EDIT: A big thanks to j15bell for providing photos to assist all of you on your quest! Visit the link HERE. The password is tweleve.
Remember that contest held a few years back by Google when “The Da Vinci Code” was released? This time around, MSN is hosting a contest for “Angels & Demons” roughly structured in the same way. The “Path of Illumination Contest” – which just began January 30 – will occur in 2 rounds and a final tie-breaker round leading up to the film’s May release. Each round will offer a series of 4 challenges released in stages. Here’s a clear rundown:
The “Path of Illumination Contest” can be found at the official “Angels & Demons” site here: http://www.angelsanddemons.com
It will require you to download Microsoft’s Photosynth as well as sign up for a Windows Live ID (Hotmail and MSN e-mail addresses will work).
*As Round 1 has come to an end, Round 2 begins on March 6. To remind contestants of the next phase of the contest, Microsoft has sent out the following e-mail:
Congratulations! You are one of only 3,497 contestants from the United States to advance to Round Two of the Angels & Demons Path of Illumination Contest. Don’t turn back now – victory could be within reach!
In Round Two, you must solve four new puzzles. All Round Two puzzles will be available beginning at 10:00 AM PT on March 6, 2009, and must be completed by 9:59 AM PT on March 13, 2009, so mark your calendar!
Unlike Round One, you will have only ONE chance to play each puzzle in Round Two and your score will be automatically submitted for the contest.
Remember, if you have the lowest combined score from Round One and Round Two, you will become the potential country winner, and will receive a trip for two to Rome to attend the premiere of Angels & Demons and more.
Sign in to play at http://angelsanddemons.msn.com
Microsoft respects your privacy. To learn more, please read our online Privacy Statement (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=74170).
Microsoft Corporation
One Microsoft Way
Redmond, WA 98052
Stuck? Believe me, after playing through “The Da Vinci Code Contest”, I know from experience that these puzzles do become progressively challenging and players will most definitely need help.
We are opening the comments board below for open discussion. Send in any questions or comments you have and feel free to discuss amongst yourselves.
“Angels & Demons” hits theaters May 15, 2009.
Discuss “The Path of Illumination Contest” here
If you’re looking for the EARTH symbol in Photosynth, it’s on a chair directly behind where you start off. Just keep rotating and you’ll see it clearly in white text.
wow cool blog – adding it to my favorites thx
I don’t know how many times I looked at the chair without seeing anything. Thanks!
Ugh…did anyone else total over 4000 points for the 2nd puzzle? Yeesh…anyways, who’s dying to know where AIR is???
From the start point, keep moving to the left end of the room until you face a wooden door directly in front of you. There should be one of those green rotating rings now floating in the picture. Move it around until you see AIR in white text on the left half of the door, around the black door knob area.
How do you acknowledge within the game that you have found the symbol? Do you click your mouse or what?
Yes over 4,000 for puzzel 2. it seemed like have of the wind symbols didn’t work while others would blow like crazy.
I must be blind because Ive scanned every chair and can’t find squat…thanks for the heads up though..just not seeing it
Just got the 2nd one also; thanks! It was difficult & over 4000 is right! But, it’s fun!
I got 2700 for puzzle 2
Rocky, my belief is that the image only shows up in 1 picture, so even if you see the chair in another picture, the symbol won’t show up (correct me if I’m wrong). Anyways, it’s the chair directly behind you when you start off.
O and samabal, you just suck. I’m kidding, nice job man
After reading these blogs as to where the clues are hidden in the photosynth, i’ve found that when you click on the 3 dotted icon on the navigatioon menu (right above the zoom out button) basically shows you right where the clues are. When hovering over the icon, it says ‘Switch to the next 3D group”
For instance, in the first puzzle, after clicking on that icon, you see a single picture of the back of a chair, and if you look to the right of the picture, you can see its at a corner table. This basically shows you where the clue should be hidden. Just look in that general area and you should find your clue.
I got 95 for earth combined and 3390 for all 3 levels on air combined… could probs of done better though… I find with the photosynth if you keep an eye out you can often see a bright white haze if your in the right area – which i find that mr.Conducter is right about. Click on the 3 dots and it takes you to the near by area.
Good job Sakura!! So far I have 156 for Earth, 4355 for Air with a combined total of 4511. I know I could have done better, but oh well. I’m lookin forward for Fire and Water.
Good job all. 537 and 4601 for me.
Nice job everyone. I’ve got 86 combined on earth, and 1459 combined on the first two of air.
118 and 2220 on my end. Don’t think I’ll be making it to Rome, but it’s still fun playing. Good job everyone!
Could not have found earth without all your comments. Thanks so much for the help! Earth 104, Air 2368. Yup, it’s fun!
Total 5983
Earth 271
air 5712
I was looking at the door for 2 minutes, there was nothing… then I left that window, came back in around 30 seconds, and then BAM.. there was a huge AIR sitting there smack dab in the middle of the door.!…
Either that is the meaning behind ‘illumination’ or my cable internet is slow for uploading.
Still can’t find those dang icons, but got 120 and 3301, which I guess is alright for a seventeen year old….
Score for me is:
Earth – 82
Air – 2248
My suggestion for getting the best score you can is to keep trying without saving your score. You can try an infinite amount of times until the contest’s end date, so just keep doing them over and over til you find your best route/method.
Photosynth question: What do I do with the symbols after I’ve found them?
Answer: Click directly on the word and it will complete the Photosynth puzzle automatically for you.
Oh, forgot to mention: The photosynth puzzle word is found on only 1 photo out of all of them.
So, if there are 12 pictures showing different angles of a chair, you may have to look at all of them to find the single one that shows the puzzle word.
Well, I’ve tried to chose different ones, but I might be on the wrong chair…
Scores for me:
Earth: 128
Air : 2550
I can’t figure out how to do the Air puzzles. No matter where I put hte tiles, all the sphere does it drop up and down in the same place.
Help please!
never mind…I figured it out!
However, fire is supposed to be available today, but I can’t play it yet. hmm!
Btw…709 for round 1 and 5903 for round 2.
Earth = 106
Air = 2833
can’t wait for Fire!
Just letting everyone know that Fire is already open. It’s a little like the game MasterMind, where you’ll have to guess the correct pattern, in this case, for different colored flames. Once you have pattern, click submit, and you’ll receive a hint as to how accurate your pattern is. The game goes back and forth until you have the correct pattern.
Fire is up. Just tryin to do some number crunching, according to my guesstimate/calculations, there should be about 256 possible solutions (for level 1). Your best bet is to find one, stick to it and keep re-entering the same solution time after time. eventually it should come back around.
I must be super blind….I have been looking at chairs all darn day..and still not finding earth
Do you have to zoom in to find it? I think I know which chair ya’ll talking about but it is never showing up 
It’s the very first chair from the back right corner of the room, right where you begin. I think it only appears in one of the pics so keep looking. Also, it’s on the front of the chair along the backrest.
Has anyone had any luck finding FIRE? Argh, this is killing me
Ok that was not on that chair a few seconds ago!
HOLY CRAP.
I got a 1251 on air. First try, too. Sheesh.
FIRE photosynth is on the leather chair by the couch in the study. It only popped up in one frame for me. These guys must like chairs…
eek…not doing so hot am i!
6301 total for all 3
Its hard to know what a good score even is! I feel like I’m doing OK with 2913 (153 / 2408 / 352) is this decent at least? Is there a ranking somewhere?
PS. Check out our new boardgame “TPOC: The Politics of Cannibals” when it comes out in March / April 09!
I have total 3811 earth- 144 air-3438 fire-229 the fire photosynth was the easiest one to find on the leather chair by the couch I moved a few times to the right and it popped up
Man, I really screwed up for Air (4256) lol. Earth, I’ve got 280, and Fire, 225. Looking forward to water now!
Btw, is everyone playing this just for the fun of it – because besides all the major prizes, I actually don’t think they’re giving out anything else like the cryptexes from the DVC contest (I won one of those myself:) ).
As for the location of FIRE, to clarify, it’s in white text on the front of the black chair by the couch in the other room. This is the chair furthest from you. Look for a pic that’s slightly distant from the chair, not a closeup.
I’m having trouble with fire level 3. Patterns don’t make sense to me…they all look the same…any hints out there?
fire level three consists of
one 2
one 6
one 8
and
three 5s
a hint to solving fire. to find out what numbers are in the answer always do 1,1,1,1 submit, 2,2,2,2 submit and so on. If there are any 1s in the puzzle, you’ll get the amount in the white circles that show, if there are any 2s same thing. Do the consecutive combination for all but the last number (if there are numbers 1-8 do all the way up to 7,7,7,7,7,7) to see how many of those each are in the combination. Then using process of elimination find how many of the last digit there are. For example, the third solution has an eight in it, but by using subtraction (you already found it has one 2, three 5s, and 1 six, and 0 sevens) you can tell that the last digit is one 8 because there are only six digits in the solution. (1+3+1=5, no sevens, therefore one 8).
Total 8792
Earth 271
Air 8012 (sucked at this one! used too many arrows)
Fire 514
air2477, you are a genius. Solved fire level 3 with 208. Previous scores over 1000. THANKS everyone for your help.
Looking forward to water! Total so far: earth 104, air 2368, fire 368. grand total 2840
Total for fire: 253….
good or bad?
That’s pretty good, Vic. I got 225 on Fire w/ only 4 or 5 submissions per puzzle.
WEll well well i ve found the word fire on top of a cathedral at the first round in earth, i dont know how but it was black and iwas just playing with the controls.. any ways 4000 total for all give or take..
Wow… you guys must be better at this than I… I still don’t really get how to do the air puzzle! I am certain my first score (that happened by luck) was huge…
Any tips?
Did something happen to your site? Last time I tried to access it, it was closed down.
Can anyone offer any suggestions on how to do the air puzzle? My scores have been horrible and I don’t know what I’m doing wrong.
Kalea-
For the lowest scores you should never have to use more than 3 or 4 winds. You just have to constantly tweak their positions in order to travel the least distance etc etc.
@ Robbie
It may have been a server air or due to maintenance. We are working on getting the site redesigned and onto a new host.
do not know how to play fire game. cannot understand what others have said how to play. how do you play fire game, just cannotfigure it out
Hi everyone. Here are my scores
Earth: 1242
Air: 7909
Fire: 436.
I don’t think I did too well on those, how are your’s scores compared to mine?
Earth- 108
Air- 2827
Fire- 222
Total- 3157
I wish I had spent more time tweaking the air puzzles. Oh well.
how do i get a low score on the FIRE level? (i already messed up on the first two levels and need to not get a much higher score)….
Earth 121
Air 2531
Fire 312
Total 2972
Ok, How am I doing so far?
Earth – 82
Air – 2096
Fire – 193
Total – 2371
I got frustrated doing them after an hour so I just went with whatever score I got on the next round.
I would say pritty good? LOL You have someone you are taking to Rome?
earth-119
air-3227
fire-192
fire was hardest for me…..but used too many wind directions in air that killed me.
Hi! I’m writting from Argentina. I know that my participation in this contest is worthless because my country isn´t part fo it, but I’m such a fan of Dan Brown and I loved the Angels and Demons book so much that when I foud out about the contets I decided to participate just for fun.
The thing is I can´t find the fire clue, and I was wondering if anyone has already done that level. Would that ‘anyone’ please give me some help to find it?
Thanks a lot.
And I’m just like you looking foward to finally enjoy the movie! I’ve got great expectations about it.
Thanks but no thanks folks. I’ve just found the fire clue. If someone wants to know where is it just ask me. Bye!
Read my comment above. I explain it there
Earth = 239
Air = 3619
Fire = 638
Total so far = 4496
Earth: 118
Air: 2220
Fire: 161
Total: 2499
Seriously just got tired of it (my scores kept getting worse and worse), so I just submitted the first decent score that came around. Think you just might be making it to Rome Frost!
The real challenge is going to be round two. I think if you’re in the 2000s you have a shot. According to the rules, in round two, there will be no do overs. You will have to be lucky and good.
I love this contest, it’s a lot of fun.
From what I’ve seen and heard from other people and sites, the best possible scores are:
Earth: 73
Air: 1897
Fire: 0
No, I won’t tell you how to get these scores ( I don’t know how).
The fire is zero because if the number happens to be all ones and you guess that, then your score is zero (not that that’s very likely). I think realistically, someone could get close to about 100.
I’m guessing the best score out there is probably about a 2200 right now.
HELP! I still can’t find the Earth symbol. I’ve looked on the chair, but I can’t get the photosynth to turn to let me see the back of the corner one where I start. Been through the slideshow with no luck either. Any pointers? Thanks!
Geez, I thought I was doing pretty good until I stumbled on this site and read the scores people have! I have crested 13,000 for my total! LOL at least the games are fun!
even if you guess all 1s for fire it does not leave you with a score of 0…sorry there Brandon. That being said…four 1′s appear for round one of fire but not for round 2 or 3… Best possible score is between 100 and 200.
My scores are as follows
E: 78
A: 2002
F: 174
E:121
A: 3626
F: 338
Total: 4085
That Air Level was really tough. I only used 4 symbols on each puzzle to get the ball in the whole. with the shortest path yet still got an insanely high score.
lol oops… meant hole…see what lack of sleep playing this causes.
My scores thus far-
E: 177
A: 3006 (I really hated that level.)
F: 132
Total: 3315
Brandon,
What is the breakdown for those low scores? Also, what other websites have you seen where people post the lowest scores they are getting? Thanks!
David
Best possible score for fire is below 100. This I know for sure.
Breakdown (not that I got these)
Earth: 16, 26, 31
Air: 399, (lowest I’ve SEEN is 404), 699, 799, (lowest I’ve seen 801)
Fire: (could be anything)
Also, this seems to be the most active post. There are a couple on yahoo answers, and I’ve emailed back and forth with a couple of the other players.
If you put a lot of time into it I’m sure you could get a very low score on Fire, I mean eventually the cycle has to repeat itself. The key to this round so far was Air. I had individual rounds that were really low and if I added them I’d be around 1850-1900 but I couldn’t repeat it after the first time I did it.
Getting to the second round will be the key, because if you only have one shot, your scores will be very high. I wonder what will happen to your score if you browser or computer crash in the middle of a game.
I still can’t find the fire clue in the photosynth. Is it possible that there are different versions of each photosynth (just like there are differentversions of the earlier puzzles)? So far, it doesn’t seem to be the case, but it is possible.
Can someone explain where to find the air symbol again??? I can’t seem to find it…
E: 128
A: 6041
F: 150
The fire clue is on the black chair to the right of the couch (as you’re facing the couch). You have to be facing the front of the chair, be far enough back and at the right angle for the symbol to appear. Keep trying!
The air symbol is on one of the doors…each door has a bunch of squares, it’s in one of the squares. Sorry, can’t remember which door.
Total: 2510
Earth: 101
Air: 2277
Fire: 132
Water is on the front of the desk
Heads up: Water was posted this morning.
I have just finished water.
Earth- 110
Air- 2453
Fire- 153
Water- 135
Total=2851
Just finished water along with the photosynth
Earth: 156
Air: 4355
Fire: 224
Water: 114
The photosynth icon is on the desk. Just push the ‘play’ button and let the pictures scroll. You should be able to see it quite easily. At least it was’nt on another dang chair this time!
Qualified for Round 2! I had a total score of 4875 (screwed up on Air, argh). If you guys have a score lower than that, then I’m pretty sure you’ll make it. Good luck
*Round 2 begins March 6th.
just finished – 3360 total – air did me in!!!
Just finished. Made round 2 with a 5806 total score
Btw looks like everyone who finishes round one makes it to round two
I’m just glad I don’t have to worry about my terrible score for Air anymore lol. Time for a fresh start w/ Round 2
I just solved water with a total on Water of 264! The symbol is on the desk & on my pc it was very out of focus! But I got it!
Just finished. LOL, fire was pretty much the game Mastermind (the old board game). Well, I am not eligible to win because I am the son of a microsoft employee. Anyway here are my scores:
Total: 2470
Earth: 113
Air: 2079
Fire: 184
Water: 94
Just finished. At least I qualify, but I hate air. Except for the breathing part.
How many others didn’t know that you could use more than one of each Air direction? Lame instruction writing.
still can’t find earth, going blind! help
Dude, chair right behind you at the start. Look there. There were numerous discussions at the beginning of this comments board. Read through them.
You guys have really low scores. I got a total of 5915. Pretty bad eh. Anyway, Steve must be right cause I got into round 2 even with that terrible score. They’re even going to send me an e-mail reminder before the 6th. Obviously I’m not doing this for prizes.
2466 total. Word.
OK, that dang Fire word was so hard to find but at last…. If anyone else is strugeling here are some hints: it is located on the chair like everyone above has said, the black chair near the black sofa. The angle you need is like you are standing on the opposite side of the desk looking across the room at the chair. Keep pressing the backup button so that you have a far off view and then just keep changing views of the chair from left and right until the glow of the word starts to appear and then just zoom in.
UGH!!! I’ve been trying to get fire by just hitting submit without moving any and I’ve gotten that as the right combo twice now, but when you try to submit the score it doesn’t show up as completed!!!! Why is this happening?
So far I have 263 + 3357 + 419 = 4039. working on water now.
Lovely ones! Total score=2617. Let’s see how Round 2 turns out…so far this game has been reaaaally fun
Ok, so I thought I’d update my scores. Knowing that they combine both rounds, I wish I had taken my time more on Air and Fire. I got an 88 on Water.
Total 2459
I hope everyone has the same board in Round 2, otherwise, some will have a very distinct advantage with easier boards.
first time doing anything like this..thru 4 at 5574..tedoius
Taxes, if you win, are about $4,500. Congratulations.
Thanks for the help, I have trouble seeing the Photos. Old eyes
Earth 165
Air 3082
Fire 320
Water 136But, no photo clues yet.
Not bad for an old lady.
Water is on the front of the desk. View at different angles from left a little bit and it should show up for you.
total – 2389
Ok, lowest total I’ve found so far is 2353. Has anyone seen lower?
What have people found to be the lowest scores on each water puzzle.
Puzzle 1 appears to be 17, anyone else?
Frost,
2257 going into water for me. It looks like I should end up under 2353, not that water looks easy for sure.
LOL at Steve, way to be a buzz kill. Taxes
Stevi, doesn’t look like it will take a zero score. You’re going to need at least a 1.
Don’t worry, I got 9,910 and qualified for round two. Air killed me.
I finished! With a 4050 total. Actually, i closed the window but I know it was 4000 something with a 5 in there
I did get a message saying I qualified for round 2.
I think anyone who finished all 4 puzzles before the deadline qualifies.
total 19,233
see you guys in rome
Earth-116
Fire-270
Water-116
Air-18,731
The air portion was really dumb and the scoring system is not even close to symmetrical. Basically, for AIR, even if you do well on it, accounts for 80%+ of the total score.
Total: 2341
Brandon, you have to be #1 in the whole freakin’ country, not just angryweb.org.com., to win.
That’s a good score, but I’m not sure if you did it legally…sounds fishy
just finished water, score = 131
total 3669
see ya on round 2
jessica, first puzzle of water I got a 15.
Yeah Brandon has on the yellow jersey for sure, but we’ll see if he passes the doping test. I hear they’ve been coming down hard on these ‘Angels and Demons’ athletes.
That’s just sad, Bruce. Don’t go there. There’s no illegal way to do it as far as I know. All you have to do is keep playing til you reach the lowest possible scores, which as far as I know are a couple hundred points lower than mine. Also, I never said I expected to win anything. Frost asked for people under 2353 to post their scores.
If you want to know how I got my score, I can tell you. Don’t submit until you’re SURE you have the lowest score. I’ve also been trying to help people by posting the lowest possible scores that I’ve seen. That said, round 2 will be the deciding factor. It just gives you an advantage to do better in round one. Doing 16 puzzles, everyone is going to mess up a bit in round 2.
Lowest Scores I’ve heard of:
Earth: 16, 26, 31
Air: 399, 699, 799
Fire: 14, 34, 57
Water: 14, 30, 40
Grand Total: 2159 (someone in the country probably has this score or lower)
Brandon, I still think you have a cloud over your performance, and everyone will be thinking you’re using performance enhancing drugs. I take it personally, because I’m all natural, and if everyone else was, including yourself, maybe my 19,000 score would be more competitive.
Sounds like Brandon is starting to sweat the inquisition. I mean how do you score so low on Air without some sort of help, like from helium or something. lol. That was a good one…helium…I crack myself up.
Not to beat a dead horse,but what chair for “earth” are we talking about. There are two rooms, one conference room with four rows of tables and a second room that has a row of chairs along the wall. What is your orientation for the back right corner that you’re talking about?
Chad,
I found the “earth” one to be unusually hard to find also. One successful but painful method – if you just click the forward button of the slideshow about 315 times, you’ll get there.
…and 315 isn’t a random guess. It’s very close to that (I actually counted, although not precisely).
just completed in 7584, air was a bummer.
E 102
A 5711
F 311
W 101
Total 6245. I don’t know why I am so high in Air.
Has nobody topped my 19,233?
It looks like I’m the high point person so far. I looked at other websites and my score is still the highest one I can find…looks like I’m off to Rome!!
2345 total all 4
3456 for all 4, not bad. No way I could have found those photo clues without you guys help.
I cannot find that earth symbol for the life of me, the photos run out just behind the chair, and I cant angle down behind it even with the rotation tool…………
never mind I found it just after I left this message.ugh
OK one more time. In which of the two rooms is the Earth clue in? There is a room with 4 table groupings (and an alter) and there is a side room that has a row of chairs along the wall. Back right does not do anyone any good if they don’t know what point of view you have. And the only thing that is behind you is wall when you start.
It’s in the first, larger room with 4 table groupings. It’s pretty much the chair you’d sit in when the photosynth starts. However, I can’t manage to change the view from the starting position to get to that chair in any convenient way. The only way I know is to go through the whole slideshow. Even doing that, there will be a couple of occasions when you’re right in that area but don’t get the view you need. Just keep going and after a long time it will be clear as day. Good luck.
Earth can be found in as few as 8 or 9 clicks to the left. Keep highlighting the different outlines that look like a vantage point that faces to the left of your current position. Some are more extreme than others, but they will get turned around 180degress eventually. The chair it’s on will be the first chair in the corner of the room. You are basically sitting on the thing when you come in. Do not go to the right, do not go straight, always go left. You can tell what goes left by the perspective of the highlights.
Thanks Steve and David.
Just finished. Total- 3434
Total
E 90
A 2137
F 118
W 98
Total 2443
How do you acknowledge that you have found a symbol? I found water on the desk at last, but I’m not sure now to submit it.
Thanks.
anyone know where the water clue is located..
i’m done all the games, and am only the water clue away from completion..
photosynth is the last thing from being considered, “user friendly”!
Dede…. You should just be able to “right click” on it with your mouse, then it will automatically tell you that you’ve found it and take you back to the primary page with all the puzzles. BUT, it’s tricky…be sure that when you ‘click’ you have a very CLEAR sharp symbol showing up in the window. If it’s the least bit fuzzy or out of focus, or not smack in the middle of the frame, it won’t register it. You have to keep tilting the frames to get it properly sharp and in the middle. At least that how it worked for me.
G.L.
Hi, thank you, that was my experience and evidently why it didn’t work at first. I finally got it it work.
Wonder why the “instructions” didn’t mention this.
I have 2 out of 4 and a too-much Photosynth-headache.
Dede
I qualified for round 2, I don’t know how!!!
Earth 243
Air 8679 (I really messed up this here)
Fire 398 (for puzzle one I submit the score by mistake)
Water 148 (was the easiest)
Grand Total 9468! I really dont know how I qualified!
I think everyone qualifies for Round 2.
Earth 128
Air 2550
Fire 210
Water 117
TOTAL 3005
Round 2 will separate the wheat from the chaff. 1 shot at solving each puzzle… That will be a killer.
Please if anybody could help me solve fire level 3 that would be greatly appreciated … I’ve passed everything else to qualify except that even though I’ve followed the comments above I can’t solve it!! its pissing me off since I’ve done everything else and the other 2 fire levels maybe someone could help me i’m obviously not very good at math!
Vanessa, what a lovely name. Of course we will help you. I personally got to the point where if I got anything near 100 on it, I would accept it. This may be redundant with what’s above, but I click right off the bat to see if anything is in the first row. Then I move the first toggle up one. If it is good, then Yay! If not, the coding will tell you if there is even a 2 in the combo. It is indicated by a hollow circle. If no hollow circle, then there are no 2′s. I then move this toggle up to the 3, the 4 and so forth. Each time you find the correct position with the toggle, move to the next one over and do the same thing, using the information you collected as you go about whether or not there is even that particular number in the combo. I always go left to right, and don’t do more than one, unless you know for certain where one goes and then you can place it there and use the click on trying the placement of another. This way you don’t waste clicks. After a while, you should start finding the combo quite quickly, but then it’s just a matter of getting a lucky puzzle that is process friendly for a low score. I imagine if you do it long enough, (maybe after a 1000 times) it may give you an all 111111 combo. Let me know how that works out for you.
hi vanessa,
I also had problems with it.
the best way I found is to start with all 3 levels at one and then press enter to see where the correct pegs are ie. white pegs, black pegs and hollow on the chart.
you are looking to get the white pegs so if you move each peg up a notch starting with the first one and then press enter again to see if it is still correct or should move again. Then move your second peg up a notch to see where that fits in and same with 3rd peg.
you have to submit it to see where it is on the chart. Its a bit hard to describe and there may be a mathematical solution to finding it out but that is the way I did it. hope this helps
steve
how the hell did you get 2137 on air. that must be one of the best scores
DeDe..
You’re welcome, Glad you got it…FYI for future symbols, they really ARE where people say they are. I found that sometimes you will click on the chair or desk or whatever and NOTHING shows up, but if you keep tilting and angling and going at it from certain sides, it WILL show up. I would have sworn people were lying when they said a symbol was on a dining room chair, but sure enough after much going round and round and tilting and plenty of foul language, I saw it!…lol.
So thank you to all the helpful folks!
steve in k.c., Elaine THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! for taking time and trying to help me I really appreciate it, Steve’s method was the one that worked and I somehow managed to get 220 for a score not the best but for me compared to what I was getting its amazing! thank you so much, now I can move on the next round even if I don’t win I still get to go a little farther! Thank you.
Ok, I’m just wondering how Bruce got that high of a score. Air is just a time issue. If you take your time to get the lowest score then you should be no higher than 2500-3000. Those that were lower spent more time, those that were higher spent less time. And those like Bruce must have placed 20 symbols on each board and watched the ball bounce off each wall.
Elaine, some of the boards had a shorter distance to go than others, so I just kept at those ones. Also, I found that you could double up the air symbols on top of one another and get greater distance shooting the ball across the screen, thereby using fewer symbols in the long run. Round 2, with only one attempt at each puzzle, scares me.
Assuming scoring is the same, air will control the score again so it’s good that your score doesn’t keep adding until you make it in. Also, I hope everyone has the same board, otherwise, that’s really not fair. Especially with air.
I have found all of the pHotosyth clues but AIR… When you push the 3 dot button it show a picture of the 2 doors…which one is the air on…. I have looked at both of them at different angles and just can’t find it…please someone help
the air clue is on the furthest door when u push the 3 dot button. you just need to click on the square that highlights that door and it should be easily seen.
I cannot get past the water puzzles- I think they’re impossible! Anyone have any insight?
Sarah, it is really hard, but you can can do it. You have to look ahead. If you want the block standing up in the hole, then it will have to be lying down in a two-square space beside the hole. Next, think about how you can get the block in those spaces. Work backward. There will be some blocks that you must be upright on and some you must be on the side.
One more hint and it’s a little difficult to understand, but: If your block is standing up one block short of where it needs to be, you have to lay the block on its side and roll it backward one, then put it back up and you should be where you need to be. Many times you will have to make several moves to maneuver your block in a small area. Trial and error at first, then I promise you’ll get the hang of it.
Good luck,
Brandon
SARAHHH…
One of the tricks is that you have to back up to the original BLOCK of squares you started on, switch your water tower around so that say…you are one block ‘forward’ or ‘backward’ than where you first started, then proceed forward again. I noticed many of them are NOT straight lines forward. It takes trial and error to see where the tall end of the block will fall. Sometimes you will have the length of it line up one block over or back. (re: you have to ‘roll’ it over instead of end on end). But I noticed that a lot of the water puzzles involve backing totally up to the start blocks and going forward again. It’s like tumbling them end over end, side over side to see where it falls…but as stated, many of them require going back to the start spot.
Hope this wasn’t totally confusing.
G.L.
redbird985
I don’t know if this has been picked up on anywhere, but the little diamond symbol with the words “EARTH, AIR, FIRE, WATER” in it is one of those cool optical illusions (for lack of a better term) that is identical when rotated 180 degrees.
total score was 4226 – air killed my score! looking forward to round 2.
Yays!!
Earth: 488
Air: 4506
Fire: 470
Water: 125
Total: 5589
I actually thought water was very easy…i hated air and fire
noobs lol. finale score = 2298. who is ready for round dos! see u march 6th
water photosynth is located on the front of the big desk with the single white chair behind it.
Thanks Redbird and Brandon! I ‘ve got one more water puzzle to go…
do you think there is some way they take in to account the actual puzzle you played that resulted in a score? playing some earth puzzles… i don’t think they all have the same number of moves to solution, which varies the score–so you could have the lowest possible score for puzzle A, but puzzle B may have a lower possible score?
Total 4179 … I know thats lousy, but oh well! it was a great diversion from work
Found a 38 on water 3, so a score of 82 is possible.
Good luck, everyone.
Total score for round one 9735- yikes
katie,
You’re right. Each puzzle has a different lowest possible score. Not only do you have to find the lowest score, but you have to find the lowest score on every puzzle to truly get the lowest possible score. That’s how some of us got such low scores. I presume that’s why they gave us a week for each category. I agree it beats the heck out of work.
total 5904 (eeewwww..!!)
earth 275
air 4405
fire 740
water 484
I was confused about getting the highest or lowest score… anyways.. any comments???
DilemmaDave, that’s an ambigram. The book Angels and Demons is chock full of them. I think the one with all the elements was called the Illuminati Diamond. I don’t know how many times I flipped my book over and over just to make sure the words didn’t change
Good job everyone! Awesome scores. I’m in the 2600′s somewhere. It’s rough when I re-play and get MUCH lower scores than what I posted. Oh well, that’s the breaks!
Yep, all puzzles have a different scores; I got tired of the repetitions so just started taking scores that looked good;
E-91
A-2259
F-492
W-113
finaly got the clues to enter.
Brandon,
38 on water level 3 is very impressive…are you certain about that or is there a chance you miscounted? It did seem very much like 40 was the most efficient score on the optimal board. Did you achieve it on the same board that you had earlier gotten 40?
Hats off to you,
David
Never done anything like this before but the remote chance of going to Rome was an incentive, however with a first round score of 9710 I can’t see it somehow ! Found the last level of water really tough but I was determined to finish – I only found out about the competition on Tuesday so I am glad that I at least completed it !!
Wow, I can’t believe I didn’t know about this forum until yesterday. It’d given me a better sense for how badly I was doing! Btw, hello everyone.
David, 38 on Level 3 of Water is indeed possible as that’s what I got…the only high point in a largely mediocre performance (my Rnd1 total is 3485). Looks like you’re someone who’s well into these puzzles. What are your scores like?
Cheryl
Hi Cheryl,
Wow, 38 didn’t seem possible. I’ll have to explore that more. I submitted scores of 14/30/40 for Water (total of about 2400 for all 4, too lazy to write out the breakdown…nothing too unusual or inspiring).
Maybe you shouldn’t say since some people might be trolling for clues, but would you feel comfortable saying which board you got the 38 on? (hard to describe in words, I know).
David
First of, Hello to all. I wish I had known about this forum sooner. It might have encouraged me to better my scores. Oh well. I don’t think I did too bad with a total of 2664 (E – 107, A – 2233. F – 212, W – 112). Guess I’ll just have to redouble my efforts for round 2. Good luck to all.
Cheryl and Brandon,
Figured out the 38…very satisfying! Wish I found it earlier, but I appreciate you guys letting us know what’s possible.
Good luck,
David
Thanks to everyone! the photosynth was driving me crazy and your hints helped me find the clues. my score was not impressive but I’m glad I finished it
E – 113
A – 5106
F – 500
W – 204
c-u next round
BTW I did the air, fire, and water all within the last two hours
Hi all, just found this tonight and got them all done, just in time,
E-210
A-3491
F-868
W- 432
total 5001
Hey guys. Three things:
1) Thank you for the help on the photosynth symbols; couldn’t have done it otherwise.
2) So far (missing level three fire):
Earth: 80
Air: 2001
Fire: 87
Water: 96
Running Total: 2264
3) Just a general FYI (I don’t want to start anything), there are glitches with “Fire”. I’ve caught multiple codes being changed and have proof of at least one from level one. Anyone know of a contact email for the contest? I’d just like to inform them of it.
Earth 80
Air 1926
Fire 120 (didn’t feel like spending time restarting it over and over)
Water 86
Total: 2212
*sigh* seems like my good score is for nothing since people with much worse scores are getting into round 2…
@madhottphish
What do you mean code being changed?
From what I understand is that Fire has some type of random generator. Also it has an exception of having all in the first row, because then people could have a score of 0.
Sometimes the fire codes are all 1′s, but it just won’t give you credit for getting a “zero” score if you guess it.
Baka,
Anyone who finishes all the puzzles and finds the Photosynth clues before the deadline qualifies for Round 2. Any score at all will get you in. Your low score will give you an advantage, though, because the 2 rounds will be added together to determine the winner.
Madhottphish,
I don’t think there are any glitches in Fire. The problem comes when the player makes such strong assumptions about the hidden colors that the final result almost seems impossible. If you go back and really look at the guesses and all of the possibilities you will the answer was the same all along. I was sure several times there was an error, too, but when I really looked at it, I saw it was my error, not the game’s. It was really hard to see sometimes.
How do you do the air round. The left side air doesn’t do anything.
Madhottphish, you’re right about the glitches i found one too where the final right answer didn’t match one of the set of dots.
Final Score: 2970
Three more things:
1) Name’s Kurt
2) Final Scores:
Earth: 80
Air: 2001
Fire: 252 (slipped on submitting level 3)
Water: 96
Total: 2429
3) I caught Fire changing codes on me (or however you’d like to describe it). I have a screen shot of level, but so far have not been able to find any other change (I’ve probably repeated the level over 200 times).
I can’t find any contact email for the contest and I really just want this out in the open (I don’t see how else they’ll know), so this is what I’ll do. I took a screen shot of the fire level on which it seems to have changed codes on me. If you’d like me to send it to you, I set up the below email.
firecodechanged@hotmail.com
I’ll be happy to send it to whomever would like to look it over.
Started late (Feb 26 at 3pm – where does the time go?) but managed to finish 4 puzzles and photosynth by 3am – fire was hardest for me and my overall scores were abysmal (12000+) but had fun. The clue finding was harder than the puzzles. Wish I had seen this first. I did not seem to realize I could solve the puzzle layers and then re-solve for a good score.
Baka, you were quite correct. There was no discrepancy with the puzzle I thought had changed codes.
Shortly after posting the email, the administration of the contest contacted me and helped me to realize the correct interpretation, correlating with the solution as well.
I’d still be happy to email the picture to those interested, but there is no longer any question of consistency in it.
David, glad you figured out the 38. Sorry couldn’t get back to you earlier…don’t have internet at home. I know, my boss is not going to be happy when he finds out what I’ve been doing at work!
Baka, your scores are amazing! Yours and Brandon’s must be among the best. I’m especially impressed by your Air performance. Do you mind telling me what your breakdown was for Air and which puzzle you solved for Level 3? The lowest I got for level 3 was above 1300!!
madhottphish, could you post the response from the admin? Just curious about what they had to say. Also, how did you manage to contact the admin or are they actually following these forums?!!
Cheryl
Cheryl,
My assumption would be that the administration keeps up on anything online having to do with the contest that they can find because they contacted me first.
Their response was just an explanation of the solution as well as a ‘thank you’ for explaining it all to them. If you’d like to see it, please email me (firecodechanged@hotmail.com), but I’d have to post the picture for the administrator’s response to make any sense.
~Kurt
@newcomer
On level three of air I got 829. (But I know people who got 801-799!!!) *tried so hard for it… but couldn’t get that low*
If I remember correctly, it was a puzzle where there was a key floating in the middle and both the start and the exit were in the top left. I hope this helps!
@casey
Thank you, I didn’t realize that
Why don’t we just call this “The Air Puzzle Contest”, since that’s what it’s all going to come down to?
hi there fellow game players..
I scored around 4000..most of that was through silly air game and I only discovered contest a week before the closing date so didn’t get a lot of practice in!! Am really looking forward to round 2. Are there any runner up prizes?
hello, does anyone know if there is any “more in-depth” information on round two on the net rather than what is already given in the aspect of a one-chance score? just curious
Steve,
I actually think that the contest will be determined more by fire than by air. While the air scores are by far the highest number, the real issue is not the absolute value of a score, but the difference between a competitive score and a non-competitive one. That is, if competitive contestants can all find a way to score between 800 and 850 on air level 3, you can really subtract 800 from each and consider their scores to range from 0 to 50. Most likely, a handful of players will have an identical “best” score, whatever that may be.
For fire, however, there is really an unpredictable range of possibilities for level 3. For levels 1 and 2, it is very possible to get a score of 1 if you were willing to take the time to repeatedly guess until you guessed correctly on the first try (with odds of 1:256 and 1:1296 respectively). For level 3, even repeated playing will probably get you in the range of 45 to 75, and will be based partially on luck. The person lucky and/or persistent enough to get a score of less than 45, while getting the optimal scores on all other sections, will be the one in the best position for round 2.
I would agree that earth and water will not be the categories that determine the winner.
@david
For it to be fair, I hope that in round 2 everyone will get the same puzzle to solve, even for fire. That will eliminate any luck to occur. (of course if people are working together this would be very unfair). I assume that it will be similar to the setup of level 3 or harder.
But you are right, though I didn’t get the best scores on a lot of the puzzles my scores were very close. But my fire was very off because I wasn’t persistent enough to try for lower scores.
But, I also agree with Steve that if someone isn’t good at air, but good at all of the rest. It might lose you the chance to win because the score will be much farther apart than if you were not very good at earth.
While neither way would be perfect, I think it would be fairer (more fair?) for the fire puzzle to be random in the next round. If there’s only one code, then it’s just a matter of time until someone posts it online. Then we’d all have to choose whether to play using standard strategies with no real chance of winning, or enter the known solution and feel a little dirty about it.
I actually think that it’s perfectly kosher for people to play as teams, with friends sharing their solutions during the first round before submitting them. It does raise an interesting question for round two: can one person watch their friend play the second round before attempting it themselves? There’s no rule against doing this (is there?), and with a winner-take-all contest among thousands of people, every strategy that doesn’t break the rules should be considered.
Almost every large puzzle contest requires the winner to bend the rules, but they should never be broken. (The Da Vinci code contest winner clearly broke the rules by using an automated mouse program, although I have to admit I was impressed with their creativity).
I’m interested to hear what others think would be fair and unfair in this contest.
David,
I have to say, concerning your question of “an one person watch their friend play the second round before attempting it themselves?,” I see no reason for one not to.
I am unaware of any rule against it, let alone the idea of one person setting up multiple accounts and using them in Round 2 to “practice.” As far as I see it, the PR for Angels and Demons was not wholly concerned with who wins or how, but getting the movie out there and raising interest.
On the other hand, the game is based mainly upon skill, not luck and this is what attracted me to it. These are all puzzles, of which only the keenest mind will obtain the lowest score. Think of it this way (for those who’ve read the book – I’m only part way through it myself): the Illuminati set up a puzzle for only the most intelligent scientists to be able to crack and follow to the Church of Illuminati, but it didn’t matter whether they followed someone else, figured it out themselves, or found a “cheating” way to complete it – if they completed it, they completed it. The game will run the same way.
Much like you’ve pointed out yourself, if someone is willing to take the painstaking time to repeat level one rounds to get the best score, they may just be smart enough to get together with friends on Round 2, or have already set up multiple accounts in order to “practice.”
The end goal is the lowest score, but there’s no way to ensure that the game play is fair. May the brightest, most cunning person win!
Kurt,
You’re absolutely right. Why wouldn’t you share your game strategy with someone who would take you to Rome or give you a motorcycle? BTW, my wife’s score is much better than mine.
Hello,
Brandon I really want to talk to you but I would prefer to communicate through e-mail, please e-mail me at ocubermensch@yahoo.com
Also, what’s the lowest score anyone has heard of someone getting?
Brandon,
So your account would be the practice. Haha. So far my cohort has a lower score than me by about 100, so it’s not quite much better. We haven’t figured out our strategy yet. But it’s all for fun.
Ocubermensch,
Here are the lowest scores I’ve seen/heard of broken down by levels (but I’m sure there are some better ones out there).
Earth: 16 – 29 – 32
Air: 453 – 710 – 790
Fire: 11 – 32 – 45
Water: 16 – 34 – 46
~Kurt
Kurt,
I agree with you completely, and plan to use these methods myself. Signing up for multiple accounts using one’s own name would disqualify a contestant, but signing up friends and helping them complete the puzzles, and then sharing multiple (but legitimate) accounts for round 2 should not. The contest promoters will be happy to get new e-mail addresses and home addresses to use for future solicitations.
Should a friend of mine become fortunate enough to win, a little part of me worries that a contest representative would ask them, “did you solve everything by yourself?”, and they’d say, “no, my friend did and I just entered the answers in my own account”….and then they’d take the prize away. This is very unlikely to occur, but I’m probably not the only one considering such situations. Again, as you said the primary goal of this contest is to generate awareness of the movie, not to crown a puzzle king or queen. And the “small print rules”, which are very thorough, do not forbid teams from collaborating with multiple accounts.
The opposite is probably true…they want all of us to sign up our friends, even if it diminishes the integrity of the puzzle contest a little bit. Given the skill that these puzzles require, and the fact that effective teamwork is itself a skill, one could argue that the contest integrity is not compromised at all. But I’m sure solo players would disagree.
@Kurt
Brandon post something similar near the middle of the forum which is close but I’ll make my own and we’ll see how we all compare. I’ll star the ones I was able to get. I’ll make a ~ after Brandon’s and a ^ after Kurt’s.
Earth: 16* – 26* – 31~
Air: 398* – 699* – 790^ (Have you seen 790 with your own eyes? I have looked everywhere for a similar score and haven’t found it.)
Fire: 11^ – 29* – 45^ (I’m sure its always possible to get lower with these)
Water: 14* – 30* – 38~
Grand Total: 2042-51 + Fire
I agree with you guys.
Hm.. What would be fair?
Those with a low first round will vote for only ONE “fire” code. Then all of them would get the same score and no one could be betrayed by bad luck.
Others will vote for a random code. Thus, a good guess could open the door to Rome for many people.
Different levels on “air” could surely be even more decisive.
I may be wrong but I guess the “fire” will be chosen randomly like in round 1. Cause if more players tie for the best total score, the “fire” puzzle of round 2 will decide first. And after that the fire puzzles of round 1.. The conclusion is arguable but for me, that means a random code.
Air, Water and Earth:
.
Til now the developers did a really good job. I guess they will have made lots of different levels, they will have decided/calculated (for) a best possible score for each puzzle and that score will be the same for all levels. At least, that’s what I hope
Hm..could be close in the end, though. Wouldn’t underestimate the scores for Water and Earth, too.
Thank all of you for the comments and a big thx to the developers (so far
)!
Great discussion! I see David and Kurt’s point about how getting together with friends and solving as a group is not against the rules (even though it’s too late for me to employ this strategy myself). But there is also a “slippery slope” aspect to this: can people post their puzzles for Earth/Air/Water online and the solutions to them as well, making the whole round meaningless? They can claim that all readers of their blog/forum are one group and that there was no rule about restricting groups to a certain size or declaring them before a certain time, etc. In fact, I suspect something like this will happen should everyone get the same puzzle for Earth/Air/Water. While we’d agree that this is outright unfair, the question is where is the line? And how is it going to be enforced? I’ve no answers…I just like to think out loud!
As for Fire, I don’t see any way the same code can be given to everyone. Very soon we’ll have thousands of people getting a score of 1 for that puzzle. True that having different codes somewhat changes the playing field, but contestants will just have to live with that. The Eurostar Da Vinci Code contest made up for this by taking the best of 3 attempts (at least I think so…alcohol could’ve killed those memory cells) which I thought was a great idea.
Finally, I kinda agree with Steve and think that Air will be the make-or-break game. If Rnd2 is anything like Rnd 1 where Air accounted for 90% or more of the total score, being even 5% off from the best Air score pretty much negates any possibility of making up for it in the other puzzles. In my opinion, this score distribution mars what has otherwise been a very well thought out contest. Then again, as has been noted, the point of the contest was not necessarily to identify the greatest puzzle solver!
Good luck to all,
Cheryl
Ocubermensch: I think your question got transformed to a discussion about what the best possible score for Rnd 1 might be. So far as actual numbers are concerned, I came across 2170 and 2183 on another board.
On this one, Brandon’s wife may have the best score. What would that be, Brandon?
Do people KNOW of even lower scores? I realize that the best possible is in the 2050-2100 range, but just curious if anyone really knows of scores below 2150.
Cheryl
Earth 70, Air 2077 (miffed b/c a glitch submitted my score and I didn’t want it submitted), Fire 172, and Water 106 Total 2425
All things considered, not too bad I guess. I could have done better on Fire but got tired of messing with it and know I would have done better on Air if submitting my lowest had been possible. I wasn’t even touching my keyboard when it just submitted my score on its own. It wasn’t a long pause or even a short one so I don’t think it timed out and submitted it. I don’t know how it happened. Does anyone have a clue what to expect out of round two-any experience with DVC round 2? Thx
Wow!
70 for Earth, that’s really good.
15/25/30. I had 31 in level 3..but you’re right, I checked and 30 is possible. Well done!
15?!? 30?!?!
That’s the first I’ve seen of either possibility. I thought that 16/24/31 were the best possible scores for Earth. I had a feeling that 15 was possible for level 1 since there are three different screens (at least) where 16 is possible.
Now that round one has ended, would you be comfortable saying which screens you used to get those scores? I’m really impressed.
David
P.S. I haven’t seen this posted yet, but 393 is possible on level 1 of air. It’s the screen where the ball and door are right in the middle with a small block in between.
axl d, what was your total score?
Wow I did level 1 earth so many times and never got a 15…. but I just redid my level 3 earth right now and got the 30……. i submitted 31
Wifey got 2156
72
1905
97 (22 on fire 2)
82
That’s amazing, Brandon! Good for her! This is the best total score I’ve heard of so far. In fact, her total is less than what I got for Air alone!
I’ve been trying to play the Air puzzles again to see if I can improve on the scores I got. I managed to get my Level 2 down to 710 (yay!), but for the life of me I can’t understand how one can go below that! Some people have reported 699…that’s crazy!! I’m doing the one with both the ball and the hole near the bottom of an empty box (ball on the left, hole on the right). I must’ve tried it over 50 times and 710 is the lowest it’d go. Can anyone tell me what the magic trick is? There’s only one air tile to move around after all!
Cheryl
Cheryl–You get the 699 using a different puzzle. You’ll get it!
@ David
But 790 on level three is truly impressive.
Air: I can confirm the 393.
Fire: You wrote 24 for the second level. That means a 69 was possible or even better..man..and I imagined I could go in a Tie Breaker with the 71.
@ ocubermensch
.
Don’t be angry. I’m superstitious
@ David
The 15 in level 1: You start in the lower left corner, exit is in the upper right. Only one movable key. Now u know which screen?
Good Lord! Thanks, Casey. And I wasted all my time on that Air puzzle…jeez. I’ve also been struggling with Air Level 3. I somehow assumed that the right puzzle to solve must be the one with the ball and the hole on the same horizontal line in the middle with a key floating in between. I’m not getting anything below 845. Is that the puzzle in which people have got 800 and below? I’m just terrible at this…
Ocubermensch, care to share your scores?
Cheryl
Cheryl-wrong puzzle for level 3 Air. Find the one where the ball has to go the shortest distance.
axl can you give range of where ur score is in
The more I read about these lowest scores and such, the more I’m thinking the winner is going to be someone who doesn’t have a job and works at this non-stop. Haha.
To the thoughts of what Round 2 will be, my first thought is that it will be something like Earth or Water where you really have to think AHEAD. With that, they can weed a lot of people out quickly who have very similar scores, one bad move and you’re up 10-15% on score minimum. I think they’d get a lot of flack if they made Round 2 completely like Fire ’cause – as people have pointed out – it’s 90% luck and 10% diligence. I’ve point out before that the Path of Illumination was for those who could really figure out things that no one else could, so I see the “thinking ahead” as the closest example of that in the game.
However, on a reread of the contest rules, there will be FOUR Round 2 puzzles. I’m pretty firm in my guess that they will be one each of the previous styles: one Earth, one Air, one Fire, one Water.
@ Baka
A friend of mine who’s playing got the 790 I mentioned on Level 3 Air, but I’ll check with him again just to make sure I didn’t remember incorrectly.
And I was pretty upset that after submitting my level 1 Fire score of 27, I popped out that 11. I mean, the only lower score would be 1. Aahhh!! Haha (all in good fun.)
~Kurt
managed a 22 on fire 2. Couldn’t get under 57 on fire 3, ended up taking a 61
790 is probably right for fire 3. My friend managed to get 791 (and I saw it with my own eyes on the screen).
Thanks axl d for the description of the Earth 15 screen. I know what one you mean…I tested that one a million times and was sure that 16 was best! I’ll have to check it again.
…oops, I meant air 3, not fire 3. (791 on fire 3 isn’t quite as impressive).
Aaah…just got 15 on level 1 Earth. Beautiful. Thanks again, axl d. This forum is great.
Welcome
I’m really looking forward to the second round! Most fun was Earth for me.
Wish all of you good concentration for the fire puzzle and concerning air..that the ball won’t vanish before you want it to do so.
May I ask which Earth 3 board you used to get a score of 30?
I wonder if it’s the one where the screen is essentially a square within a square. I found that one to be the most difficult of the bunch…it would have felt right if the lowest score could be achieved on that board. Best score I could find for that puzzle was 33.
Exit around the middle, you start slightly above left. Four keys, not movable. You need all of them. Four barriers. Ok?
Would you tell me, which screen you took for the 24 in level 2?
Thanks!
axl, what country are you in?
did you get below 2100?
Did they take down the Round 1 puzzles?
The site seems to get partway in loading and then bails – I don’t know if it’s my browser or whether nothing is there.
I wanted to go through and verify all the lowest scores! (aaahhh!!)
~Kurt
the site works for me
Axl,
If I remember right, it’s the one that’s 14 x 14 and has one immovable key in the corner.
whats lowest for level 2 air? 697 is lowest i can get……
I actually got a 16/24/30. I couldn’t get below 16 on the first one. As to which puzzle, I couldn’t tell you. I kind of whizzed through them all with multiple attempts. I didn’t realize anyone was blogging about this stuff or I’d have paid more attention. There were a couple that kept annoying me so I kept trying hoping for a better one to come back around. Good luck in Round 2. I’m dying to go back to Rome. I think the chances are microscopic, but I’m willing to try. Vatican City is amazing and an all day must see!
@Ocubermensch
What map did you use to get 697?
You start on top left of the map, and underneath you are 3 mines slanted, the exit is on bottom right.
Axl,
Never mind, I couldn’t beat 25, and that was the 16 X 16 one with the immovable key in the spike corridor.
@ Ocubermensch
First off, every time I come back to these puzzles, there’s MORE maps I’ve never seen before. How many do they have?
Second, are you sure it was 697? I found the map and got 699, but can’t finesse a 697 as of yet.
~Kurt
Modify it a bit so you slightly touch the top wall and you should be able to get down to 697
@ Ocubermensch
That seems so counter intuitive, but it really does work. Nice job! Now I just gotta’ find the map again to get the screen shot (I was so excited I completely forgot).
thanks!
~Kurt
Thanks Brandon and Brenda ..I will try another screen on another day
.
@ ocubermensch
.
Germany. Should you still be interested in the score in about ten days, I will tell you
Btw a 20 is possible for Earth level 2, means a total 65. o_O
20? Wow!!
You guys are crazy, lol. I was trying to stay away from this discussion, but can’t seem to help it!
Axl, which is the Earth puzzle you’re talking about?
And, Kurt, I don’t understand…why wouldn’t you be collecting screenshots of past puzzles anyway? You’ve some sort of a blog going on…or is it just prep for Rnd 2? Either way, i admire the level of commitment you all have.
Cheryl
Oops, I meant to ask Kurt why he is collecting screenshots, not why he isn’t. I think I need some caffeine…
@ axl d
I second the motion – what Earch Level 2 puzzle do you get 20 on?
@ Cheryl
I just like having proof. I’m going back with these ‘lowest scores’ and verifying them for myself. It’s practice for sure, but the screen shots are for my own personal OCD I guess. Haha. But you never know when something could come of use!
~Kurt
nice axl, you are in germany that means i still might have a chance at country prize
@ ocubermensch
Unless you have a score below 2100 and multiple accounts, David will be very hard to beat for the US country prize. Anything is possible of course.
Kurt, haha…totally understand. Btw, I just sent you an email at the firecodechanged address.
Ocubermensch, considering that you’ve been after Axl’s details with such gusto, don’t you think you should reveal your scores as well? It seems a little unfair otherwise…
Cheryl
Earth level 2: You know the screen with the five squares? One little square in each corner and one in the middle. You start in the upper left, exit is in the lower right corner. Four movable keys, six barriers. Try it
, maybe it gets even better.
God..65. -.- Where is this going to end?
Thanks Axl.
Early in the game someone posted on Yahoo Answers the following scores for Earth-15, 16, 18 and a score of 700 for Air Level 3. I could never match them so, I just hoped it wasn’t true. Maybe they really are possible.
@ Casey
15/16/18?!? 700?!?
@ axl d
I’m hoping they will eventually post the best possible scores once the contest is finished.
~Kurt
@ Kurt
That’s what I thought! Impossible, but if Axl can get level 2 down to 20 with the possibility of going lower, who knows? There are a lot of different orders the movable keys can be opened. I can’t imagine how to get a 700 in Air, though.
@Casey,
I scrolled up and noticed David posted a score of 2400, does he have another account with a lower score, if so, what is the score?
———-
Hi gang,
I haven’t posted the exact score that “my friend” achieved…forgive me for being a little paranoid. Even though the friend is a real person with a real account who is willingly collaborating with me and entered a few solutions herself, the fact that she hasn’t been the one to primarily solve the puzzles makes me reluctant to say the exact score. It’s under 2100.
697 on level 2 air is very interesting. The 699 solution never felt like a satisfying solution, since it’s not particularly creative and doesn’t take any steps to shorten the path. Kudos on 697.
I just got 687 for level 2 air. Damn. It’s the same screen as the 699, with the right-blowing air as high as it can be to affect the ball. The up-blowing one can be adjusted to result in 687. The ball doesn’t even touch the top wall.
I’m somewhat happy to say that I’m having trouble reproducing the 687, so it’s not as though it’s easy to get. If I can get it again I’ll try to be more specific about where the two icons need to be placed.
So now the best known scores are:
Earth 1: 15
Earth 2: 20
Earth 3: 30
Air 1: 393
Air 2: 687
Air 3: 790
Fire 1: 1
Fire 2: 1
Fire 3: 1 (lowest possible, but not very likely. I won’t say what I got…let’s call it 50)
Water 1: 14
Water 2: 30
Water 3: 38
Lowest possible score (using a score of 1 for fire 3):
2020
Lowest possible score (using a score of 50 for fire 3):
2069
As I understand, each computer has it’s own individual IP address, I hope everyones “friends” scores are submitted on their own computers. I would think that a contest of this magnitude would check out any potential winner with the data stored on their server and see how many entries came from the same IP address. “Why yes, all 20 of my friends registered at my house!” I don’ t think they’d buy that as legit.
Lee11,
Why not? My friend was visiting me at our home when I told her about the contest. She registered while here and played every time she came to visit.
@ Lee11
Yes, you would think so, but the rules for this contest make no mention of IP addresses. It might be a good idea for contest promoters to limit entries to 2 or 3 per IP. That would take in account families using the same computer. However, contestants determined to have multiple accounts can always find a way. It is very hard to monitor.
…although I would agree that 20 registered users from the same home would be suspect. Still not illegal though and impossible to prove that many different people played on the same computer.
I would guess (and hope) that as long as all accounts are legitimately associated with different people with independently verifiable e-mail addresses, that it’s above board.
Well David we are close, but sounds like you have slightly better score at the moment, good luck in round 2
David didn’t say, but he could have more than 1 “friend” with a score near or below 2100. If this is so, he will have more than 1 chance at achieving a low final Fire score. This could certainly give him the advantage.
Ocubermensch,
What country are you in? It would be great if we could both win. I wish you all the best too.
At this point, any scores within 50 points of one another are very competitive, and any scores within 10 points have almost identical odds of winning (if the fire puzzle is the same as level 3 or harder). The winner will certainly need a little luck.
The top 20 scores at the end of this contest will probably belong to the 20 most skilled competitors, but the winner may simply be the luckiest of those 20.
David
The scores on air can in fact be much lower. I’ve been waiting for days to see who else discovered 633 for air level 2.
633! That’s amazing! Did you submit that score?
Would you be willing to say what board you got that on?
I don’t mind. It’s the one with 3 keys in the middle. You need 3 air tiles to do it. One a little below the rt. of the ball blowing to the left. And 2 more slightly below and to the left of the first tile I mentioned. One blowing up and one blowing to the right (almost on top of each other). I think most people assumed it would require so many air tiles to pass through 3 keys it wouldn’t work. But it’s actually less distance than any of the others.
@ Lee11
You’re a genius! I am kicking myself because I used 3 winds exactly the way you described for this puzzle, too, but I never seemed to be able to get it under 700. You had the patience to keep tweaking it.
That’s fantastic. I haven’t been able to reproduce that yet but I trust that it can be done. Congratulations, Lee11…that’s really impressive. I certainly had tried something similar many times before deciding that it wouldn’t lead to low scores. I wonder how many people figured that out.
Did you do as well on all the other sections?
And Casey, were you able to get 633 (or something close)?
Okay, I was able to reproduce the 633. Sigh. That’s a huge advantage to those who figured it out, and I can only imagine that there are quite a few others who aren’t posting online who got that too. It’s a much more elegant solve than the 699 that many of us submitted.
Hard to make up 66 points elsewhere, but anything’s possible.
Well done.
wow if 633 is possible in round 2 pretty sure my chances are low
ditto.
I started playing with that one again yesterday with the same strategy but wasn’t able to get it under 700, then I saw the 633 post. I thought there might be something to it since my first try I got 714. I gave up on that one before really giving it a shot, too. That one could be a game changer.
I wonder whether everyone will have the same puzzles (other than fire) come the 6th. I doubt it.
In any case, it’s nice to blog with you all, you all seem like pretty bright bulbs. I think you’d have to be terribly brilliant to win this thing. Good luck to you all.
633?! And like people have said, that’s just the lowest that people willing to post have found. I don’t want to imagine what the absolute lowest is.
*sigh*
~Kurt
I have an idea that I think would be fun to keep the discussion going and would be good practice.
Play each level 3 puzzle once. Do not reset the puzzle. Post your scores on this board.
Unfortunately we’re all fairly familiar with all of the puzzles, but I think it will give a pretty good idea for realistic scoring outcomes.
Hey Lee what was ur score for round 1
Wanna hear a funny story? It was the last day for water, I looked at the rules which said last puzzle must be completed by 9:59 am. I thought it was supposed to be midnight or something. It was 9:42 am and I still hadn’t submitted last 2 water scores or the photosynth. I freaked out and started to try to at least get scores submitted (no time for perfection) and finished at 9:57 with a crappy total for water of 108. Now here’s the funny part. A few minutes later I looked at my cell phone and yelled “OOOOOHHH Fuuuu…..”. My husband was like “What’s wrong with you?” It was only Feb 26. It’s a little funnier now, but not much!
633?! Great!
Wow..that’s tough..
Many of us lost these 66 points.. The more people with the 633, the lower our chances, I guess. But hey, nothing’s impossible! Don’t give up yet!
Great discussion here
lol good story lee, but did you still manage to get under 2100?
@ Lee
Something similar:
I had held off from submitting any scores for ANY of the puzzles until Feb. 26th with the thought that “Earth isn’t ‘due’ until the morning of the 27th and it would be best to continue practicing as long as possible.”
To make it short, a friend of mine (also playing) texted me and made me realize that EVERYTHING was due by the following morning. I panicked! I was up ’till 4am finishing the puzzles cause I knew I had a 9:00am meeting at work the next morning (so I couldn’t do any of it there). I came in the next morning, had my meeting, got back to the lab, had lunch, then came back to this forum and realized that the deadline was not EST, it was PST. I had until 12:59pm to finish. And every time someone posts the newest low score, I just want to cringe. Haha
@ Brandon
I think that’s a GREAT idea. I’ll go through it a couple times tonight and get back.
~Kurt
First attempt,
e 39
a 879
f 126
w 50
First attempt total 1094
Second Attempt:
e 38
a 1141 (the one where you have to go to the left then all the way back to the right)
f 94
w 62
2nd total: 1335
Third attempt:
e 46
a 815
f 87
w 38
Total: 986
So glad this forum is here. There aren’t a whole lot of people I know who wouldn’t be bored to tears hearing about the details, and I know better than to subject my wife to more than 5 minutes per day about it!
Lee11 and ocubermensch – would you be willing to say which 50-point range your scores are in? 2000-2050 / 2050-2100 / 2100-2150, etc.?
Lee11 – did you find a way to beat 393 or 791 for the other levels of air?
On another topic:
As far as someone using multiple accounts for this contest, it would be very difficult for one person to complete more than one competitive account. If the only way to get the lowest scores on fire is to play it for hours until you get lucky (and combine skill with luck on level 3 unless you’re outrageously lucky), few people would have the ability to dedicate that kind of time to multiple accounts.
First Attempt:
E: 45
A: 907
F: 125
W: 48
Total: 1125
@Brandon
Nice run!
@ David
There only needs to be ONE person who takes that much time to do the “difficult” and complete multiple competitive accounts. Remember, there’s only one winner.
~Kurt
@Kurt
That’s certainly true, but the number of hours in a day does put a realistic limit on the number of entries even a maniac could accomplish. Maybe 4-5 if they fully dedicated their life to the task, but not 20.
Back to the 633 score…that’s particularly impressive because there’s a way to get something like 715 that looks for all the world to be the most efficient way to solve it. The ball just touches the left-most key and then takes a direct arc to the hole. After seeing that, even a perfectionist would be tempted to assume that it would be tough to shave 15 points off the score, let alone 83.
There’s no way to stumble across that 633 solve by accident…those who got it deserve the advantage they hold.
Since we’ve got a few days to pass before round 2, a new topic to discuss could what strategies people used to get a low score for fire level 3.
My approach was to repeatedly restart the game unless one of the following occurred:
1. at least 3 white circles
2. 2 white circles plus at least 2 hollow circles
3. 1 white circle plus at least 3 hollow circles
4. at least 4 hollow circles
The plan was to play this way for one hour, write down the lowest score, and then play for as long as it took to beat that score (…it took about 4 hours).
Not sure how I’ll manage round two, since this method obviously would not apply. There’s probably no strategy better than crossing one’s fingers, taking great care to avoid mistakes, and hoping for some luck.
“bored to tears”, I love that saying
Lee…I take it you’re not comfortable talking about your scores. Should we stop asking?
Slightly under 2100. The last two digits just happen to be my lucky number so I feel like that’s the secret part.
Fair enough, and thanks for sharing. I assume you’re playing in the US?
Santa Barbara CA – Where are you guys?
Oakland, CA.
@ Brandon
first attempt
Earth: 40
Air: 803 (was lucky there)
Fire: 92
Water: 124 (<- don’t ask -.-)
total: 1059
The difference can be really high..and you’re right, we are familiar with THESE puzzles..so nothing should be decided yet.
Just got my notice saying I had made it to round two. One of 437 Canadians to do so, how many else where?
3497 made it to Round 2 in the United States.
3948 made it to Round 2….Congratualtions to the other 3,496
3497 contestants from the U.S. made it through.
Only 61 from Germany! o_O
Nice Steve,
Your odds are looking decent for a country bid. Any other low scorers from Canada that we’ve seen?
Pueblo, CO here.
@ David,
email me @ marlettfamily@yahoo.com and I will help you out with the fire. It’s a great way to separate yourself from the pack, so I’m not sure why I’m willing to help you, but if you win, you’ll have to send me a souvenir. My strategy is solid and will ALMOST ALWAYS lead to a fire score under 100.
BTW, there is a new photosynth, looks huge. It looks exactly how I imagined it would from the book.
I’m guessing they’re going to make us find the diamond shaped ambigram or the illuminati one. I’m not going to waste too much time on it til I know what I’m looking for.
4th attempt
e 36
a 1141 (there is no hope for getting a decenct score on some of those)
f 99
w 55
Total: 1331
(Air is just too important and it just seems to come down to chance.) ;(
@ Brandon
Are you talking about St. Peter’s? Wasn’t that just the practice photosynth?
5th attempt was good.
31
847
91
48
Total: 1017
@ Casey,
I never noticed it before. Maybe it’s been there all along, but I don’t remember it.
WOWOWOWO
Only 3497??? Also consider all the multiple accounts… if I would’ve known that such few people would move on to round 2 I would’ve spent more time on it.
FML
Please help. Everyone has gotten their emails and my husband and I haven’t. We did everything to our knowledge to sign up with windows live id, it told us it worked, it’s let us sign in to the game with our info. but something must not have been completed. I looked at my email, I did the confirm address for windows live id and got the email that says welcome. I don’t get this live id thing. I feel like crying.
@axl
That’s awesome odds. Probably those other 60 aren’t as crazy about this stuff as all of us are.
You’re practically a shoe-in for your country prize. It likely isn’t as exciting a prospect for you, since you’re a train ride away from the destination, but that’s really cool. I’m sure the hotel is fantastic and a movie premier for a great movie sounds like a great time. Plus, the grand prize is still in play.
This is so fun.
It’s saying I don’t have an inbox on one acct. (Isn’t that what signing up is for?) and the other acct. looks fine but no message.
@ Lee,
I just got mine at 8:02AM today. That was only a few hours ago. I wouldn’t be too worried yet. Check your junk folder, it’s not likely since it’s from MSN to be there but you never know.
Your live ID is most likely your email account that you used when you signed up. It’s likely a hotmail or an msn address or a live.com address. You will have to go to that account to find the email, I think.
If you need more help, just email me, I’ve posted my email on the board.
@ Lee11
You are not alone! I didn’t get an Email either and I signed up just like you did, without a hotmail account.
I have just sent an Email to the contest administrators at Eprize and have received an auto response that they will get back to me within 3 days. I took a guess that since Eprize is the administrator for the contest, they are the people to ask.
My board says that I am qualified for Round 2 and I am sure yours does as well, so hopefully we can continue tomorrow.
Also, we know from Kurt that the contest admins also read this blog, so maybe they will look into it today.
Is there a supposed to be a separate windows live id # apart from my email add and password I used to sign up?
Thanks for the info. Casey. How did you even find an address to email them – I looked everywhere?
Well, if you look at #2 in the contest rules it lists ePrize as contest administrator. I looked them up online and found a toll free number, where I got a recording to Email them. (It ‘s like a spy novel.)
I couldn’t get a live person, just recordings, but you might want to try again, it’s been a couple of hours. I sent the Email to fulfillment@eprizefulfillment.com which seemed to be the place to send questions about current promotions.
I hope that they are reading this blog and see that there is a problem with contestants who registered like we did.
I have a low score for Round 1, too, so I am really concerned about this.
@ Lee11
Hopefully they will write you soon. But if you have that “qualified for round 2″-message, when you sign in..you should be safe.
Keep us informed anyway!
@ Brandon
Thanks
Even if there are only 60..you never know. I will do my best! And I didn’t see Rome before, I’d LOVE to go there!
Besides, you’re right, the grand prize is great motivation!
Ya I’ve gotten those “you qualified” messages, but no emails. Just one question though – did you get your emails by logging into yahoo.com type acct. or did you actually have your email addresses tied into windows live id website?
@ Casey,
Great Detective Work!
@ Brandon
Thanks. I try!
Lee, pretty sure you need a windows live id to register for the contest……. so you wouldnt get the email to your yahoo type acct, however i dont remember the sign up screen was so long ago
Sounds like you guys are really practicing. My classes and work are keeping me far too occupied to practice. I guess I’ll just have to cross my fingers and dive in. I am curious-has anyone read the books? I read Davinci Code and just bought Angels but I had an exam today, so I wanted to wait till I finished to open it. I have a hard time putting a good book down and my exam score was much more important than this contest score, HOWEVER, not nearly as much fun. Good luck!
@ Brenda,
Angels and Demons is a fantastic book. Read it a few months ago.
The email communications that were sent function as a reminder that Round 2 starts tomorrow. Although they also indirectly confirm participation in Round 2, not receiving one is not an indication that you are not a participant. If you completed all the levels of each element and found all the Photosynth ambigrams you should be able to start playing Round 2 tomorrow at 10am PT.
@ illuminati
Thank you for responding!
Is there any way to fix the Email problem for future communications should there be any?
if admins read this board:
Please disqualify people who have multiple entries from the same IP, I do not understand how that would be justified as fair when people like myself only have 1 entry submitted on this IP
It really angers when I read people like David publicly admitting to submitting various entries and people like casey saying things like “David didn’t say, but he could have more than 1 “friend” with a score near or below 2100. If this is so, he will have more than 1 chance at achieving a low final Fire score. This could certainly give him the advantage.”
Cheaters, I thought maybe you didn’t receive an e-mail because you cheated and have multiple entries
Oh well, good luck and I hope a cheater like David, or someone who supports cheating like Casey doesn’t win
@ ocubermensch
You have totally misinterpreted me. I have no idea what score David has and I don’t personally know him. I was just speculating on the possibilities based on David’s previous posts on this forum regarding the strategy he was using. I was reading between the lines when I guessed his score was under 2100 and I was right. I thought his comments were far too detailed and well thought out for his score to be just mediocre.
I certainly do not support cheating and do not understand what I have written that makes you think I do.
ok sry for misinterpreting you
but i still I hope the admins can figure out a way to differentiate between legit entries and multiple entries from cheaters like David
Dumb question…couldn’t find it in the rules…if you happen to get killed on your first attempt will you continue to get attempts until you complete the puzzle as in the first round (as your score mounts ever higher) or are you just out? I am assuming/hoping that isn’t the case.
oh for some reason it sounded like you are really close to david since you seemed to know a lot about david’s multiple entries and scores
my bad
If you look at scoring criteria in the rules, it says
Your score will be determined based on the Scoring Criteria described in Section 5(a) above. You must complete all four (4) puzzles in Round 2 by the required deadline to record a score.
5a rules:
•Puzzle 1 score = (number of rotations) + (number of jumps) + (distance (per grid unit) the sphere traveled) + (number of deaths x 10)
•Puzzle 2 score = (distance (per pixel) the sphere traveled) + (number of ‘air’ tiles used x100);
•Puzzle 3 score = (total number of pegs placed) + (number of rounds needed to complete x10); and
•Puzzle 4 score = (total number of moves) + (number of deaths x10).
So yeah, you can get killed but it’ll really hurt your score greatly
I guess I still just don’t really understand why some people get a “congratulations” reminder and some don’t. That’s weird!
ocubermensch
With all due respect. We have three adults in our home who did the contest, all of us have seperate emails and are all of age. No where in the rules did it state that all three of us couldn’t play (even with the same ip address). All three of us are registered seperately with our real info.
Would you suggest we should all be disqualified as well? (our scores were nothing fabulous but that’s not really the point now is it?)
To all admins:
First of all, thank you for creating a contest that has been very enjoyable so far. Please help those of us on both sides of a debate to clarify the contest rules:
Is it against contest rules to encourage a friend to register, and then to work with them to complete the contest? My friend and I have honestly both worked on it…she has played every puzzle, can reproduce the solutions, and understands all the details of the contest through direct participation. However, being a more avid puzzle person, I was able to find lower scores than her for each level and showed her how to achieve those solutions.
I also openly admit that for all the fire levels, even though she completely understands the method, I did the grunt work of reloading the games because I had more time to devote to the task. I see this as teamwork, although I understand that others here see it otherwise.
Because I would not be able to go to Rome for family reasons, we are using her account as the competitive one. Again, with complete honesty, we are planning to get together to play my round 2 as a practice run, and then attempt hers as the real one. This gives us an advantage, but a puzzle contest is arguably about finding ways to gain an edge while following the rules.
We took great care to read through the rules of this contest, and we would genuinely want to know if we are in violation of the rules by approaching the contest this way. Hopefully you will confirm that my friend and I can continue to play in good conscience.
Thanks, and good luck to all in round 2.
@ David
You didn’t break any rule, the contest rules are made for things they can actually control, besides the trip for Rome is for 2, so it makes sense that contestants solve the puzzles with the person they want to go to Rome with.
@ ocubermensch
I think they’ll do all they can to disqualify people multi-accounting. I don’t think they are going to be doing IP checks, because of the reason Canuckgirl explained. They’ll probably check for registrations with the same e-mail, same name, last name, address, etc And they’ll probably ask potential winners for some kind of identification to match the registration information.
I got an email saying that I am in Round 2. My score is not as good as any here. Was there some kind of draw?
I am enjoying the puzzles.
Qualification for round 2 hast nothing to do with Scores, all you had to do was complete all 4 puzzles and find the clues.
I got a 389 for Air Level 1: Is that a record???
lol
yeah thats chill if you have a couple people in ur household but it sounded like david is simply just getting names of his friends and registering with their info and submitting entries for them and can justify it based on using different identities…
so yeah i’d understand if theres a couple entries in a household but it can be exploited to enter like 10-20 entries based on that which is highly unlikely and i hope admins are checking for that
i think that is a record gamepro, what was ur total score for round 1?
Wow, how on earth (water, air, and fire…bad joke…) did our comments board become so popular?? I seriously get e-mail updates for every single post you guys make LOL. Thanks for keeping the board alive and making it as huge as it’s become.
Round 2 begins tomorrow and it looks like only 3,497 US contestants made it through. I’ve posted the entire e-mail I’ve received from Microsoft up above.
Also, don’t hesitate to check out our main site, AngryWeb
We have a ton of random, yet entertaining stuff for you guys to meander through.
OK, I’m sorry if I’m still stuck on the email thing but the game site clearly say’s “We will send an email reminder” not ” We MIGHT send an email” or “We will send SOME people reminders and not others!” I just think it’s very strange….but WHATEVA!
Where’s David at?
I must have no life because I think I checked this forum like 100 times today!
Lee11, sorry to hear that you haven’t received the email. You had a great score too! Hope it all works out and you’ve no problems logging in tomorrow. Btw, did you check your junk mail settings? Do you have some sort of automatic deletion enabled? I ask because Hotmail tagged the mail from A&D as junk mail for me…and both are part of the same organization!
Ocubermensch, while I understand your frustration, there’s no easy way for the organizers to weed out the multiple accounts. Maybe this IP address method is one way (not too comfortable with all these concepts myself) if there are a large number of submissions associated with the same IP address. However, where I live there are quite a few unsecured wireless networks floating around, so maybe one can get around this check by logging on to different networks for different accounts? I’m not sure…
Cheryl
Yah I definitely checked my junk mail. Oh well, I guess I’m not very special. But thanks anyway!
Re: Lee11, “We will send SOME people reminders and not others!”
Must’ve been written by a Microsoft intern hehehe.
Is the latest Photosynth from St. Peters another puzzle to complete or is it just from the practice round?
David, I think you are taking this a little too seriously. You can still run for Prez. even though you are cheating, as they don’t really vet anyone anyway.
St Peters Photosynth has been there since the beginning. I wandered through it while trying to figure out how to work the thing. It’s nothing new. I think everyone sounds a bit on edge-anticipation? As for those who didn’t receive emails, if you log on and it says you’re on to round 2, I’d just take it at face value. I help my husband run a business from home and if we relied on emails for anything we’d be out of business. As I figure I am one of the older people hanging out here (44), I can suggest a little advice. What is meant to be will be, just have fun and relax. If you’re tense you certainly won’t do well. I figure I’m footing the bill for my next trip to Rome and without the benefit of a glam movie premier, so I’m just going to give it my best shot. Good luck!
I am in Texas by the way. It’s hot and not in a Paris Hilton kind of way…
Hey Brenda, one of my best friends lives in the Woodlands, TX.
Thanks Brenda!
@steve,
lol…you’re right, I should probably relax a bit. still, no one likes to be called a cheater, and I’d rather clarify things now than have my friend go through an inquisition later.
@gamepro,
389! Impressive. By the way, I recall the name gamepro from the ATT / DAR forums on a website called tweleve.org…are you the same person?
FWIW, I’ve not received an e-mail either. Maybe it’s because the word is out that I’m collaborating with a friend, or maybe they learned that I once pulled on a puppy’s tail when I was 4. My account seems to be working fine though.
@Lee11
Glad to know I’m not the only one with an addiction to this forum…I find it all quite exciting. It’s a great break from changing diapers and going to work!
@Lee11
I shop in The Woodlands all the time…I live in Huntsville and there aren’t many options….no crowds or traffic though! My sister and parents live in The Woodlands. It’s about 45 mins south of me but work takes us there frequently so it’s not out of the way. To give you some idea, Huntsville is FINALLY getting a Target store. I’m giddy with anticipation ; )
Oh and where are you Lee?
@Admins
It seems you wanted to make this contest all about skill, but that’s not possible, contestants also have to be lucky.
To get very low scores on round 2:
Earth = skill
Air = perfection/luck
Fire = Some methods can be used to “crack the code” but when you get to the point where you know what the last two numbers are but not the position it’s all about chance. And those 14 points can make you loose the prize.
Water = skill
You should give prizes to the people with the best scores after the Country Winner, it could be the first 20, a score range or the ones that took the least amount of days to submit a final score on each puzzle. The prize could be something like tickets for the movie premiere at a local movie theater.
After the contest is over please post the lowest possible scores for each level and a list of the best scores, if we don’t win at least we can brag a little about our rank lol
Santa Barbara, California
Brenda – I don’t have a Target either. LOL
@gamepro,
How did you get 387? I still can’t seem to beat 393. I assume it’s the same screen (just the ball, a box above it, and the door above the box). I get 393 by going around the right side of the box…working on the left side doesn’t work as well.
Is it possible to get the same low score solving any version of the puzzles?
The Saint Peter’s photosynth is already active I believe. I am trying to figure out how that braclet thing that appears actually works as a map. If anyone else already knows, feel free to share. I think the ambigram is going to be a diamond shape of the first 4, like in the book.
The air one is still killing me. I’ve been practising like a loon and the lowest I can get on level 3 air is 678
OH…PS. Good luck to all. This has been fun. Rome is probably the most amazing place I’ve ever been. I’ve even been to the Scavi where St. Peter’s bones are and did the Angels and Demons tour a few years back.
I’m not really doing the contest to win but I would give anything to go back again.
@ moz,
I am 100% sure that some puzzles have much higher lowest possible scores than others. Water is a great example. Some of the easier water 3 have a minimum score of 55, while one has a 38 (pretty sure that’s the lowest). Earth is the same way, but it’s a little closer, I think
Also, I think the local movie premier tickets idea is great. Unfortunately, I think they already made their budget for this contest and I expect them to stick with it. It does kinda suck that there really isn’t any kind of consolation prize mentioned. A bunch of us worked really hard (to get something for nothing).
@ Eugene,
Why is your web angry? Did someone knock it down with a broom?
i wonder if theres a place you could go to see a list of all the scores obtained by contestants. Also it would b