News and Updates

This page shows updates made to this site and the game. Not all changes will be shown here.

21 Jul 18 -- Made some script changes after the game. Things weren't working correctly.

Added swearing detector to enforce no swearing rules. Some words get a warning; other words get an immediate timed ban where the player can't talk until the ban is lifted.
Added commands to manually enforce no swearing rules. Some words can't be added to the swear word detector. For example, most of the time when people use God's name, it's not in vain, but the swear word detector can't tell the difference. (By the way, using God's name in vain in any form gets an immediate ban.)

15 Jul 18 -- Three major changes:

Changed formula for winning the jackpot. Still won't list it here.
If playing with two people, made it so 50 points is added to a winning streak bonus. It's a little more difficult with more than one player.
When a player gets a correct answer in the second half, the other half of the points go to the jackpot.
More script fixes.

14 Jul 18 -- Updated e-mail links to new e-mail address specifically for this site. I'm hoping to add a mailing list script to automate it for me.

12 Jul 18 -- This is the initial posting of this site. The game has been in the works for about a year and a half. Some major changes have occurred since the last game about 18, 19 years ago. I'll start with the changes made within the last month:

I added a winning streak record. Each time the record is broken during the game, bonus points are awarded; however, more points are earned the less number of times it's broken. The record bonus is for each game, not overall.
I added more stat tracking. The script now tracks how many questions are asked, the number of those questions were correct, the percentage correct, and the average point value for each question. Individually, each players' number of correct answers is tracked and shown along with the percentage correct.
Added more opportunities for points to be added to the jackpot, which is mostly points not picked up by a player, which includes missed word scrambles and puzzles.
Added a pause based on question's length after a question is asked to allow players time to read them. That's one of the most important aspects of the game. There are some questions that are so large that they would take most of the time allotted just to read them.
One change is to further automate events in the game. When I started working on the script about a year ago, some events were automated, like having the letter guess prompt appear automatically. The objective is to speed the game up. Granted, there are pauses before the next event, but those pauses are there to help players prepare and prevent flooding.
Of course, more script testing.

That's all I can think of changing in the last month, so I'll go through changes made since the last game about 18, 19 years ago.

I added a jackpot. The only time points were added to it were from missed questions. I added the algorithm on how to award the jackpot. That will not be posted here; however, what I will say is that the odds get better the longer the jackpot isn't claimed. The only way to get the jackpot is to answer questions correctly. The jackpot cannot be awarded if no one is answering the questions correctly.
Various script changes that are too numerous to mention. Most of them is the updating of the score window that displays more information. (I have two custom windows that show the game clocks and each players' score.) I did some script testing to find bugs in the script, and I found some, but I don't think I found them all. I just hope the bug doesn't cause a problem that affects the game.
I cut point values by five for educated guess questions. I wanted to give players a reward for getting the question correct.
I'm going to talk about features removed from the game when starting this reboot:

I removed the secret letter and jackpot. The secret letter just gave extra points to the player that chose it. The jackpot, however, was difficult to get. It was done by guessing a special letter in a puzzle and then solving the puzzle in a specified time. Players would end up choosing that special letter too early and thus not get the jackpot.
I removed all penalties. I had it set up that the script would track penalties and take points off based on number of penalties. This made double penalties at times. I became obsessed over them, so I don't want that to happen again. The main penalty I took out was an illegal guessing pattern. I would look for patterns in players' guessing and disqualify them from the question if I found one. Well, I found patterns that players weren't making. This is why I lost my players, and I don't want that to happen again. Now, the only time points are subtracted are for vowels in the puzzle, and that's not a penalty.
I removed something I called Question Points. When players did something in the game, these points were earned. Most of it is just answering questions. Players could then convert those questions points into regular points. The objective is to give players a chance to catch up. It didn't really work, and the more question points a player held, the more regular points were earned.
Double points were removed. At the 15 minute mark on the game clock, the points for the rest of the game would double. The objective was to give players a chance to catch up. After thinking, it was decided that this was not needed anymore.
I removed puzzle round and question round. Two rounds were special where the entire round is solving puzzles or answering questions. I don't remember my thinking for removing these rounds.
I removed two features that I may bring back down the road:

Brain Speed Test -- A question or category is displayed that has more than three correct answers. Players would rack their brains for 20 seconds just typing up answers. When the first buzzer sounded, an additional five seconds is given to allow players to press the enter key and submit their answers. Correct answers got points.
Triple Church Mystery -- This is the original title, although it was changed to something I don't remember. Anyway, someone or something was chosen, and players were given three clues in the form of puzzles. After each puzzle was solved, players got an opportunity to guess what was picked. Points were awarded when correct, but the point value decreased with each clue given.

Finally, I'll go over features I added and/or changed:

I added Educated Guess questions. This was done to prevent players from throwing out guesses and my trying to find patterns. This also allows players to get points for not knowing the correct answer. Of course, some educated guess questions may have players that actually know the answer, but they're labeled that anyway for this reason. Questions that could be labeled as educated guess is because more people know the correct answer than not.
The main thing I changed is how players answered questions. Originally, questions asked were free for all with two parts. Players can post as many answers as possible before the buzzer. Each player that posted the correct answer got points with the first player getting double and a letter guess. For two answer or multiple choice questions, this allowed players an opportunity to guess each choice. A rule was added to stop that. In the end, it got more confusing that it needed to be.
The point values changed for the questions. Instead of set point values, I thought of levels. There were already questions that required two or three correct answers, but adding the levels added the opportunity to increase the time given for these questions. Further, I could create a point system based on those levels and perceived level of difficulty.
The puzzle updater, word scramble, and control pick were rewritten.
Finally, I removed a three in-a-row limit on picking. If a player picks the same category and/or level three times in-a-row (excluding random), I would award the player points, take control, and then do word scramble to see who would get it and ignore that player's answers. Since control is earned, I felt this was no longer needed. I believe I put it in there so I wouldn't run out of questions in that level or category.

Background picture from BoxedArt.
Line and banner graphics obtained from Celine's Original GIF's. (The link no longer works.)

So far, all the questions have been written by me, so I'm adding a disclaimer that I do not talk about the questions with anyone that I feel may end up playing the game, especially my wife. This is so they can play, and other players don't feel those people have an edge over them.

Mailing Lists

Subscribe
Unsubscribe
Update Preferences
Forward Messages -- Use this link to forward e-mails from the mailing lists to friends and family, not the forward button in your e-mail.

There is a page on Facebook about the game, and I post when the next game will be and updates to the site/game.

Privacy Policy

E-mail addresses collected will only be used to send the newsletter and inform when the next game will occur. They will not be sold in any form. Any real names collected will not appear on this site, unless they contributed something that deserves credit, like sending me a question. The idea is to use nicknames for purposes of high scores and other information shown on the stats page.