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GAMES '07 Thread
For discussion of Feb. - Dec. 2007...
Comments
Hi,
Anyone want to make a prediction about the upcoming GAMES contests?...
I heard that Bob Lodge submitted a possible contest...
I also hope that we see the return of "Cartoon Rebuses", Calculatrivia, & Alphabetrivia...
Have a nice year!...
Posted by: Jim from Minnesota | Oct 26, 2006 12:08:24 AM
An excellent Little Joe, Jim!
Now we must practice total digit decussation!
Posted by: warren fraser | Oct 26, 2006 6:29:25 AM
I'd love to see a Bob Lodge contest in GAMES again.
I would especially like anothe Calculatrivia!
I am looking forward to our new challenge here as well.
Posted by: Paula | Oct 26, 2006 8:46:10 AM
There probably is a difference between contests I would like to see and the contests that will actually be.
Unfortunately, there will probably be another "create a story" contest -- too subjective for me to enter.
I would like to see more grid contests. Crossing ???
Is it time for another cartoon rebus contest again? They are very popular.
Posted by: Laurie | Oct 30, 2006 4:45:26 PM
The Cartoon Rebus contests tend to come up in the April issue.
Posted by: Jeff R. | Oct 31, 2006 2:23:14 PM
GAMES magazine-online has posted a new online contest. This time it's a crypto type puzzle.
They've change the rules back to one entry per person (unless the solutions differ). The summary of last month's, which I solved but did not win, indicated that there were hundreds of correct entries. I'd be curious to know how many different people entered.
Posted by: Paula | Nov 3, 2006 11:33:56 AM
The January GWOP is in the mail with a contest based on altered song lyrics. It's rated 3 stars. Winners of the "That's SUM Contest" from July also are announced; they got 835 entries.
Posted by: Jeff R. | Nov 10, 2006 3:42:33 PM
Hi,
I finished the January GWoP contest...
Is it something I did or is there an error in the contest?...
Posted by: Jim from Minnesota | Nov 10, 2006 5:11:48 PM
It's not you, just more sloppy editing from the folks at GAMES...
Posted by: susy | Nov 10, 2006 11:25:58 PM
Does anybody here have a clean copy of the Common Factors contest from 2001 that they can send me?
Posted by: Alan Lemm | Nov 13, 2006 12:38:14 PM
The last 3 "Cartoon Rebuses" contests were in the following issues:
March 2005
October 2003
October 2002
A new one could be coming any time soon.
I also think that a dictionary-based contest may be coming soon, although I haven't done very well on those. I just don't have the programming skills.
Posted by: Laurie | Nov 16, 2006 9:22:25 AM
How often do they have the Scavenger Hunt contests? I like those.
Posted by: Cheryl | Nov 16, 2006 1:28:04 PM
I doubt GAMES will have more Scavenger Hunt contests, because of the advent of eBay and similar sites that have altered the nature of "scavenging". If they do, I expect they'll add an additional twist, like having to solve puzzles or trivia questions to figure out what the items are...
Has it really been that long since "roo-pert-pup-kin"?
Posted by: susy | Nov 16, 2006 2:23:22 PM
I still remember the first Scavenger Hunt Contest in the late 1970s, long before eBay or home computers. There were 30 items to find, and they allowed SIX MONTHS and stated they didn't think anyone would find all 30. I managed to do so, with only a few days to spare, and hopefully sent in my entry. The results showed they received over 1000 sets, including one received TEN DAYS after the contest started!
One item I recall was a calendar page showing a full moon on Friday the 13th! Tough to research before the internet! (There had only been about 5 or 6 in the previous century!)
Posted by: Bob Lodge | Nov 16, 2006 6:47:27 PM
I was looking through some of my old GAMES issues (I only have a few before 2000). I found a Scavenger Hunt contest from October 1992. It was called "Scavenger Hunt III". It refers to previous scavenger hunt contests from 1983 (where 700 contestants got all 30) and 1989 (where only 1 entrant got all 30).
How did people find all of these items? I thought that I would be lucky to find 10 items.
I think it is possible to have another scavenger hunt contest if the items are very unusual. It wouldn't make sense to buy a whole bunch of stuff on eBay and spend more than the total prize amount.
Posted by: Laurie | Nov 19, 2006 12:36:53 PM
It's been quite a few years now since I sent GAMES a few suggestions for a future scavenger contest. One idea was an original post office ballot for the Elvis stamp! Now anyone can buy one on eBay for a couple of dollars, although of course as a SH item there might be a run on them. Yes, challenging to think of things that eBay wouldn't affect. I remember a couple of items to be torn from phone books, though. One was a listing showing someone whose last name was also the name of his street, and another was a yellow page ad with some hackneyed phrase (can't bring it to mind) that turned out to be elusive as the devil. Another thought I had was a simple pencil with commercial advertising on it, but for entries from east of the Mississippi it had to be from Wyoming, and western entrants had to find one from Vermont!
Posted by: Bob Lodge | Nov 19, 2006 3:13:08 PM
A Chinese menu with at least 2 misspelled words, a swizzle stick with a heart-shaped top, a letter signed by a president of the US...ah, yes, I remember it well...
Posted by: DonV | Nov 20, 2006 1:50:30 AM
I remember that at every resturant we would eat at, I would check all the small sugar packets for the picture of a penguin. I don't remember, though, if I actually found it. And we didn't have any old E tickets from Disneyworld.
Posted by: Scott | Nov 20, 2006 8:29:27 AM
Yes, whether it's physical items for scavenger hunts, or images for WYWW or information for Calculatrivia, the internet is now an information-finding-contest killer, unless the contest is tailored for the internet.
To combat this, some routes to go down, for the latter two types of contests at least, could be:
1. Create questions that require the information to come from proprietary sources - for example, a physical book which isn't available for free on the web. Some examples of this are postage stamp catalogs (though I recently obtained electronic copies of some Scott catalogs), and auto repair manuals like Chilton. But the sources shouldn't be so proprietary that they can't be found at a library.
2. Create questions that involve audio recordings, but NOT lyrics, since those are readily available. I don't remember seeing any of this type. "In the XYZ audio edition of Bee Season, by how many words does the narrator deviate from the XYZ print edition, during chapter 7?" This type of question has potential because there is not yet a precise enough digital technology to "OCR" recordings and publicize the results - speech recognition is still unreliable.
Posted by: Jim Miller | Nov 20, 2006 3:58:26 PM
I don't remember trying to find a penguin on a sugar packet. I think it was a cardinal... Maybe that's why I didn't win.
Posted by: DonV | Nov 21, 2006 12:46:27 AM
I thought it was a red-headed woodpecker...
Posted by: susy | Nov 21, 2006 2:35:30 AM
No, it was an A ticket, not an E ticket. That was Tomorrowland, not Frontierland.
Posted by: Scott | Nov 21, 2006 7:20:36 AM
Off topic and yet strangely on topic:
For those of you who worry that you miss comments, The UCDP presents the Chalkboard. It lists the 100 most recent comments in reverse chronological order. It is linked under recent comments as "Read more comments...".
Enjoy! Now back to our regularly scheduled thread.
Posted by: JmSR | Nov 21, 2006 7:54:39 AM
Excellent idea, JonMichael, and thank you and a big tip of the hat from here! I try to get back here often enough to find where I left off in the recent comments, but now and then if there is a flurry, or I have a crash or some activity keeping me away for a while, all I see is unfamiliar posts and I wonder what else I missed! Especially when I am the ''host'' of the current contest it is important not to miss any, so this is a most welcome addition to this excellent board!
Posted by: Bob Lodge | Nov 21, 2006 3:16:38 PM
I knew you'd like it, Bob.
Posted by: JmSR | Nov 21, 2006 4:15:56 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.
