I’ve mentioned this lens briefly before, but in terms of trying new things, 2008 US Puzzle Championship is the niche-est lens I’m in the process of making. While it’s still incomplete and in progress, I decided to publish it anyway. I guess I’m not too worried about people being discouraged because it is incomplete. I figured with the test just finished a little over a week ago, I might get a lot of Google hits. Not really, but oh well.
Why is this lens really niche-y? On this lens, I am posting step-by-step instructions on how to solve the specific puzzles of the 2008 exam. Yeah, it’s definitely not casual reading. In order to get the most out of it, you have to have the puzzles printed out, pencil in hand, and ready to follow along. It easily takes some six to eight inches of my screen height to fully explain a puzzle. When this lens gets done, it will truly be one of a kind. I haven’t seen any other site on the web that does the same thing.
I try not to “time the market” in terms of what lenses to make. In fact, if I were really clever, I would have made my US Puzzle Championship Resources page several months before the 2008 exam date. That would have brought over some traffic. Serious and semi-serious puzzlers tend to spend some time practicing and training for the championship. I was training, too, though it didn’t help very much this year. So, because I didn’t make the page in time, I feel like I have nearly a year to get things perfected, and the true potential of this series of lenses won’t reveal itself until next year.
