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Not a playthrough report, so take this as a note on how to read the answers rather than as feedback on the puzzles themselves.

Question 1 is the one that will pay, and the trap with it is that the fault is usually not in the puzzle. It is in whatever the player was told before the puzzle. We had a player this week tell us one of our own store descriptions said the opposite of what the game actually asks you to do, and he was right. The puzzle was fine. The framing had quietly taught him the wrong goal.

So when you collect answers to question 1, ask what they believed they were supposed to be doing at that moment, rather than what confused them. Those produce different answers and only the first one locates the fault.

On question 2, guessing and deducing look identical afterwards, because people reconstruct a reason once they know they were right. If the sample records anything at all, record whether the hint was opened before or after they committed an answer.

Thank you for taking the time to explain this. The distinction between the puzzle and the goal set by the introduction is especially useful. In future playtests, I'll ask what the player thought they were meant to do, and check that against the page and opening instructions.


I'll also track hint use relative to answer attempts, rather than just the total. The current sample only counts hint/explanation actions, so I won't infer the sequence from those totals. I've added both points to my playtest checklist. Much appreciated!