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The Problem Site Updates
Thursday, January 24, 2008
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The last couple weeks have seen some changes at The Problem Site. Some of those changes you might not have noticed.
I began to notice a while back that The Problem Site has been having some "slow down" issues. As I've had time I've been studying the code behind each of the games and resources on the site, trying to find the culprit that's bogging down the server.
It turns out, the culprit was not any of the games at all; it was the database server. So one day last week I made a copy of the database and moved it to another web server. Presto! Problem solved!
In the process of making these changes, however, I took another look at the layout of some of the pages, and realized that with the number of games and resources on the site, listing them all on the right-hand sidebar was getting truly cumbersome. So I limited the sidebar to showing only the most popular games and resources. Everything else is accessed by clicking 'View More' under the different headings.
This led me to re-evaluate how the main pages (Math Games, Word Games, Miscellaneous, etc) appear. With the large icons and descriptions next to each resource, people have to do a lot of scrolling just to view the different games. So, I'm trying something new. If you visit the Math Games page, you will see that all the games are listed by title, with a small icon, right at the top of the page. Then, for those who want more details, you can scroll down through the page for game explanations.
Over the next day or two I will be working on the other main pages to make them match this format.
One more feature which was just added; at the bottom of most pages you will see a heading that says "If you liked [game name], try one of these...", followed by a few icons for games that are similar to the game you just played.
If any of these changes cause problems for you, or you find any broken links, please send me an email to let me know: dtwitchell@virtu-software.com. Or you can just post a comment here.
Thanks,
Doug TwitchellLabels: theproblemsite
posted by Douglas Twitchell at
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Hangman That Cheats
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
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Yesterday I posted a notice that the dictionary used by Hangman has been updated. What I didn't tell you is that I was working on a brand new version of Hangman.
A game of Hangman that CHEATS!
This is a game idea I built several years ago, which I used to torment friends and relatives. But I didn't put it on any of my sites, because I'm not quite mean enough to want to torment complete strangers with a game that cheats.
But someone reminded me of the game recently, and I decided it would be okay to put it on the site, with appropriate notification that the game was cheating, so no one would get too frustrated with it.
So I redesigned the game to go on The Problem Site
Really, the challenge on this game is to figure out how the game cheats. Once you think you've figured it out, go ahead and scroll down to the bottom of the game page to find out if you're right!
Here's the game: Cheater Hangman
Enjoy!Labels: hangman, theproblemsite
posted by Douglas Twitchell at
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Hangman Game Update
Monday, January 14, 2008
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Hangman is one of the very oldest games on The Problem Site; it has been on the site almost since the very beginning. It has also undergone changes a couple times.
One thing that hasn't changed is the dictionary on which the game is based. At the time the game was created, I found a 17 thousand word dictionary which was about the best I could find.
However, that the word list was not very accurate; it contained a variety of misspellings, which were (of course!) very frustrating for hangman players.
Since then, I have switched to using the Enable2K dictionary for new word games, but never took the time to update hangman.
That change, finally, has been done. Hangman now uses a word list containing not 17 thousand but 170 thousand words.
Play Hangman!Labels: hangman, theproblemsite
posted by Douglas Twitchell at
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Announcing: Subtraction Triangles
Sunday, January 6, 2008
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The last time a new game made its appearance on The Problem Site, my niece scolded me a bit, saying: "Uncle Doug, how come you didn't put up an announcement about the new game?"
So, Annie, this is for you.
ANNOUNCING: SUBTRACTION TRIANGLES
Many students are returning to school tomorrow (around here most students started back to school on Thursday, but I know not everyone runs on the same schedule as we do up here in the cold northern reaches of the US), so just in time to kick off a new week and a new year, and get the brain in gear, I'd like to direct your attention to the new game on The Problem Site: Subtraction Triangles.
Subtraction Triangles are like upside down and backwards Pascal's Triangles. I won't explain any more here, since it's explained on the game page. I will just say this: Even though the puzzles are divided into "Easy" and "Difficult", don't think that the "Easy" puzzles are going to be so easy that you can do them with your eyes closed. They're not that easy!
I hope you enjoy the new game!Labels: math, theproblemsite
posted by Douglas Twitchell at
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New Round Of Brainfood Puzzles
Saturday, January 5, 2008
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This post is just to let everyone know that there's a new round of Brainfood Puzzles that'll start tomorrow. From September to January, the Brainfood high scorers were yoi55 and VICKY, with 50 points each...followed closely by lewanj with 48 and AlphaSigChainsaw with 40. Nicely done everyone!
During the winter and spring months you will see some recurring themes in the Brainfood Puzzles. These recurring puzzle types include:
Hinky Pinky - In which you are given a clue, and you must figure out two rhyming words that fit the clue. For example, if the clue was: "A Much Nicer Restaurant", the answer might be: "Finer Diner"
Word Ladders - A game invented by Lewis Carroll, in which you must get from one word to another by changing one letter at a time. Example: to get from HATE to LOVE, you might use the following Word Ladder: HATE/RATE/RAVE/CAVE/COVE/LOVE.
Word Equations - A word equation is an addition of two words to create a third word. Here's an example: SLENDER + RULER = PONDERING. The reason this equation makes sense is, SLENDER = THIN, and RULER = KING. THIN + KING = THINKING = PONDERING.
I hope you enjoy this new round of word puzzles!Labels: brainfood
posted by Douglas Twitchell at
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