About the Daily Puzzles
These daily puzzles are only a small
sampling of the puzzles and games available on this site. You can find more
games by clicking any of the following links:
Math Games,
Word Games, or
Strategy & More.
The daily puzzles are a great way to start your morning each day, because they force you to
think, an activity that far too many people indulge in far too seldom.
The Daily Secret Word
puzzle is very similar to the old "MasterMind" game, in that it requires the player to eliminate
possibilities based on the color coded responses of the computer. But this game has an added bonus over
MasterMind, because it also involves letters and combinations of letters. As you play you get better
at recognizing letters which often paired in combination, which helps in solving the riddle. And,
of course, a good working vocabulary is a big help as well!
The Daily Scramble, like
The Daily Secret Word, requires a good working vocabulary. In addition,
this puzzle requires the puzzle solver to spot combinations of letters which are scattered through
a two dimensional array. Understanding how letters are put together to form words is even more important
in solving the Daily Scramble puzzles.
The Daily Word Grid looks a lot like a crossword puzzle. However, unlike the other two daily word games
above, this one
gives you the words, so a good vocabulary knowledge is not required, making this puzzle
better for younger children. In this puzzle, the challenge is "getting started". I won't tell you my strategy for
placing my very first word in the grid, but will simply say that if you can get the right word in the right place, generally
the whole puzzle falls into place.
The Daily Secret Number is the only math puzzle in the daily section (although more math puzzles
may be added at some future date). The difficulty level of these puzzles varies significantly from day to day;
sometimes you will look at the clues and see the answer almost immediately. Other times you may need a pencil
and paper to jot down notes as you try to eliminate possibilities. This daily puzzle
does test addition, subtraction, multiplication, etc,
but that is not what the puzzle is
about. Rather, it is about eliminating possibilities to zero in on a solution.
If you get good at this puzzle, you might want to try what I do; I refuse to use pencil and paper, trying to eliminate
all the possibilities
in my head. Am I always successful? No, of course not. But it
is a good mental exercise!
