Uh, I kind of forget to finish a puzzler I posed a while back: What’s the most a contestant could find during a normal game of Jeopardy!? Here are the parameters: During each of the first two rounds there are six categories. In the first round, each category has these amounts up for grabs: $200, Read More …
If you missed the question, and want to try to solve it, go to: “Puzzle: On ‘Jeopardy!’ What’s the Max Anyone Could Win? To win the max, a player would have to question every answer correctly, and always bet the maximum on the Daily Doubles and in Final Jeopardy. The wrinkle is that each of the Daily Doubles would Read More …
In Sunday’s Parade magazine, Marilyn Vos Savant’s column posed a puzzle: What four positive numbers have a sum that is equal to their product? Meaning: a + b + c + d = a x b x c x d. Then she gives the answer as 1, 1, 2 and 4. Uh, not to nitpick, but Read More …
This CAN’T be original … it’s more of a realization sinking in. I constantly criticize strategies I see as pointless … and yet my own strategies are often pointless, too. Aha, I realize: You need to figure out how to give yourself advice. OK, let’s try that painful exercise. The Mucha rules: (1) Do some market research! Know your Read More …
Woke up the other day and this title just hit me: Unqualified Success. We all know people, some of them famous, who really didn’t deserve their success in life. This would be a collection of such stories. Got any nominations? Has it really been six weeks since I last posted? Sorry. Been working on a Read More …
WHEN you get stuck on a particular project, try thinking like a kid. Not stupid, but “gee whiz.” Wouldn’t it be cool if …. Tried this on one game I’ve been working on, and my inner kid said, “Gee, wouldn’t it be cool if the sharks got twice as big?” Made me laugh. Might work. Read More …
What’s the most money one set of contestants could win on a single show of Jeopardy? This is using the rules from the regular nighttime show. No bonuses for tournament wins. I’ll post the answer later in the week. (After I double-check my calculations by watching again.) Hint: It’s way more than anyone has won in a single show.
Anybody who’s played Sudoku probably hates the eventual drudgery (at least with the hardest puzzles) of writing in lots of little numbers. Either the ones that COULD be in that square, or the ones that CAN’T. Suppose instead you had a rubber stamp with tiny numbers. You’d lightly stamp the squares with fast-drying erasable ink, so fast-drying Read More …
I’m inching forward with a spinoff from Steal My Ideas, Please. Rather than just give away ideas, through posts or emailed answers, I’m moving into developing some with friends and even total strangers. If you’re an illustrator, software designer, writer or JUST LOADED AND LOOKING FOR PLACES TO INVEST, check out www.wackydadandfriends.com. I hope to Read More …
Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe I’m not. And I don’t mean to pick on Marilyn vos Savant, who is almost always interesting and accurate, and never claims a record IQ brings infallibility. But I think today’s answer to a puzzle is flawed, because two answers can be right. Here’s the puzzle: When a prominent psychiatrist was found slimed, police questioned Read More …
Here’s a trick for almost instantly solving those “Can You Spot the Differences” puzzles. Do the cross-eyed “stereovision” trick! Remember those Magic Eye puzzles? You kind of looked “through” two pictures till they combined to make a 3-D image? The “differences” will pop right out at you! Obligatory warning: Always check with your eye doctor before attempting Read More …
Some words look like they should be opposites but really aren’t, I’ve noticed. They’re anti-antonyms. Examples: hottie and icy, inlaw and outlaw, onset and offset, upset and subset, postman and foreman, topping and bottoming, undertake and overtake, uppercut and undercut, expect and inspect, retail and detail, demote and remote. Forgive and forget are especially odd, Read More …
Take the i-Pod Shuffle idea and offer a stream of brain teasers and trivia. The pitch: Entertaining way to sharper your brain. Might be a Jeopardy! version. Or stuff from almanacs and encyclopedias. Games Magazine. Samples from various popular games, such as Scrabble. Tests with word problems from math books. Tricky lateral thinking problems from Read More …
Finally, got my Internet back, after a few more weeks of problems with Verizon DSL. While working on a new puzzle for word lovers, I came up with this idea: Words that have the same sounds rearranged. Like mix and skim. See? Unlike anagrams, which rearrange letters, these words can use different letters. Must be Read More …
How about a cereal called Puzzles & Games? The back of the box has a flap that pulls down into a game board. Edible bits inside would be game pieces (like chess or checkers, letters or numbers). Maybe the pieces vary for different editions. Or maybe the box come with a Magic Pen for solving invisible ink puzzles Read More …