Welcome to the EggXpert Prize Box! If you're looking to win free stuff, you've come to the right place!
THE PRIZE BOX
To begin with, you should be introduced to the man of the hour...
Behind each of its sequentially numbered squares lies one of several things...
- Green Letters: Collecting these bad boys is your main goal. You want to be able to spell out either WIN, PRIZE, or BIGMONEY - do that, and you win a prize! WIN is spelled out three times in the Prize Box, PRIZE and BIGMONEY are spelled out twice.
- Blue Stars: If you're not big on spelling, try to grab one of these - you'll win instantly! There are two blue stars in the Prize Box.
- Green Stars: If you're particularly fond of spelling, look out for these guys - the green star will let you pick two additional spaces! There are three green stars in the Prize Box.
- Red Stars: Maybe you're a bit competitive? If you uncover one of these, you get to steal any letter of your choice from another player. If no other player has any letters yet, or you are the only player who has any letters, this counts as a red X (see below). There are five red stars in the Prize Box.
- Evil Smiley: This is the ultimate jerk card. It's like a red star on steroids - uncover this nuisance, and you get to steall ALL of the letters from any other player of your choice. If no other player has any letters yet, this counts as a red X (see below). There is one evil smiley in the Prize Box.
- Red X: Meet the bane of the Prize Box. This guy will award you nothing, zilch, nada, jack squat. Try to avoid them.
There is one other type of space in the Prize Box, but you'll all have to wait until someone picks it to find out what it is. Relax, it's not the "end of the world" space...
HOW TO UNCOVER SPACES
*RULES HAVE BEEN UPDATED*
(changes to PUZZLES section are marked in bold, MINIGAMES section is all new)
I can't have people picking spaces at will, now, can I? Stop thinking about it, that was rhetorical.
Anyway, this is where puzzles and minigames come in.
PUZZLES
As often as I can (at least once a week), I'll put up a (hopefully challenging) puzzle for you all to solve. The first person to correctly solve the puzzle gets to select a certain number of spaces from the Prize Box depending on how many clues have been posted for that particular puzzle (see below for more details on clues) - five spaces before the first clue, three spaces before the second, two spaces before the third, and one space after all clues have been posted. I'll then put up a new puzzle, and the cycle (vicious though it may be) will start over again.
You're only allowed to make two guesses to a puzzle every day. I'm counting a day as starting at 12:00am and ending at 11:59pm eastern (GMT -5), so figure out how that relates to you. It would also be lovely if you could precede your guesses with "OG:" (with the bolding) - meaning original guess - to help me pick them out from any chatter. If you don't make both of your guesses at the same time, you forefeit your second guess for that day.
If a puzzle isn't solved a week after I post it, I'll put up a clue to help out. I'll continue to do this up to three clues - if the puzzle still isn't solved a week after the third clue (four weeks after it was originally posted), I'll close it and start a new one.
MINIGAMES
Along with the current puzzle, a certain minigame will also be running. The minigames will rotate as they are won/completed. Making guesses/selections for minigames does not affect your guess limit for puzzles (your minigame guesses and puzzle guesses may also be in different posts, even if they are made on the same day).
Mastermind
If you've played Mastermind before, these rules should be mostly review.
The goal is to correctly guess a sequence of ten random numbers. For each guess you make, you'll be told how many numbers in your guess are in the winning sequence, and how many numbers in your guess are in the correct spot in the winning sequence. After you guess, I'll repost your guess(es) along with a key as to how many numbers in your guess are correct (and how), and I'll also keep a running tally of all the guesses. Whoever correctly guesses the winning sequence will get to pick a space from the Prize Box!
The key will consist of X's and O's - an X means you have a correct number in the correct spot, and an O means you have a correct number, but it's not in the right spot. As an example, let's pretend the correct sequence is 0000011111. If you made a guess of 1111111111, then your key for that guess would be XXXXX, since the last five numbers in your guess are in the correct sequence and are in the correct spot. If you had made a guess of 1111100000, your key would be OOOOOOOOOO, because you have all the correct numbers, but none of them are in the right spot. You can probably figure out that a key of XXXXXXXXXX means you've guessed the winning sequence.
You are limited on guesses in the same manner as the puzzles - two guesses per day, if you don't make them at the same time you lose your second guess for the day. When you post guesses for Mastermind, be sure to preceed them with "MG:". A Mastermind minigame will only end once someone has correctly guessed the winning sequence.
Roulette
The classic game of chance, but with my own rules attached.
Once the beginning of the minigame has been announced, everyone will have three days to select five different numbers between 1 and 100 (inclusive). After the third day, the Roulette "wheel" will be "spun". ...in actuality, I'll be using a random number generator, but it's pretty much the same thing... Anyway, five numbers will come out of the Roulette spin, and if any of them match any of the numbers you selected, you'll get to pick a space from the Prize Box - one per match! Yep, that means if (somehow) you manage to pick all five of the numbers that come out of the spin, you'll get to pick five spaces from the Prize Box! I'll keep a running tally of everyone's number selections.
You can only choose five numbers per spin, and they must all be in the same post - please put "RG:" before your Roulette number selections. . You may choose the same number(s) as someone else, but you may not change your number selection. As for the definition of three days, if I post that a Roulette minigame has started on Monday, you'll have until midnight Thursday/Friday to make your number selections, and I'll conduct (and post) the spin on Friday. The Roulette minigame will end after the spin has occurred.
Battleship
With a few modifications...
To begin with, we're playing on a 20x20 grid. There will be no pictures of it, either - you gotta use your imagination/drawing skills for this one.
Next, the "ships" only take up one "square" each. No five space long aircraft carriers here. However, there will be five ships on the grid to begin with.
Your arsenal consists of sonic torpedoes - if all you kill is water (murderer!), the weapon will send out a sonic burst, and you'll be informed how far away the closest ship is. If a ship is destroyed, the wreckage will still cause the sound to reflect, so keep in mind the target you're tracking may simply be leftovers.
The ranges will be calculated using - my favorite - the Pythagorean Theorem. So, let's say you take a shot at 3, 4, and the nearest ship is at 7, 12. The range returned from the shot would be 8.944 (sqrt(((7 - 3) ^ 2) + ((12 - 4) ^ 2))).
The rules are simple. Two shots per day (in BG: x-coordinate, y-coordinate format). You'll either get a range (in the case of a miss) or a "HIT!" (in the case of a not miss). Score a hit, and you get to select a space from the Prize Box!
I'll keep a running tally of the shot locations and their results. The Battleship minigame will conclude when all five ships are resting at the depths.
Other Minigames
If you have an idea for another minigame, let me know! I'd love to add more to the mix!
THE PRIZES
Now you're paying attention. As I said before, the main goal here is to collect enough letters to spell something (WIN, PRIZE, or BIGMONEY). All the prizes will come from Newegg, and will be paid for by yours truly. You get to select your own prize, up to a certain cost (pre-shipping - I'll pay for that on top of what you've won), determined by the following list...
Spell out WIN, and choose a prize up to $20!
Spell out PRIZE, and choose a prize up to $40!
Spell out BIGMONEY, and choose a prize up to $50!
Uncover a blue star, and choose a prize up to $20!
Once you've earned yourself a prize, I'll be sure to point it out in the thread, give you hearty congratulations, make a huge deal about it, and try my hardest to embarrass you in front of everyone else. After that, PM me with your prize selection (a link would be wonderful) and shipping info (I promise on my sacred super bouncy ball that I won't pass it to another soul, no matter how many skittles he gives me) and I'll order it for you.
A couple of stipulations here... No, I won't give you "credit" so you can knock $50 off of that graphics card you want. Also, you can only select one prize (per time you earn a prize); no picking multiple prizes that add up to the amount you've won.
OTHER THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW
First and foremost, I make the final calls. This means I make the decisions of who wins the puzzles (if some weird situation should arise), and I can also change the rules if I wish (I'll keep it fair - promise). I'm the one dishing out the cash for the prizes - keep that in mind!
Discussion of the current puzzle is encouraged! This is where it gets fun for me - I like to see how people work their way through things! I guess I'm kind've like that guy in Saw... Except less blood... And screaming... And death... And more happiness... Ya know what, I'm not anything like that guy from Saw - forget I mentioned him.
Players may trade letters they've won. The trade must be fair (one letter for one letter, two for two, etc.), and both players must PM me outlining the details of the trade (who's getting what from who) before the trade will be considered valid. Players may not give away letters.
This is an important one... Anyone who wants to play, can! All you have to do is start posting guesses!
*NEW RULE* Every ten puzzles, I'll send PM's to those players that have won letters, just to make sure they still want to participate in the Prize Box. If they don't respond within a week (I'll post on the thread when I send the PM's), I'll raffle off their letters to everyone else. At that time, I'll post what letters are up for grabs, and let people put their names into the pot for three days, after which I'll do a drawing to see who gets what.
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I think that about covers it. If you've got any questions at all, feel free to PM me or post them here. This whole sha-bang is under EggXpert administrative approval, so if they make a call on something, I'll respect them and their little slice of e-heaven.
The first puzzle will be up shortly - good luck and have fun!