.
Status: Vanquished into oblivion.
Best scores: 1290
Best words: 11 letters, < 300 pts
Comments: an early local rival for VB, easily crushed, and now extinct.
Old report: Unlike our other rivals, we have challenged them in the flesh. Following their feeble yet irritating invasion of the machines in King's and Queens' colleges in 2004, we vowed to extinguish them forever, and stormed their stronghold, only to find them already playing the machine. So began probably the first ever Word Up challenge match. A verbis ad verbera.
They seemed very impressed that we could clear the grid, but they were overly arrogant about their scoreboard (the top of which was only 1290), and challenged us to beat it. This we did, with a 1350 score, and later with some medium clearances. We also got a 12 letter word to top their words boards. Evidently they have conceded defeat, as they have not been seen since. In fact we have learned that one of their members failed his finals, and another degraded. Disjecta membra.

Team Name: "WIZ"
Members: unknown
Base: Cambridge.
Status: Severely mentally bummed.
Best scores: 1670ish
Best words: Quizzing 336
Comments: a Cambridge pub rival for VB, soon surpassed.
Old report: Wiz was the most prominent of the VB local rivals, popping up in many pubs around the town centre, but not in any colleges, which suggests he/they are not students. Wiz had many 1500+ scores (but none over about 1650), and also many "most words" high-scores, but very few long or high-scoring words, so we deduce that Wiz is a grid-clearer based on speed-stabbing, and the lack of new scores from Wiz in the last year or so suggest he/they only played for the Ł20 jackpot you used to get for clearing the board. Ad captandum vulgus.
Wiz provided good motivation early on for our improvement at being able to regularly clear the grid, and it took a bit of effort to top all of Wiz's scores on all the various machines, which perhaps inspired the imperial manifesto. Crede quod habes, et habes.

Team Name: "DAVE JON"
Members: 2
Base: The Rocket, Euston / The Court, Tottenham Court Rd.
Status: fouled cornflakes.
Best scores: 2315, 2280
Best words: Quintessentially 688
Comments: Expert long-word builders.
Old report: DJ is easily the leading rival to VB. Dave and Jon have a big presence on several machines in the Euston/Tottenham Court Road area, and also various other Zone 1 pubs. Their style of play is to attempt to construct a long word in each game, and then get the best score possible with what is left in the grid. Their scoreboards usually have multiple instances of Quizzically and Quintessential, as well as some other corkers. Their best high-scores are also excellent, though their average score does not seem to be as good as one would expect given the word building skills (if you can make a 600pt word, then clear by hacking, you would expect a 1900+ score). Dare pondus fumo.
Recently we have taken the top scores on several of their key pubs, leaving them with only two or three strongholds. Then, in summer 2006, we crucially slammed down the new WR score of 2318 at the Court, their home pub, where we also more than equalled their longest words boards, all in a single sitting, including a very narrowly failed attempt to build COUNTERREVOLUTIONARIES. Ars longa, vita brevis.
Unfortunately, despite their obvious dedication to achieving greatness at the game, they are very secretive, hardly ever posting on Fruitchat except the occasional crowing of some new word. They do not report their good scores for inclusion on the national board, thereby undermining its accuracy. They have also failed to respond to multiple attempts to meet up for challenge matches. Absens haeres non erit.

Team Name: "UNKNOWNPSEUDONYM"
High Score names: Various obscure foreign words.
Members: 1
Base: London (Zone 1).
Status: artistic guerrilla.
Best scores: 2105, 2090
Best words: Extraterrestrials 510, Quizzicality 660
Comments: 3rd best "team". Plays for long and stylish words. Earns beer-money in London pubs.
Old report (self-written): Loitering Fruitchat stalwart. Self-congratulatory linguistic pedant with a curious aversion to what are obviously the strongest words in terms of heavy scoring, has been known to refuse clearances on the grounds of taste, eschewing anything but words with semantics in accordance with a bizarre code of misconduct. But often spotted playing ADZ, CZAR and JAIL. Hypocrite. Reliable if unspectacular in the scoring department, a few decent entries in the long words category and a snook cocked at the established order with QUIZZICALITY. Denarios non cupit, verbum lautum egit.
Claims to have a copy of the official wordlist of the game (unverified), gets his (her?) sordid kicks from compound words (verified). Recluse who shies from bright lights and only seen on forays after dark, humiliated by the mighty Bobbers in a series of previously owned pubs but has vowed to exact revenge. Also gives naïve credence to Biblical prophecy: 'The meek shall inherit the earth.' Nvmqvam fessissimvs, Semper labascandvm.

Team Name: "ANGIE ANDY"
Members: 2 + occasional others
Base: Bristol (now Glasgow for ANGIE as a singleton, albeit carrying various duncelings).
Status: enthusiastic yokels.
Best scores: 2016 (ANGIE 2153)
Best words: Sequentially 432, Illogically 407 (ANGIE Quizzicalities 784)
Comments: Former elite duo, members trying to cut a solo career.
Report: (self-written):
ANGIE ANDY are enthusiastic youngsters who dominate several Bristol machines, admittedly with little decent competition. The team have improved rapidly since discovering the VBob website, though still must work on clearing more consistently and making high-scoring words that don't involve ZZ. Best moments so far include FRANTICALLY, EXQUISITE and FLUMMOXING, but more is sure to come.Canis in via est.

Team Name: "GEOFF TKA" / "TWO HEROES" / "TRE HEROES"/
Members: 1 or 2 (Potts) or 3 (Simon)
Base: Ealing, Acton, Greenford.
Status: bottled.
Best scores: 1968, 1956
Best words: Quintessential 476, Zillionaires 432
Comments: Talented dabbler, prefers other games. TKA stands for The King's Arse.
Report: (none submitted)

Team Name: "HULLHULL" or "HULLYAN"
Members: 2
Base: Hull, but also London Zone 1 (Finchley Rd).
Status: KIA.
Best scores: 1847
Best words: Quizzically 616, Quintessential 476
Comments: Two brothers, one in Hull, the other in London. Inactive, but have stylish words.
Report: (none submitted)

Team Name: "LEGENDRE"
Members: 2
Base: New College, Oxford.
Status: Swimming in treacle.
Best scores: 1950, 1941
Best words: Quizzically 616
Comments: Sprung from VB oppression.
Report: (none submitted)

Team Name: "THE BOOKIE"
Members: ?
Base: Richmond.
Status: Ravaged flowerbeds.
Best scores: about 1650
Best words: Billionaires 348
Comments: Top on many machines in Richmond (prior to VB swamping).
Report: (none submitted)

Team Name: "JAFFA CAKE"
Members: ?
Base: Blackfriars.
Status: Strung up by the jaffas.
Best scores: 15??
Best words: ?
Comments: A minor presence in Blackfriars, easily squashed.
Report: (none submitted)

Team Name: "HORNBY"
Members: ?
Base: Fleet St / Temple / Hammersmith.
Status: Ruined.
Best scores: 17??
Best words: Quizzical 423, Squandering 297
Comments: Fairly regular decent scores in his area.
Report: (none submitted)

Team Name: "POO ...."
Members: ?
Base: Hog's Head, Southampton.
Status: Poo-poohed.
Best scores: 1350
Best words: Juxtaposition 455, Quizzing 336
Comments: Decent word skills, can't clear.
Report: (none submitted)

Team Name: "MCQMS" (Merton College Quiz Machine Society)
Members: ?
Base: Merton College, Oxford.
Status: Liquidated.
Best scores: 1940
Best words: 2 ish
Comments: Mediocre ability with some organisation.
Report: (self submitted) The MCQMS is still running strong, although its membership has expanded to include all Mertonians fond of a clearance, such that no credit can be given to a given team. The best score to date, to my knowledge, is 1940 in the Wetherspoons in Reading, carried out by Ben Holroyd and Gillian Carlisle.

Team name: "OCS" (Old Colcestrians Society)
Members: 3 (Alan Evans, Michael Salter, and Ben Holroyd)
Base: Colchester.
Status: On the rise, having established several 1900+ scores on the Playhouse quiz machines to threaten VB's dominance, before inevitably being squashed back into insignificance.
Best scores: 1987 in Riley's pool club, Colchester.
Best words: Quizzically, Quixotically
Comments: quite good I suppose.
Report: (self-written) Three former RGS students, with a decent vocabulary, better engineering their clearances by the visit. Long words tend to be taken opportunistically, rather than building them. We average six-letter words in our clearances, have been known to impress the odd female crowd, and would give VB a run for his Latin.

Team Name: "DAZZA D"
Members: ?
Base: Moon and Stars, Romford.
Status: Of zero threat or importance.
Best scores: 1593
Best words: ?
Comments: Probable stabber, arose in feeble resistance to Bobbing empire.
Report: (none submitted)

Team Name: "I M BOYZ"
Members:
Base: Belushi's, Fulham.
Status: No Xmas dinner.
Best scores: 1600ish
Best words: ?
Comments: Weak hackers at best.
Report: (none submitted)

Team Name: PETERHOUSE II
Members: 2+ (DK, JS, GH, BB, NP, LJ)
Base: Peterhouse.
Status: Nuked.
Best scores: 1550ish
Best words: Razzmatazz 480, Quickening 330
Comments: Wannabes.
Report: Following the initial rout of Peterhouse, the quiz machine was moved to another college and reset, hence preventing any potential further uprising. However, the biennial cycle of the local operator means there is now a machine there again, and a second generation has tried its hand, exhibiting similarities to the previous posse (i.e. good spotting ability but little tactical skill), though unlike its predecessor, using a variety of score names based on the participants' names (yawn).
Therefore a crack VB team was sent to crush the mutiny, and succeeded easily, dominating all 4 boards on the Peterhouse machine and crushing all local scores in a half-hour spree.

Team Name: "SMUG" / "OH SO SMUG"
Members: ?
Base: Leytonstone and Wansted.
Status: Oh so shafted.
Best scores: 1200ish
Best words: Quizzical 423
Comments: Infinitely weak.
Report: (none submitted)

Team Name: "QWERTY"
Members: ?
Base: Wellington Arms, Watford.
Status: Boned.
Best scores: 1836
Best words: ?
Comments: A few decent clearances.
Report: (none submitted)

Team Name: "BEN"
Members: ?
Base: Southend / St Alban's / Stevange.
Status: Up the shitter.
Best scores: 1913
Best words: Quizzical 423
Comments: Decent stab-clearer, with some good scores.
Report: After being thwarted in Southend, a possible come-back attempt (albeit unsuccessful) was made in Colchester. Also seen in St Alban's, notably at The Crown Keys which was the subject of a tussle between BEN and HULLHULL until VB intervened, and in central London. And notably in Stevenage, with most pubs dominated by BEN's best scores until VB took over. However, due to nickname blandness, it is not clear if all BENs are indeed BEN.

Team Name: "PETE" / "JONESEY"
Members: 1
Base: Fareham/Gosport/Lee.
Status: Dazzled.
Best scores: 2105, 2086, 1950
Best words: QUIZZ... words, Inconsequentially 570, Extortionately 434
Comments: Good word builder.
Report: (self-written) Owing to a lack of local competition, owns most of the boards round the Fareham/Gosport corner of Hampshire. Strategy based on wasting first 90 seconds unsuccessfully looking for possible long words followed by frenzied attempt to bodge a clearance.

Team Name: "MARK NET"
Members: ?
Base: Croydon.
Status: Steam-rollered.
Best scores: 1811
Best words: Temptations 198
Comments: A few decent efforts in Croydon, but easily usurped. Also has good Text Tiles scores.
Report: (none submitted)

Team Name: "KING KONG"
Members: ?
Base: The Goose, Leicester and The Old Royal, Birmingham.
Status: Devastated.
Best scores: 1845, 1801
Best words: Embezzled 324
Comments: A board full of reasonable non-clear scores.
Report: (none submitted)

Team Name: "JIM"
Members: ?
Base: O'Neill's, Leicester.
Status: Filthed.
Best scores: 1683
Best words: ?
Comments: Several medium clearances.
Report: (none submitted)

Team Name: "WORDUP"
Members: 1?
Base: The North.
Status: Dethroned.
Best scores: 2159
Best words: Quizzicality 660, Quizzically 616
Comments: Mysterious rival.
Report: Irritatingly anonymous yet clearly very talented, "WORDUP" has many 1800-2000 scores throughout Nottingham, Newcastle, York, and several other Northern towns. However, he has relatively few above 2000, so we've pipped him wherever we've found him. The incognito high-score name, which is the game's default name, means that one cannot be sure if all such scores belong to the same player(s).

Team Name: "NIKLP"
Members: 1
Base: Nottingham City/Sherwood.
Status: Enslaved.
Best scores: 1783, 1781
Best words: Quizzers 304
Comments: Keen noob.
Report: (none submitted)

Team Name: "WORDUP SOC" / "EL GEORGIO"
Members: 2
Base: St Andrew's university (latterly Bracknell/Ipswich for EL GEORGIO solo).
Status: Dissolute.
Best scores: 1750ish
Best words: Extraordinarily 525, Differentials 377.
Comments: Mathmos.
Report: Two St Andrew's uni players, one of whom has since moved to Bracknell, occasionally challenge random punters to games in pubs.

Team Name: "MORTY"
Members: ?
Base: London somewhere.
Status: Gutted.
Best scores: ?
Best words: Quizzical 423, Fossilisation 351
Comments: Sporadic word builder.
Report: (none submitted)

Team Name: "JAM CAZ"
Members:
Base: Yates', Guildford.
Status: Squashed.
Best scores: 1632
Best words: Domestics 144
Comments: Bog standard hacker.
Report: (none submitted)

Team Name: "SSM"
Members:
Base: Druid Arms, Maidstone.
Status: Beefed.
Best scores: 1786
Best words: Quarrelling 363, Earthquakes 308
Comments: Decent division 2 level.
Report: (none submitted)

Team Name: "GLORFY"
Members:
Base: Birmingham.
Status: Not chuffed.
Best scores: 1600?
Best words: Quizzically 616
Comments: A leading contender in Birmingham, along with CIV.
Report: (none submitted)

Team Name: "CIV"
Members: 1
Base: Birmingham.
Status: Agog.
Best scores: 2137
Best words: ?
Comments: Best local player in Birmingham.
Report: A case of quantity over quality. Visited approximately 1200 different pubs in 2008, all that practice and still can't come close to the scores laid down by the mighty VB.

Team Name: "YETI"
Members:
Base: The George, Woodford Green.
Status: Abominable.
Best scores: 1832
Best words: Quizzicality 660, Quizzings 387
Comments: Noob with potential.
Report: (none submitted)

Team Name: "WHITEFACE"
Members: 1 usually
Base: Leicester / Nottingham.
Status: Whitewashed.
Best scores: 1600?
Best words: Quantifications 570
Comments: Good builder, needs to work on clearing.
Report: (none submitted)

Team Name: "GAZ N ROG"
Members: 2
Base: Worthing.
Status: Cowering in fear of reprisals.
Best scores: 1859, 1847
Best words: Quixotically 552, Quizzically 616, Zillionaires 432
Comments: Solid all rounders, just need to step up the pace.
Report: (none submitted)

Team Name: "PB"
Members: ?
Base: Packhorse & Talbot, Chiswick.
Status: slack-jawed.
Best scores: 1750ish
Best words: Quizzically 616, Questioners 264, Expressions 253
Comments: Nice words, decent scores, but not even in the Conference North yet.
Report: (none submitted)

Team Name: "RICH"
Members: 1?
Base: Luton.
Status: Poor.
Best scores: 1910ish
Best words: Zeitgeists 240
Comments: Owned many itboxes in Luton before a swift VB corrective officer arrived to restore order. Notably, had a screen full of 39-word efforts.
Report: (none submitted)

Team Name: "A MANNING"
Members: 1
Base: Middlesbrough.
Status: 39x3 bananas.
Best scores: 1658
Best words: Soliloquizer 516, Administered 252
Comments: Establishing an outpost against the VB empire.
Report: (none submitted)

Team Name: "GGDR"
Members: 1
Base: Old Bell, Fleet St and Ye Olde London, Ludgate Hill.
Status: probably not East German.
Best scores: 2100, 2094, 1977
Best words: ?
Comments: A good clearer and user of Qs and Zs, but lack of long words prevents challenging for top honours. Extremely good at Puzzler though.
Report: (none submitted)

Team Name: "LAKES"
Members: ?
Base: most of Eastbourne.
Status: Drowing in their own squalor.
Best scores: 1664
Best words: ?
Comments: Shit.
Report: (none submitted)

Team Name: "ALEXDAVE"
Members: 2.
Base: The Rose, Burnham.
Status: Pricked.
Best scores: 1748
Best words: ?
Comments: Blinded.
Report: (none submitted)

Team Name: "CLEGGY"
Members: ?.
Base: Swindon.
Status: Clogged.
Best scores: 1789
Best words: ?
Comments: Instantly shat on.
Report: (none submitted)

Team Name: "PHIZZBEN"
Members: ?.
Base: Cambridge, Baron of Beef.
Status: Bubble has burst.
Best scores: 1958
Best words: ?
Comments: Scouted and squashed.
Report: (none submitted)

Team Name: "CLLRHUSTED" / "HUSTEDCARL"
Members: 1.
Base: Wolverhampton / West Midlands
Status: frustrated by CIV and other better players.
Best scores: 1976
Best words: DETRIMENTALLY (13,390), QUIZZICALLY (11,616)
Most words: 39, loads of times
Comments: (insert witty snide comment about Tory councillors here)
Report: (self submitted): Only real challenger to CIV in the West Midlands. I only ever fly solo and despise people attempting to "help" by putting their grubby little hands in front of the screen.

Team Name: "PENGUINS"
Members: 1.
Base: Wolverhampton / West Midlands
Status: challenger of CLLRHUSTED.
Best scores: 2032
Best words: ?
Most words: ?
Comments: The VBOB global warming exercise will crush them (when we get round to it).