Inquire Within

Ever since the Back Porch Cafe discontinued quiz night (and subsequently went out of business*) and IHJ's short-lived but incredibly well done Tuesday Trivia went on temporary(?) hiatus, my trivia needs have gone unfulfilled. Sure a nightly rendezvous with Alex Trebek helps, but it is just so one-sided. You can imagine my delight at hearing the Longhorn Saloon in "Historic" Edision, WA has started their own trivia night. Last night, we got a table early, filled our bellies with brain food (cheeseburger, grilled oysters, and beer) and planned our strategy, which mainly consisted of picking a team name. To make a long story short, Inquire Within came from the ranks of obscurity to conquer the day. After 4 rounds of 10 ?s each (categories of Saturday Morning Cartoons*, Visual Identification, General Knowledge, and Song Recognition), we stood in a tie for first. For the tie-breaker round, each team selected one member to compete in a final 3 question sudden death. Barely edging out My Two Dads, Inquire Within won it all with Paraguay*! Yes, Longhorn Saloon, I will be back to play your trivia again.

Thursday July 31 2008

File under: games, Anacortes

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on Thu 31st Jul, 2008 04:56 pm PDT whuppinstick said: nice work! what did you win? (nice new site..) ************************ on Thu 31st Jul, 2008 04:58 pm PDT Wren said: We won $25 off our tab (or as a gift certificate for next time around. But since next time around, we are going to win again, we just put it toward our tab.) ************************ on Wed 20th Aug, 2008 02:42 pm PDT jenelle said: nice typeface design in the poster. man, if only it were letterpressed. ok, type geek is done commenting. ************************

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Easy Like a....

After a week of hard work, Sunday mornings are supposed to be that time when we can all relax. Staying in bed late while listening to the puzzler on NPR. A big breakfast, of french toast and eggs – maybe even some fresh carrot, celery, apple juice if I am feeling saucy. Divvying up the paper and everyone retreating to read; comics here, sports page there, ads in the recycling. For the past 8 years or so, every time I see a newspaper, there is really only one section for me: the crossword. It has become somewhat of an obsession, actually. I've worked my way through my back stash of puzzles and am now always on the lookout for more. I find myself going through recycling bins in public places to get my fix (ferries and airports are treasure troves of discarded papers). To eat breakfast without a crossword is my own little torture. All this is to say that if in your household competition for the crossword puzzle is stiff, fear not! I've just finished creating my 5th crossword*, and I am glad to say that there are no clues* that I am ashamed of, making it my best yet. If it wasn't for a minor oversight in the grid construction*, I would be submitting it to the powers that be and expecting my $60 check in the mail. Without further ado, I present Large Places. If you do give it a try, and I hope you do, I would love any feedback you can share. My journey to be a published crossword puzzle author can use all the help it can get.

Sunday May 18 2008

File under: games

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Wednesday is Crossword Day

I know these crossword are getting old for the majority of you. As for the other three people that actually look at them, I assume the novelty is even wearing out for you. Does that mean I'm going to stop creating them? No. Will I stop posting about them? Maybe. This one, however, should be the last one for a while, as I am soon to enter the working world again* (at least for a short time) and I won't have all this time to kill. I was tempted to call this crossword BOOBLESS and let it stay as an inside joke until you solved it, but I figured that would be too tactless, so I've called it CALCULATOR SPEAK. I hope that isn't too much of a give away. Because I incorporated more theme elements, this one took me much longer than the previous ones but I can't say if that actually made it any better. Anyway, if anyone out there is actually doing them, I would love feedback. Do you think any would be newspaper worthy? Maybe not NY Times yet, but perhaps USA Today? Are you at least having a good time doing them? Should I give up on this an refocus on, say, making sudokus?*

Wednesday February 20 2008

File under: games

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on Wed 20th Feb, 2008 03:29 pm PST Nesbitt said: Have you ever tried takigaki? I saw one on an airplane, looked like fun. sort of like minesweeper crossed with sodoku. ************************ on Tue 26th Feb, 2008 09:22 am PST mandy said: i would much prefer sudoku, but i'm a number cruncher like that ************************ on Tue 26th Feb, 2008 10:06 am PST Saxtor said: But Sudoku isn't a number game at all, it's a logic game. You can play it with NO difference using pictures, symbols, etc. If it was a number game, I'd expect it to involve problem solving and clever number play, just like crossword involves problem solving and clever word play. The ultimate grid-based logic game is Picross, which like Sudoku uses a grid and numbers, but creates pixel art images or designs. There are tons of ways to play it, but two web-based versions are located here and here. ************************

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Another Crossword - FAMILY TIES

As often happens with me and creative energies, I find an outlet and stay with it for a while. It happened about this time last year with writing nerdy word games*. This year's borderline obsession is creating crosswords. I've incorporated the feedback I got from the 3 people that attempted the last one("It's too hard!" and "Weak!") and hopefully this one will prove much better. Check it out and let me know what you think: FAMILY TIES. Since I seem to be taking to writing crossword puzzles so eagerly, I thought it might be fun to look into what it takes to get one published (and how much it pays.) Cruciverb.com seems to be the site to go to for that type of information. In a nut shell, you gotta minimize black spaces, use symmetric grids, use as few dumb clues as possible, and do a good theme. That seems straight forward enough. Each paper/organization has its own guidelines on top of those as well as prices. It looks like the going rate is between $65 and $200*. Anyway, I've got a new goal for the list: become a published crossword [author/creator/artist/guy]. Any feedback you can give would be great. I'll be sure and thank you in my acceptance speech for "best crossword dude from a personal blog" category at next year's Crossies.

Tuesday February 12 2008

File under: games, coding

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on Tue 12th Feb, 2008 10:27 pm PST Jule said: Your last crossword was great, mostly cause you helped me with it. Actually, I loved the theme. ************************ on Tue 12th Feb, 2008 10:46 pm PST Jule said: 1a. Ma's son's enjoying wordgame:WRENSFUNCROSSWORD I will finish the rest of MY crossword later ************************ on Wed 13th Feb, 2008 10:17 am PST Nesbitt said: This Blog has become awfully intellectual: crossword puzzles, political cartoons, visits to art museums...when are you coming out with the "BlogduWren Book Club?" ************************ on Wed 13th Feb, 2008 07:01 pm PST gretchen said: done! ************************ on Sun 17th Feb, 2008 07:34 pm PST kris kefgen said: Hi Wren, I'm having fun figuring out your crosswords puzzles. How in the heck am I suppose to know what Ma's brother's place in the woods is? It's fun anyway, and your're really good at this stuff! Keep it up. Kris ************************ on Mon 18th Feb, 2008 06:10 pm PST rus said: check accross, is it only one c? passed is past keep it up ************************

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Create a Crossword - CHECK

Years ago, I made a list of things I wanted to do before I died. I was reminded of this list recently by a [great!] post over at IHJ. (Another great example of a life list, and actually the one that inspired me to make my own years ago, can be found here*.) I'm not going to post said list because it is still a work in progress (both in terms of refining goals and attempting to accomplish them). One of my proudest to cross off, however, was trying out for Jeopardy*. I didn't get on, but that's okay because it still felt great to have tried. But I digress. This post is supposed to be about the latest thing I've been able to cross off my list*. As an avid crossword puzzle doer for years, I've always wanted to create my own – not a ghetto one like we made in high school using all the words from the spelling list, but a newspaper worthy crossword that adheres to strict standards (at least in format if not in content). So here it is: You're in My Top Level Domain Now. There are a few words that I am not overly proud of and a few others that are obscure pop culture references that only very very few people will get, but it's not bad for a first try. Have a go. Tell me what you think. (You can either print the puzzle (please make sure it shrinks to just print on one page) or you can do the puzzle as it is on your computer screen. The "software"* isn't as fancy as the commercial ones, but it does the trick.)

Wednesday February 6 2008

File under: games, coding

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on Wed 06th Feb, 2008 08:35 pm PST Saxtor said: Hmmmm, perhaps I should start one of those fancy lists. At the top, get better at crossword puzzles. ************************ on Wed 06th Feb, 2008 09:45 pm PST Mom said: Can I join you on the 'Taste Absinthe" item in the list? Do you have to have a lisp to taste it? ************************ on Fri 08th Feb, 2008 10:34 am PST Wren said: It looks like Internet Explorer rears its ugly head again in the printable version of the crossword. For some reason, it doesn't want to print what is on the screen. Anyway, for all you IE people out there, please check out the PDF print link at the bottom of the crossword page, or get it here. ************************

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Quiz Night - Crisis of Doona

This past Friday was another fun and successful Quiz Night at the Back Porch Cafe. The categories fell in our favor this week (for the most part) and at the end of two rounds, Crisis of Doona* was in a three way tie for first place. The tie breaker question was about Shakespeare. It turns out that wasn't our strongest subject so we again got narrowly edged out for the win. Next time, though. I can feel next time is going to be the time. Anyway, as has become our habit here, I thought I would go ahead and post the visual round. Category: Wrastlers. How many can you name? (As always, hover for answers: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8) (Previous Quiz Night posts (with scans of the visual questions): Return of Quiz Night, Filler, and Quiz Night!)

Sunday November 11 2007

File under: Anacortes, games

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on Sun 11th Nov, 2007 11:10 am PST Saxtor said: I managed to name all but #s 5 and 7, which I doubt I would have known under any circumstance. ************************ on Mon 12th Nov, 2007 03:53 pm PST Nesbitt said: I can't remember the name of the guy in the kilt. For some reason when I scroll over the numbers I don't get the answers. ************************ on Mon 12th Nov, 2007 10:03 pm PST Wren said: Nesbitt, you must be using Safari, eh? I just tried it out with my new fancy windows version of Safari and you're right, it doesn't work. More unsettling than not being able to see the Wrastlers' names, you aren't able to see all my ever-so-witty *s. I will look into this problem immediately. In the mean time, give it a try with Firefox. ************************ on Tue 13th Nov, 2007 12:23 am PST Horge said: I'm not using Safari, and I just hovered over your little * you put in your comment to Dave. It came up with nothing. Either your asterisks have stopped working on Firefox also, or you just missed a golden opportunity to attach a tag to an asterisk, considering you were referring to how witty they are... ************************ on Tue 13th Nov, 2007 06:25 am PST Nesbitt said: I'm using firefox on my mac, and it ain't working. By the by, congrats on getting my trivia question right, you are the first to get it correct, including a Poli-sci professor I asked, so good work. ************************ on Tue 13th Nov, 2007 04:41 pm PST Wren said: Horge, good point* ************************ on Wed 14th Nov, 2007 05:18 am PST Horge said: Thats the Wren I've grown to love. I just miss the opportunity to hover over the asterisks. Once it was revealed why they existed a few months ago, I immediately went back through the archives looking for 'em. Keep up the asterisks, dude! As a Shakespeare fan, I'm always up for a good aside :) ************************

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Return of Quiz Night

After a longer than normal hiatus, the Backporch Cafe's Quiz Night returned this past Friday evening. A lively crowd* battled it out for the fame and prizes. With my regular team absent, I recruited a crack team of first timers to help with the pursuit. Through round one, we held our own. It turns out our knowledge of indigenous plants, world rivers, classic literature, and Antonio Banderas is above average. Round two was a bit of a suck fest for the Imperfect Ladies*. Out knowledge, or lack thereof, of current events, (post?)modern literature, the Clash, and starlets took us from second place to second-to-last. In a quiz tournament so heavily topicized*, you live and die by the topics. Anyway, as always, it was a good time made even better by the other folks who played. Keep an eye out for the next go round. After all, the more, the merrier. And for all of you who enjoy playing along, I'll share the two identification rounds. Above (click for larger image) are starlets. How many can you name? Or try your knowledge of indigenous plants. I'll post the answers in special hover code in the comments. The Backporch Cafe's Quiz night has been covered before here and here.

Sunday October 14 2007

File under: Anacortes, games

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on Sun 14th Oct, 2007 10:13 am PDT Wren said: Starlets: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 Plants: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 ************************ on Mon 15th Oct, 2007 09:07 pm PDT Emily said: Yeah-I'm glad I wasn't on your team. I know absolutely NONE of those starlets. What's with the major topicization? (Now there's a word.) ************************ on Wed 17th Oct, 2007 10:57 am PDT blank said: What!?! You need to 'rock the casbah' more my friend. ************************ on Mon 05th Nov, 2007 11:36 pm PST Siri said: 1.Bette Davis 2. Rita Hayworth 3. ??? 4. Lauren Bacall 5. Marlene Dietrich 6. ??? 7. Katherine Hepburn 8. Mae West 9. Greta Garbo How'd I do? ************************ on Mon 05th Nov, 2007 11:37 pm PST Siri said: Oh, I just caught on to the whole hover thang. . . I'm a quick one. ************************ on Tue 06th Nov, 2007 08:27 am PST Wren said: Not bad at all! We might have to bring you in as a ringer. There is a quiz night this Friday if you happen to be in town. ************************

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Link Letter

Huzzah huzzah! BdW has to come the rescue to save you all from another boring Monday*. That's right, folks, I am pleased to announce the debut of my eighth self-conceived*, home-coded nerd game. (To view all the games, be sure and check out the games page so conveniently listed on the left hand column of this very page.) The goal of Link Letter is to create a chain of words, each one letter apart, starting at one word and working your way to another (hopefully the in-game instructions will be a little more articulate than that). Currently, there are 20 levels with the possibility of adding more levels (or maybe even separate tracks) later, so get some while the getting is good. Oh, and I've brought back the community high score board with this one, so you can fight tooth and nail to beat out Joe Mama. Link Letter is written with a javascript front end, so I must deliver my standard hasn't-been-tested-on-Mac caveat. If someone gives it a go, please let me know if it works. As the matter of fact, I'd love any kind of feedback anybody has. I'd love to make this game as good as possible so it might have a shelf life of more than, say, a week*, like all the other games. Happy linking!

Sunday September 30 2007

File under: games, coding

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on Sun 30th Sep, 2007 10:31 pm PDT Saxtor said: Awesome! Sounds fun, I'll give it a try. It's not really a matter of having not tested it on a Mac, it's that you haven't tested it on Safari, which is available for Winders! ************************ on Mon 01st Oct, 2007 07:26 pm PDT Sweet Julie said: It is working on my Mac, and my Safari! ************************ on Mon 01st Oct, 2007 10:34 pm PDT Joe Wilbur said: didn't seem to be working properly for me. it didn't really let me play. anything i tried to do it would deny me. and it wasn't just, "that's not a word" problems either. ************************ on Tue 02nd Oct, 2007 12:50 am PDT Horge said: Its a pretty fun little game you got here Wren. Nice and nerdy. ************************ on Tue 02nd Oct, 2007 07:25 am PDT gretchen said: i'm with joe. ************************ on Tue 02nd Oct, 2007 07:55 am PDT cardboard said: Wren you need a Job old boy, if the thought of working for someone doesnt lend to you can come volunteer and plant native species with us and feel like your making a difference in this mad mad world we live in, plus you can get that scoot scoot riding rain gear dirtied up all proper like. I only say that cause monday wasnt boring cause it was wet and there were plants to plant. ************************ on Thu 04th Oct, 2007 09:15 am PDT cara said: Fun game...I wish I could stop playing now.Also, level 8 wouldn't accept the word "fifth." ************************

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Match Em!

With all this trivia that has been floating around in my head and life of late, I had to find an outlet. What I've come up with should prove to be lots* of fun. The game is Match Em, and as the name suggests, it is a matching game. I consider it accessible trivia, because even if you don't know each and every one, you can usually reason out at least a few correct answers. The game also tracks the average score of everyone who has played for a given data set. Examples of data sets currently included are Painters and Paintings, States and Nicknames*, Car Makes and Models, and much more. So try it out. Let me know if you have problems or questions. (Please to note: it hasn't been tested on any Macintosh browsers. If you try it out on one, let me know if it works.) The part of this whole shebang that I am excited about it the ability to add new data sets easily. For this, I was hoping that I could call on you, dear reader, to help out. What matching sets can you come up with? Send me (via e-mail or the contact page)* anywhere between 7 and 14 matching items in a given category. In about a week, I'll add all [appropriate] submissions to the game.

Sunday August 12 2007

File under: games, coding

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on Sun 12th Aug, 2007 10:15 pm PDT Joe said: I did this on my mac, using Safari, worked fine. I'm gonna try and cook one up for ya wren, got an idea need to find proper pix... ************************ on Sun 12th Aug, 2007 10:19 pm PDT Joe said: wow i'm not scoring very high on these haha... ************************ on Sun 12th Aug, 2007 10:59 pm PDT Sweet Julie said: working well on my mac too! yippeeee! i like the matching of genus-common names! ************************ on Mon 13th Aug, 2007 08:10 am PDT mandy said: Happy Belated Birthday ************************ on Mon 13th Aug, 2007 04:01 pm PDT Saxtor said: Unless you enjoy employing Mac users to do your bidding, you can finally test Safari on your Windows box! Fun game! ************************ on Tue 14th Aug, 2007 09:57 am PDT Chris said: Noticed that the arrays for your clues and answers are in the same order. While I don't think my perfect score counts, I think I should get bonus points for resourcfulness. (Don't worry, I only looked at one and didn't submit my cheating score, only my sadly defiecient real ones!) ************************ on Tue 14th Aug, 2007 09:44 pm PDT Jule said: Did you know the state nickname of Missouri came from a Missouri senator who proclaimed that "frothy eloquence neither convinces nor satisfies me. I'm from Missouri, and you have got to show me" others suggest it was cause Missourians (?) were so slow you had to just show them. YOU make the call... (knowing a few sharp people from Missouri, I am inclined to pick the former (Sara). By the way, I got 100% on the state nicknames. ************************ on Fri 17th Aug, 2007 11:57 pm PDT Joe said: good story jule...i seriously did not know that....my growing knowledge thanks you... ************************ on Thu 30th Aug, 2007 08:04 am PDT Klaus said: cn't believe it ...did a lot better on obscure words than cars....aaaarrrrrgggghhh ************************

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Quiz Night!

A wise man once said, "If you put your vibe out into the universe, the universe will respond", or something along those lines*. Well, I've been putting out the trivia vibe into the universe recently (reading Ken Jennings's Braniac, watching Jeopardy as often as possible, and composing a little trivia challenge of my own (to be released at the next game night)). The universe did its job and responded brilliantly. The Back Porch Cafe (the cute little cafe/restaurant/food-buying-for-eating* place connected to The Business) held its first monthly (or so they say) Quiz Night. There were 5 teams of four members each. Play consisted of 2 30-minute rounds in written format. Topics included 80s metal*, geography, food additives, the heart, Antarctica, and pictures of dudes (as seen here). While the style of these questions didn't quite suit me, I had a great time nonetheless. After a rout in the first round putting us in the lead by 5.5 points, we got to feeling pretty cocky. Yep, we aced geography and food additives. Round 2, however, we didn't do so hot, getting only 1.5 points on the pictures of dudes category*. In the end, we came in second by a lousy half a point. Oh well, there is always next month. I, for one, will definitely be there.

Friday July 6 2007

File under: Anacortes, games

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on Fri 06th Jul, 2007 10:12 pm PDT Wilbur said: so you just show up huh? or do you have to put a team together? ************************ on Fri 06th Jul, 2007 10:13 pm PDT Emilly said: It sounds like you have found your calling.And Bettlejuice (H)! ************************ on Sat 07th Jul, 2007 07:15 am PDT Go! Turtle said: I am wondering the same thing as Joe, is this open to the public? Or by special invite only? ************************ on Sat 07th Jul, 2007 08:39 am PDT Horge said: I'm all up on BDEGH! I know 'em all, if not by name, then by face! Yeeeah-boyeee! :) ************************ on Sat 07th Jul, 2007 10:09 am PDT Wren said: Mr. Turtle and Wilbur, quiz night is open to all! This time around, you had to form your own teams before coming, but motion was made to have draw of the hat team selection for next time (to which I am opposed). Keep an eye out at The Business for flyers advertising next time, or maybe I will try to post about it here. ************************ on Sat 07th Jul, 2007 06:30 pm PDT cardboard said: So wren did people actually know the names of those dudes?? Highly dubious ************************ on Sun 08th Jul, 2007 10:40 am PDT Chris said: hmm... Sounds like a job for Java man - how hard can a multiplayer online jeopardy like game be? I've been jonesing for a game night, and I don't have any friends here yet. come on, I'll even help with the questions and categories ************************ on Sun 08th Jul, 2007 07:37 pm PDT cardboard said: i forgot to mention that i may/may not be a murphmuter ************************ on Mon 09th Jul, 2007 01:19 am PDT Siri said: A.Jake Gyllenhaal B.Johnny Depp C. The Rock D. The Sicilian E. The Doorman of Oz F. Cesar Chavez ('cuz joo don' know wha' Cesar Chavez loook like) G. Marcel Proust H. That guy from Beetlejuice that is not Michael Keaton.How'd I do? ************************ on Mon 09th Jul, 2007 08:27 pm PDT Wren said: To learn of the identities of these mystery men, hover of appropriate letter: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and H. ************************ on Tue 10th Jul, 2007 12:12 pm PDT Saxtor said: That sounds like it would be SUPER cool*!! ************************ on Thu 12th Jul, 2007 12:28 am PDT Siri said: Um. . . I hovered & all I got was "click to close" (for all of them). For some reason, I don't think that's right. ************************ on Thu 12th Jul, 2007 12:31 pm PDT Siri said: Oh, and by "Marcel Proust" I meant "Nikola Tesla". . . I'm still hovering & nothing happens. ************************ on Thu 12th Jul, 2007 04:41 pm PDT cardboard said: well i saw something about hovering but it dont seem to work for me and apparently it dont work for others either...wren whats the story here? ************************ on Thu 12th Jul, 2007 05:31 pm PDT Wren said: For the hovering action, hover over the letter in the comments where I posted the answer. So, if you want to know the real name of Vicini, hover over the "D" in the comment I posted, not on the picture. If it still doesn't work, it means your browser sucks and you should use firefox. ************************

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