Counting
Players count something at the location — steps, statues, windows — and enter the total. A text-style type; answers are compared as text.
Counting challenges send teams to tally something physical: stairs on a staircase, lions on a facade, flags on a bridge. Mechanically it is a text-style type — it shares the exact answer flow described on the Riddle page; only the label ("Counting Challenge") and map icon differ.
What players experience
The standard challenge screen: dark header with the name and "Counting Challenge", the Clue as rich text, difficulty badge, {points} pts chip, optional audio, and a speed-bonus line when configured. With the default Text answer type, players get a multiline "Your Answer" box and a "Submit Answer" button; Multiple Choice shows a tappable "Select your answer" list instead.
The hint affordance (Need a hint? (-{cost} pts) / "Free hint available!"), access-code gate, and activation gate all behave exactly as on any text-style challenge. Correct answers trigger the confetti "Challenge Complete!" modal; wrong counts get "Not Quite!" with "Try Again" — and unlimited retries.
Scoring & answers
- Valid answer types: Text (typical), Multiple Choice, True / False, Fill in the Blank.
- Answers are compared as text, case-insensitively, against Answer plus Alternate Answers. There is no numeric parsing and no tolerance range —
12does not matchtwelve, and12does not match13no matter how close. Add every acceptable form as an alternate. - Hint deduction: revealed hints subtract the Hint Cost from the award at solve time (never below 0).
- Speed bonuses go to the first non-staff teams to answer correctly, per your descending tiers; Max Completing Teams caps how many teams can complete it.
- Retries: unlimited until correct.
Configuring in the admin
In Challenge Details, set Name, choose Type = Counting, pick a Difficulty (Easy / Medium / Hard), and set Points (default 100). Leave Answer Type on Text unless you want a choice list.
In Content, write the Clue ("How many gargoyles guard the north entrance?"), then set Answer to the expected count. Use Alternate Answers ("Separate multiple answers with commas") to accept variants — for example 12, twelve. Optionally add a Hint and Hint Cost.
In Location, place the pin (Latitude / Longitude via the map picker) and optionally a Zone; library challenges also pick a Greater Area.
Optionally add Media (a 4:3 Challenge Image of the thing being counted works well), an Access Code, and — in an event — Gameplay settings: Activation mode, Max Completing Teams, and Speed Bonus tiers. See Activation & Beacons.
Tips
- Always add the spelled-out number as an alternate (
8, eight). Players genuinely type both, and the comparison is exact text. - Count it yourself first, twice. There's no tolerance — if the real answer is arguably 11 or 12 (do the half-columns count?), accept both via Alternate Answers or tighten the clue.
- GPS proximity activation keeps it honest — requiring teams to be within the radius before the clue reveals stops them from Googling the count from a bench.