I thought I'd break out a new topic for Tiktaka so that I don't hijack the thread for Issue #16. I was asking for some feedback on my new puzzle; specifically whether the rules were understandable and whether you enoyed solving them. I was also wondering whether anybody had any alternative names - the puzzle has been picked up by a major syndicator but they aren't happy with the name.

I have big hopes for this puzzle. It is based on a puzzle called "PentaPath" by Rod Bogart which I first saw in the US Puzzle Championships in 2010 and which I absolutely loved solving. I wasn't competing by the way, I was just trying the puzzles out for fun :-)

I have tried to make it a bit more accessible to the puzzling public but my main concern has been that the rules would be too difficult to understand. Personally I think that David and Gareth did a good job explaining the rules in Issue #16. I have included their comments below but I would love other opinions.

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davmillar
Personally, I really enjoyed this puzzle. I found the instructions to be fine, but after the first of the three puzzles I originally thought the rule where each shape is only visited once limited the puzzle. It turns out that was wrong, and I think my only issue was that the first of the set was deceptively easy compared to the other two puzzles.

As far as the name is concerned, the idea of taking apart something and reusing the pieces makes me want to hear a "re" in the name; maybe something like "reconstruction", "re-fence", or something like that?

I look forward to seeing more of this type in this and other puzzle magazines.

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gareth
For my part I think Tiktaka is fantastic - it's one of the most interesting new puzzles I've seen in a long time, and I really enjoyed them all. I think being able to consider shapes individually helps you tackle it in manageable chunks as you go, so it's not too intimidating. That said I'd love to see some harder ones too. (I didn't include Vexus's ratings in the magazine but these were all labelled 'easy'!)

There are certainly a wide range of difficulties available so I'll try and put some trickier puzzles together for the next issue Gareth.

David, glad you liked it, interesting thoughts on the name. "Tiktaka" was supposed to represent two grids slightly different from eachother "Tik" then "Tak" but I've never been particularly happy with it. Taking your idea on board ... perhaps something like "Rejig"?

Hi Vexus, thought you might like some feedback from someone who is a member of the "puzzling public" as opposed to the many puzzle experts amongst you who are out there compiling the puzzles! I'm not particularly numerate having a more literacy based background, but love taxing the old brain cells with all these Xtra puzzles!

It took me a while to get to grips with the puzzles and I eventually found my way to your site and followed through the tutorial which gave me lots of ideas on how to get started (I sometimes need the obvious pointing out) and I found it really useful to see which entries to squares could be eliminated and also which squares would have to be dead ends. Once I had got to grips with the rules I was absolutely hooked and couldn't stop until I had completed all your examples and the ones in Xtra 16. To be quite honest I was quite sorry to have completed them all as I was just starting to get a bit of a feel for them, and now I shall have to wait another couple of months for more!!! They are a completely engrossing puzzle and I could get addicted, so high praise indeed.

Personally I didn't find them that easy, and would probably have rated them medium so if you do contribute more puzzles next issue, it would be nice to have a range of difficulties.

As for a name, I can't help at the moment. I did think of 'dual carriageways' but not short and snappy enough!

Thanks again for the puzzles .

Hi there Christine,

Great feedback, thanks very much. So pleased you enjoyed the puzzle ( eventually ).

It's important that people feel they can get started straight away with new puzzles because it is easy to just move onto the next type. Perhaps in future I need to try and include some basic "tips" in the instructions.

As for other Tiktaka puzzles ... it is going to be a guest puzzle in future issues of "Sudoku" and "Takegaki" magazines from Puzzler Media which I'm very excited about. (sorry for advertising rival magazines Gareth).

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VexusPD
As for other Tiktaka puzzles ... it is going to be a guest puzzle in future issues of "Sudoku" and "Takegaki" magazines from Puzzler Media which I'm very excited about. (sorry for advertising rival magazines Gareth).

That's brilliant news! And no worries - Puzzler's best-selling Sudoku magazine sells of the order of 10,000 times as many copies as Sudoku Xtra, so they're not exactly a competitor. So it's great to hear you've got the new puzzle into that particular magazine. Takegaki is a great new magazine but I'm not convinced that Takegaki is a much better name for Slitherlink (Takegaki is Puzzler's name for Slitherlink in that magazine) - Slitherlink is an awful name, but Takegaki is not much better!



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/20/2011 11:16PM by gareth.