More bids now buy hints

Starting 12 October, a second or third bid buys you a hint.

Here is what we saw. In the Daily rounds played on 4, 5 and 6 October, people who chose one bid averaged 440 points a round. Two bids averaged 315, and three bids 217. A bid that holds only tells you the answer is higher, which your next bid already assumed, so on average choosing more bids paid less. Half of all rounds were played with a choice that cost the player points, and that is not a real choice.

What changes

When you pick two bids, the first one that holds comes with one hint. Pick three and you get a hint after each of the first two. One bid still gets no hint, and an exact hit still ends the round at once.

A hint says one of two things. The first hint can be a number from the working-out, shown as a short line, like "Cruising speed of a Boeing 747: 908 km/h." It is a piece of the puzzle, never the answer, and only questions that have one carry it. Otherwise, and for the second hint always, it tells you whether you are close: "Close: the answer is at most 1,200 km." or "Far: the answer is more than 1,200 km.", where the figure is twice the bid you just made. You still decide whether to bank or raise.

The most a round can pay is now 2,000 with one bid, 1,600 with two and 1,400 with three. It used to be 2,000, 1,400 and 1,000. We worked out that at these numbers each choice is the right one somewhere: one bid when you are sure, two or three when you are not, or when a hint gives you something to work with.

Nothing you have already played changes. Older days keep their scores and their rules in the archive. Match and live rooms switch on the same day. Your totals will go up a little, so a better average on the stats page after 12 October is partly the new numbers.

We will look at how it plays after a week and change it if it does not work. Let us know what you think in the box below.