Hi! I came up with the idea for this little game at my kitchen table while repeatedly scribbling over a QR code in a newspaper ad and trying to scan it with my phone to see if it still worked. It led me to the question... just how much damage can one QR code take before it breaks?
And there is an exact mathematical answer! obsQRity (the game I created) is just that, as a daily puzzle. Every game board is a working QR code. Your move is to tap a light area in the code, and it fills in dark. That's corrupting the underlying data, but the code keeps working right up until the Reed-Solomon error correction limit. Your final score is how many moves you were able to make before you break it.
Underneath, every QR code stores its data in bytes (I call them bricks in the game). The error correction level sets exactly how many bricks it can lose. A tap fills a whole light area, and areas can straddle multiple bricks, so you're choosing which bricks to sacrifice. On Hard you can't even see them. There is a game solver that works out the true maximum moves, and real QR decoders validate that codes at their limit still work. Reaching the maximum possible moves without breaking the code is a perfect game.
There is no account required, no cookies, no analytics scripts. Your score lives on your device. On Sundays, the code is bigger and more challenging, because the bricks are not always consistent 2x4 blocks. There is a FAQ at obsqrity.com/FAQ as well.
I published it just yesterday, so I am very interested in hearing feedback on my game, especially from math/CS teachers who could envision using this as a teaching tool. Thanks!
Hi! I came up with the idea for this little game at my kitchen table while repeatedly scribbling over a QR code in a newspaper ad and trying to scan it with my phone to see if it still worked. It led me to the question... just how much damage can one QR code take before it breaks?
And there is an exact mathematical answer! obsQRity (the game I created) is just that, as a daily puzzle. Every game board is a working QR code. Your move is to tap a light area in the code, and it fills in dark. That's corrupting the underlying data, but the code keeps working right up until the Reed-Solomon error correction limit. Your final score is how many moves you were able to make before you break it.
Underneath, every QR code stores its data in bytes (I call them bricks in the game). The error correction level sets exactly how many bricks it can lose. A tap fills a whole light area, and areas can straddle multiple bricks, so you're choosing which bricks to sacrifice. On Hard you can't even see them. There is a game solver that works out the true maximum moves, and real QR decoders validate that codes at their limit still work. Reaching the maximum possible moves without breaking the code is a perfect game.
There is no account required, no cookies, no analytics scripts. Your score lives on your device. On Sundays, the code is bigger and more challenging, because the bricks are not always consistent 2x4 blocks. There is a FAQ at obsqrity.com/FAQ as well.
I published it just yesterday, so I am very interested in hearing feedback on my game, especially from math/CS teachers who could envision using this as a teaching tool. Thanks!