The initial screen seen by a player of the Formula Game is shown below:
The Formula Game Screen
The screen of the Nomenclature Game differs only in the central box:
The Nomenclature Game Screen
The unknown formula is in the white box near the top of the screen. Some features of the formula are given: for example, the brackets in the first unknown formula, which tell you that the last coefficient (number) in the formula cannot be 1. The unknown features to be guessed are indicated by question marks. Subscript "e" indicates an element symbol; subscript "n" a number.
Elements are chosen by clicking on them in the periodic table. This was programmed deliberately, to ensure a high degree of psychomotor feedback to embed the structure of the periodic table. For example, after finding phosphorus between nitrogen and arsenic and between silicon and sulphur, one begins intuitively to locate it in the two ordered sequences - row and column - and to relate the element's properties to its position in these sequences.
Numbers may be chosen by clicking on them in the keypad on the screen, or by keypress from the upper number row on the computer keyboard. One's current choice is displayed in the central dialogue box, and may be changed at will before entering it into the formula.
One may try out the current choice in the formula by clicking on the appropriate question mark. A correct guess will be inserted directly into the formula. An incorrect guess receives appropriate feedback in the dialogue box. The essence of the game is the interpretation and management of feedback, so that each wrong guess provides the maximum amount of useful information.
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Updated July 18, 2000