PyGrail - Questions¶

Questions are categorised by Tag, and also by difficulty (pass rate).

Run¶

RUN cards lets you choose a topic and answer questions on that subject area. It costs 2 tokens to play, and you keep playing until you get one wrong. After 2 correct answers, you earn 1 token for every correct answer. If you answer a question correctly first time, you earn 2 reputation. Otherwise, any questions you get wrong will come back to you in future attempts. Once you have answered a question correctly, you will not see it again (until Quizzes are unlocked). Questions get progressively more difficult - the first 5 questions are easy (pass rate > 75%). The next 5 are harder (pass rate > 50%). After that, the questions are randomly selected from any difficulty level.

The top 20 all-time streaks are visible here

Be sure to VOTE if you think a question is good or bad! This way we can reward good content, and filter out bad content. Voting also reveals the Statistical Analysis Section, and gives you an additional reputation point (whether your vote is up, down, or indifferent).

Once you have acheived Wafer Thin Mint you can comment on questions - the purpose of this is to provide feedback to improve the question for future players. Be nice :-)

Taken¶

The rank of Wafer Thin Mint lets you review the last 12 questions you have taken. This is a good opportunity to review the questions you got wrong so that you can last longer on your next streak.

You will not be able to search more questions than this until you hit Holy Grail level (or unlock the quiz builder).

Any questions you got wrong you will see again. Any questions you get right are removed from the question bank, and you will see them again once you unlock quizzes at Pythonista rank and above.

Submit¶

Overview¶

Want to know a secret? The way to get a REALLY high score, is to submit good quality questions for others to enjoy! A good quality question does not need to be difficult - rather it should be well written (spelling, grammar), be somewhat interesting, unambiguous, and have an explanation that will help the player to really learn something - whether they got the answer right or wrong.

It costs 2 tokens to submit a question (to reduce spam) and questions are sent for Review before they are available in the main game. After that you will earn 1 token and 2 rep for every upvote. Thanks for contributing - new questions keep the game interesting for regular players, and "evens the playing field" for newer players!

One final thing - the question must be your own content. Not only might it be illegal, it is certainly unethical to copy other people's content (especially without permission / attribution etc). Any account found to be uploading plagiarised content may be disabled without notice.

Question Body¶

The most important section! A well written question will contain everything needed to provide a certain answer, but no more - remember some players may not have English as their first language, and the clock will be ticking!

Only load an image if it is absolutely necessary. Images often do not scale well for mobile players with small screens, plus those on a slow connection (eg on mobile) can suffer from slow loading times. Consider providing a longer STIMER in this case.

If you are submitting code, remember to use the code formatting options - either by highlighting the text and using the code icon (<>), by indenting with 4 spaces (), or by surrounding in backticks ("```"). The markdown capabilities are documented here (we use simplemde).

In addition, be sure that each line of code is no more than 32 characters long. Yes, this is short, however - many players are accessing on mobile, and this reduces the need to scroll left / right in addition to up / down.

Answer Types¶

Multiple answer types are supported, including:

Single Choice¶

This is the default option, and means that there is ONE RIGHT ANSWER. Up to 5 more incorrect answers can be provided. Most players prefer single choice!

Note that answers are always served in a random order - so avoid statements like "all of the above".

True / False¶

When writing True / False type questions, be sure that the question is consistent with such an answer! eg: "True / False - the earth is flat?". The answers can also be changed to Yes / No / whatever.

Multiple Choice¶

For multiple choice type questions, there should be TWO OR MORE RIGHT ANSWERS. It's also possible to make every answer a correct answer. If the player fails to mark all the correct answers, they fail the question (there are no "half marks").

User Input¶

The User Input style is not available unless your rank is Holy Grail. User Input should be used very sparingly, as it is unpopular to force users to use the keyboard, also it's easy to accidentally write an ambiguous question this way. If User Input IS used, be sure to provide all possible answers (up to 6 combinations). Be aware that the backend will automatically uppercase the string, so it's not necessary to permutate by case (cat = CAT).

Explanation¶

This is the most important part! Whether the player was right or wrong, if they can learn something, the question is a success. Images are welcomed here, and links to official documentation or further resources should always be provided.

Tags¶

The ability to create tags is restricted to players at Holy Grail rank. If you are below this, and believe a new tag is necessary, do get in touch. Tags should have an explanation, and should not duplicate existing tags.

Timer¶

Long questions are likely to require more time than short ones (remember, not all players are fast readers!). Short questions, especially true / false ones, are good candidates for a 30 second timer.

Submitted¶

This page lets you perform a full text search across of the questions you have submitted, and sort by number of votes, pass rate, etc. You can also edit your questions (if you do, they will go back into review before the new version is released).

Review¶

Those who have achieved the rank of Unladen Swallow can review the questions submitted (or edited, or downvoted) by others. This is a chance to ensure that content submitted is of an appropriate standard. It's also a chance to get a (well earned) preview of upcoming questions in RUN cards! The impact of a review depends on why the question was in review, as follows:

New Questions¶

New questions are not released to the question bank until they receive 3 upvotes in all 6 dimensions. If they receive 3 downvotes in just one dimensions, the question is marked as deleted.

Edited Questions¶

If a question is edited, the edited version is not made live unless it receives 3 upvotes in all 6 dimensions. The original question remains in the question bank until this point. If the edit is rejected, the original question is unaffected. If accepted, it gets replaced.

Downvoted Questions¶

A downvote will force a review depending on the number of upvotes, and the status of the downvoter. See here for more information.

Reviewed¶

This page shows the last 12 questions reviewed, and whether the questions were accepted or rejected