Scoring

[FlatsJackson]

Hello all!
I'm wondering if anyone can tell me how these puzzles are scored?
I thought it was simply speed but I've found that in some cases I get a much higher score for a longer solving time.

[Annamariah]

You get more points for solving a "hard" quote than solving and "easy" one. Whether a quote is considered easy or hard depends on its length - the shorter quotes are hard and longer quotes easy. You get more points solving a quote fast than if you do it slowly, but the maximum points you can get by solving an easy quote are much lower than what you can get by solving a hard one.

[FlatsJackson]

That's great, thanks very much Annamariah!

[wvwoman]

pengiwengi posted on forum, 2013-03-14:

basically you get like 430-440 for difficult, 270-280 for average, and 130-140 for easy, with the slight adjustments accounting for speed.

if you do a search here in forum, you'll find some others.

[gryhnd51]

The highest possible score for a difficult quote is 450; for an average quote 300; for an easy quote 150.
Of course, those numbers are impossible to achieve after taking into account the time to type them in...IF you know right off the top of your head what the solution is.
However, I'm pretty sure that if you take less than 60 seconds to solve one you lose only about 10 points.

[gryhnd51]

I'm pretty sure those are the basics. I THINK that for the most difficult quotes there are 10 points deducted for each minute it takes to solve....so if you solve it in less than 60 seconds there are fewer points deducted.
What I'm not sure about is if this rule holds true for each level, but I don't think it does. I THINK that if it's an average quote, it takes longer than 1 minute for 10 points to be deducted, and for an easy quote it is still more. But I have no real way to know this, except just a "gut feeling". It would take someone far wiser than myself to develop an algorithm to figure it out.

[gryhnd51]

I've been trying to pay more attention to my scores and the time it took me to solve. I'm still not completely sure about this, but it SEEMS that the same timing rule holds for all levels of quotes. SO: about 10 points deducted for each minute it takes you to solve a quote, and fractions of that for every 30 seconds. Sorry if I'm being a bore on this subject!

[gryhnd51]

I'm beyond worrying about how long it takes me to solve a quote since there are so many of you who are much faster than I am! But I hope the info I've tried to collect helps some of you folks!
And I'd like to say again that BANSAI'S times are NOT faked!! He's an incredibly talented cryptogram solver...and that's just the way his mind works.

[fishbum]

I saw a comment from a regular who said she hesitated because she wasn't sure of the answer. I try my answer all the time and often have to go back. Other than time, is there a penalty for this?

[ddph]

There is no penalty for a wrong guess.

[momn8r]

I've suspected that the longer a quote has been in play that the fewer points it awards.

[wvwoman]

what do you mean by "in play?"

[momn8r]

I meant that the longer a puzzle has been on the website "in play" that the fewer points it may give. Some really difficult ones or ones with really long solve averages that would seem to have great point values may in fact not. Looking at comments gives an idea of how long certain puzzles have been in play.