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July 2005 GAMES
Discussion of the new contest and other GAMES related issues for the July issue.
Comments
Couldn't find a comment link above, so used this one. Today is Tuesday the 17th. Are we getting Calculating Pi the 17th or Wednesday? (The best date would have been 3-14!)
Posted by: Bob Lodge | May 17, 2005 3:26:40 PM
Oops... it'll be up tomorrow.
Posted by: JmSR | May 17, 2005 3:29:14 PM
Exactly, Bob...on March 14 at 1:59:26
Posted by: Stephen | May 17, 2005 8:44:49 PM
Or 1:59:27 if you are rounding.
(Memorized pi to 50 places, over 50 years ago, never forgot.)
Posted by: Bob Lodge | May 18, 2005 12:20:53 AM
You beat me to it, Bob.
I memorized pi to 15 digits over 15 years ago and never forgot. (Damn you, Lodge!! [shaking fists in air]) OK, but I can still solve the Rubik's Cube in about a minute...a feat I learned at the tender age of 11.
Posted by: Michael | May 18, 2005 6:51:28 AM
Does it involve removing the stickers?
Posted by: JmSR | May 18, 2005 7:28:53 AM
Never!
Posted by: Michael | May 18, 2005 7:38:19 AM
Best I ever managed on Rubik Cube was a little under 3 minutes. I couldn't do it now to save my life. It did inspire this Clerihew:
Laslo Rubik
Invented a cubic
Toy that I think
Will drive me to drink
Posted by: Bob Lodge | May 18, 2005 1:11:33 PM
It's Erno Rubik, Bob. You may be thinking of Laszlo Biro, who, if I remember correctly, co-invented the ballpoint pen.
Posted by: Wilhelm | May 18, 2005 2:28:27 PM
As long as diacritics are part of the Calculating Pi contest, I'll add that it is actually Ernő Rubik
Posted by: Michael | May 18, 2005 2:36:36 PM
I never could do the Rubik's Cube. Got 4 sides once legitimately, I think. The only way I could do the whole thing didn't involve the stickers. It involved taking the whole thing apart!
Posted by: Monica | May 18, 2005 4:14:54 PM
Thanks for the heads up. I was misremembering from years ago, but I had it right when I submitted it to GAMES clerihew contest. If you aren't familiar with the form, go here:
http://www.gigglepoetry.com/poetryclass/clerihew.htm
GAMES passed on Rubik, but I won a T-shirt for this:
B.F.Skinner
Found a way, a sure-fire winner
to condition a rodent, and that
is like pulling a habit out of a rat
Posted by: Bob Lodge | May 18, 2005 5:30:57 PM
The Question Marks contest was all-too-easy. It only took me about 12 minutes total...
Posted by: Taed Wynnell | May 30, 2005 11:55:19 AM
August Games is out. One Gloria Rosenthal contest, where you have to make a little story out of words, some of which are composed entirely of US and Canadian postal abbreviations. Subjective judging based on creativity, blah blah blah. Snore. 3rd issue in a row without a decent contest.
Posted by: Jim Miller | Jun 7, 2005 9:06:16 AM
I was hoping for a more challenging August Games contest (with objective judging), but that didn't happen. What happened to the challenging Games contests? Even last year's contests were more challenging. With the exception of "Spin Cycle", the contests haven't been the open-ended contests that don't get a 1,000-entry tie for first place.
I haven't even entered "Questions Marks" because it is likely to have more than 1,000 correct entries.
Posted by: Laurie | Jun 8, 2005 6:16:28 PM
One of the contests I found the most challenging was the "What are these logos?" contests where they only show you a portion of a logo...
They were hard because you couldn't Google part of a picture...
I miss those kinds of contests...
Did anybody else do those contests?...
I'd like to hear your thoughts about those contests...
Posted by: Jim from Minnesota | Jun 9, 2005 7:06:17 AM
Jim, I love those ones, too. Actually, I used to regularly host a trivia night at a local pub, and I developed a logo quiz that was written like a ransom note, using letters from well-known logos. I'll see if I still have it, and maybe I can use it or a portion of it on this site.
Posted by: Michael | Jun 9, 2005 7:10:33 AM
If it's any help, some time before I originally sent in Spin Cycle, Susan's inital response was a mildly desperate, "Do you have any more contest ideas? Please?" Apparently, good contest ideas are hard to come by; unlike other puzzles, they can't just go back and reprint something from the mid-80's if they come up short one month.
I would very strongly encourage everyone reading this forum to consider submitting contest ideas (along with any other puzzle contributions) to Wayne and Jennifer over at Games. The readers here are all the sorts of die-hard lunatic fans who know what kind of challenges you enjoy, and what kinds of contests you would tackle with enthusiasm. This puts you all at a great advantage when it comes to creating such challenges. Beyond that, I've seen the excellent work that y'all do, and it's very much worth at least showing them. The worst that can happen is a kind turn-down; the best is the delight of thousands of readers as they tackle your creation. Seriously give it some thought.
In the meantime, I sent in a contest idea recently that Wayne seems to like; I'm hoping that it'll see print in the near-ish future. It's open-ended, unlikely to end in a major tie, non-verbal in nature, and (crossing my fingers here) probably not computer-solvable, unless the programmer is exceptionally clever. Won't say any more about it here, but stay tuned.
Posted by: Adam Fromm | Jun 9, 2005 5:00:30 PM
Thanks for the insight into Games' needs. Sometimes I wonder why they don't recycle some of the contests, but using a different "starting point". For example, the Misconstrewn Words contests are I think fun and difficult contests which would be difficult to program, and they can be reused by choosing a different phrase each time to pack into a rectangle. I wouldn't mind seeing one of those every year or two. I think there's a few other good candidates for recycling which I can't bring to mind at the moment.
I wonder if they have considered awarding a Human and a Programmed prize for the non-subjective contests. It would rely on the honesty of the entrants though, of course. Programmers could be required to submit their source code to prove eligibility, which would tackle half of that problem.
I've never submitted anything to Games for lack of puzzle cred, but now since I know they need contests badly I might give one a shot.
Posted by: Jim Miller | Jun 10, 2005 5:28:29 PM
Jim Miller, The 'Human' and 'Programmed' prizing is a good solution to the sometimes extreme differences between the two types of entries.
Then at least, we who figure them manually will be competing with others working in the same manner, not against a computer. And the computer programmers will have to work harder since they'll be competing against one another!
GAMES...if your budget cannot support an additional top prize on the programmable contests, then split the Grand prize for the two catagories.
Posted by: Toni | Jun 16, 2005 7:57:57 AM
How much do they pay for a contest submission? Because if it's more than $20 I might be interested.
Posted by: Andrew | Jun 16, 2005 11:36:20 AM
I've been thinking about it myself. (Haven't posted here in at least 3-4 months because of the huge portion of my activities I had to base on schooling and exams). I've always wanted to try something like that, even though I know constructing one would take lots of hard work. And it would be nice to see more contests in GAMES from posters around here.
Posted by: Mike | Jun 16, 2005 3:53:25 PM
Speaking only from experience, with no authority, I think even a little one-paragraph quickie that they publish in Wild Cards, answered in the same issue, will get you $25 or so, sometimes more. If you send something they use for a contest, it should be over $100, and perhaps quite a bit more if it is sufficiently complicated. They appear to have done a bit of belt-tightening, and when the prizes dropped from $1000 to $500, so did the compensation for submissions. So I don't think it proper to quote actual amounts from the past. But it's very satisfying to see your effort in print, and I am always happy to take whatever they offer.
Posted by: Bob Lodge | Jun 16, 2005 4:44:45 PM
Regarding the Rubik's Cube: my nephew, when he was about 6 years old, came across an old Rubik's Cube I had in my house. After a short time of playing with it, he showed it to me...he had solved the puzzle! I was amazed...did we have a little genius in the family?
A short while later he came clean: he had removed and switched the stickers!
Posted by: Toni | Dec 31, 2005 3:56:30 PM
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Commenters please note: do NOT discuss ANY contest information for a currently active contest outside of what is printed in GAMES magazine.
