Scoring

[MissNash]

How are these puzzles scored? I got a time twice as fast as someone else and they got a higher score than me

[fromalabama]

Each puzzle size has a set maximum possible score, which is what anyone who scores a new record gets, or ties an existing record. The closer you get to the record, the more points you get (it's probably scaled relative to the median as well, but I'm not certain about that). If the record is a relatively high time for the size of puzzle (say, 90 seconds for a 3x4), as is often the case soon after the introduction of new puzzles, a solving time that is high relative to the average record for that size can earn a high score (in the example, say 100 seconds against the record of 90), but as the record gets lower, subsequent players have to solve it much more quickly to get the same points as the early, slower solver (as in, once the record is 30s or so, you might need to get 33s for the same points the 100s solver got early on).

[MissNash]

OK, thanks... makes sense

[uigrad]

The closer you get to the record, the more points you get (it's probably scaled relative to the median as well, but I'm not certain about that).

The median is used also. Really, the only 4 variables are the fastest time, the median time, the maximum score (for that size puzzle), and your time.

I wrote a whole post about it a while ago, but it was on the old forum. I'm not sure if those discussion topics are still around. So, here it is again.

If you look at the bell-curve image, you see 5 numbers at the bottom, and one number in the graph. Let's call them ET, P0, P1, P2, P3, and P4.

ET is Elapsed Time (the amount of time it took you to solve the puzzle plus any time penalties you took). This is important.
P0 is the fastest (record) time. This is important.
P2 is the median time. This is important.
P1 = (P0 + P2) / 2
P3 = 3* P2
P4 = 5*P2

EDIT: I have rewritten everything from this point on, in an attempt to make it easier to follow!

Let's make another time that isn't shown on the graph, and call it P5. It is entirely derived from P0 and P2:

P5 = P0 + 4.5 * (P2 - P0). This isn't shown on the graph, but it is the point beyond where you score anything more than the minimums (see post below from Zenobia). We'll just refer to it as the "worst time", even though it isn't really true.

Ok, now, let's figure out how to calculate your score. It isn't based at all on any of those numbers above, other than the record time (P0) and the median (P2).

Let's consider a case where a 3 friends (Amy, Bill, and Carla) all solve the same 4x4 puzzle. If you look at Zenobia's reply below mine, you see the maximum points for a 4x4 puzzle is 290, but we are going to pretend it is 280 points, just to keep the math simpler.

For this puzzle, let's say that the record time is 103 seconds, the median is 503, and the P5 number (not shown on the graph) is 1903.

The times recorded by Amy, Bill, and Carla are 203, 503, and 903.

Now, the way this is designed, it is expected that the average player will solve it in the median time (503), and earn half the available points (140 of 280).

It is also expected that no one can solve it faster than the current record, so the first step is to subtract 103 from each person's time. From this point on, we can ignore the record time, which makes all the math much easier! We will refer to our new times as the "extra seconds" required to solve the puzzle for that person.

Here is a chart of our extra seconds (after subtracting 103 from each one):

Amy: 100
Bill / Median: 400
Carla: 800
"Worst Time": 1800 (This will always 4.5 * the Median)


Now, to figure out how many points each person scored, let's take Bill first. Since he matched the median time exactly, he gets half the available points (140 of 280).

Now, let's consider Amy. She only had 1/4 the number of extra seconds as Bill. She's much closer to the record. So, instead of losing 140 points, she only loses 1/4 as many, which is 35. So, her score is 280 - 35 = 245.

Last, let's consider Carla. She is between the median and the "Worst Time".

Specifically, she is 1000 seconds faster than the "Worst Time". The median is 1400 faster the "Worst Time". Since Bill got 140 points for being 1400 seconds faster than the "Worst Time", we can say that he got 1 point for every 10 seconds faster that he was then the "Worst Time".

Since Carla was 1000 seconds faster than the "Worst Time", that's worth 100 points, and that's what she scores!

Now, let's pretend that a 4th friend (Dan) solved the puzzle, but had lots of penalties, and ended up with a time of 2505 seconds. Since it's worse than the "Worst Time" he gets just the minimum points from Zenobia's chart, which is 12. Note, that the worst time doesn't actually change based on Dan's play. It is always calculated off of the median.

[zenobia43]

Thanks, uigrad for re-posting your analysis. Here are the maximum points (also from previous posts):

3x4: 80 pts
3x5: 180 pts
4x4: 290 pts
4x5: 410 pts
4x6: 760 pts
4x7: 983 pts

and here are the minimum points (useful for anyone trying to hit a particular score for the month)

3x4: 3
3x5: 7
4x4: 12
4x5: 16
4x6: 30
4x7: 39

[lulu22]

What about the highest score for the Month. I had 168, 500 points but someone with 100,000 was listed as 3rd. Why?

[ella]

What about the highest score for the Month. I had 168, 500 points but someone with 100,000 was listed as 3rd. Why?

Zenobia has an extra zero -- your points for last month were 168,400 and zenobia had 1,000,000 points. It's hard to see without the traditional comma - so it's easy to confuse, but the computer automatically scores it, I think.

[bb3x]

Zenobia has an extra zero -- your points for last month were 168,400 and zenobia had 1,000,000 points. It's hard to see without the traditional comma - so it's easy to confuse, but the computer automatically scores it, I think.

ella, I agree. it would be nice to have a comma, but, I think the computer just adds the points up and doesn't bother with a comma.

However, the all-time scores do have a comma Which makes it very confusing.

[tviolet]

Is the difficulty level factored into the scores (if it's mentioned above, I missed it)? I do all my puzzles on challenging but if I were trying to go for high scores, would I earn more points by cranking through a bunch of easy ones?

[uigrad]

Is the difficulty level factored into the scores?

No.

In the old forums, the Admin said once that it would be soon (I think he said in 1 month), but it never happened.

If you are just going for the most points per hour, it is definitely best to just solve easy puzzles.

[bb3x]

No.

In the old forums, the Admin said once that it would be soon (I think he said in 1 month), but it never happened.

If you are just going for the most points per hour, it is definitely best to just solve easy puzzles.

I wonder why it doesn't add more pts when you do challenging, because I've been doing them the entire time I've had this account.

[tviolet]

No.

In the old forums, the Admin said once that it would be soon (I think he said in 1 month), but it never happened.

If you are just going for the most points per hour, it is definitely best to just solve easy puzzles.

That kinda explains how these guys are getting these crazy high points totals. I bet they're just cranking through the easy ones.

[bb3x]

you know, I thought it was pretty crazy when serenia didn't show up in the monthly competitions at all until the afternoon.