Arundo Donax

You are invited to join my group, Slaaty's Slipstream, where I gather games of various creators, usually with some unifying theme, into Tournaments usually lasting about 10 days.

The fourth tournament, Creators' Own Favorites, features 8 games by 8 creators, each of them one of the favorites of s/he who created it. There are bound to be some you will enjoy.

To accept, simply follow this link directly to Slaaty's Slipstream, and click Yes to join. All are welcome!

There are 8 new World Series games among my sports games that you may be interested in.

Welcome to Purpose Games!

Thank you for playing a number of my games.
I hope you will try more.
Look in Friends > wannabes for any friends requests.

Just a bit of addendum:

I'm not meaning to trash Mr. Longfellow in my comments.

But his poem was written in 1861, some 86 years later. So unless he were a pretty well-read student of history, he'd have had to pass on some legends and misinformation that he had learned.

Also to the point, he had to invoke (literally) poetic license to make a readable account:

"Listen my children, and you shall hear
of the midnight ride of Dawes, Prescott and Revere..."

Well, it would soon get pretty cumbersome.

Just like watching a movie based on an historical event (or novel). You can't possibly do it without either making it too long to sit through, or leaving out a lot and bending the narrative to fit.

Anyway, thanks for your recent comments. Always good to get the feedback.

Well, if it was by Revere's order, it was arguably sent by him, as he was in the chain. It's similar to an order from an Admiral or General in combat: some radio operator actually sends it, but it still comes from the commander.

But I split the hair another way. The question now reads:

'The "1 if by land, 2 if by sea" signal was sent by order of (but not to):'

[Paul Revere]

Thanks for your comment on my "Founders and Revolutionaries (USA)" game.

The signal from the Old North Church is one of those things that has been misrepresented for generations in the popular lore.

Revere (and Dawes) knew of the British movements already, and were going to make their rides anyway. Revere ordered the hanging of the lanterns to warn the people in Charlestown before he departed on his ride (which he started with a water crossing to Charleston). The lanterns were a faster signal that the rider, but could only be left for a few minutes to avoid attracting too much (British) attention.

So the two methods of lanterns and rider (Revere) complimented each other, and each served as a backup for the other. Dawes took a different route, and warned different groups. The old North Church's lanterns were involved here. And, there was another rider (Prescott) as well.

Nor did Revere ride around screaming "the British are coming." His message was: "The Regulars are coming out," and would have been delivered a bit less
conspicuously, again to avoid attracting the attention of the British and their sympathizers.

But not all the warnings that night were riders or lanterns, and some would have been more conspicuous. A fairly wide area was warned by means of bells, drums, alarm guns, bonfires and trumpets.

A lot of the confusion here comes from people taking Longfellow's poem on the subject as an authoritative source.

Again, thanks for the comment.

Thanks for your comment on my "Cities on Rivers -- USA" game.

The "False Church" response isn't a real city, it is just a made-up name. The real answer is something else. But since it isn't the correct response, it doesn't change the scoring. I was worried for a moment there that I'd made an obvious error in what was supposed to be the right response.

In my games, I often include strange or obviously erroneous responses among the 4 wrong answers . We know for example, that Bismark and Pierre aren't really on the River Styx, and Pittsburgh isn't really on powerful anti-depressant drugs. Sometimes, as in the Shenandoah River question, I include a response which looks similar to a real name, but which is still obviously wrong.

Most of these obvious wrong answers make the game a little easier to play since you can eliminate these possibilities at first glance. I could use fewer answers in the clue (3 or 4 instead of 5), which would make the game easier still. On the other hand, I could pick all the answers from more seemingly plausible responses. That would make the games more difficult.

Personally, I think the oddball answers make the game more interesting, and help me tailor the difficulty of the games so some of the questions are easier than they otherwise be without being outright "gimmees".

I'm afraid I'm running on a bit long on the answer, but it is a legitimate question, and I feel it deserves a complete response.

In any case, thanks for playing the game, and reporting the seemingly erroneous answer. I get a lot of feedback regarding real errors in my games (misplaced dots, mis-categorized games, real typos, "dot text here" errors, and the like).

Most game-makers appreciate reports on errors as they help us repair and improve the games, so please don't hesitate to comment on the games.

By the way, I see you're new here. Welcome to PurposeGames. I hope you enjoy it here.

Good Luck, and Good Games,

Tickman