Testing puzzles

Joined: 2009-06-05 Posts: 2124 Location: Menominee, MI

Not sure if I should have posted this in the work shop, but I think this thread should work on its own.

Anyways...do any of you puzzle creators give a sample puzzle to a friend or relative and say "Hey, can you figure this out?"

I'm working on a few puzzles myself and tested them on my kids to see if they could figure it out. They figured out some puzzles and some they could not solve.

The reason I'm asking is...the puzzle may be easy enough for the creator because obviously he came up with it, but to the puzzle solver, he or she may not have a clue. How would the puzzle creator know the puzzle itself can be solved, whether it's easy, difficult, or impossible (lol) unless he lets someone else try out the puzzle before he publishes the cache?

I hope I make sense here.

Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 4:34 pm

Ask a friend or someone "here" to "Beta" test your puzzle. If & when they do solve it, let them claim it as a find after a dozen or so finds.

Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 4:37 pm

Somewhat related...I just published my first multi. In order to make sure I had the math done accurately, I gave my dad a cache sheet that I printed. He called me when he had it solved and said "Is the cache suppose to go _______." So, then I knew the numbers were right. In fact, there was a little piece that needed to be tweaked and we were able to work that out before it got published. I'm working on my first puzzle and will probably have him check it as well. (Since they're both Up North, closer to him, it works out.)

In addition, I'm a firm believer that if a puzzle cache page CAN have Geochecker, it should. This way if the solver is wrong they know it ahead of time and don't spend time wondering the woods/streets on a wild goose chase. (Of course Geocecker only works with puzzles that are solved at home, not on the spot or from a marker.) And, after a couple "wrong" results they'll probably ask you for a clue or some help.

Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 5:44 pm

A major factor is publishing a puzzle is what D/ rating to give it.

Always difficult to tell how soon, or if, the puzzle will be solved.

I published one some years ago where I put the D at 3.5 - and I got a found log before I even knew it had been published! So, there is no telling.

I'm sure you could find volunteers on this site. Just ask. Perhaps someone not close to your home coordinates, so there is no question of them getting FTF on a harder puzzle, etc.

Hmmm? That might be me!

Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 7:21 pm

Yup, I always give my puzzles to a certain fellow geocacher to try to solve first to make sure it works and get his opinion on Difficulty rating.

Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 8:26 pm

I find that Dave is the best puzzle tester there is...

I do often try alternative solve methods and researching my puzzles several different ways before publishing. Especially if I want the solve to be done a certain way. I have learned by experience both in solving and creating that a research question can also have 2 "correct" answers. It's best to publish your sources if possible or mention something that will get rid of this ambiguity.

When my son and I built his weird al puzzle we tried it out on several different people to make sure it was okay. If you've experienced the pleasures of working on this one you can rest assured that we tortured several non cachers with that one.. lol

Most often the mistakes that are found are accidentally mixing up sets of coords, last minute changes can wreck havoc, and typos and transposing numbers. Those are my often caught bugs and issues. That an alternative resource/solves.

Joined: 2009-06-05 Posts: 2124 Location: Menominee, MI

marc_54140 wrote:

A major factor is publishing a puzzle is what D/ rating to give it.

Always difficult to tell how soon, or if, the puzzle will be solved.

I published one some years ago where I put the D at 3.5 - and I got a found log before I even knew it had been published! So, there is no telling.

I'm sure you could find volunteers on this site. Just ask. Perhaps someone not close to your home coordinates, so there is no question of them getting FTF on a harder puzzle, etc.

Hmmm? That might be me!

You may not be close to me, Marc, but you WERE close to me over the weekend when you found MCC03 ( GC1EJWQ ) . I live only a .3 of a mile from that cache. Wish I knew you guys were in town so I would have said hello.

Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2009 5:47 am

Todd300 wrote:

Anyways...do any of you puzzle creators give a sample puzzle to a friend or relative and say "Hey, can you figure this out?"

I am willing to take a look at it if you like, of course I don't live too far from Menominee. Twisted Evil

Joined: 2009-06-05 Posts: 2124 Location: Menominee, MI

Ha, ha, B2. I'll keep you in mind as I've seen you have put out several puzzle caches. I think I have not done any yet, but I'm planning to go to Esky someday to do a few of them.

Hope to run into you on the trails someday.