#1: Robyn Broyles (ginkgo100) on Jul 19, 2009

How do you rate the quality of small puzzles? I ask because even the most amazing, fun, and well-designed small puzzles (15x15, 20x20, etc.) seem to get much lower ratings than larger puzzles.

When I rate a puzzle... I try to do it based on other puzzles of that size. Have I seen better puzzles in that size range? If not, I'll give it a 5. Small puzzles are especially challenging for creators, not because they're hard to make (they're not), but because it's hard to make them look good and be fun to solve.

Or do you rate quality based on your overall impression, regardless of size? That means routinely rating larger puzzles higher than smaller puzzles, since larger puzzles often have more impressive images.

How do you rate puzzle quality?

Robyn welcome to the eternal problem of the rating

it as been talk about many time and I'm one of those that think the way you do, that is that a great puzzle should be rate with a 4 or a 5 even if its small. But the fact remain that not to many puzzle under 30X30 receive 5 in here.

It seem that for many user the bigger the better but it been proove that it not always the case but old habit die hard it seem.

But you should remember that the rating system around here is just a tool to help you decide if you want to take of your time to try do a puzzle and not a competition to see who get the best rating. ( she the all to infamous "rating war")so let take that with not to much importance

btw I love your small ( but hard) small puzzle

Just like you. If I don't think the puzzle could be improved upon on the same grid size, then it's a five.

I also rate difficulty the same way, as a rating of how hard it is for a puzzle of that size. So a 15x15 puzzle with difficulty five probably still solves faster than a 60x60 puzzle with difficulty two, but it's not a rating of how long it took, but a rating of how hard my brain had to work.

Basically, I'm giving a rating for people who are choosing the puzzle off the list of puzzles. They already know how big it is and how many colors it has. GIven that information, I want to try to tell them how good it is, and how hard it is, for a puzzle of that size and number of colors. So the rating is in comparison to other puzzles of the same size and with the same number of colors.

I should point out that the highest rated 20x20 puzzle, with a rating of 3.75 has been completed by 768 people and rated by 93.

The overall highest rated puzzle (60x60) has be completed by 78 people and rated by 26. Those numbers are probably unusually high for a big puzzle. THe highest rated puzzles attract extra players.

Basically, big puzzles get solved by people who love big puzzles, and they are naturally inclined to rate the high.

Small puzzles are solved by everybody, some that have a special fondness and respect for the art of small puzzles, and some who don't. This pulls their averages down.

For me the quality rating takes into consideration the size of the puzzle. Basically I give a rating based on how much I enjoy the outcome of the puzzle and for how well it's drawn. I do take into account that there is less room for detail in a small puzzle than a large one. Patterns and otherwise pointless puzzles, no matter the size, will get a low rating. A puzzle that I can easily understand the image and I enjoy looking at it or say, "Oh wow!" when I'm done will get a high one.

Ditto #5.

Ditto #5 (byrdie)

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