c4countdown

I can, Kirk.

Charlie Reams wrote:It seems to be working again. I'm not really in a position to fix things properly at the moment so the high scores page will be blank for a while, but your scores will still count so don't worry.

First day in my lovely new office and I've spent the morning fixing the high scores table... Anyway, it's now working again. (The database query that built the conundrum top scores turned out not to be very scalable and was taking more than 15 minutes to run, which is not good when it gets run every 15 minutes.)

So, you just moved, Charlie!

Good luck in your new quarters!

Just had a brackets issue with the numbers game, I was trying to make 28*9 and got as far as

(25+9-5-(6/6)

and couldn't add a second close bracket, leaving me resoundingly buggered. And yes I realise that making 6 by doing 5 + 6/6 was far from astonishingly brilliant.

I know there are issues with people opening loads of brackets to stall for time and the brackets round the 6/6 weren't necessary, but maybe you should be able to close brackets you've already opened, provided they don't immediately follow an open bracket?

Paul Howe wrote:Just had a brackets issue with the numbers game, I was trying to make 28*9 and got as far as

(25+9-5-(6/6)

and couldn't add a second close bracket, leaving me resoundingly buggered. And yes I realise that making 6 by doing 5 + 6/6 was far from astonishingly brilliant.

I know there are issues with people opening loads of brackets to stall for time and the brackets round the 6/6 weren't necessary, but maybe you should be able to close brackets you've already opened, provided they don't immediately follow an open bracket?

I was thinking about this and it's probably quite difficult to do without making it too easy to cheat or too harsh. Your system would be too generous as surrounding a number by brackets would slip through the net - e.g. (((((6))))). Maybe you could simply ban consecutive brackets that are also closed consecutively. But sometimes you might open too many by mistake not knowing how many you really need. Maybe allow anything with the brackets as it was originally but they don't reset the patience bar when a bracket key is pressed. Would that be too harsh on timing?

Today's duel so look away now, but I've still got it on the screen so it can't wait.

S

P

I

L

E

R

S

P

A

C

E

I might just be being thick but I entered (6/3*7*10+1)*4 to get 564 in the first box which it rejected so went to the other bit. In the other bit, I went for 6/3*7*10+1, and couldn't get as far as equalling it at 141. In fact the equals option seemed unavailable all through the calculation as if I'd done something bad early on. I can't see it.

The duel was a write off ever since I declared something away from the target in the first numbers and realised I actually had it so got no points but still I was annoyed anyway.

You're dividing 6 by 210

Jon Corby wrote:You're dividing 6 by 210

We'll, strictly, he's not. BIDMAS has division and multiplication at the same time and then you should read left to right. If he wanted 6/210 he'd have to have typed 6/(7x3x10). I can't see what's wrong.

Gavin Chipper wrote:Today's duel so look away now, but I've still got it on the screen so it can't wait.

Still bad form I think, you could easily have PM'd this to Charlie or made a note of it and waited till tomorrow (erm, today now)

As for the bug, I'm sure I've had the same thing happen to me before, at the time I closed the window as I assumed I'd done something daft but looking back on the game browser I couldn't find anything wrong.

Gavin Chipper wrote:
I was thinking about this and it's probably quite difficult to do without making it too easy to cheat or too harsh. Your system would be too generous as surrounding a number by brackets would slip through the net - e.g. (((((6))))). Maybe you could simply ban consecutive brackets that are also closed consecutively. But sometimes you might open too many by mistake not knowing how many you really need. Maybe allow anything with the brackets as it was originally but they don't reset the patience bar when a bracket key is pressed. Would that be too harsh on timing?

I think I could've rescued myself by clicking the "subtotal" at the side and moving it to the top row, just didn't come to mind at the time because I'm so used to using the brackets. With this in mind, further fiddling with the brackets rules is probably unnecessary.

Fair enough - when I went to school (obviously a lot longer ago than you guys) it was BOMDAS and you did multiplication before division. Nonetheless, if I haven't got my formula typed before the 30 seconds I avoid brackets completely and just click the "=" after every sum (unless I'm just adding a load of stuff together). Too much potential for disaster otherwise.

I tend to use as many brackets as possible for complete certainty, this got me into trouble earlier when it wouldn't let me close one! I don't what additional logic Charlie's built into the numbers game, but Java would evaluate 6/3*7*10 as (((6/3)*7)*10) =140 because * and / have equal precedence and arithmetic left associates, so I'm confused about what's happening here.

Paul Howe wrote:I tend to use as many brackets as possible for complete certainty, this got me into trouble earlier when it wouldn't let me close one! I don't what additional logic Charlie's built into the numbers game, but Java would evaluate 6/3*7*10 as (((6/3)*7)*10) =140 because * and / have equal precedence and arithmetic left associates, so I'm confused about what's happening here.

Exactly my point about 6 posts previous.

Kirk Bevins wrote:

Paul Howe wrote:I tend to use as many brackets as possible for complete certainty, this got me into trouble earlier when it wouldn't let me close one! I don't what additional logic Charlie's built into the numbers game, but Java would evaluate 6/3*7*10 as (((6/3)*7)*10) =140 because * and / have equal precedence and arithmetic left associates, so I'm confused about what's happening here.

Exactly my point about 6 posts previous.

Yeah I know mate, I was just confirming that's what happens in Java as well, i.e. it's not a weird programming language issue. I reckon Charlie has probably written his own parser to handle the numbers games that doesn't work in this case.

Paul Howe wrote:

Gavin Chipper wrote:Today's duel so look away now, but I've still got it on the screen so it can't wait.

Still bad form I think, you could easily have PM'd this to Charlie or made a note of it and waited till tomorrow (erm, today now)

Does it matter? I put spoiler space in - this seems surprisingly anal from you! Is it because I called your last puzzle boring?!

Also, putting it here rather than a PM means other people can say if they've had the same.

As for the bug, I'm sure I've had the same thing happen to me before, at the time I closed the window as I assumed I'd done something daft but looking back on the game browser I couldn't find anything wrong.

I'm pretty sure I've had it as well, and thought I might have made a mistake.

Jon Corby wrote:Fair enough - when I went to school (obviously a lot longer ago than you guys) it was BOMDAS and you did multiplication before division. Nonetheless, if I haven't got my formula typed before the 30 seconds I avoid brackets completely and just click the "=" after every sum (unless I'm just adding a load of stuff together). Too much potential for disaster otherwise.

I typed it in the same the second time round to see if I could work out where it was going wrong and to see if the same problem existed in both things.

Gevin, if you're calling me too anal, I probably was being indefensibly anal.

I'm glad you were surprised, you've no idea how hard I work to keep my natural anal retentiveness under control. Sometimes you just have to let it out though, it's not healthy to suppress it, and I thought I might at least vent at someone who would understand.

I think Paul was right that it isn't a good idea to post Duel spoilers until at least the day after. But no big deal, just something to remember in the future.

You're right that I wrote my own parser. (Well, I actually co-opted someone else's but ended up rewriting so much of it that it could illustrate Theseus's paradox.) There might be some bugginess left over but, as Paul says, more brackets will generally solve your problems. I do need to fix the over-enthusiasm of the anti-sneakiness mechanism, though.

Me and Ben had a couple of occassions when it was impossible to resume a game Ben had quit due to hanging at his end. The second time it happened, Ben left the game window, I quit the game window too, Ben's name was in the list of online players so I sent him a new challenge. He wasn't actually online though and when he did reenter the room he couldn't see the challenge. I retracted but then it was impossible to send a new resume, it just had options to start a new game. All this time I still had notice of a game in progress with Ben but now that has gone. Upon coming online Ben told me had an error message about a failed challenge but he doesn't remember the details.

The entire sequence of events, concluding with my anguished cry of despair after realising I would never finish a game in which I'd been playing like Captain Awesome, is in the console below.

ClientReceiveThread >> net.MessageToClient$RosterUpdate@16b9190
net.MessageToClient$RosterUpdate@16b9190
Roster updated: [[1060] Apterous Rex (bot), [529] Apterous Plum (bot), [38] Apterous Waldorf (bot), [-122] Apterous Prune (bot), [919] Apterous Prime (bot), [520] Apterous Caesar (bot), [933] Ben Pugh, [1021] Paul Howe, [708] Jim Bentley, [507] Chris Maudsley, [175] Gareth Mitchell, [770] James Hurrell]
Spectator got 1 keys
CX Reading
Decoding...
Decoded, message: Ben Pugh left the room.
CX 1: Got event: EV[key=0: Ben Pugh left the room.]
EVINSERT:Ben Pugh left the room.
SpecPanel: adding text
SpecPanel: Setting caret
SpecPanel: done.
Spectator got 1 keys
CX Reading
Decoding...
Decoded, message: Ben Pugh left the room.
CX 1: Got event: EV[key=-289407882054340629: Ben Pugh left the room.]
EVINSERT:Ben Pugh left the room.
SpecPanel: adding text
SpecPanel: Setting caret
SpecPanel: done.
Spectator got 1 keys
CX Reading
Decoding...
Decoded, message: James Hurrell entered the room!
CX 1: Got event: EV[key=0: James Hurrell entered the room!]
EVINSERT:James Hurrell entered the room!
SpecPanel: adding text
SpecPanel: Setting caret
SpecPanel: done.
Spectator got 1 keys
CX Reading
Decoding...
Decoded, message: <b>Paul:</b> ouch, unlucky
CX 1: Got event: EV[key=-289407882054340629: <b>Paul:</b> ouch, unlucky]
EVINSERT:<b>Paul:</b> ouch, unlucky
SpecPanel: adding text
SpecPanel: Setting caret
SpecPanel: done.
AWT-EventQueue-3 << GameEvent{key=-289407882054340629,pos=0,o=net.MessageToServer$GameQuit@6f2775}
Logging out of #-289407882054340629
ClientReceiveThread >> GameEvent{key=-289407882054340629,o=apterous.GameQuitEvent@1f72af3}
GameEvent{key=-289407882054340629,o=apterous.GameQuitEvent@1f72af3}
AWT-EventQueue-3 << net.MessageToServer$ExistingGameRequest@24d74d
AWT-EventQueue-3 << net.MessageToServer$RequestPlayerHTML@b317e5
ClientReceiveThread >> net.MessageToClient$ExistingGameResponse@cb14ba
net.MessageToClient$ExistingGameResponse@cb14ba
Existing game vs 104: null
ClientReceiveThread >> net.MessageToClient$PlayerHTML@bde4ac
net.MessageToClient$PlayerHTML@bde4ac
html for 104: <h2>Apterous Prime</h2><table><tr> <td>Rating</td> <td>919 </td> </tr><tr> <td>Record</td> <td>454 wins from 736 games. </td> </tr><tr> <td>Member since</td> <td>2008-08-31 </td> </tr>
Existing game: null
AWT-EventQueue-3 << net.MessageToServer$ExistingGameRequest@d8b0f6
AWT-EventQueue-3 << net.MessageToServer$RequestPlayerHTML@49ef1e
ClientReceiveThread >> net.MessageToClient$ExistingGameResponse@1f19bbe
net.MessageToClient$ExistingGameResponse@1f19bbe
Existing game vs 368: apterous.PersonPlayer@127f9cb vs apterous.PersonPlayer@180948f [104-80 [Goatdown] {format=8236755206367909000}]
Existing game: apterous.PersonPlayer@127f9cb vs apterous.PersonPlayer@180948f [104-80 [Goatdown] {format=8236755206367909000}]
ClientReceiveThread >> net.MessageToClient$PlayerHTML@4fc4f5
net.MessageToClient$PlayerHTML@4fc4f5
html for 368: <h2>Ben Pugh</h2><table><tr> <td>Rating</td> <td>933 </td> </tr><tr> <td>Record</td> <td>111 wins from 193 games. </td> </tr><tr> <td>Member since</td> <td>2008-09-13 </td> </tr>
Spectator got 1 keys
CX Reading
Decoding...
Decoded, message: <b>Jim:</b> Hi James, up for a game or two?
CX 1: Got event: EV[key=0: <b>Jim:</b> Hi James, up for a game or two?]
EVINSERT:<b>Jim:</b> Hi James, up for a game or two?
SpecPanel: adding text
SpecPanel: Setting caret
SpecPanel: done.
AWT-EventQueue-3 << net.MessageToServer$ChallengeIssue@124e7ae
ClientReceiveThread >> ChallengeReply{key=-289407882054340629,pos=-1,accept=false}
ChallengeReply{key=-289407882054340629,pos=-1,accept=false}
Spectator got 1 keys
CX Reading
Decoding...
Decoded, message: <b>Paul:</b> still there ben?
CX 1: Got event: EV[key=0: <b>Paul:</b> still there ben?]
EVINSERT:<b>Paul:</b> still there ben?
SpecPanel: adding text
SpecPanel: Setting caret
SpecPanel: done.
Spectator got 1 keys
CX Reading
Decoding...
Decoded, message: James Hurrell is playing with Chris Maudsley. <a href="http://dog.com/spectate.html?9213024498 ... ectate.</a>
CX 1: Got event: EV[key=0: James Hurrell is playing with Chris Maudsley. <a href="http://dog.com/spectate.html?9213024498 ... ectate.</a>]
EVINSERT:James Hurrell is playing with Chris Maudsley. <a href="http://dog.com/spectate.html?9213024498 ... ectate.</a>
SpecPanel: adding text
SpecPanel: Setting caret
SpecPanel: done.
Spectator got 1 keys
CX Reading
Decoding...
Decoded, message: <b>James:</b> In 10 mins Jim
CX 1: Got event: EV[key=0: <b>James:</b> In 10 mins Jim]
EVINSERT:<b>James:</b> In 10 mins Jim
SpecPanel: adding text
SpecPanel: Setting caret
SpecPanel: done.
Spectator got 1 keys
CX Reading
Decoding...
Decoded, message: <b>Jim:</b> OK
CX 1: Got event: EV[key=0: <b>Jim:</b> OK]
EVINSERT:<b>Jim:</b> OK
SpecPanel: adding text
SpecPanel: Setting caret
SpecPanel: done.
ClientReceiveThread >> ChallengeReply{key=-289407882054340629,pos=-1,accept=false}
ChallengeReply{key=-289407882054340629,pos=-1,accept=false}
ClientReceiveThread >> net.MessageToClient$RosterUpdate@17167cd
net.MessageToClient$RosterUpdate@17167cd
Roster updated: [[1060] Apterous Rex (bot), [529] Apterous Plum (bot), [38] Apterous Waldorf (bot), [-122] Apterous Prune (bot), [919] Apterous Prime (bot), [520] Apterous Caesar (bot), [1021] Paul Howe, [708] Jim Bentley, [507] Chris Maudsley, [175] Gareth Mitchell, [770] James Hurrell]
AWT-EventQueue-3 << net.MessageToServer$RequestPlayerHTML@162236f
ClientReceiveThread >> net.MessageToClient$PlayerHTML@16a9a4c
net.MessageToClient$PlayerHTML@16a9a4c
html for 112: <h2>Paul Howe</h2><table><tr> <td>Rating</td> <td>1021 </td> </tr><tr> <td>Record</td> <td>242 wins from 418 games. </td> </tr><tr> <td>Member since</td> <td>2008-08-13 </td> </tr>
ClientReceiveThread >> net.MessageToClient$RosterUpdate@1cab83
net.MessageToClient$RosterUpdate@1cab83
Roster updated: [[1060] Apterous Rex (bot), [529] Apterous Plum (bot), [38] Apterous Waldorf (bot), [-122] Apterous Prune (bot), [919] Apterous Prime (bot), [520] Apterous Caesar (bot), [1021] Paul Howe, [708] Jim Bentley, [507] Chris Maudsley, [175] Gareth Mitchell, [770] James Hurrell, [933] Ben Pugh]
AWT-EventQueue-3 << net.MessageToServer$RequestPlayerHTML@4055ba
ClientReceiveThread >> net.MessageToClient$PlayerHTML@14af2c1
net.MessageToClient$PlayerHTML@14af2c1
html for 112: <h2>Paul Howe</h2><table><tr> <td>Rating</td> <td>1021 </td> </tr><tr> <td>Record</td> <td>242 wins from 418 games. </td> </tr><tr> <td>Member since</td> <td>2008-08-13 </td> </tr>
Spectator got 1 keys
CX Reading
Decoding...
Decoded, message: Ben Pugh entered the room!
CX 1: Got event: EV[key=0: Ben Pugh entered the room!]
EVINSERT:Ben Pugh entered the room!
SpecPanel: adding text
SpecPanel: Setting caret
SpecPanel: done.
ClientReceiveThread >> net.MessageToClient$RosterUpdate@1770976
net.MessageToClient$RosterUpdate@1770976
Roster updated: [[1060] Apterous Rex (bot), [529] Apterous Plum (bot), [38] Apterous Waldorf (bot), [-122] Apterous Prune (bot), [919] Apterous Prime (bot), [520] Apterous Caesar (bot), [1021] Paul Howe, [708] Jim Bentley, [507] Chris Maudsley, [175] Gareth Mitchell, [770] James Hurrell, [933] Ben Pugh, [374] Allan Harmer]
Spectator got 1 keys
CX Reading
Decoding...
Decoded, message: Allan Harmer entered the room!
CX 1: Got event: EV[key=0: Allan Harmer entered the room!]
EVINSERT:Allan Harmer entered the room!
SpecPanel: adding text
SpecPanel: Setting caret
SpecPanel: done.
Spectator got 1 keys
CX Reading
Decoding...
Decoded, message: Gareth Mitchell finished practising with Apterous Prime.
CX 1: Got event: EV[key=0: Gareth Mitchell finished practising with Apterous Prime.]
EVINSERT:Gareth Mitchell finished practising with Apterous Prime.
SpecPanel: adding text
SpecPanel: Setting caret
SpecPanel: done.
Spectator got 1 keys
CX Reading
Decoding...
Decoded, message: <b>Ben:</b> It's wiped our game again
CX 1: Got event: EV[key=0: <b>Ben:</b> It's wiped our game again]
EVINSERT:<b>Ben:</b> It's wiped our game again
SpecPanel: adding text
SpecPanel: Setting caret
SpecPanel: done.
Spectator got 1 keys
CX Reading
Decoding...
Decoded, message: Apterous Caesar is practising with Allan Harmer.
CX 1: Got event: EV[key=0: Apterous Caesar is practising with Allan Harmer.]
EVINSERT:Apterous Caesar is practising with Allan Harmer.
SpecPanel: adding text
SpecPanel: Setting caret
SpecPanel: done.
Spectator got 1 keys
CX Reading
Decoding...
Decoded, message: <b>Paul:</b> hmm
CX 1: Got event: EV[key=0: <b>Paul:</b> hmm]
EVINSERT:<b>Paul:</b> hmm
SpecPanel: adding text
SpecPanel: Setting caret
SpecPanel: done.
Spectator got 1 keys
CX Reading
Decoding...
Decoded, message: Gareth Mitchell is practising with Apterous Prime.
CX 1: Got event: EV[key=0: Gareth Mitchell is practising with Apterous Prime.]
EVINSERT:Gareth Mitchell is practising with Apterous Prime.
SpecPanel: adding text
SpecPanel: Setting caret
SpecPanel: done.
Spectator got 1 keys
CX Reading
Decoding...
Decoded, message: <b>Paul:</b> ive got a resume challenge rating for your response on my screen
CX 1: Got event: EV[key=0: <b>Paul:</b> ive got a resume challenge rating for your response on my screen]
EVINSERT:<b>Paul:</b> ive got a resume challenge rating for your response on my screen
SpecPanel: adding text
SpecPanel: Setting caret
SpecPanel: done.
Spectator got 1 keys
CX Reading
Decoding...
Decoded, message: Jim Bentley is playing with Apterous Waldorf. <a href="http://dog.com/spectate.html?5082816317 ... ectate.</a>
CX 1: Got event: EV[key=0: Jim Bentley is playing with Apterous Waldorf. <a href="http://dog.com/spectate.html?5082816317 ... ectate.</a>]
EVINSERT:Jim Bentley is playing with Apterous Waldorf. <a href="http://dog.com/spectate.html?5082816317 ... ectate.</a>
SpecPanel: adding text
SpecPanel: Setting caret
SpecPanel: done.
Spectator got 1 keys
CX Reading
Decoding...
Decoded, message: <b>Ben:</b> I had two boxes in my chalenges section telling me the game was in progress
CX 1: Got event: EV[key=0: <b>Ben:</b> I had two boxes in my chalenges section telling me the game was in progress]
EVINSERT:<b>Ben:</b> I had two boxes in my chalenges section telling me the game was in progress
SpecPanel: adding text
SpecPanel: Setting caret
SpecPanel: done.
Spectator got 1 keys
CX Reading
Decoding...
Decoded, message: <b>Paul:</b> hang on, let me retract it and send it again
CX 1: Got event: EV[key=0: <b>Paul:</b> hang on, let me retract it and send it again]
EVINSERT:<b>Paul:</b> hang on, let me retract it and send it again
SpecPanel: adding text
SpecPanel: Setting caret
SpecPanel: done.
AWT-EventQueue-3 << net.MessageToServer$ChallengeRetract@117d968
AWT-EventQueue-3 << net.MessageToServer$ExistingGameRequest@d53ea4
AWT-EventQueue-3 << net.MessageToServer$RequestPlayerHTML@10a0a9a
ClientReceiveThread >> net.MessageToClient$ExistingGameResponse@3e459e
net.MessageToClient$ExistingGameResponse@3e459e
Existing game vs 368: null
Existing game: null
ClientReceiveThread >> net.MessageToClient$PlayerHTML@4cbf96
net.MessageToClient$PlayerHTML@4cbf96
html for 368: <h2>Ben Pugh</h2><table><tr> <td>Rating</td> <td>933 </td> </tr><tr> <td>Record</td> <td>111 wins from 193 games. </td> </tr><tr> <td>Member since</td> <td>2008-09-13 </td> </tr>
Spectator got 1 keys
CX Reading
Decoding...
Decoded, message: <b>Ben:</b> OK
CX 1: Got event: EV[key=0: <b>Ben:</b> OK]
EVINSERT:<b>Ben:</b> OK
SpecPanel: adding text
SpecPanel: Setting caret
SpecPanel: done.
Spectator got 1 keys
CX Reading
Decoding...
Decoded, message: <b>Paul:</b> nooooo

The Daily Duel went funny on me today. I'd done about 14 rounds and then had to answer the phone and when I came back (20 minutes or so later) it just sat there when I clicked to play the next round. I exited and went back in again hoping I could resume where I'd left off but it came up as a new duel so I did that and kicked arse - no actually I'd remembered what I'd done and scored the same up to the point.

Gavin Chipper wrote:The Daily Duel went funny on me today. I'd done about 14 rounds and then had to answer the phone and when I came back (20 minutes or so later) it just sat there when I clicked to play the next round. I exited and went back in again hoping I could resume where I'd left off but it came up as a new duel so I did that and kicked arse - no actually I'd remembered what I'd done and scored the same up to the point.

I think it went funny on a few of us - noticeably Steven Briers. He must have closed the daily duel and then redid it - he got the first two conundrums in stupidly quick times.

The Deathwatch Beetle.

Oh, and red ants.

Damian E wrote:Oh, and red ants.

Boozing between takes again?

I played Kai at speedgoatdown and he quit during the last conundrum (connection problems) which I managed to get as HARLEQUIN. Annoyingly, when he came back and restarted the challenge we had to redo the conundrum which of course was a different one which I failed to solve. Interestingly, on the review, it shows that I guessed HARLEQUIN. If people read the review, they're going to think I'm well thick, if they didn't think so already!

http://www.apterous.org/viewgame.php?game=8437

Ian Volante wrote:

Damian E wrote:Oh, and red ants.

Boozing between takes again?

Eh?

Damian E wrote:

Ian Volante wrote:

Damian E wrote:Oh, and red ants.

Boozing between takes again?

Eh?

You, as opposed to the ants

Charles, I just filtered the players list to 'hide bots', but when I clicked people it was still giving me options as if bots were still shown (ie, I'd click Simon, it would show me your details, I click you it says Apterous someone).

Edit: Chat appears to be fucked too

Jon Corby wrote:Charles, I just filtered the players list to 'hide bots', but when I clicked people it was still giving me options as if bots were still shown (ie, I'd click Simon, it would show me your details, I click you it says Apterous someone).

Weird. I should probably do something about that.

not sure where to put this, but do bots ratings mean nothing?, i played plum rating of 400+ and yet he managed to play this game http://www.apterous.org/viewgame.php?game=9761 and get a 14/15 maxima game, and get 114/115 points.

i dont want to play someone crap but i dont want to get thrashed with obscure words either, which is why i like playing the old games so much, cuz its like playing with real people.

is there any way of getting more classic games on the system?
im not sure if you have been putting more on, tho.

Cheers

Sometimes when I'm typing in a conundrum answer it gets interrupted by Apterous Rex. I understand that the timings don't match exactly and you can be typing in your answer only to find that the other person has buzzed, but sometimes it reaches the stage where Des had acknowledged that I've buzzed but it doesn't let me finish anyway. Admittedly these have been wrong answers, so does it give up on your answer after a few letters anyway if it's wrong? Surely you should still be able to type your whole answer.

Carpet fleas.

Gavin Chipper wrote:The Daily Duel went funny on me today. I'd done about 14 rounds and then had to answer the phone and when I came back (20 minutes or so later) it just sat there when I clicked to play the next round. I exited and went back in again hoping I could resume where I'd left off but it came up as a new duel so I did that and kicked arse - no actually I'd remembered what I'd done and scored the same up to the point.

A man on the phone for 20 minutes? Or are you hiding something from us...

When my Daily Duel shuts down (stupid computer) I can't do it again. Why not?

Head lice.

I don't think this has happened before, but how did a game between Chris Maudsley and Kirk Bevins appear 3 times in the game browser

#10012, #10013, #10014

Joseph Bolas wrote:I don't think this has happened before, but how did a game between Chris Maudsley and Kirk Bevins appear 3 times in the game browser

#10012, #10013, #10014

OMG I can easily get 2 away on the 1st numbers

Joseph Bolas wrote:I don't think this has happened before, but how did a game between Chris Maudsley and Kirk Bevins appear 3 times in the game browser

#10012, #10013, #10014

I think I saw a game between Kirk and Corby appear twice a couple of days ago.

Gavin Chipper wrote:

Joseph Bolas wrote:I don't think this has happened before, but how did a game between Chris Maudsley and Kirk Bevins appear 3 times in the game browser

#10012, #10013, #10014

I think I saw a game between Kirk and Corby appear twice a couple of days ago.

Aye, the game browser goes a bit funny sometimes:



I'm sure I've seen longer sequences before around the times of the server crashes.

Kai Laddiman wrote:

Joseph Bolas wrote:I don't think this has happened before, but how did a game between Chris Maudsley and Kirk Bevins appear 3 times in the game browser

#10012, #10013, #10014

OMG I can easily get 2 away on the 1st numbers

Kai - that was a 10 second game. Did you get it in under that time?

Kai Laddiman wrote:

Joseph Bolas wrote:I don't think this has happened before, but how did a game between Chris Maudsley and Kirk Bevins appear 3 times in the game browser

#10012, #10013, #10014

OMG I can easily get 2 away on the 1st numbers

got it spot on, 7+4=11
11X10=110
110+3+2=115
115X7= 805

within 30 secs as well

Why are there exclamation marks popping up all over the shop? !.Waiting for x to pick.! etc. And I've noticed some in the game chat window.

Also, when I go to play a Classic game games, both buttons just say "Play against", rather than having their names in.

Jon Corby wrote:Why are there exclamation marks popping up all over the shop? !.Waiting for x to pick.! etc. And I've noticed some in the game chat window.

Apterous is getting excited.

Matt Coates wrote:
within 30 secs as well

But not within the 10 seconds though.

How come you can buzz in after the allotted time for the conundrum?

Martin Gardner wrote:How come you can buzz in after the allotted time for the conundrum?

You can't, but sometimes the timer is out of sync with the clock.

My chat seems to break all the time. Is this normal? At the moment it doesn't work at all, I just hope I don't come across as rude when it breaks half way through a game!

Jimmy wrote:My chat seems to break all the time. Is this normal? At the moment it doesn't work at all, I just hope I don't come across as rude when it breaks half way through a game!

Yes, it's a bit flimsy. We were discussing this last night and concluded that anyone who's used apterous for a while will be awair of its fragility and won't be too offended if you just stop replying.

E Coli.
Listeria.
Praying Mantis.

Damian E.

Damian E wrote:E Coli.
Listeria.
Praying Mantis.

Well E Coli is a bacterium so I wouldn't call it a bug.

Telephone tapping.........

Might just be me (or might be something well-known) but often when I'm playing games, the letters/numbers window will come up completely blank, so I can't see what I'm doing. And this persists until I shut the window and go back in, and then about half the time it doesn't let me resume the game I was in.

Do you think is just my computer/internet, or does this happen to anyone else?

Innis Carson wrote:Might just be me (or might be something well-known) but often when I'm playing games, the letters/numbers window will come up completely blank, so I can't see what I'm doing. And this persists until I shut the window and go back in, and then about half the time it doesn't let me resume the game I was in.

Do you think is just my computer/internet, or does this happen to anyone else?

Yep - the blank board appears and I can hear the beeps of letters/numbers being selected (it only seems to happen when it's my opponent to choose), but nothing appears. The only way to continue is to close the window and if the game is resumable, I'll find that I'll have lost the round (as all is normal for my opponent). It didn't happen before I installed the latest version of Flash about a week ago, so perhaps it's something to do with that (also new with this version of Flash are various alarming green and purple borders flickering up around the game rounds from time to time).

jimbentley wrote:

Innis Carson wrote:Might just be me (or might be something well-known) but often when I'm playing games, the letters/numbers window will come up completely blank, so I can't see what I'm doing. And this persists until I shut the window and go back in, and then about half the time it doesn't let me resume the game I was in.

Do you think is just my computer/internet, or does this happen to anyone else?

Yep - the blank board appears and I can hear the beeps of letters/numbers being selected (it only seems to happen when it's my opponent to choose), but nothing appears. The only way to continue is to close the window and if the game is resumable, I'll find that I'll have lost the round (as all is normal for my opponent). It didn't happen before I installed the latest version of Flash about a week ago, so perhaps it's something to do with that (also new with this version of Flash are various alarming green and purple borders flickering up around the game rounds from time to time).

Bizarre. Apterous doesn't use Flash anywhere so it sounds like our friends at Adobe have done something pretty nasty to your computer. Interesting that it only ever occurs when the other person picks though; I'll look into that.

Unsure if this is a bug or not, but I commenced yesterday's duel around 11:55pm, eventually scoring 6 (I think) but finishing it today at 12:07am, by which time the scores had updated. I'm not overly fussed about the lost points as I've had to miss a few duels through being away, but if the duel needs to be started and completed before a certain time to count then that's worth noting.

Whilst I'm at it, more often than not, when logging in for the first time that day the duel challenge box is squashed to the point where I can see it exists but can't read anything about it (i.e. I can't see the format, or the words "Challenge by The Duellist" or whatever it says). This in itself isn't enough for me to moan, but I accepted Thursday's challenge, discovered the format was something like 45sec for 24 rounds, realised I didn't have enough time to do all that, closed the duel and then couldn't access it again later despite not having started the first round.

If you need some code or a screenshot from me on the latter I'll do what I can.

Dan Vanniasingham wrote:Unsure if this is a bug or not, but I commenced yesterday's duel around 11:55pm, eventually scoring 6 (I think) but finishing it today at 12:07am, by which time the scores had updated. I'm not overly fussed about the lost points as I've had to miss a few duels through being away, but if the duel needs to be started and completed before a certain time to count then that's worth noting.

You have to play it on the day, hence the name. I think there's a 5 minute grace period so you were fairly unlucky to miss the cut.

Dan Vanniasingham wrote:Whilst I'm at it, more often than not, when logging in for the first time that day the duel challenge box is squashed to the point where I can see it exists but can't read anything about it (i.e. I can't see the format, or the words "Challenge by The Duellist" or whatever it says). This in itself isn't enough for me to moan, but I accepted Thursday's challenge, discovered the format was something like 45sec for 24 rounds, realised I didn't have enough time to do all that, closed the duel and then couldn't access it again later despite not having started the first round.

If you need some code or a screenshot from me on the latter I'll do what I can.

That sounds annoying. Is it just the Duel that's affected or is your first challenge always broken?

Charlie Reams wrote:

Dan Vanniasingham wrote:Unsure if this is a bug or not, but I commenced yesterday's duel around 11:55pm, eventually scoring 6 (I think) but finishing it today at 12:07am, by which time the scores had updated. I'm not overly fussed about the lost points as I've had to miss a few duels through being away, but if the duel needs to be started and completed before a certain time to count then that's worth noting.

You have to play it on the day, hence the name. I think there's a 5 minute grace period so you were fairly unlucky to miss the cut.

Dan Vanniasingham wrote:Whilst I'm at it, more often than not, when logging in for the first time that day the duel challenge box is squashed to the point where I can see it exists but can't read anything about it (i.e. I can't see the format, or the words "Challenge by The Duellist" or whatever it says). This in itself isn't enough for me to moan, but I accepted Thursday's challenge, discovered the format was something like 45sec for 24 rounds, realised I didn't have enough time to do all that, closed the duel and then couldn't access it again later despite not having started the first round.

If you need some code or a screenshot from me on the latter I'll do what I can.

That sounds annoying. Is it just the Duel that's affected or is your first challenge always broken?

I have this too. It's just the duel for me but it doesn't always go like that.

Charlie Reams wrote:Bizarre. Apterous doesn't use Flash anywhere so it sounds like our friends at Adobe have done something pretty nasty to your computer. Interesting that it only ever occurs when the other person picks though; I'll look into that.

I didn't think it did, but I've not changed anything else on the system (well, not intentionally) so wondered if it was involved somehow. Anyway, I'll reinstall an older version and see if it makes any difference.

Dan Vanniasingham wrote:Whilst I'm at it, more often than not, when logging in for the first time that day the duel challenge box is squashed to the point where I can see it exists but can't read anything about it (i.e. I can't see the format, or the words "Challenge by The Duellist" or whatever it says).

I've seen this a few times, too - the first challenge box is squashed to about ten pixels high, so it could be any sort of challenge from anyone (although, of course, it's always the Duellist).

A sharp poke in the ribs.

Oh gods, get me a life someone, or at least some originality.