If you follow us on Facebook, you might have seen our New Year's Day post:

This was a silly way of writing the number 2016 using nothing other than the number two. I made no attempt to make it simple; as a matter of fact, I went out of my way to be absurd about it. But that got me wondering, "What is the shortest way to write 2016 using just twos?" 

Here's one possibility:

2^(22/2) - 2^(2*2 + 2/2)

Here's another:

2222 - 222 + 2^2^2

And maybe you can think of some better ones.

But this caused me to think, "Wouldn't it be interesting if we took the concept of the Operations Game and extended it to creating four-digit numbers, and allowing people to reuse digits."

So the game Express This! was created one week ago today, on New Year's Day. You can find it here: Express This! and here: Express This! Daily.

You will notice that this game has something a little different in the "Game Over" screen; you will see a "play this puzzle again" link, and a "play a different puzzle" link. The goal with this game is to get the lowest score possible, so even if you've solve a puzzle, you may not have found the best solution, so you might want to try the puzzle over again.

(Eventually, if there aren't any issues with this feature, we'll also add it to the Diamond Slide game; we've had requests from some players to add the "play this puzzle again" feature, and it makes a lot of sense to do that!)

The daily puzzle's best score is displayed on the game page, so you can check back throughout the day to see if anyone has beaten your score. You can try the daily repeatedly to get better and better scores. And if someone beats your high score, you have the option of trying again, in order to take the top spot back again. However, to take the top spot back, you must beat the best score, and not just tie it.

Each day you can check back to find out what the best solution for the previous day's puzzle was.

If you find any bugs in the game, please don't hesitate to drop us a message, either on the community forum, or on the "Ask Professor Puzzler" page.

Also, this morning we made a slight change which should affect the end-of-game experience for many of the games. Games which have a small playing board often have scrollbars in the end-of-game message window, because there isn't room for all the messages, achievement ribbons, scores, and play-buttons. With the new tweak, the game board will resize to make room for all of these things. Please let us know if you experience any issues with this feature.

We have several free resources to share with you for the Christmas and winter season. At the end of this post we'll also share our virtual "Christmas Card" with you, our visitors.

First, I thought I'd mention that we're doing an "Advent Calendar" with our son Toby this year, and today's calendar activity was "Do a Christmas themed maze." Of course, I knew right where to go for that; we have quite a selection of Christmas themed mazes, including a folder of Nativity themed mazes.

Want to try out our Nativity Narrative quiz? It'll test your knowledge of the Christmas story. Once you've tried that, you might want to try our Christmas Carols quiz as well.

We also have several new Christmas themed word lists that you can use to create word search puzzles, jumbles, and other activities. You can find these word lists here: Christmas Vocabulary Games. Don't forget that if you can't find exactly the maze , quiz, or vocabulary list you were looking for, Pro Members have the ability to make their own mazes and word search lists!

Some of my Algebra students have been getting in the "Christmas Spirit" with some holiday themed math problems as well. You can find the Christmas themed puzzles and math problems by clicking here: Christmas problems and puzzles.

We've also added a short reference unit with reading comprehension questions and research questions related to the two "Christmas Songs" (the song of Zacharias and Mary's Magnificat) recorded in the Gospel of Luke. You can find that unit here: Christmas Songs from Luke's Gospel.

Also, don't forget that during the winter season, children will have a lot of fun making snowflakes and snowstorms!

Our Virtual Christmas Card

The Virtual Christmas card my wife and I have put together to share with our website community is a video, based on a poem written by Henry van Dyke, music by myself, and a variety of photographs of refugees and refugee camps through the world in recent history.

Intrigued? Here it is: Our Virtual Christmas Card.

We wish you all a very wonderful and blessed holiday season.

Doug and Laura

With a week and a half left until Thanksgiving, it's time to share some of the Thanksgiving themed resources some of our Pro Members have provided this year. Let's start with the mazes!

Thanksgiving Mazes: We have eight new Thanksgiving themed printables mazes on the site, including a turkey, male and female pilgrims, a cornucopia, and more. When you visit a maze page, you will have the option to choose small, medium, and large mazes. Each size maze has the same outward shape, but the larger mazes have more paths inside them, and therefore are more challenging.

If you can't find the maze you want, getting started as a Pro Member is very inexpensive, and this will allow you to create your own mazes!

Thanksgiving Problems: Yes, that's right; we've had a few "Thanksgiving themed" math and science problems added to the site this year. There's a multi-variable algebra problem in which you must determine how many guests came to the Thanksgiving gathering; a physics problem about an escaped Thanksgiving turkey; and a counting principles problem about how many different ways your Thanksgiving feast could be served. There are other problems as well, so be sure to check them all out!

Thanksgiving Word Lists: We have several new Thanksgiving themed word lists on the site. These lists can be used to create printable jumble worksheets, word search puzzles, and our very own CrossSearch puzzles. Also, if you have a Virtual Classroom subscription, you can assign interactive games based on these word lists to your students!

Thanksgiving Quiz: We have just one Thanksgiving themed quiz on the site right now, titled "The First Thanksgiving." This quiz will test your knowledge of the harvest feast enjoyed by the Plymouth colonists and their Native American neighbors in the 1600s. When you're done the quiz, use the share buttons to tell your friends on social media how you did on the quiz!

We hope you enjoy this new content, and can make use of it in your classrooms!

It's been a busy week here at The Problem Site! In addition to the Halloween Themed Mazes we mentioned last week, we've had some busy teachers creating Halloween Themed Word Lists as well!

If you aren't familiar with our word lists, they are perfect for creating printable word search puzzles, printable jumble worksheets, and printable cross search puzzles. Also, with a Pro Member Account, they can be used to create interactive games in a variety of styles.

So if you're looking for fun Halloween activities for your students and/or children, head on over to the word list pages to get your worksheets! If we don't have what you're looking for, you can always create your own content.

In addition to the word lists, we've had three new Reference Units added to the site this week, all in the field of mathematics.

Determinants: Learn what a determinant is, learn how to evaluate them, and learn how Cramer's Rule can help you solve a system of equations.

Matrices: This unit is a good follow-up to the unit on Determinants; here you can learn what a matrix is, and explore the unique operations that apply to matrices.

Factoring Higher Degree Polynomials: This unit will give students some rules for factoring polynomials of degree higher than 2. The last two sections include some great pointers for grouping terms in ways that will facilitate factorization.

As we approach the end of October, if you're looking for some holiday themed activities for your students (or your own children!), we have several Halloween themed mazes in the Printable Mazes section of the site. You can find the Halloween mazes here.

When you select a maze, you can also choose between small, medium and large sizes. The large mazes are the most complex, and the small are best for younger children.

If you don't find exactly the maze you were looking for, you should know that Pro Members can create their own mazes (using our maze-building software), word searches and jumbles from their own vocabulary word lists, and other types of educational content. Getting started as a Pro Member costs a one-time fee of $4.95. Go here to get started.