Keyword Konundrum

I have just completed work on another library game, entitled "Keyword Konundrum." The game intends to teach that search engines do not always produce the results you intend. The game shows 10 images downloaded from Yahoo! Images and 5 words, one of which was the word used to produce the image search results you see. Just click on the right word.

The game gets harder as you go as you are given less time, shown fewer images, and the words get closer in meaning.

If you choose the wrong word, you can click the "Show me the Pictures" link and see the images you would have gotten if your word was used to do the search.

Play Keyword Konundrum

If you would like to have your own copy of the game, you can get all the game files here. Note that you will have to get your own Yahoo! Application ID. This is free and simply requires filling out a form online. Instructions for using and changing the game are included with the game files.

At this point, I am considering this the beta version of the game. If you would send me feedback and ideas for improvements, that would be great!

Another Tweak to the Game

I've made another slight change to the game, updated a few links on the left, and put up a nice little ad for our book, "Gaming in Academic Libraries."

The change I made to the game is that it is now possible to have less than four choices for each question. Before, if you tried to add a true/false question, for example, you would have a mysterious 3 and 4 appear as choices. This won't happen any longer, but you will need to keep all 4 choices in the XML, just use text="" instead of putting any information there.

Here is the link to the new improved game files.