If it only appears once in the code( but is repeated on-screen multiple times in-game), it only counts once!
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But surely if a developer doesn’t have the courage to make a string variable for every choice and duplicates a choice text string for convenience, it would also count as once? (it makes more sense to me to evaluate the game on its final result that on how it’s made internally - for instance if I paste 5 static sprites on a background together for convenience of tuning precise sprite placement, but the sprites never mode, it’s identical to a CG in final render, and nobody would be able to tell otherwise without looking at the code)
Either way I used the variable trick and found out I was already below 1000 words so I could submit the game!