A telling time game that checks both analog clock hands uses the formulas minute angle = 6 × minute and hour angle = 30 × (hour mod 12) + 0.5 × minute, so every submitted setting can be verified against a target before it counts. That math is exactly what Clock Time Puzzle runs under the hood: a Canvas-drawn analog clock for each of five fixed cards, a target time printed on each card, and a hand-angle readout that updates the moment the hour or minute changes. Hours step from one through twelve and minutes step in fives from 00 through 55; off-step values, non-integers, and out-of-range inputs are rejected atomically without altering the current selection. The five targets form one fixed route that totals exactly 1,000 points, with each exact submission awarding 200. The hand-rate equations are externally cross-checked against the University of Cambridge NRICH Clock Face Angles explanation and an independent Rutgers University telling-time reference, so the angles shown on the canvas match what a worked math problem would produce.
How the Telling Time Game Scores Each Round
Each card in Clock Time Puzzle has one target time and one selected time. The selected time starts at 12:00 on the first card, and the Canvas hands redraw from the current hour and minute every time a control is used. The Canvas contains no animation loop, so its effect only redraws from the selected hour and minute rather than interpolating between them. Submitting an exact match adds 200 to the score and opens the next card; submitting a wrong time creates one recoverable error, identified by the round, hour, and minute, and lets you keep adjusting. The same exact wrong setting submitted again is a no-op and does not consume your second chance. The second distinct wrong setting closes the clock file and freezes time adjustment and submission, returning a terminal state that the Boss Key or a restart can clear.
Because the Canvas redraws only from the selected hour and minute, the angle readout is always a direct evaluation of the formulas, not an approximation. That makes the verification step transparent: if the readout says the hour hand is at 195 degrees, you can reproduce it as 30 × 6 + 15 = 195 from the hour and minute you entered. The status panel shows the target time, the selected time, the live formula, the current minute and hour angles, the mistake counter, feedback, and the score on a single row, so you always know what was checked and what was missed before you submit.
The Fixed Route to 1,000 Points
The fixed game route asks for five target times in a specific order, and the hand angles are independently restated below rather than generated from the production code. The minute angle comes from 6 × m and the hour angle from 30 × (h mod 12) + 0.5 × m, so the table reflects the equations directly. Independent tests own the nine literal angle pairs alongside the five target times instead of computing expected values from production code.
| Target Time | Minute Hand Angle | Hour Hand Angle | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3:00 | 0° | 90° | 200 |
| 6:30 | 180° | 195° | 200 |
| 9:45 | 270° | 292.5° | 200 |
| 12:00 | 0° | 0° | 200 |
| 2:25 | 150° | 72.5° | 200 |
For 6:30, the minute angle is 6 × 30 = 180 degrees, and the hour angle is 30 × (6 mod 12) + 0.5 × 30 = 180 + 15 = 195 degrees — the hour hand sitting halfway between six and seven. Each exact match awards 200, and 200 × 5 = 1,000 once all five cards are solved in order. Submission freezes the terminal state once the final exact match is registered, so the score stays anchored at 1,000 until you press R or otherwise restart.
How to Play Clock Time Puzzle in Five Rounds
- Open the first card and read the target. The target time is shown above the Canvas, the selected time is shown below it, and the live angle readout appears next to the formula on the status panel.
- Adjust the hour by one. Use the hour button or the Up and Down arrow keys to step the hour from 1 through 12 until the hour value matches the target hour.
- Adjust the minute by five. Use the minute button or the Left and Right arrow keys to step the minute in 00, 05, 10 … 55 increments until the selected time matches the target time.
- Verify the angles. Confirm that the live minute and hour angles shown on the status panel match the values the formulas produce for that hour and minute before you submit.
- Submit and advance. Press Enter or the submit button to lock the answer, watch the score climb by 200, and continue to the next card. Repeat for 3:00, 6:30, 9:45, 12:00, and 2:25 in order until the run totals 1,000.
Keyboard Controls, Validation, and Restart Rules
Pointer and touch players use the on-screen hour and minute buttons; keyboard players use Up and Down for the hour, Left and Right for five-minute changes, and Enter to submit. Pressing R restarts the run when focus is outside an editing control, restoring 12:00 on the first card, a zero score, and a zero mistake count. The restart is mechanical: the shared game shell supplies best score and the Boss Key, and the in-progress run is independent of any persistent state.
Product-level controls reject hours outside 1 through 12, minutes outside 0 through 55, non-integer values, and minutes not divisible by five as atomic no-ops, so the selected time does not change when an illegal key lands. The lower-level angle function separately validates conventional 0–23 hours and 0–59 minutes for evidence vectors, which is why tests for literals like 20:14 and 8:24 can verify the formulas without disturbing the game route. Independent tests cover the nine literal angle pairs, the five target times, five-minute wrapping, repeat deduplication, two distinct wrong settings, illegal input, restart, the exact 1,000 finish, and the terminal freeze on completion or deadlock.
A wrong submission only counts once. If you submit 4:20 and it is wrong, then submit 4:20 again, the second submission is a no-op and your error counter stays at one. Submit 4:25 next, and that distinct setting closes the file. The deduplication is keyed on the round, hour, and minute signature rather than the canvas position, so two visually different states that resolve to the same hour and minute are treated as a single error. This keeps a misclick from ending the run before the player has had a fair chance to correct it.
What the Telling Time Game Is — and What It Is Not
Clock Time Puzzle is educational entertainment, not a standardized teaching assessment, a reaction test, or an accessibility screen. The mathematical hand rates are cited so the angles stay honest, but the game does not guarantee that a learner has mastered timekeeping, and the route is fixed rather than adaptive. There is no account, no alarm, no scheduling service, no timezone claim, no API, no model dependency, no upload, no external timer, and no new package beyond the page itself; every computation runs in the browser, and no personal clock history is stored or transmitted.
If your goal is to practise reading analog clocks while checking your work against the underlying geometry, the fixed route gives you a deterministic five-card checklist with a clean 1,000-point finish. If you need adaptive difficulty, randomized targets, or a timed assessment, this format is not built for that, and other Lizely titles handle those cases separately. The citations support only the hand-rate math rather than gameplay, so the route is treated as a reproducible game fixture rather than a validated learning path.