I don't understand how tournament points are accrued. Do people ahead of me play more time than ..

As far as I can tell, they just played more hours than you. Each chapter has easy and hard levels so you're not being penalised there. And over time you will accumulate more stars and get upgraded crowns. So it's just time, and up to you to decide between time spent getting game rewards and real life ;-)

I agree that it is mostly about spending alot of time just cranking through levels earning points. I assume there are some people with a natural gift for solving the puzzles and they are constantly swiping with very little thought necessary. But even that would burn hours of time. Lastly since there are websites that give all the answers for all the levels for free, some people just look up the answers and must still spend hours swiping them in. A few months ago I could get 2nd place with about eight hours time devoted to the game, no cheating. With the top scores I see now those days are over.

I’m at level 7080 and there is a tournament on now. Why I’m I not getting points for words I’m making

My fiancé sometimes has tournament stars at the start of a new level. We’ve seen 10 and 36, but we don’t know why she gets them. I’ve never seen any on my game.