Counters
You can optionally show counters about the puzzle itself (eg. how many times it's being played), but also about who is playing it.
The idea behind counters is that although it's fun to play the PiccyPuzzle, it's even more fun to know how many times it is shown, played and solved.
And it's even more fun to know who is playing it, and how good each person is. And whether the people solving it are smart, fast or both.
The counters are split into 2 sections: Puzzle Statistics, and Leaderboard. You can have enable one, both, or disable both if you wish.
If you enable either of the counters, anyone who can see your PiccyPuzzle can click on the Counters icon and see them.
Puzzle Statistics
If you enable Puzzle Counters, when you click on the Counters graphic shown at the top, this gives you a screen showing something like:
| PiccyPuzzle No. 198 created on Sat 10 Nov 07 | ||
| Puzzle > Statistics | ||
| Solved: | 15 | No. of times 'naturally' solved. (Solve button pushes not included!) |
| Played: | 38 | No. of times played, counted when the first puzzle piece is moved after shuffling. |
| Viewed: | 76 | No. of times shown on (any) web page, counted when the puzzle pieces 'melt in'. |
| Av. Solve Moves: | 118 | {*} The average number of moves used to solve it. ('natural' solving only) |
| Av. Solve Time: | 13m 40s | {*} The average solve it time in 'h m s' format. ('natural' solving only) |
| Last Solved: | Fri 23 Nov 07 | The date it was last Solved. (GMT Timezone) |
| Last Played: | Sat 24 Nov 07 | The date it was last Played. (GMT Timezone) |
| Last Viewed: | Mon 26 Nov 07 | The date it was last Viewed. (GMT Timezone) |
The stats marked {*} will only be available if you have the Leaderboard enabled as well, since they come from the people who submit their scores to the leaderboard (see next section).
Your PiccyPuzzle will always try to gather the above stats, even if you have not enabled Puzzle Statistics.
The 'enabling' of this feature controls whether you can actually see the above stats in your PiccyPuzzle.
The upshot of this is that if you disable Puzzle stats and then enable them later, don't be surprised to see all the values filled out!
Puzzle stats are always real-time, so every time you click on the Counters icon, the latest stats are retrieved and shown.
Leaderboard
If you enable the Leaderboard, when you click on the Counters graphic shown at the top, you can choose between seeing two different Leaderboard tables - the Smartest and Fastest. The seven top entries are shown for each table. Others might exist, but they are not shown.
The Smartest table shows the people who have solve the puzzle in the fewest moves, no matter how long they took. It looks something like this:
| PiccyPuzzle No. 198 created on Sat 10 Nov 07 | ||
| Leaderboard > Smartest | ||
| Name | Moves(*) | Time |
| Alison | 75 | 2m 13s |
| M.C. | 82 | 1m 59s |
| Lily | 94 | 1m 30s |
| June | 108 | 1m 17s |
| Julie | 108 | 1m 20s |
| Nicko | 111 | 50s |
| Rose | 123 | 2m 40s |
The (*) just means that it's the number of moves that is the most important, not the time.
Notice how some of the names looks like clickable links. That's because they are!
When someone solves your PiccyPuzzle without pushing the Solve button, they are told if they were good enough to get into the Leaderboard.
If they are, then they can choose to submit their scores to the Leaderboard.
Before doing so, they can also put in their name/nickname, and a http:// link to any website they want. This will usually be a MySpace page, blog site, or whatever.
If they do choose to submit a link with their scores, it will be clickable in the Leaderboard table, and will open a new browser window and take you there.
So this is just a cool way for someone who has solved your puzzle to tell you who they are, and to take you to their page, where you can find out more about them.
Great fun if your PiccyPuzzle is on a public page (like a public MySpace profile), or in our PiccyPuzzle gallery.
Note that even though the Smartest table is for the fewest moves, if two people have the same number of moves, then how long they took becomes important.
In the above table, you can see that Julie and June both took the same number of moves (108), but June is higher up because she did it in a quicker time.
The Fastest leaderboard looks similar, except that the Moves(*) and Time columns switch places, and time taken becomes the important factor.
If someone is fast and smart, they could appear in both the Smartest and Fastest tables.
Puzzle stats are always real-time, so every time you click on either the Smartest or Fastest link, the latest table is retrieved and shown.
Leaderboard Email Notification
A cool feature of Leaderboards is the ability to get notified by email if anyone breaks into the top 7 entries of either table.
To enable this, just supply your email address on the Counters page.
Each time the leaderboard is updated, you'll get a quick short email with the persons name and scores.
(We promise not to use this email address for anything else!!)
Leaderboard Admin
On your PiccyPuzzle admin page, you are able to see all Leaderboard Entries ordered by 'latest submitted shown first'
This includes all entries ever submitted, including those who were in the top 7 but slipped down so they're not shown in your PiccyPuzzle any more.
You can view and delete any entries you wish, and they will immediately disappear from your PiccyPuzzle.
If you delete an entry that affects either table, the table is automatically adjusted, so that the current 8th position drops in to the bottom slot (7th) and is now visible in the PiccyPuzzle again.
You can also use the Admin page to add or remove your email address, which will enable or disable email notification.