New features

A few months ago we introduced a variation of Clickable quizzes that we like to call ‘Matching’. While we were developing these Matching quizzes, we had some ideas about games where you could match more than 2 columns, sort of like the Slot Machine quizzes we’ve featured on the homepage in the past.

It took us some time to iron out the kinks and we allowed the Sporcle Editors to test them out for a week, but today we’re pretty excited to release them to the entire Sporcle community.

How does it work?

In order to enable this format, you must go to the Options tab of a Clickable game. You’ll see a heading titled Matching.

Multi-Column Match Options

Select Multi-Column Match from this section, then decide how many columns you’d like to match (up to 6). You can also choose whether or not a wrong match will count against the total, or if the player will be allowed to guess as many times as they’d like.

Other display options for this type of quiz are similar to other Matching and Clickable quizzes with regards to display order and button size.

Data Tab

Example of the data tab on a multi-column match quiz.

In order to implement this feature we had to change the way you input data for just this kind of quiz. Depending on the number of columns, you need to separate them with slashes individually. For 3 column quiz your data column answers would look like this.

Answer 1/Answer 1/Answer 1

Answer 2/Answer 2/Answer 2

The number of slashes is dependent on the number of match columns, for example, on a quiz with six columns, you need to add six answers on each line in the data tab.

Answer 1/Answer 1/Answer 1/Answer 1/Answer 1/Answer 1

Answer 2/Answer 2/Answer 2/Answer 2/Answer 2/Answer 2

As usual, please let us know if you have any questions about Multi-Column Match at our Feedback Page or Sporcle University.

We’ve been playing around with a few fun concepts at our Sporcle R&D Labs (aka the line at the local taco truck) and we came up with a fun variation on the Clickable format that has now become a reality: Clickable Matching Games.

So How Does it Work?

If you’ve ever just wanted to be able to match answers in a Sporcle quiz, without the quiz being in a forced order, the Clickable Matching game is going to be your best friend. As you can see, it divides the normal clickable game interface into hint and answer sides. Just click each the pairs that match, and the answer box will turn green (hovering over an answer box will show both matching pairs as yellow).

Matching quizzes also have a default “Study Guide” option that will allow you to guess until you have all the answers correct.

How do I Make a Matching Quiz?

Creating a matching quiz starts off just like creating a Clickable quiz, however, when you get to the Options screen you must select the new matching options:

Selecting the “Match hints with answers’ box enables the matching mode, but the quiz taker can guess as many times as they like. If you’d like them to only be able to guess as many times as there are answers, then you also must select ‘Track incorrect answers”.

Additionally, ‘decoy’ answers can be added by using ‘ee’ in the ‘extra’ column. If you want to add a decoy answer on the left side, just add the decoy to the hint column (and leave the answer column blank). If you’d like the decoy to display on the right, add the decoy to the answer column (and leave the hint column blank).

As a further twist, you can also enable the option to end the quiz on a wrong answer (minefield style).

What’s next?

We’re sure you’re going to have some suggestions and feedback on this new option, but rest assured we have some plans for future iterations of this type of feature, so stay tuned!

Color: it’s a beautiful thing. Imagine if our world were simply black and white? Or even worse, if Sporcle quizzes were only black and white??

So far, you’ve done a good job of using the color options provided by Sporcle’s quiz creation tools. But in your quest to up the quality of quiz presentation, you’ve been asking for more. For example, why does the entire answer column have to be the same color? We honestly couldn’t think of a reason why not.

Which is why, we’re proud to announce: COLORFUL ANSWERS! As of today, you can choose colors for each individual answer cell. We’re excited to see the ways you’ll find to use this new feature. For more details on how to use this, please see the guide below:

1. Create a new Sporcle quiz, or edit an older one. (Note: This feature is not available for Clickable quizzes)

2. Under the GAME OPTIONS tab, check the box that says “Use extra column for color values”

3. Under the DATA tab, use the “Extra Info” column to fill in the colors that you want each answer cell to have. (Note: Using this feature allows you to only have one or two column quizzes)

Inputting colors:

Enter colors using either HTML color names or HEX values. This helpful list is a great reference. Both color names and HEX values will work, and the values do not have to be consistent for the whole quiz.  Have fun creating mixtures to find the perfect color to go with your quiz.

Your finished quiz could look something like this!

As always, write us at feedback@sporcle.com with any questions or concerns you have. Have fun with this new feature!