Computer-implemented deductive reasoning game

Abstract

A computer implemented method includes presenting a text passage to at least one participant, the text passage including a set of text fragments, each of the set of text fragments which provide clues as to a correct answer to an overall question. The method further includes receiving the participant's answers to sub-questions associated with the set of text fragments, and receiving a participant's selected answer to an overall question related to the text passage. The method further includes computing a score for the at least one participant, based on the selected answer to the overall question and the answers to the sub-questions.

1 . A computer implemented method comprising:
 presenting a text passage to at least one participant, the text passage comprising a set of text fragments, each of a subset of the set of text fragments providing a clue as to an answer to an overall question related to the text passage;   providing for the participant to input answers to sub-questions associated with a group of the text fragments which the participant deduces provide clues as to the answer to the overall question;   providing for the participant to select an answer to the overall question; and   computing a score for the at least one participant based on the selected answer to the overall question and the input answers to the sub-questions.   
   
   
       2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the text passage comprises a mystery story and the overall question relates to the perpetrator of a crime described in the mystery story and the answer to the overall question is the name of a suspect selected from a group of suspects. 
   
   
       3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the text passage comprises a non-fiction passage and the overall question relates to at least one of a location, event, and person. 
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising ranking a group of participants based on the computed scores. 
   
   
       5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the computing of the score comprises computing a first score based on the answers of a first set of participants; computing a second score based on the answers of a second set of participants; and comparing the first and second scores. 
   
   
       6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the presenting includes displaying the text passage on a screen. 
   
   
       7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the text passage is displayed by a web browser application on a participant's computing device. 
   
   
       8 . The method of  claim 6 , further comprising providing an active area of the screen for each of the set of text fragments, which when actuated, causes a sub-question associated with the respective text fragment to be displayed. 
   
   
       9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the active areas of the screen are identified by one of icons and the displayed text fragments. 
   
   
       10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein candidate answers for each sub-question comprise candidate answers for the overall question or concern the candidate answers for the overall question. 
   
   
       11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein each of the sub-questions requires the participant to indicate, based on the associated text fragment, whether a participant-selected one of the candidate answers is more or less likely to be the answer to the overall question. 
   
   
       12 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the participant's answer to the overall question is selected from a set of candidate answers and the participant's answers to the sub-questions are all selected from the same set of candidate answers. 
   
   
       13 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the participant's answer to the overall question is selected from a set of candidate answers and the sub-questions are all questions each related to at least some of the same set of candidate answers. 
   
   
       14 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the text passage comprises at least one paragraph. 
   
   
       15 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the text fragments each comprise at least one sentence. 
   
   
       16 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the text fragments each comprise an individual line of text. 
   
   
       17 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein a respective sub-question is associated with each of the text fragments the set of text fragments. 
   
   
       18 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising identifying, to the participant, how many of the text fragments are in the subset. 
   
   
       19 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the scoring penalizes the participant for answering fewer or more sub-questions than the identified number of the text fragments that are in the subset. 
   
   
       20 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the participant is prompted to select, from the set of text fragments, only those text fragments that the participant considers are among the subset of text fragments which provide a clue as to a correct answer to the overall question and to answer the respective sub-question for each. 
   
   
       21 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the computing of the score includes reducing the score when the participant answers a sub-question associated with one of the text fragments which is not in the subset of text fragments. 
   
   
       22 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the computed score is also based on whether the participant has correctly identified each of the text fragments forming the subset of text fragments from the text. 
   
   
       23 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising causing the participant-selected text fragments to be highlighted. 
   
   
       24 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising providing a fixed time period for the participant to answer the overall question and sub-questions. 
   
   
       25 . A computer program product encoding instructions, which when executed on a computer causes the computer to perform the method of  claim 1 . 
   
   
       26 . A printout of at least one screen displayed for performing the method of  claim 1 . 
   
   
       27 . A system for playing a deductive reasoning game comprising:
 memory which stores instructions for presenting a text passage to at least one participant, the text passage comprising a set of text fragments, each of a subset of the set of text fragments providing a clue as to a correct answer to the overall question;
 a processor in communication with the memory which: 
 receives a participant's selected answer to an overall question related to the text passage, 
 receives a participant's answers to sub-questions associated with selected ones of the set of text fragments, and 
 computes a score for the at least one participant based on the selected answer to the overall question and the received answers to the sub-questions. 
   
   
   
       28 . The system of  claim 27 , wherein the score is a function of whether the participant has correctly identified each of the text fragments in the subset of text fragments. 
   
   
       29 . A computer implemented method comprising:
 displaying on a screen a text passage describing a mystery to at least one participant, the text passage comprising a set of text fragments which includes a predefined subset of text fragments, each of the text fragments in the subset providing a clue as to an overall answer to the mystery;   optionally, identifying, to the at least one participant, how many text fragments there are in the predefined subset of text fragments;   providing for the participant to interactively select from the set of text fragments, a group of the text fragments and for each of the group of text fragments, to input an answer to a sub-question and to input an answer an overall question related to solving the mystery;   receiving the participant's input answers to the sub-questions and to the overall question;   computing a score for the at least one participant based on the input answer to the overall question and the input answers to the sub-questions which takes into account whether the participant correctly identified the predefined subset of text fragments.