Mind Games is an online resource with logical tasks - puzzles and riddles. The main idea of the site is the unavailability of answers until the problem is solved independently, the available level of tasks (to the school level of knowledge), and also the verification of answers by people who have passed prequalification (moderators) [2] .
| Mind games | |
|---|---|
| URL | braingames.ru |
| Site type | entertaining, popular science |
| check in | free, passing a simple logic test |
| Languages) | Russian |
| Beginning of work | 2006 |
| Current status | works |
| Alexa Rating | ▲ 696 932 (September 13, 2017) [1] |
The site has about 400 unique problems of various levels of complexity, from joke problems to complex mathematical problems. These tasks can be used both for entertainment and, for example, for the selection of candidates for specific vacancies [3] , in particular, in the IT sphere [4] . Solving the site’s tasks is officially recommended [5] for applicants to prepare for admission to universities, and is also used [6] in the school educational process. All site tasks are carefully pre-selected and processed by a team of site moderators.
The community is completely self-organized, the content of the site is formed by the community itself: from the proposal, selection and adjustment of the conditions of the tasks, to the election of moderators. Control of this process is carried out by a group of the most proactive and highly rated users of the site.
Content
History
The site was created in 2006 [4] . The resource was twice nominated for the Russian Online TOP Network Contest , organized by the EZhE International Union of Internet Figures, in the nomination “Popular Science Site of the Year”, in 2010 [7] and in 2012 [8] .
Structure
All tasks of the site are grouped into sections, including algebraic , geometric , physical , chess , preference , programming, weighing , children’s tasks, ingenuity problems, problems of truthfulness, liars and slynesses, problems of finding patterns and continuation of sequences and others [ 2] .
The tasks are also divided by the level of complexity, which is determined by the "weight" of the task (from 1 to 5), and by the objectivity of the set-off criteria (subjective riddle tasks and tasks requiring special knowledge, conditionally assigned "weight" equal to 0). The difficulty level of the task is determined automatically depending on the percentage of users who decide to use it on the site. The task is considered subjective in accordance with the decision of the site moderators team. In addition, each task is characterized by the sympathy of the site participants who decided it.
Site users are divided into four categories: guests, regular users, VIP users, moderators . Guests have the opportunity, without registration, to view the conditions of the task and answers to user questions given in the comments to the tasks. The status of a regular user is acquired after registration. Registration in the project is free and free, but for its implementation it is required to give an answer to 3 problems with a simple but not obvious solution. Ordinary users have the opportunity to use the basic functionality of the site associated with solving puzzles: check the correctness of the found solution to the problem, correct errors in the solution, ask clarifying questions, discuss the solution to the problem with other users after receiving the test for the task. When making a paid subscription, the user goes into the category of VIP users who have priority in checking solutions and a number of additional features, such as viewing the solutions of other users of tasks already solved by the VIP user. Finally, moderators are elected by the community (an already existing team of moderators) and receive additional opportunities and responsibilities, in particular, to check user decisions and to count or not to count them.
The site has a rating system [2] , based on the "scales" of tasks, as well as occasionally held tournaments to solve new problems [2] . In addition, user activity is counted on the site, the contribution to which is made by the tasks proposed on the site, sympathy and verified by the user other people's solved tasks, if he is a moderator. In parallel with the site there is a forum for thematic communication and organizational issues.
Notes
- ↑ Global rating of the site “Mind Games” (English) . Alexa Internet . Date of appeal September 13, 2017.
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 BrainGames - Mind Games .
- ↑ Very difficult vacancy .
- ↑ 1 2 Web reviews .
- ↑ PROFESSIONAL ORIENTATION (VOCATIONALIZATION) . Federal portal "Russian education".
- ↑ Study of students in the project Learning to win . The site of the pedagogical community of the Pskov region.
- ↑ ROTOR 2010 .
- ↑ ROTOR 2012 .