Puzzle #8 · Sat, Aug 22
Par is 5.
Puzzle #8 · Sat, Aug 22
Par is 5.
Play a day you missed for a score that sticks, or replay one you didn’t.
Every game on Noggin is marked out of 100, so a day adds up to one number. Here is how this one earns it.
| Result | Score |
|---|---|
| Cracked in par or fewer | 100 |
| One guess over par | 88 |
| Two over | 76 |
| Each further guess | −12, never below 50 |
| Out of guesses | Up to 40, for your closest row |
Par is what a good solver needs on this particular code, plus a little room, worked out by simulation when the puzzle was made. Beating it is not worth more than matching it: the days you come in under owe as much to the code sitting near your opening guess as to anything you did.
A locked-out board scores on how many symbols you had exactly in place at your closest. That can never reach a solve, and the game’s own shape is what prevents it: a row with every symbol in place is a solve.
The same for every game, including streaks and how the day is totalled.