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prasanna16391
Posts: 1801
  
Country : India | Some thoughts on the first Beginners' Puzzle Contest -
Ravi is a relatively new author, and he approached us a few months ago about holding a Masyu contest. We've been wanting to hold Beginners' Puzzle Contests for a while now, so thought we'd merge both ideas and build from here.
In hindsight, its probably not an ideal setting for Beginners, because of the quantity and partly because of the difficulty of a few of the puzzles, but with the Beginners' feature of extra time, there was at least enough incentive for everyone to carry on solving.
On the positive side though, it turned out to be a sprint that everyone who participated seems to have enjoyed, which I think is mainly due to the nice quality of puzzles in the set. Thanks Ravi, and I hope you enjoyed the experience of authoring the first Beginners' Puzzle Contest.
As for the competitors, congrats to Joo M. Y (South Korea), apollo1001 (UK) and foxfirex (USA) for topping the Beginners' standings. As for Seasoners, that is some serious Japan domination there. Congrats to the top 3 of deu, EKBM and nyuta. Kudos to all 11 of you in the top 11, and also to Anderson (USA), Muhorka (Slovakia) and Semax (Germany) for being the "best of the rest".
In future, we will have changes to the format of Beginners' puzzle contests, and you can all definitely expect more of them to come in tandem with the Beginners' sudoku contests.
Thank you all for participating! |
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purzelbaumfan
Posts: 13
Country : Germany | I actually printed out the puzzles just for the fun of it and I also never had tried Masyu before. Then I started to solve the puzzles and thought it was great fun! It was very simple to see easy strategies you can use in every puzzle at the beginning. Thank you for these puzzles. I think it's very hard to find puzzles that are easy but nice and it's also very hard to find them on the internet in their usual form when they're not a variation or two puzzle types in one. I enjoyed it very much (and still am, since I didn't solve all) and hope I will like the next test as much or even more than this one. I think this is a really good way to get people to enjoy ALL puzzle types and not just sudoku. |
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macherlakumar
Posts: 123
Country : India | kiwijam - 2013-05-02 3:55 PM
I would have prefered the points for each puzzle to be printed too. Hi, The puzzles do not have individual points, points are given depending on the number of puzzles solved (order of solve does not matter ). Regards, Ravi |
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term
Posts: 8
Country : Greece | term posted @ 2013-05-04 6:03 PM This was a fun contest for me, with nice puzzles, stellar submission mechanics and a great scoring scheme. In fact, I probably had too much fun; the bright and eager novices in my puzzle community would have suffered rather early on. Ending the contest on a larger grid is an excellent idea, but this one was far, far too hard for the stated purpose, and completely demoralising for actual (as opposed to site) novices. Maybe renaming future contests in this mould to "intermediate" would be best. |
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tamz29
Posts: 225
Country : Thailand | tamz29 posted @ 2013-05-06 7:48 PM I thought the last puzzle was quite senseless for a "Beginners contest". I bifurcated twice and just couldn't be bothered with it. |
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macherlakumar
Posts: 123
Country : India | First of all thanks to everyone for your participation and making this a huge success.
Few months back I have approached Deb for authoring a Masyu contest, at that time I am still new to puzzle construction. Deb and Prasanna looked at my puzzles and gave many suggestions on how to make puzzles that fit into competitions, because many of them are completely symmetrical (solving one half was enough to complete the puzzle). Many weeks have passed and I have designed 20 puzzles along with one 20X20 grid.
I have sent all the puzzles to Deb and he tested them and said they are good to go for competition but then again the number was an issue, after some discussion I have convinced them for 16 grids (10X10) and one 20X20 grid.
Out of the 4 rejected puzzles one I used for the instructions booklet and one found a good place which will be revealed in 3-4 months :)
I have to thank Branko for taking time from his busy schedule to test all the puzzles just few days before the start of Serbian GP. The answer format credit goes to Branko, who has come up with the idea of number of blank cells.
Deb and Prasanna helped me a lot, they always provided quick support to me. I am really happy to work with Deb and Prasanna.
I enjoyed a lot looking at almost everyone solving times. I never expected this contest to become this successful, mainly because I am new to puzzle construction. Many people have solved all 17 puzzles and I got the feeling that many are happy with the contest, which is what I wished for.
Stay tuned for another Classic Masyu Contest :D
Regards,
Ravi |
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debmohanty
Country : India | macherlakumar - 2013-05-07 4:12 PM
Deb and Prasanna looked at my puzzles and gave many suggestions on how to make puzzles that fit into competitions, because many of them are completely symmetrical (solving one half was enough to complete the puzzle).
Just to clarify, I solved the puzzles, Prasanna just gave suggestions about the format based on my feedback. |
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prasanna16391
Posts: 1801
Country : India |
Structure for future LMI Beginners' Puzzle ContestsBasic :There will be 2 rounds of 40 minutes each. Each round will contain 8 puzzles of a distinct type, meaning the contest as a whole will cover 2 types.
Each round's puzzles will be divided into four categories, with 2 puzzles per category :
1. Introductory - These will strictly be extremely basic puzzles, of trivial sizes.
2. Intermediate - The sizes may vary but logically these must be trivial. (10x10 can be maximum size unless it is a puzzle type with different dimensional characteristics e.g. Skyscrapers would have a 6x6 cap.)
3. Challenging - Here we reach the typical Monthly test lower pointer level. A few techniques/patterns can be used, and the sizes may vary. (10x10 cap on size unless it is a puzzle type with different dimensional characteristics e.g. Skyscrapers would have a 9x9 cap).
4. Exploratory - This is defined as a twisted version of the rules of the puzzle type. The twist must provide a different perspective while not deviating much logically.
There will be bonuses separately available for finishing each of these categories. These bonuses are not fixed and will be computed based on each contest's puzzle points distribution.
Notes :In case Explorative versions of a type are not possible, there will be a puzzle each added to the Intermediate and Challenging categories.
The size cap clarifications will be given at the time of communicating the types to someone interested in authoring.
Features :As noted in the opening post, Instant Grading and Extended Time features will be used in Beginners' Puzzle Contests.
Please note that the category bonuses will not be applicable during extended time. All puzzles submitted in extended time will count for 50% of their assigned points with no bonuses
There will also be an overall bonus of 1 point per minute saved for completing all puzzles within normal time.
Beginners and Seasoners : There will be Beginner and Seasoner categorization here as in Beginners' Sudoku Contests. However, it is difficult to put a system in place to promote players to Seasoners based directly on their Beginners' performances. A player will be a Seasoner by default if they meet one of the below criteria -
1. Those who have attained, at any point, an LMI Puzzle rating of 500+.
2. Those who have achieved a rank of 25 or better in an LMI monthly Puzzle test.
3. In case of a string of performances deemed exceptional by the organizers (this is pretty free-flowing as of now. We'll try to work up a system later).
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prasanna16391
Posts: 1801
Country : India | November Beginners' Puzzle ContestTypesSlitherlink and Star Battle (more details like examples and explanation about the Explorative side employed here will be posted soon)
Dates1st - 6th November (including both dates)
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mjaipal
Posts: 15
Country : India | mjaipal posted @ 2013-10-27 1:05 PM Great initiative Prasanna. Keep going. |
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rajeshk
Posts: 542
Country : India | rajeshk posted @ 2013-10-28 7:56 AM Looking forward to this test. Good initiative by LMI. |
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prasanna16391
Posts: 1801
Country : India | |
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auroux
Posts: 145
Country : France | auroux posted @ 2013-11-01 12:44 AM Looks great! I still don't think I understand the "exploratory" thing though -- I thought those were going to be slight variants and would come with their own instructions, but saw no such instructions in the IB.
Are they just normal puzzles (or variations on the usual layout that will surprise us a bit but don't actually require any new instructions) this time around?
Thanks,
Denis |
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prasanna16391
Posts: 1801
Country : India | auroux - 2013-11-01 12:44 AM
Looks great! I still don't think I understand the "exploratory" thing though -- I thought those were going to be slight variants and would come with their own instructions, but saw no such instructions in the IB.
Are they just normal puzzles (or variations on the usual layout that will surprise us a bit but don't actually require any new instructions) this time around?
Thanks,
Denis
I will say this much - the given instructions are enough to understand the exploratory part. If it were necessary to add new ones, we would have. But Exploratory can also be a different mode of presentation of the puzzle. Experienced players may not find these surprising, but we thought it would be a nice additive for beginners, to get used to the twists and surprises that accompany puzzle solving, without stepping out of the normal form too much. |
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prasanna16391
Posts: 1801
Country : India | Also, many thanks to Vladimir Portugalov for test solving the set. Deb provided some useful feedback too, as always. |
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Administrator
Country : India | Contest has started. |
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xevs
Posts: 43
Country : Japan | xevs posted @ 2013-11-01 10:13 AM The link for the result page is wrong; it goes to the page of "LMI practice test". |
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Administrator
Country : India | |
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auroux
Posts: 145
Country : France | auroux posted @ 2013-11-01 2:27 PM Wow. Very nice set of puzzles, but the first star battle variation was deliciously evil. I had to re-read the rule three times to figure it out. Otherwise, as expected I'm really not a slitherlink specialist...
-- Denis
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detuned
Posts: 152
Country : United Kingdom | detuned posted @ 2013-11-01 2:59 PM An interesting initiative. and one with a few tweaks is what I'd like to see form the basis of the WPF's puzzle GP. I look forward to giving this a go.
However one thing that really bothers me is the fact you are lumping two separate types into one contest. I can appreciate you want to introduce as many new types as possible, but I'm not sure the final scores can have any real meaning. Why not have two contests running simultaneously, but independently, and have two sets of winners? That way you would have a clear slitherlink winner, and a clear star battle winner, which seems far more meaningful to me. |
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prasanna16391
Posts: 1801
Country : India | detuned - 2013-11-01 2:59 PM
An interesting initiative. and one with a few tweaks is what I'd like to see form the basis of the WPF's puzzle GP. I look forward to giving this a go.
However one thing that really bothers me is the fact you are lumping two separate types into one contest. I can appreciate you want to introduce as many new types as possible, but I'm not sure the final scores can have any real meaning. Why not have two contests running simultaneously, but independently, and have two sets of winners? That way you would have a clear slitherlink winner, and a clear star battle winner, which seems far more meaningful to me.
This is a good point. We will separate the score pages, but we are yet to work on that. The priority was to get the contest up and running this week. |
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Realshaggy
Posts: 69
Country : Germany | I enjoyed the puzzles very much, but to be honest, the Star Battle part had a little bit too much "gimmicks" for a beginner contest. |
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rvarun
Posts: 268
Country : India | rvarun posted @ 2013-11-02 12:49 AM Is there anything that I am missing in the two puzzles in the Exploratory part. Any special rules etc. |
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abhilash1912
Posts: 1
Country : India | I've started slitherlink, my timer started and I can see the space to submit the answers. But I am not able to see the problems. Where can I find the puzzles??
edited
Sorry...I got it :)
Edited by abhilash1912 2013-11-02 3:15 AM
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Administrator
Country : India | abhilash1912 - 2013-11-02 3:14 AM
I've started slitherlink, my timer started and I can see the space to submit the answers. But I am not able to see the problems. Where can I find the puzzles??
edited
Sorry...I got it :) Good that you found it out.
Players who are participating for the first time need to note that the puzzles are available in a password protected pdf file, which they must download before starting the round (see green arrows in the image below ).
The password for the pdf will be displayed once you start the round, and you can open the pdf file. (see red arrows in the image below )
@rvarun
No special rules. But you anyway have figured them out by now. |
@ 2013-05-03 7:10 PM (#10922 - in reply to #10788) (#10922) Top