Vital Avoidance

My wife is currently engaged in a match of online Scrabble(tm). Left to deal with a "poor hand" of available letters, she tried a number of combinations to come up with the word that would yield the most points. Vital seemed a reasonable choice. It would net her 9 points. Then she tried avoid -- 18 points. Now I ask you: what kind of a culture do we live in if avoid is worth twice as much as vital? Just wondering.