Any trick puzzles where you disagree with the bolt rating?

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Permalink Reply by Erik on April 8, 2008 at 9:03pm

I'm not 100% sure I've got a good calibration of what Stave means by the bolt designations.

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Permalink Reply by June Herold on April 10, 2008 at 11:26am

Here are the explanations for the bolt ratings from a Stave Guidebook:
Hors d'oeuvres --taste Stave Shenanigans.
Faint of heart? this may be your limit.
Be prepared to do battle.
If they made Pepto Bismol for the brain, this is when you'd need it.
What part of "impossible" don't you understand?

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Permalink Reply by Erik on April 10, 2008 at 9:12pm

This is where I get thrown though, I'm almost done Time Traveler which has four bolts, but I thought most of the tricks were "easier" because you could find where they were. Whereas some of the other trick puzzles I have with lower bolt ratings seemed harder.

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Permalink Reply by Paula on April 15, 2008 at 1:31pm

Hi - Let me chime in here. Generally speaking, our ratings are based on what our "tester" group has given us for feedback. I have felt for some time that perhaps we should expand our rating system, especially now that we have more trick puzzles than ever before. But, can you imagine showing a puzzle with 10 bolts beside it - what a marketing nightmare.

Aside from that - the level of difficulty will vary for every puzzler. This is true across the board - Tricks, Teasers, and Traditionals. I'm open to any suggestions and feedback.

Thanks! Paula

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Permalink Reply by Erik on April 15, 2008 at 1:56pm

That's helpful to understand--that a tester group helps assign the rating. Not that anyone thought it was just random, but it helps more knowing a testing group is helping assign the ratings.

That said, perhaps there could be a guide-posting of some estimates, e.g. a 1 bolt typically has <3 tricks, a 5 bolt typically has X? That wouldn't be perfect either but it might help calibrate expectations?

Then again, I'm not sure this is a huge problem and as you say some of this is customer-puzzle specific.

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Permalink Reply by Paula on April 15, 2008 at 5:07pm

Thank You, Erik. Good suggestion.

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Permalink Reply by Sebastian on April 15, 2008 at 9:19pm

I noticed with the puzzles that have more than one solution, that some of the solution variations are obviously a lot more difficult. Maybe you could rate each solution, a little bit like the limited editions getting different ratings for different sections of the puzzle.

On the issue of more bolts - maybe some puzzles are just so difficult that they are a new "super" category with its own rating scale.

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Permalink Reply by Paula on April 16, 2008 at 5:29pm

Good suggestions - I love this! Very helpful. Any Icons that would be meaningful other than sworrds and bolts? maybe we could expand the rating system and use the bolt icon with a number beside it (1 through 10).

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Permalink Reply by Bryan on April 22, 2008 at 7:02pm

I have to agree that Empress Pearl was not a challenge for me whatsoever and was all of ten minutes for me. Bonnie and Clyde was a challenge and believe it or not Spinning a Tail is giving me a run for my money as is Little House of Horrors which I am absolutely loving. This is what I hope for in a puzzle - lots of solutions which may lead you down the wrong path so I totally agree with the 5 bolt rating for it but I would think Empress Pearl should be a 3 bolt and be downgraded.

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Permalink Reply by Paula on April 23, 2008 at 10:49am

Hi Bryan, Thanks for this feedback about Empress Pearl. We'll take a look at the rating and any other feedback that we have. I hope you know that we offer a 100% guarantee and we will exchange - or you can return - any puzzle that you are not completely satisfied with. Please let me know if you would like to exchange EP.

Paula

P.S. re: ST, I think you have a handle on it :-)

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Permalink Reply by Jeanne on April 24, 2008 at 9:49pm

i just wanted to say that i started with buying champ and it took about a week and was very entertaining... I subsequently purchased the shanty with the fish in the water and found like six separate solutions to it after working on it for a good month... next I worked Bonnie and Clyde in a matter of 8 hours over a visit to homestead... and lastly i bought empress pearl (about 5 years ago), but haven't worked on it because my children are a bit too challenging... I would have to say that trying "octopussy" and "fred and ginger" were both very exciting. i participated in a test group and let Jennifer know which puzzles were easier and which were harder... let's face it though, maybe i was lacking in M&Ms...

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Permalink Reply by Adam T. on May 4, 2008 at 7:43am

I've been indulging in the teasers but haven't yet gotten into the tricks. Two teasers that I thought were quite far apart in difficulty, but rated the same are "Aged to Perfection" and "Bad Hare Day". I've completed Aged to Perfection five or six times now, and it still takes me almost 2 hours (over 3 hrs. the first time). Bad Hare Day took me less than an hour on the first pass. They're both 2 swords and about the same size, but the main difference is the percentage of "traditional" vs. "teaser" puzzling involved.

Aged to Perfection has a mostly single "traditional" border with most of your time spent trying to get the teasers in the middle. A definate 2 sword!

Bad Hare Day uses a great percentage of traditional puzzling with the vegetables with much less teaser time. I would give this one sword instead. This is a great entry level puzzle for someone new to teasers.

Both great puzzles, though!

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