Questions are categorised by Tag, and also by difficulty (pass rate).
PLAY mode lets you choose a topic and answer questions on that subject area. 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 > 60%). After that, the questions are randomly selected from any difficulty level.
You start with 3 lives (hearts). If you get a question wrong, you lose a heart. If you lose all three hearts, you must pay 402 sats to replenish and start again.
However - you can also get hearts by zapping the contributors! It costs fewer sats to earn hearts this way, and you are also encouraging the addition of new and better questions into the question bank.
Once you unlock Level 2, you can view the last 12 questions you took. This is a good opportunity to review the questions you got wrong so that you can last longer on your next streak.
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 21 sats 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 2 rep for every zap received, to a maximum of 100 rep per question (there is of course, no limit on zap amount).
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 most certainly unethical to copy other people's content (especially without permission / attribution etc). Any account found to be uploading plagiarised content will be disabled without notice.
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. Players on a slow connection (eg on mobile) can suffer from slow loading times.
Questions are always given a 2 minute time cap. Avoid questions that take longer than this to answer.
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.
Multiple answer types are supported, including:
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".
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.
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").
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.
The ability to create topics is restricted to players at Level 7. If you are below this, and believe a new tag is necessary, do get in touch. Topics should have an explanation, and should not duplicate existing topics.
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).
Those who have unlocked Level 4 can review the questions submitted (or reported) 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 Streak mode! The impact of a review depends on why the question was in review, as follows:
New questions are not released to the question bank until they receive 3 accepts. If they receive 3 rejections, the question is marked as deleted.
If a question is edited, the edited version is not made live unless it receives 3 accepts. 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.
A report will force a review depending on the number of zaps, and the status of the reporter. See here for more information.
This page shows the last 12 questions reviewed, and whether the questions were accepted or rejected