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 bonus puzzles 
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Posted on: Wed Jul 27, 2011 6:04 am




Posts: 98
Joined: Fri May 13, 2011 12:48 am
Post bonus puzzles
Can you do a quick rundown on how the bonus puzzles work? I noticed that it has recently changed.


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Posted on: Wed Jul 27, 2011 11:25 am




Posts: 3296
Joined: Thu May 12, 2011 11:58 pm
Post Re: bonus puzzles
picklepep wrote:
Can you do a quick rundown on how the bonus puzzles work? I noticed that it has recently changed.

The only thing that changed recently was the new points target,
which is now (current points + 111) instead of +100..
Patrick


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Posted on: Thu Jul 28, 2011 12:05 am




Posts: 212
Joined: Fri May 13, 2011 2:11 am
Post Re: bonus puzzles
pnm wrote:
picklepep wrote:
Can you do a quick rundown on how the bonus puzzles work? I noticed that it has recently changed.

The only thing that changed recently was the new points target,
which is now (current points + 111) instead of +100..
Patrick

For curiosity sake, what prompted the change?


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Posted on: Thu Jul 28, 2011 12:50 am




Posts: 3296
Joined: Thu May 12, 2011 11:58 pm
Post Re: bonus puzzles
starling wrote:
For curiosity sake, what prompted the change?

One puzzler had exhausted all the bonus puzzles.
I added 50 more to the database (all 7x7 twins by the way),
and thought I had to change the points increase for this person
down to 50 (twice) because of missed bonus puzzles, which I did.

This turned out to be a mistake, and when I reverted the code,
I thought I'd change the increase to 111 to make sure it'll be a
bit later before this batch is exhausted :)

That said, if people have suggestions for other types of bonus puzzles,
let me know. So far there are only 8x8 and 7x7 twins in the set.

Patrick


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Posted on: Thu Jul 28, 2011 6:20 am




Posts: 43
Location: Tacoma, WA, USA
Joined: Fri May 13, 2011 4:03 am
Post Re: bonus puzzles
9's, 10's, 12's!


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Posted on: Thu Jul 28, 2011 10:53 am




Posts: 3296
Joined: Thu May 12, 2011 11:58 pm
Post Re: bonus puzzles
rossiniman wrote:
9's, 10's, 12's!

Ok, I'll add larger puzzles. Maybe a 13x13 as every 10th bonus puzzle
or something :)


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Posted on: Sun Jul 31, 2011 2:25 am




Posts: 98
Joined: Fri May 13, 2011 12:48 am
Post Re: bonus puzzles
pnm wrote:
rossiniman wrote:
9's, 10's, 12's!

Ok, I'll add larger puzzles. Maybe a 13x13 as every 10th bonus puzzle
or something :)


Yes! I would love that the bonus puzzle would be a little bit harder.


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Posted on: Sun Jul 31, 2011 3:47 am




Posts: 428
Location: Canada
Joined: Fri May 13, 2011 2:43 am
Post Re: bonus puzzles
pnm wrote:
One puzzler had exhausted all the bonus puzzles.
I added 50 more to the database (all 7x7 twins by the way),
and thought I had to change the points increase for this person
down to 50 (twice) because of missed bonus puzzles, which I did.

This turned out to be a mistake, and when I reverted the code,
I thought I'd change the increase to 111 to make sure it'll be a
bit later before this batch is exhausted :)

That said, if people have suggestions for other types of bonus puzzles,
let me know. So far there are only 8x8 and 7x7 twins in the set.

Patrick


Eheheh... that was me. I missed my calcudoku while I was on vacation. No internet but now I'm back! Yay! Awww... maaaan am I out of practice...


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Posted on: Sun Jul 31, 2011 11:47 am




Posts: 855
Joined: Fri May 13, 2011 6:51 pm
Post Re: bonus puzzles
pnm wrote:
rossiniman wrote:
9's, 10's, 12's!

Ok, I'll add larger puzzles. Maybe a 13x13 as every 10th bonus puzzle
or something :)

It is quite clear that the bonus puzzles (most of them 7x7's twins) are easy. I have always understood that the purpose was to give some prize to those doing most regular puzzles. Initially I agree with the idea of increasing the difficulty generating randomly 8's, 9's and 10's of equivalent level (not 12x12 that would require 3 days or we would have a paradox) (and additionally you perhaps could use your "prime" generator, able to prepare an almost "infinite" number of puzzles, instead of that special for the "twins" that makes "overflow" from time to time with its limited number of bonus puzzles).
However if you introduce a 13x13 as a bonus puzzle for 1000 points (9x111) you are breaking the main idea, (in this case it looks a better prize to generate an even easier puzzle, a 7x7 or 8x8, instead of going to a more difficult one). A 13x13 should give 19 or 20 points (in proportion with the 12x12) and should be given 3 or 4 days for the solution (of course not loosing the possibility of adding the new 10 points bonus puzzles as you are reaching the successive +111 marks).
In my opinion it would be better to reserve the 13x13 (as discussed in the topic "More advanced puzzles in the site") for the future, as a regular puzzle, every two weeks or so (every 900 points more or less), for instance (or a 14x4 or 17x17 as discussed).


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Posted on: Mon Aug 01, 2011 4:05 am




Posts: 428
Location: Canada
Joined: Fri May 13, 2011 2:43 am
Post Re: bonus puzzles
I still like to sometime try a puzzle that doesn't have operators. It's not stated whether the operation is +, -, x, or /. This doesn't have to be a bonus puzzle. It could be another special puzzle. Like how sometimes the 6x6 difficult has a special pattern.


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