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Member Login, a New Writing Website
Friday, September 28, 2007
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This morning there was a little quirk with The Problem Site's login system, which I believe is now resolved; nothing major, but if you encounter any problems with the login system, let me know, and I'll get right on it!
Also, while I have your attention, for those of you who are interested in writing, there's a brand new website you should take a look at.
Fifteen Minutes Of Fiction
This is a place where anyone, whether they are children or adults, can spend some time doing creative writing, and get involved in a community of writers. You don't need to be professional - in fact, I built the site for my own use, and I'm certainly not a professional writer!
I plan to introduce a new writing prompt onto the site every week (probably every Sunday afternoon/evening). If you're not sure what a writing prompt is, it's a directed writing assignment. For those who need a little help getting their creativity kicked into gear, a once per week writing prompt is a great way to get started.
This week's writing prompt can be found here: This Week's Writing Prompt
You can also read what has been posted on the site in response to that writing prompt.
So give it a try - create a free writing account, and write something to share with the world!Labels: theproblemsite, writing
posted by Douglas Twitchell at
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Karill Puzzler - Seven By Seven Puzzle
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
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Over at Tile Puzzler, we have a new kind of "special" puzzle. It's called the Karill Puzzler.
A Karill Puzzler is made up of eight puzzle pieces. The areas of those puzzle pieces are 9, 9, 7, 7, 5, 5, 3, and 3 square units. They fit together into a seven by seven square.
And if you're paying attention to the mathematics, about now you should be thinking: Wait a minute, 9 + 9 + 7 + 7 + 5 + 5 + 3 + 3 does NOT equal 7 x 7!
And you are exactly right. You see, in a Karill Puzzler, the center square in the 7x7 box is EMPTY, leaving 48 squares.
Want to see a sample Karill Puzzler? Here you go:
Karill Puzzler #2
And once you've solved it, try logging in and creating your own Karill Puzzler!
Enjoy!Labels: tile-puzzler
posted by Douglas Twitchell at
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Congratulations, High Scorers
Friday, September 14, 2007
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Well, my congratulations go out to Kaleb and Bryce - the first members at The Problem Site to beat my high score on the Adders! Math Game!
Nice going, guys! (And to the member whose screen name is DouglasIsGoingDown...you're getting close, but not quite there yet! :)
It looks like VICKY is starting to catch up with globuggie in the Entrapment game...
But I'm afraid no one is even in the ballpark to catch DO in the Trio Match game!
For those who are trying to catch DO, be sure to read the hints in the instructions section of the game, because there's no way to catch him without either clearing the board out several times OR creating lots of multiple trios!
Good luck!
DougLabels: adders, entrapment, high scores, theproblemsite, trio match
posted by Douglas Twitchell at
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Puzzle Progress - Tracking System
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
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Some are wondering how your progress through the puzzles is tracked at The Problem Site. After all, if you login to your membership account, the puzzles still seem to come in a seemingly random order. You don't get Puzzle #1, followed by Puzzle #2, Puzzle #3, etc. So what is going on?
Well, for some puzzles (like Entrapment) the puzzles are sorted in order of difficulty, and you start with the easiest, and move toward the hardest. But what happens if you get a "mental block", and can't figure out puzzle #25? Are you stuck on that puzzle until you solve it?
I didn't want people to have to sit and stare at the same puzzle until they got it, if they wanted to skip it and come back later. So here's how this works...
Instead of giving you the puzzles in order, the site randomly selects a puzzle from the first 30 or 40 unsolved puzzles, and presents it to you. If you get it, great - the site then picks another unsolved puzzle. If you don't get it, the site will go back and grab another unsolved puzzle...but since you've left that puzzle unsolved, the site will periodically grab it again (random luck of the draw) and give it to you again. Eventually you'll be forced to overcome your mental block and get that puzzle done.
So it appears to be random, but actually it's designed to give you a more enjoyable ride! :)
And, while I'm on the subject, I'm pleased to announce that the Side By Side Puzzles now include an option (like Entrapment) to track your progress through the 1200(ish) puzzles. Just make sure you're logged into your member account, and the site will keep track of your progress!Labels: entrapment, side by side, theproblemsite
posted by Douglas Twitchell at
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Daily Puzzle - Featured Tile Puzzler Every Day!
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There have been a lot of modifications at Tile Puzzler in the last week. Some of the updates and transitions have gone smoothly, others not quite as smoothly. But there is an interesting new feature you'll want to check out on the site - it's the Daily Puzzler!
The Daily Puzzler is actually a return to a feature which was on the site several months ago...a feature which I axed, because I didn't like the way it worked.
But now it's back! Let me explain how this works...
Every night at midnight the database is randomly searched for a puzzle which meets certain criteria:
1. It has been solved at least 10 times.
2. It has not been used as a Daily Puzzler before.
3. Its average solve time in at least 60 seconds.
4. Its average solve time is no more than 150 seconds.
(these criteria may change as I experiment with the kinds of puzzles which work best)
The selected puzzle becomes the "Daily Puzzler" for that day. When you visit Tile Puzzler and click the "Daily Puzzler" link, you will be shown the Daily Puzzler. Note: for the Daily Puzzler, "easy mode" is disabled!
Your score on the Daily Puzzler is calculated as follows:
100 points just for solving the puzzle.
If you took less than 90 seconds to solve the puzzle, you receive a bonus point for each second under 90.
The scoring system is likely to change as I continue to play with this new feature, but that will give you a rough idea!
I hope you enjoy this new feature.
Also, in order to make this more accessible to students, you can play the Daily Puzzler without having a confirmed email address. So this will definitely make a nice classroom activity!Labels: tile-puzzler
posted by Douglas Twitchell at
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The Pirate's Map
Monday, September 10, 2007
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Recently, I realized that International "Talk Like A Pirate Day" is coming up. Actually, I don't celebrate "Talk Like A Pirate Day" - I only remember it because it's the same day as the birthday of twin girls in my church youth group - September 19th.
Anyway, since "Talk Like A Pirate Day" is coming up soon, I decided it was time to create another "Treasure Hunt".
The original Treasure Hunt was built a couple years ago, and was quite popular. As of the writing of this post, there are over 11 thousand people who have attempted the treasure hunt.
The treasure hunt was intended for high school students and beyond - some of the puzzles were exceedingly difficult! Unfortunately, the hunt was discovered by many elementary school teachers, who assumed it would be a good activity for their classes.
So, to those teachers I made a promise that I would eventually create an easier treasure hunt, which was better suited to kids.
(Not that adults can't have fun with it too - I hope kids, parents, and teachers will all get a kick out of this little puzzle!)
I just finished it up, and have only done a minimal amount of testing on the game, so I'm hoping that the readers of this blog will give the game a try and let me know (dtwitchell@virtu-software.com) if you find any problems with the game.
Here it is: The Pirate's MapLabels: pirate's map, theproblemsite, treasure hunt
posted by Douglas Twitchell at
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Yoi Puzzlers At Tile Puzzler Site!
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yoi55 has been a member at Quote Puzzler and Tile Puzzler for quite some time now.
Whenever he visits the Tile Puzzler site, he always creates some very interesting puzzles. So I asked him if he would invent his own "special" brand of puzzle, that we could name after him.
He tried out a few different ideas, and finally settled on something which I think will be a nice difficulty level puzzle.
Here are the rules for creating a Yoi Puzzler:
- Your puzzle must be a FreeStyle puzzle
- Your puzzle will have NINE puzzle pieces
- Those nine puzzle pieces must fit into a 6x6 square.
- The number of squares in each piece is equal to the number of letters in the name of that number*
*I know, that probably sounds confusing. Here's what I mean. Since the number ONE has 3 letters in its name, the FIRST puzzle piece will be made of 3 squares. Similarly, since the number SEVEN has 5 letters in its name, the SEVENTH piece will be made of 5 squares.
FAQ page for Yoi Puzzlers
Yoi Puzzler #1
Yoi Puzzler #2
I hope you enjoy these new puzzles!Labels: tile-puzzler
posted by Douglas Twitchell at
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Game High Score Lists
Friday, September 7, 2007
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I must begin by offering my apologies to those who are so eager to reach the top of the high score lists at The Problem Site...this morning I added a high score list to the Entrapment game, and in the process, deleted previous high scores for the other games. Thus, everyone starts with a clean slate today.
There are now three places (besides the Problems Section)where you can find high score lists at The Problem Site.
Adders! - This is a fun little game that lets you chomp down correct answers to math problems.
Trio Match - A game that looks a bit like Tetris, but requires a lot of planning ahead, rather than speed!
Entrapment -The Entrapment scores are based on two things: First, the solver receives 25 points for each puzzle solved. Second, for each puzzle solved in LESS THAN THE AVERAGE time, the solver receives and additional 5 points.Labels: theproblemsite
posted by Douglas Twitchell at
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Two Player Strategy Game - NullGee (Zero Gravity Connect Four)
Monday, September 3, 2007
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Someone commented recently that the last week or two has seen quite a few changes at The Problem Site, and that is certainly true. As I look back over the last few entries in this blog, most of them have been about The Problem Site.
There are a variety of changes I had hoped to implement before school started, and I didn't quite get them all done, so I'm still working on this on Labor Day!
The most recent addition to the site is a new version of "NullGee" (also known as "Zero Gravity Connect Four"). This game is like Connect Four, except that pieces can be dropped from any side.
The old version was one of the very first games added to The Problem Site, way back in 1990-something. It was straight ASP and VBScript, which meant that every move resulted in the entire page being refreshed, which was quite annoying for people with slow internet connections (which was pretty much everyone back then!).
The new version is Flash based, and has a more attractive user interface.
If you like, you can compare the two versions:
Zero Gravity Connect Four, OLD VERSION
Zero Gravity Connect Four, NEW FLASH VERSION
Currently the old version is still linked in, and the new one is not. But please give a try to the new version, and give feedback on what does and does not work well.Labels: nullgee, theproblemsite
posted by Douglas Twitchell at
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Trio Match - Version Two!
Saturday, September 1, 2007
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About a month before I began programming Flash games and puzzles, I created a game on The Problem Site called "Trio Match". I was very pleased with the premise of the game, and have had a variety of very positive feedback from people who have played the game - either as part of a classroom activity, or just for fun at home.
But because I hadn't yet started programming Flash, the game structure was quite cumbersome - every player action resulted in the entire page being refreshed. Not a big deal if you're on a high speed connection, but still not a great system.
So, when I started learning Flash, I looked back at Trio Match and shook my head. What was I thinking, trying to program a game as complex as that without using a tool like Flash?
So I started recreating the game as a Flash app. I made good progress on the game, but then got sidetracked by another project which needed my attention.
Today I stumbled across that almost-finished-flash-project, and decided to finish it.
It turns out I was even closer to finished than I realized. The result is a much smoother game, and it should be much more fun to play.
If you experience any difficulties with the new version of the game, please post a comment here, or send me an email!
Trio MatchLabels: theproblemsite, trio match
posted by Douglas Twitchell at
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Site Updates, New Problems!
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I'm very happy to announce that Graeme McRae is back for another year of High School Math Problems! Graeme comes up with some very creative and challenging problems, so be sure to check that out. He plans to post a new problem each month. If you solve his problems, you can login and submit a solution for him to grade.
Along the same lines, you will find a brand new brainteaser as well. The BrainFood page will be updated every Sunday throughout the fall and winter (with short breaks for Thanksgiving and Christmas).
So there you have it - a reason to come back every month, and a reason to come back every week!
Also, some changes have been made to the site, which you can read about here: The Problem Site free membership.
Please note that, as always, new features can result in bugs, so if you encounter any problems, I'd like to hear about them!Labels: brainfood, math, theproblemsite
posted by Douglas Twitchell at
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