Round 268

Date Released: June 26th, 2008.
Date Rewarded: July 2nd, 2008.

A Grarrl was walking down a path one day when Illusen appeared in front of it. "Solve this puzzle, and you may pass," she said.

Another ancient tomb in the Lost Desert has the following grid of letters engraved on the tomb door:

If the correct letters are engraved on the tomb door, it will open. However, the last column of letters is missing.

If you figure out what the missing letters are and read down the last column of letters, what will it spell? For example, if the last column's letters were A, B, C, D, E, and F, you would submit "ABCDEF". Please submit your answer with NO SPACES; do not submit ANY information other than the answer. Otherwise, your submission may be disqualified.

Prize


Basic Spelling Songs

Click to show/hide solution

If you convert the letters into numbers using the following scheme, you will get a grid of numbers.

A = 1, B = 2, C = 3, ... X = 24, Y = 25, Z = 26

The grid of numbers is:

3	11	19	1	9	17
3	13	23	7	17	1
11	23	9	21	7	19
9	23	11	25	13	1
10	26	16	6	22	12
16	8	26	18	10	2

Notice that in the first row, each number is larger than its previous number by 8, i.e. 11 = 3 + 8, 19 = 11 + 8... Also, if a number is greater than 26, it can be converted into a modulo [1] of 26 (or subtracted by 26). In this case 19 + 8 = 27 and 27 mod 26 = 1 (or 27 - 26 = 1). So, you can find the last number by adding 8 into the fifth number in the first row (mod 26 if necessary)

In the second row, similar to the first row, but you need to add 10 (and do 26-modulo operation if necessary). Third row, add 12 (mod 26 if necessary). Forth row, add 14 (mod 26 if necessary). Fifth row, add 16 (mod 26 if necessary). Last row, add 18 (mod 26 if necessary).

After you get all the numbers in the last column, convert them back into letters using the above mapping technique. The answer is QASALB.

Results: 5199 people guessed the correct answer earning themselves 385 NP each.

References:
[1] Modulo operation

Round 267

Date Released: June 19th, 2008.
Date Rewarded: June 26th, 2008.

Jhudora was walking down a path one day when a Chomby appeared in front of it. "Solve this puzzle, and you may pass," it said.

An ancient tomb in the Lost Desert has the following grid of numbers engraved on the tomb door:

If the correct numbers are engraved on the tomb door, it will open. However, one of these numbers is wrong.

If you take the wrong number on this grid, and multiply it by the number it should be, what number would you get? For example, if the wrong number was 456 and you knew the correct number was 465, you would multiply the two and submit the answer "212040". Please only submit the answer as a number; do not show your work, or submit ANY information other than the answer. Otherwise, your submission may be disqualified.

Prize


Lost Desert Map Scroll

Click to show/hide solution

If you sort the number in the ascending order, you will get:

6, 15, 35, 77, 143, 221, 323, 437, 667, 897, 1147, 1517, 1763, 2021, 2491, 3127

We know that the prime number sequence is:

2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, 37, 41, 43, 47, 53, 59, 61 ...

Notice that:

2 x 3 = 6
3 x 5 = 15
5 x 7 = 35

The number in the sequence is the product of two consecutive prime numbers. Therefore, you can continue to test out the sequence until you find the wrong number in the sequence. It is 29 x 31 = 899, not 897. Therefore, the answer should be:

897 x 899 = 806403

Results: 4024 people guessed the correct answer. (earning themselves 498 NP each)

Round 266

Date Released: June 12th, 2008.
Date Rewarded: June 19th, 2008.

A Chomby was walking down a path one day when Jhudora appeared in front of it. "Solve this puzzle, and you may pass," she said.

You are presented with the following gibberish:

WLTT ZXPYGWO WR IRKBPP PK BOX OPHBVUALPN XR OOX YFHOMXPTL BVCRVDH?

"Here's a tool to help you," Jhudora said as she handed this to you:

What is the answer to the coded question? Please submit only a single-word answer.

Prize


Heart Shaped Chocolates

Click to show/hide solution

Assume the first letter ('W') is correct.

Here is the step to decode: move the middle ring of the wheel (you can move it in the flash above) so that the next decoding letter match in that ring matches with the previous decoded letter in the outer ring. The red arrow will point to the next decoded letter in the inner ring. The below steps are examples for the decoding process:

Second letter:
Previous decoded letter: 'W'
Decoding letter: 'L'
Decoded letter: 'H'

Third letter:
Previous decoded letter: 'H'
Decoding letter: 'T'
Decoded letter: 'A'

Fourth letter:
Previous decoded letter: 'A'
Decoding letter: 'T'
Decoded letter: 'T'

Therefore, the first word is 'WHAT'. If you do the rest of the sequence of letters, the question is 'WHAT SPECIES OF NEOPET IS THE SHOPKEEPER OF THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY?'. The answer is Kiko.

Results: 3769 people guessed the correct answer earning themselves 531 NP each.

Round 265

Date Released: June 5th, 2008.
Date Rewarded: June 12th, 2008.

A Chomby was walking down a path one day when Jhudora appeared in front of it. "Solve this puzzle, and you may pass," she said.

Suppose you're playing Destruct-O-Match III, and, on level one of Classic mode, you find that every block is the same colour!

How many points will you get for completing level one, assuming no powerups? Please submit only a number as your answer, with no extra information, or your answer may be disqualified.

Prize


Destruct-O-Match Stamp

Click to show/hide solution

In Classic mode and level 1, if you destroy more than 15 blocks at a time (without a powerup), the number of points you get is twice of the number of destroyed blocks. If you clear all the blocks, you also get 100 bonus points. The whole wall is a rectangle of 14 block wide and 12 block high. The number of points you will get is

points = 14 * 12 * 2 + 100 = 436

Results: 4151 people guessed the correct answer earning themselves 482 NP each.