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April 2005 GAMES

The new issue is out and features a logic contest, a hidden contest and the usual gang of puzzles and fun.  Please do not include any hints, suggestions, ideas, informed opinions or anything that would reveal the hidden contest.  When you find it, say only that you did find it.  Anything else will be "dabletted"!

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Comments

Wow! Just received my April issue in the mail, and already I've found the Hidden Contest!

Posted by: Toni | Feb 10, 2005 3:30:14 PM

Yeah, same here on the hidden contest part luckily. I haven't seen a contest with so many entries (and correct) since Name That Text in a while...and First and Last looks like a simple yet interesting little contest to play around with.

Posted by: Mike | Feb 11, 2005 4:11:42 PM

April's "First and Last" Contest is going to pull in a lot of entries, too. Since it took me an hour to solve, I'm fairly certain many of you will get it in 1/2 that time....or less!

Posted by: Toni | Feb 11, 2005 7:47:29 PM


I found the Hidden Contest...

Good luck to everyone on finding it...

Posted by: Jim from Minnesota | Feb 11, 2005 11:47:45 PM

I, too (I guess 4 now!), have found the "traditional April Contest." Good luck, Everyone.

Posted by: Sean F | Feb 12, 2005 1:30:07 AM

Toni, I really wasn't trying to compete against your 1-hour solving time on "First and Last", but I have to admit that I had a good stroke of luck in finishing that one in under 15 minutes (assuming I did it right of course). At least the final word and number are connected. It's hard to believe that it's worth $500!

Posted by: Sean F | Feb 12, 2005 8:33:01 PM

Sean F., Don't worry, no offense taken. Your solving time is what I'd expect from most. I'm just a slow-solver.

Posted by: Toni | Feb 13, 2005 4:37:18 PM

I've come to the realization that there are basically two types of people in this world: those that look at something like "First and Last" and say "Cool!" (me) and those that look at something like "First and Last" and throw the magazine down after 15 seconds, sigh, and develop a migraine (my girlfriend).

Posted by: Stephen | Feb 16, 2005 11:25:41 PM

Stephen,

Everyone knows that there are three types of people in the world. Those who can count an those who cannot.

Posted by: JmSR | Feb 17, 2005 6:55:35 AM

April 2005 issue comments...

Hidden Contest... REAL EASY...I guess they wanted more people to enter unlike the last hidden contest when only 10 people entered and won...mailed out just two days ago.

First and Last Contest... I solved the first part...but I am stuck with Instruction #11 now...Any hints or suggestions, please e-mail me...

Contest Results... It says that people entered the author of the Da Vinci Code were correct...so i guess I was part of the .1 percent who got it wrong because I failed to put the author. No where in the instructions did it say to put the author's name to. It just said what book? oh well...

I know that people like to send out more than one correct entry, but my question is why go through all that trouble? First of all, envelopes or postcards (whatever you use) cost money...as do the stamps...so is it really worth it spending that much money just so you can 'stuff' the entries and either not win or win? Me, personally, I like to send only ONE entry per contest. I am financially disabled and can't really afford to send more than one. But my philosophy is like that of playing the lottery....It only takes one to win...

Anyhow...have a great day...

Posted by: The_Steppum | Feb 19, 2005 8:15:10 AM

I agree with you Steppum, it is not clear how to interpret #11. First of all, if you really follow the instructions, you will be caught in an infinite loop of starting the instructions again and again...fortunately someone hit my reset button. But not quibbling about that...I am unsure if you are supposed to read the entire instruction of #11 and then perform it, or if you are to read the first sentence of #11, perform it (which will alter the second sentence), THEN read and perform the second sentence. I guess you could send in an entry for both interpretations...

Posted by: Mark Mammel | Feb 19, 2005 9:11:32 AM

Steppum, You were right not to include the name of the author in your entry. I believe, in the results page, Games meant that the few that got it wrong had chosen the wrong Dan Brown book (Angels and Demons, instead of The DaVinci Code).
As far as "First and Last", if you over-think it, as I often do, you'd be working on it forever. Doing it over and over, as Mark said.
As far as I can determine by the instructions, you'll either end up with your first answer, or, if after following the last line's instructions which says "Compare your answer...at the end of #10",you'd end up with a different answer. Agreeing with Mark: send in both entries, if you can't decide which is right, if at all.
Let's not forget an important detail....this is an April issue. APRIL FOOL's!! Maybe there's NO correct answer...hmmmmm?

Posted by: Toni | Feb 19, 2005 11:45:26 AM

I'm glad Sean F mentioned the word and number were connected; I got the wrong answer at first. The hidden contest and normal contest were uncharacteristically easy; I had them both solved within ten minutes of opening the magazine (I always look at the contests first).

Posted by: Wilhelm | Feb 19, 2005 8:40:01 PM

Definitely an old-school hidden contest, from back when such things regularly garnered entries by the thousands. Perhaps a little too easy, but considering that I didn't find the last two or three at all, I'll take it.

Posted by: Adam Fromm | Feb 20, 2005 7:19:18 AM

Regarding multiple entries, in some cases it's a good strategy. If you've solved a particularly hard puzzle, and you are POSITIVE your solution is correct, then you have the opportunity to greatly increase your odds of a 3- or 4-figure prize! If you have 1 out of 600 chances, pretty unlikely, but if you went to the trouble of getting up to, say, 80 out of 600 (2 out of 15, or 6.5 to 1) that's not bad odds for the (80 x 23¢) $18.40 investment.

Another time it is a good strategy is if you have, say, 8 combinations left but can't narrow it down, but you know one has to be right, you can cover all the angles and be sure one of yours was right.

While it is easy to limit one entry per person in a forum such as this, I think we can all see the near impossibility of finding duplicate entries in a pile of 1000 or more cards and envelopes, even though it would be minimized by picking a prospective winner, then looking for only that name or address among the rest.

Other times I feel the same way Steppum does, and just get in my one entry and forget it. (It's a bit of an accomplishment when I mail it the same day I received the magazine!) Of all the contests I've entered over 25 or more years, most were just one or two, a few I did 20-30 or so, and once I went all out and made about 80 (when postcards were 19¢), and won a T-shirt!

It's easy to set up master templates on the computer for both address and solution side for 4 copies, then run them off on a copy machine and quarter into 4¼ x 5½ postcards, which is within post office size rules. 8½ x 11 card stock in many pastel color shades is at your nearest art supply house, often at discounts for volume (10 or more) purchases.

Posted by: Bob Lodge | Feb 20, 2005 6:23:14 PM

I did both the First/Last contest and the Hidden Contest over the weekend, but still need to send in the answers.

Posted by: Monica/MLR | Feb 21, 2005 8:48:27 AM

I STILL don't understand how people interpreted #11 in First and Last contest...GRRRR

Posted by: The_Steppum | Feb 21, 2005 11:59:23 AM

"First and Last"....Unless this contest is some kind of 'trick' played on us, I believe instruction #11 is followed only once.

Posted by: Toni | Feb 21, 2005 1:11:57 PM

[This comment deleted at request of the poster. JM 2/23]

Posted by: Laurie | Feb 21, 2005 6:38:20 PM

I got a solution to First and Last wherein the word and number did NOT match up... making me think I did it incorrectly... I found a little ambiguity in the instruction (twice) to count the number of five-letter words in the box... is that DIFFERENT five-letter words or aggregating duplicates? (though it seems only one way leads to a discernable next step in #9). Another thought... #11 did not change my answer... but if it did, it would have to lead to an endless loop, no? You'd be going through the contest choosing a different solution each time you changed the reference to first/last IN #11, no?

Posted by: Phil C | Feb 22, 2005 9:26:37 PM

Thanks to Sean F who helped me see that my comments above were deserving of a half-star intelligence rating. This turned out to be a neat... devious... and perhaps harder puzzle than appeared at first blush (we'll find out some time in June-July I suppose).

Posted by: Phil C | Feb 23, 2005 6:11:16 AM

I have a general rule not to talk about contest specifics prior to the deadline, so I asked for my previous post to be deleted.

Unrelated to any contests, on page 5, there is a review of "Quzzle". I found a web version of the puzzle. I was able to solve it in the minimum amount of steps after a number of tries. Has anyone else tried it? If so, how long did it take you to solve it?

Posted by: Laurie | Feb 23, 2005 4:27:50 PM

Laurie, I found Quzzle on Quirkle.com. Along with Quzzle, there are other similar puzzles to try. I worked on Quzzle and when I'd hit a dead-end or gone over the minimum amount of steps, I'd start over. After numerous 'start overs',(and a resulting headache) I decided to give it up and try again some other time.
Laurie, it was tough. Good work on your part!
This type of puzzle has been around for a long time. I remember having a similar game (the cost, then, about a dime); a small 2x2 game with little red squares, and one black square that had to be manuevered from one end to the other. You still might be able to find them, but the price has gone up a bit....several bits.

Posted by: Toni | Feb 24, 2005 2:05:25 PM

First and Last Contest: I had another thought on instruction #11; (of course I could be wrong about this) After you've read Instructions 1-10, and ALL of #11, the next step according to its instructions is to change all the "first"s and "last"s on the page. Once that's done, you're told to re-work the puzzle, stop at #10, and compare answers. Then, as was previously instructed, you're to "choose the word that comes FIRST alphabetically". That done... END of puzzle.

If instruction # 11 had been split and there was a #12, (beginning "Compare this answer...." )then, by the time you've finished reading #12 you would have already changed all the firsts and lasts, giving the final sentence(with a first" changed to "last")a different meaning.
What do you think? Does this make sense to anyone??

Posted by: Toni | Mar 3, 2005 11:20:06 PM

Everyone please be mindful that others may be trying to get a discovery on the "First and Last" contest and that GAMES would probably like said discoveries to be the "Aha!" that leads to winners in the contest.

Posted by: JmSR | Mar 4, 2005 7:07:25 AM

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