About the Alpaca Farm

What is the Alpaca Farm?

The Alpaca Farm is a place where users can create and share trivia quizzes with each other. Alpaca Farm quizzes use a particular format that takes unusual calculations to work correctly, and the app helps take care of a lot of the bookkeeping for both players and authors.

Why do you call it the Alpaca Farm?

The style of quiz we present at the Alpaca Farm is based on the One Day Special format pioneered at LearnedLeague and has been designed with its users in mind. LL players call themselves "LLamas", so it seemed natural to name this site after a near relative of the noble creatures.

How do I play a quiz?

The home page has a list of "Playable Quizzes," and you can play as many of them as you feel like. If there aren't any quizzes there, then you'll have to wait until another author creates one (or make your own).

Once you've selected a quiz, answer the questions to the best of your ability without using outside resources. Outside references include (but certainly are not limited to) searching for an answer on the internet, looking at maps, using a calculator, or asking a friend (or foe) if they know the answer. Basically, you are relying on your brain (and maybe a pencil and paper).

For each correct answer, you will receive a certain amount of points. You must also mark certain questions as "money" questions. For each money question that you answer correctly, you will receive bonus points equal to the percent of players who answered incorrectly. (That is, if 25% of players got a question right, its money bonus would be worth 75 points.) You still don't get any points for a wrong answer, though, so try to select the hardest questions you think you have answered correctly. (Note: You can't use outside resources to help pick your money questions either.)

After you submit your answers, you'll be able to see the correct answers. And once the author has finished grading the quiz, you'll be able to see how hard the questions were, what score you got, and where you rank!

How do I create a quiz?

There's a link called "Create a Quiz" in the navigation bar at the top of the page, and a button on the bottom of the home page. When you create a new quiz, all you need is a subject, but you'll need to have your questions and answers filled in before you can launch your quiz for others to play. You can also include an introduction for the quiz, links to information outside of the site (like a video on YouTube), and notes to yourself for when you are grading answers.

When your quiz is all set to go, you can finalize the quiz. You'll be asked to set an approximate grading time, to give players a sense of how long they have to complete the quiz. After the quiz has been active past the time you gave, you'll be able to close the quiz and begin grading. The grading form collects similar answers for a question, so you can mark them correct or incorrect in groups. Once all the submissions for all the questions have been marked correct or incorrect, you can publish the results with one keystroke.

Who is Tablesaw Tablesawsen?

That's me! I'm a gamer, puzzler, and trivia buff. I started developing this app after I was laid off of an administrative job. I am now transitioning into a new career as a programmer, and this app is one of the ways I sharpen my skills.