How did you get here?

[Alan W]

I'd be interested in hearing from people about how they originally found out about Chihuahua. It's puzzled me for some time that there seem to be a lot more players from Australia than anywhere else. This chart from the Google Analytics tool gives an overview:



The web hosting statistics show a similar pattern, though with not quite so extreme a preponderance of Australian users.

The puzzle was created in Australia, by an Australian - me - but I don't think there's anything about the design or content of the site that targets it especially to Australians. It's not advertised more in Australia than in any other country, since it's not advertised at all.

Obviously it doesn't upset me to have so many Australian players, but I'm curious to know why the numbers are so strongly skewed to one country. So, what brought you to the Chihuahua site? Was it a search engine, link from another site, word of mouth (or "word of mouse") from a friend, or what?

[guiltypleasure]

Hi Alan
I originally came to the site when the Sydney Morning Herald stopped publishing the daily Target word (similar to Chi) on their website.  I think that was almost 10 years ago perhaps.  I googled looking for something similar on the web, and hallelujah found Chihuahua Word and have been hooked ever since!
cheers
Linda

[mkenuk]

1. Through Google, looking for an alternative to the Target game that appears in the Bangkok Post

2. Interesting map. What's happened to 'Kiwiland'? I'm sure there must be a few Kiwis among the contestants?

[anona]

It was one of two ways:

a) Googling "9 letter word game" when looking for things to keep me amused in retirement: Chihuahua comes up fourth on my search page and is the first to be in purple ("already read", though I didn't expect that fact to show still after a few years); or

b) looking for 9 letter word game books on Amazon for my father who always did a newspaper 9 letter game. A Chihuahua book is the first entry on the Amazon book page, and I did buy him a couple from somewhere.

I would guess it was the former, but can't be sure - I might have searched online after seeing the paper book. At the time it would have been via Google. Searching on Bing does not find you.

However it was, how glad I am!

[Greynomad]

My wife found the site by Mr Google, while hunting for some word games to fill her evenings while we travelled.

I just joined from there as I got very competitive with her!

Of course we are both in Australia, although I was born in London and came here at 8 years old. I could be counted in both countries Alan if you want to bolster the UK figure.

[TRex]

I honestly don't remember. But I'm glad I found it!

[Barbaram]

I can remember the day I discovered this wonderful site. I was in a doctor’s surgery, waiting, waiting, waiting ... Having been doing the 9 letter puzzle in The West Australian at home that morning I decided to search on my phone for a similar thing to while away the time. I was so excited to find Chi! It was not just one puzzle a day, but allowed me endless hours of puzzling. I skulked around as an anon user for a while but found it really annoying to have to start again between devices so finally registered in 2012. Still addicted some 6 years later. Thank you Alan - it’s just a marvellous thing.
Cheers
Barbara

[Ozzyjack]

Hi Alan,

Our story is almost identical to Linda's.  We subscribe to the SMH online and Ozzyjune used to do the Target every day and I would sometimes.  Google led us to Chihuahua and we became similarly hooked.  We spread the word to Ozzymandias(our son), Ozzybrian and Ozziekay(friends from Sydney) and they have become regular players.  Some of our other friends to whom we recommended the game play on a less regular basis.  The Ozz prefix allows us to keep track of each others progress with a simple search within page.

Ozzyjune plays just about every game  and  occasionally looks at the forums. I enjoy the games but really enjoy the forums although until recently I was mainly a voyeur.

I think you are very successful at avoiding an Australian bias.

[guiltypleasure]

Dear Ozzyjack and Ozzyjune,
I love your family's names!  I wondered if Ozzyjune had a similar experience to me?  Once I started doing Chi (just about every day since back then) if I occasionally bought a paper copy of SMH and did the Target word, I found I didn't like it anywhere near as much as Chi - the words all seemed weird and obscure and I rarely ever got them all.  I would never go back to Target again even if SMH were generous enough to put it back on their website.

Thanks again Alan! You are a genius.

Linda

[Valerie]

Similarly, I was an avid player of the Sydney Morning Herald's Target game.  When I retired, with lots more time to devote to games, someone bought me a little book of word games published in 2010 and compiled by a genius called Alan Walker.  This little book directed me to the website and I haven't looked back since.  Thank you for all your brilliance and hard work Alan.  I can honestly say I couldn't live without Chi.  Cheers Valerie

[Alan W]

What's happened to 'Kiwiland'? I'm sure there must be a few Kiwis among the contestants?

The graphic was just the summary. The full statistics for the past 12 months list 125 countries, the top 10 being:

Australia
United Kingdom
United States
Canada
South Africa
Germany
New Zealand
Spain
Netherlands
Thailand

(You Thailand-based players just scraped into the top ten, MK.)

The top 3 countries account for about 85% of the activity, so the precise rankings below them vary somewhat depending on the time period or the data source.

[yelnats]

I used to play the Age 9 letter puzzle every day, and once in a while when I couldn't get the word and couldn't wait 24 hours, used a 9 letter puzzle solver. One day I noticed Chi amongst the results, and I became addicted.

As to why Australia rates so highly, I think we may have a puzzle culture. My 92 y.o. mother-in-law does 3 crosswords each day. My wife has started doing the Age puzzle since I no longer take the paper for ages while I do it. So now I do it in Chi "Your puzzles" because it is so much better than on paper.

As to visitors by country, I don't understand it. I have a tracker http://www.revolvermaps.com/ on 3 of my websites and Brazil comes up second, after the state of Victoria. There is no reason for a Brazilian to visit U3A Box Hill, Friends of Herring Island, or Burke Rd. billabong reserve websites, but they are from all over Brazil.

And I agree that Alan is a genius, a real one, not a Trump style genius.

[Les303]

It was word of mouth for me.

Alan, you might recall that I was just a little bit slower than most to get a home computer.
It was in November 2015 when my older brother gave me an ancient laptop that he was about to throw out.
In an effort to get me to use the thing, he showed me how to access chi & I have been playing it as often as I can ever since.
I am not sure how my brother became aware of the game.

I've no doubt that you will also remember just how quickly & easily I was able to teach myself the most difficult of computer tasks, I might have asked you the odd technical question & very occasionally I might have asked another forumite about a particular aspect of the game but generally speaking I was just simply brilliant with my ability to adapt to the computer world with barely a hiccup.

Well, at least, that is how I would like to remember my first foray onto the internet.
However, I am sure that Alan, Pat, Mike & many others will have an entirely different recollection.

[2dognight]

 

I also found Chi on Google

Needed a 9 letter word game after I gave up buying newspapers

Now all  I need is  to find is site that has cryptic crosswords on a par with the excellent Chi

Carol

[Les303]

I'm also a fan of the cryptic crossword, any recommendations would be welcome but it has to be as easy to use as Chi.