~3 minute readPuzzle Mania: Puzzle Winners Announced
Solution to Puzzle Number 1
We goofed in section A of the puzzle. The total number of robotic extensions in Suspended is 35; however, we asked for "grasping extensions," and two of Sensa's are non-grasping. Therefore, we decided to accept both 33 and 35 for section A. Thanks to the many people who wrote to point out this error.
Dunbar sat in seat number 7 when she went to the symphony on July 7, 1982. (The first release of Deadline has a typo, and the ticket stub says "1981." Sorry for the confusion this may have caused anyone.)
The stamp in Zork II was 3 zorkmids; the Royal Museum in Zork III lay unguarded beginning in the year 883 GUE; there are 5 matches in the matchbook in Zork I, Flood Control Dam Number Three cost 37 million zorkmids; there are 8 entries in the Starcross tape library.
Using 35 for part A, the answer comes out to 128; using 33 for part A, the answer comes out to 107.77. There were 103 entries for NZT Puzzle #1, of which 48 had one of the two correct answers (47%). The most popular wrong answer was 30 (with 13 entries, or 13%). This wrong answer seems to be produced by guessing 11 for the seat number in section B.
The following ten lucky people were selected at random from the 48 correct entries, and will receive a copy of Sorcerer:
- Steve Booth
Ashland, Oregon - Lawrence Rasbid
Chicago, Illinois - Andrew Sherman
Concord, Massachusetts - Dean Kimball
Fall City, Washington - Dan Gonzales
Canfield, Ohio - Michael Schirpke
Bellerica, Massachusetts - Brian Klein
Valencia, California - Edward Rose
Wilmington, Ohio - Linda Barrington
Friendswood, Texas - John Wolfenden
Chapel Hill, N. Carolina
Solution to Puzzle Number Two
The Living Room description is from Deadline and The Witness. The knapsack is from Infidel, the fancy violin appears in Zork II, the disfigured device is from Suspended, the high-protein liquid is found in Planetfall, the hellhound is from Sorcerer, and the Forest description comes from Starcross.
That covers ten of the first eleven Infocom games. The remaining game, the solution to Puzzle #2, is Zork III. (Several entrants guessed Seastalker, but that's not one of Infocom's first eleven games.)
This puzzle must have been considerably easier than Puzzle #1, because the number of entries rose to 694, and the percentage of correct answers also rose slightly (396 correct entries, or 57%). The most popular wrong answer was Suspended (110 entries, 16%).
The following 10 people, selected randomly from the correct entries, have won a copy of Seastalker:
- Marc Wontorek
Northford, Connecticut - Diann Harris
Arlington, Texas - Jeff Leonard
Spring Valley, New York - Peter De Gano
Grand Terrace, California - Tim Walters
Marietta, Georgia - Rushton Potts
Summit, New Jersey - Sean Blair
San Ramon, California - Fred Crandall
Mukwonago, Wisconsin - Craig Davis
Simi Valley, California - Peter Merriken
Elverson, Pennsylvania
Other Puzzle News
Due to a screw-up by the wonderful people who also fill hint booklet orders for us, 12,000 New Zork Times readers received their issues two months late. These people received a special puzzle memo with their issues, with a revised deadline. There will be a second drawing for ten additional Seastalkers for these entrants.
Many people have been complaining about our policy of awarding the latest Infocom game as the prize for the NZT Puzzle: they dislike having to wait for the puzzle results before knowing if they should buy the new game. Therefore, we are announcing a new prize for puzzle winners: New Zork Times Puzzle Winner T-shirts! These shirts are 100% cotton, and are certain to become a mark of distinction among adventurers. In addition, we are increasing the maximum number of winners for each puzzle from 10 to 25.
This article appeared in
New Zork Times, The
Jul-Sep 1984
These historical, out-of-print articles and literary works have been GNUSTOed onto InvisiClues.org for academic and research purposes.
