Suggestion: Penalty for Incorrect Guessing

[DoctorFianchetto]

Currently there is no need to check that a solution is correct before guessing, so players are incentivised to "spam guess" until they get it right. At least, this is how I frequently play, especially on Expert. It's faster than trying to work out the solution before guessing. After all, BGA checks for you. Why waste time? This strategy adds luck. Maybe you stumbled on the right path by accident so your first guess is correct.

I propose an alternate game mode that penalises incorrect guesses. Consequently, you must check a solution against all the clues before committing to a guess. It's slower, but more challenging, and more skilful.

There are at least two ways to do this:
1. A "life" system in which an incorrect guess costs you a life. Lose all your lifes and you fail the puzzle. Let's say 3 lives per puzzle, or 5 lives per game.
2. A time penalty for an incorrect guess (e.g. +2 seconds if you guess wrong)

Thoughts?

[nccc]

There was a 3(or 5?) sec cooldown between guesses before,but it was removed.

[danielvictor]

My take on this is that I got roped into a real-time game where my opponents were faster than I was.So then I had to guess to avoid slowing the game [our group don't kick each other].

[Tilt]

Currently there is no need to check that a solution is correct before guessing, so players are incentivised to "spam guess" until they get it right. At least, this is how I frequently play, especially on Expert. It's faster than trying to work out the solution before guessing. After all, BGA checks for you. Why waste time? This strategy adds luck. Maybe you stumbled on the right path by accident so your first guess is correct.

I propose an alternate game mode that penalises incorrect guesses. Consequently, you must check a solution against all the clues before committing to a guess. It's slower, but more challenging, and more skilful.

There are at least two ways to do this:
1. A "life" system in which an incorrect guess costs you a life. Lose all your lifes and you fail the puzzle. Let's say 3 lives per puzzle, or 5 lives per game.
2. A time penalty for an incorrect guess (e.g. +2 seconds if you guess wrong)

Thoughts?

I definitely agree with this. Players shouldn't be able to spam guesses without penalties. I think this could be turned into a game configuration. For example: "Wrong guess fails puzzle immediately", "Max 3 wrong guesses allowed" or "infinite wrong guesses allowed" (the way it is now).
That way players could choose what kind of table settings they'd be willing to play before creating/joining tables.

[YoannLevet]

I appreciate all the feedback on guessing and penalties! I understand how “spam guessing” can feel too luck-based. Early on, during alpha, we actually tested penalty mechanics, but after discussion, we decided they didn’t fit the spirit of the game. The goal is to keep things simple and intuitive. I’m currently happy with the game’s state, but I’m open to potentially adding a table option—if it’s easy to explain. The simpler the solution, the better! So, I’d love your thoughts—would such an option actually get used, and would it remain clear to everyone?
Yoann

[Tilt]

I appreciate all the feedback on guessing and penalties! I understand how “spam guessing” can feel too luck-based. Early on, during alpha, we actually tested penalty mechanics, but after discussion, we decided they didn’t fit the spirit of the game. The goal is to keep things simple and intuitive. I’m currently happy with the game’s state, but I’m open to potentially adding a table option—if it’s easy to explain. The simpler the solution, the better! So, I’d love your thoughts—would such an option actually get used, and would it remain clear to everyone?
Yoann

I personally would ONLY play with no guessing allowed (wrong guess means 0 points for that puzzle). This game is about logical thinking, so logical thinking should be paramount. It's not a game about guessing. The time it takes to make sure all hints are followed should be computed as part of the solution time, instead of relying on a guess to cut corners w/out penalties.

In fact I think guessing to save time is what actually goes against the spirit of the game.

[jill8888]

A big Nope from me. I can’t even fathom how some ppl solve these things in mere seconds when I wouldn’t even get my first spam guess in place that quickly. If I were penalized for not synching the clues, I would never be able to play this game again.

[Ceaseless]

I appreciate all the feedback on guessing and penalties! I understand how “spam guessing” can feel too luck-based. Early on, during alpha, we actually tested penalty mechanics, but after discussion, we decided they didn’t fit the spirit of the game. The goal is to keep things simple and intuitive. I’m currently happy with the game’s state, but I’m open to potentially adding a table option—if it’s easy to explain. The simpler the solution, the better! So, I’d love your thoughts—would such an option actually get used, and would it remain clear to everyone?
Yoann

Failing a puzzle when you get it wrong is pretty intuitive. I was actually surprised when I found out it didn't fail you automatically for getting it wrong. The time penalty is neat in its own right since it lets players keep playing but adds incentives to get it right when you try, instead of forcing everyone to spam the guess option as a substitute for actually checking their work.

A big Nope from me. I can’t even fathom how some ppl solve these things in mere seconds when I wouldn’t even get my first spam guess in place that quickly. If I were penalized for not synching the clues, I would never be able to play this game again.

I don't see a connection between your reasoning and your conclusion.

[Romain672]

Another way instead of counting wrong is to add 100s to your timer.

If multiple players have one fail, they are still ranked but after everyone else.

Since it's an option, complexity shouldn't be much a problem. You still want players to see that they need to not make a mistake (something like Regicide did look great: add one line of text above the game), and just adding: "Wrong answer. You got a penalty of 100 seconds." would work.


Making the penalty at or under 5 seconds would not stop the random guessing for hard puzzle, you would just hit the button when you think you have tha answer even if you didn't double check.

While with my proposition or with the directly wrong, you would really need to be sure of your answer, or you take a risk, per example if you absolutely need to come back.

[Belgiangrump]

Surprised people advocate for no penalties to encourage spam guessing. Totally beats the "strategy" part of this game of logical thinking on a solution. Completely failing the puzzle is overkill, giving penalty points for guesses would only make people play more on safe as soon as your opponent guessed wrong once. But a time penalty is definately something to add. Something like 10 seconds, any less and some luckers could still beat logical thinking.