Boggled.py

def unique(l):
  return list(set(l))

def check(board, needle, path, pos):
  if pos[0] < 0 or pos[0] > 3: return False
  if pos[1] < 0 or pos[1] > 3: return False
  if pos in path: return False
  return board[pos[0]][pos[1]] == needle

def search(board, needle, pos, path = []):
  if len(needle) == 0: return True
  if pos == False:
    for x, row in enumerate(board):
      for y, cell in enumerate(row):
        if cell == needle[0]:
          if search(board, needle[1:], (x, y)):
            return True
    return False

  c = (pos[0] - 1, pos[1] - 1)
  if check(board, needle[0], path, c):
    if search(board, needle[1:], c, path + [c]): return True

  c = (pos[0] - 1, pos[1])
  if check(board, needle[0], path, c):
    if search(board, needle[1:], c, path + [c]): return True

  c = (pos[0] - 1, pos[1] + 1)
  if check(board, needle[0], path, c):
    if search(board, needle[1:], c, path + [c]): return True

  c = (pos[0], pos[1] - 1)
  if check(board, needle[0], path, c):
    if search(board, needle[1:], c, path + [c]): return True

  c = (pos[0], pos[1] + 1)
  if check(board, needle[0], path, c):
    if search(board, needle[1:], c, path + [c]): return True

  c = (pos[0] + 1, pos[1] - 1)
  if check(board, needle[0], path, c):
    if search(board, needle[1:], c, path + [c]): return True

  c = (pos[0] + 1, pos[1])
  if check(board, needle[0], path, c):
    if search(board, needle[1:], c, path + [c]): return True

  c = (pos[0] + 1, pos[1] + 1)
  if check(board, needle[0], path, c):
    if search(board, needle[1:], c, path + [c]): return True

def calculate_score(word):
  value = max(1, len(word) - 3)
  return 11 if value > 4 else value

def play_boggle(boggle, words):
  prev_length = len(words)
  words = filter(lambda word: len(word) >= 3, words)
  num_illegal_too_short = prev_length - len(words)

  prev_length = len(words)
  words = unique(words)
  num_illegal_duplicates = prev_length - len(words)

  score = 0
  good = 0
  not_found = 0

  for word in words:
    if search(boggle, word, False):
      score += calculate_score(word)
      good += 1
    else:
      not_found += 1

  print "Your score: %d (%d good, %d not found, %d too short, %d repeated)" % (score, good, not_found, num_illegal_too_short, num_illegal_duplicates)

data = open("DATA41.txt").readlines()
i = 0
while i < len(data):
  boggle = map(lambda l: list(l.strip()), data[i:i+4])
  i += 4
  num_words = int(data[i])
  i += 1
  words = []
  for x in range(i, i + num_words):
    words.append(data[x].strip())
  i += num_words

  play_boggle(boggle, words)