Treasure Hunt...everybody lost.

[CapnRedBeard]

I honestly thought that it'd get solved in like 15 minutes after the last puzzle went live. An hour or two tops. Bit disappointed that nobody solved it...but I learned that 8 is too many puzzles to link for a prize only worth $130 or so. People get lazy, disinterested to keep at something for an entire month. Even when I sent out notices before each and every single puzzle.

But yet people play puzzle sites online all day for FREE...with no hope of a real prize. idk. There are still a few people sending in answers...but it's the same people...sending dozens of variants to their solutions...and right hand on the bible...even then nobody got it.

Here is the answer:

A cave named Ruined Skull 60 miles northwest (of) Capetown, Africa.

The (of) is not really in the clues...but I would've accepted it there or not there.

The tricks were as follows:

1. everyone got this...except for the guy that asked my riddle on a web site. Seriously guy...
2. The numbers were all even. They represented letters in the alphabet...counting by 2s. A = 2 B = 4...etc
3. How many miles? That was the title of the story...and also the question I wanted solved.
4. suduko...you are left with numbers. double blue box is for a 2 digit number...the blank boxes on bottom get filled...numbers to letters again...
5. self explanatory...with a jumble as a second twist
6. cipher action. I made it long to make it solvable. Notice patterns...obviously they represent letters. Look for word length, anywhere that's obviously a certain word...most common letters are vowels...most common vowels is e...this was very breakable imo.
7. easy one...but i really alwasy wanted to make one of these as I had a game book of puzzles like this that I loved as a child.
8. NOBODY GOT 8. The largest windrose...is in the header logo. Look at my avatar...it's a glorified windrose. But the largest one...is in the header. What letter does the top point...point too? E. What letter does the left pointing point point too? N. Therefore to get the dragon to the ship (all on screen on website the whole time) you would go Northwest. (diagonal) I obviously did this puzzle first as I had to design a logo around it. I was pleased with myself about the effort/idea. :)

Oh well...I had fun anyhoot...I now I have bars of silver to...put away in a box or something.

[Tiki Snakes]

I had a look at one point, but to be honest it just didn't look like fun. Sure, money is nice and all, but I'm not going to bang my head against an unfun puzzle for a month just out of greed.

[Yora]

In a world of "You are the 1,000,000 winner!", everything that can't tell me why I should give it my attention within the first 5 seconds gets ignored. And I looked at the website once and had no clue what it is about.

[CapnRedBeard]

I had a look at one point, but to be honest it just didn't look like fun. Sure, money is nice and all, but I'm not going to bang my head against an unfun puzzle for a month just out of greed.

But you'll go to work for money.

It's about 2 hours TOPS worth of puzzles. $130.

...just saying.

[Gnomish Wanderer]

Aww, I was so close but just couldn't figure out the Windrose one. I had lots of fun! Thanks for entertaining me anyway

[CapnRedBeard]

In a world of "You are the 1,000,000 winner!", everything that can't tell me why I should give it my attention within the first 5 seconds gets ignored. And I looked at the website once and had no clue what it is about.

Really?

Well puzzles do require more than 5 seconds of effort to solve. Just curious as to how you would've made it more "obvious." You seem to not like neon blinking spam...so we can rule that out...

You realize that the shorter the attention span is...the more neon blinking that will surface on the internet. Eventually attention spans will be so short...that the messages will be sent as flashes that are more subliminal than anything else. If those work? The assault will be on.

All because blinking neon spam...works. Doesn't mean I need to stoop to that level though.

[CapnRedBeard]

Aww, I was so close but just couldn't figure out the Windrose one. I had lots of fun! Thanks for entertaining me anyway

You were so very close indeed. The closest of every single person that played. Really. I was totally pulling for you.

(there were a few hundred that played...a few thousand that viewed)

[CapnRedBeard]

I thank all ya'll that did play.

[Brother Oni]

But you'll go to work for money.

It's about 2 hours TOPS worth of puzzles. $130.

...just saying.

2 hours tops if you already know how the puzzle setter thinks, you mean.

The prize also isn't $130 dollars, it's a commerative coin and 2 silver ingots, neither of which are as easily processable as cash, plus even if I did win it, I'd probably have to pay customs tax on that since the HMRC would intercept the package.

In my opinion, it seems like a lot of frustrating work for an awkward prize.

Also, why do you use so many ellipses in your posts?

[NerfTW]

People get lazy, disinterested to keep at something for an entire month. Even when I sent out notices before each and every single puzzle.



You realize that the shorter the attention span is...the more neon blinking that will surface on the internet. Eventually attention spans will be so short...that the messages will be sent as flashes that are more subliminal than anything else. If those work? The assault will be on.

All because blinking neon spam...works. Doesn't mean I need to stoop to that level though.


Here's an idea. Try accepting criticism without accusing everyone else of being "lazy" and having a "short attention span". I think maybe you should consider the fact that your puzzles are not as fun as you seem to think they are. That doesn't mean anyone here is "lazy", it just means your puzzles weren't fun.

Get over it. And you do sound like a spambot yourself. "Hey, why isn't anyone trying for this awesome money prize?"

Also, as mentioned, commemorative coins aren't worth any more than the metal used to make them. They certainly are not worth $130. Your prize is worth about $10 at a jewelers, to be honest.

[CapnRedBeard]

Here's an idea. Try accepting criticism without accusing everyone else of being "lazy" and having a "short attention span". I think maybe you should consider the fact that your puzzles are not as fun as you seem to think they are. That doesn't mean anyone here is "lazy", it just means your puzzles weren't fun.

Get over it. And you do sound like a spambot yourself. "Hey, why isn't anyone trying for this awesome money prize?"

Also, as mentioned, commemorative coins aren't worth any more than the metal used to make them. They certainly are not worth $130. Your prize is worth about $10 at a jewelers, to be honest.

You realize all money is based upon precious metal...do you not? Silver is about $30 an ounce and is accepted in every town in planet earth as currency. The 5 ounce coin is plated and the center is a silver blend as well.
That you think precious metals are a awkward prize speaks volumes.
The other two ingots are solid silver. Math. I can see why puzzles aren't fun for you.

I spent 100 hours overall on the project. You spent 10 seconds being insulting. Congrats.

edit: wow. just remarkably frustrated that people aren't a bit more cool in regards to getting something for nothing. If you don't like something...you actually don't have to say that to the person that obviously put a lot of effort into it. You can be PC about it all...not my cup of tea...looked like fun but I had a lot of other things I wanted to do...or not post at all.

Criticism like "It didn't look like fun" How is that constructive? You'd have to say what iyo is fun and what the person that created the ________ could do to make it more fun to you. That helpful part? Is the constructive part.

An example: "You are ugly and boring." <--- not constructive criticism.
"That outfit isn't very flattering to you and people aren't fond of hearing stories about cheese. Perhaps if you wore this outfit instead and tried to keep discussions flowing by engaging the listener more...you'd look as attractive and be as interesting as I know you are." <--- constructive criticism.

[Tiki Snakes]

All because blinking neon spam...works. Doesn't mean I need to stoop to that level though.

Neon blinking spam does not work. Not unless your success depends on filtering out people who aren't particularly gullible. (That is pretty much the explicit point of poorly written phishing attempts and overly obnoxious spam alike).

Claims of real cash prizes almost always inspire a similarly credulous response. If you wanted a better response, you'd have to be a lot more transparent and convincing over why you would be doing such a thing/what you have to gain and what it would actually entail.

also puzzles that actually were entertaining would help.

[CapnRedBeard]

Neon blinking spam does not work. Not unless your success depends on filtering out people who aren't particularly gullible. (That is pretty much the explicit point of poorly written phishing attempts and overly obnoxious spam alike).

Claims of real cash prizes almost always inspire a similarly credulous response. If you wanted a better response, you'd have to be a lot more transparent and convincing over why you would be doing such a thing/what you have to gain and what it would actually entail.

also puzzles that actually were entertaining would help.

Riddles, suduko, ciphers and crossword puzzles are not your bag I take it?
What is? Please see my edit in the post above yours. Thanks.

[Mistral]

You realize all money is based upon precious metal...do you not? Silver is about $30 an ounce and is accepted in every town in planet earth as currency. The 5 ounce coin is plated and the center is a silver blend as well.
That you think precious metals are a awkward prize speaks volumes.
The other two ingots are solid silver. Math. I can see why puzzles aren't fun for you.

I spent 100 hours overall on the project. You spent 10 seconds being insulting. Congrats.

I don't know where you are, but this country, as well as most others, uses a fiat currency issued by government-operated mints. Most stores here don't have measuring scales for precious metals offered straight, and are under no obligation to accept something that they cannot determine is false or not. If someone came in and asked me to exchange a silver ingot, or worse, a commemorative coin for services, my reaction would not be, "Sure," but closer to a blank "what." Your claim that "every town in planet earth (sic)" would accept it as currency is not at all accurate. You'd need to get it converted either at a pawn shop or a precious metals exchange, and both of those are going to take their cut as well.

To be honest, I didn't even look. I saw the various threads cluttering up the forum, and wondered why it couldn't go in one thread on the topic, but never once had sufficient interest to even look at the riddles. It just looked too spambot-like to me.

[CapnRedBeard]

I don't know where you are, but this country, as well as most others, uses a fiat currency issued by government-operated mints. Most stores here don't have measuring scales for precious metals offered straight, and are under no obligation to accept something that they cannot determine is false or not. If someone came in and asked me to exchange a silver ingot, or worse, a commemorative coin for services, my reaction would not be, "Sure," but closer to a blank "what." Your claim that "every town in planet earth (sic)" would accept it as currency is not at all accurate. You'd need to get it converted either at a pawn shop or a precious metals exchange, and both of those are going to take their cut as well.

To be honest, I didn't even look. I saw the various threads cluttering up the forum, and wondered why it couldn't go in one thread on the topic, but never once had sufficient interest to even look at the riddles. It just looked too spambot-like to me.

Do you have a jewelry store in your town? How many jewelry stores exist within 25 miles of you? I have about 1,000. But i do live in Chicago. Or *gasp* you could keep it. You are having issues with someone giving you silver for playing a game. A game that can be played without you having to do anything except think. No money has to be spent. No e-mail has to be given.

To be honest...I wonder why you would even post in this thread.

At this point...I wonder why I am even posting in this thread.

[Tyndmyr]

Neon blinking spam does not work. Not unless your success depends on filtering out people who aren't particularly gullible. (That is pretty much the explicit point of poorly written phishing attempts and overly obnoxious spam alike).

Claims of real cash prizes almost always inspire a similarly credulous response. If you wanted a better response, you'd have to be a lot more transparent and convincing over why you would be doing such a thing/what you have to gain and what it would actually entail.

also puzzles that actually were entertaining would help.

I must agree. I have never intentionally clicked on any neon blinking spam. I certainly have never purchased anything from neon blinking spam. In fact, I tend to avoid sites with neon blinking spam pretty hard. It reflects poorly on the site.

I admit I didn't even bother attempting this event because it struck me as being fairly overtly advertising, while sounding a little sketchy. Not horribly so, but frankly, my time is valuable, and "competitions" have been abused by advertisers before, so I tend to skim over them without even really seeing them. People who play puzzles on puzzle sites evidently like puzzles. Me? I could take 'em or leave 'em.

The time-restricted nature of it is also an issue. If I can pop on whenever, and attempt a puzzle, I might try it when I feel in the mood. Keeping up with a series of puzzles over a month? Probably not.

[polity4life]

Do you have a jewelry store in your town? How many jewelry stores exist within 25 miles of you? I have about 1,000. But i do live in Chicago. Or *gasp* you could keep it. You are having issues with someone giving you silver for playing a game. A game that can be played without you having to do anything except think. No money has to be spent. No e-mail has to be given.

To be honest...I wonder why you would even post in this thread.

At this point...I wonder why I am even posting in this thread.

You live in Chicago and you don't know that the dollar isn't a specie currency?

Anyway, you have quite a bit of usable feedback here in this thread.

First, don't take offense if people don't like what you make. It's going to happen. Just take a day off the boards, clear your head so you can objectively read what you've wrote today, and you should see the issue posters in this thread have.

Second, your pitch to draw people to your site to complete your puzzles was ineffective. People thought your tactics looked suspicious and explain why. Don't argue with them about their reasoning. Just take the feedback.

Third, your puzzles did not appeal to many people. They say it wasn't entertaining and didn't give much more. Most feedback will come in this form. Consider developing a tool to gather user feedback that's more than asking on a message board, "What did you think?"

Fourth, your carrot was not sufficient to draw people in. You're giving people a commodity and putting the onus on them to turn it into something useful. It didn't work. Sure you're giving it away but people didn't want it. Learn from this.

Finally, instead of blowing your dwindling social cache here in this community, you should just abandon this thread, review your processes and products, and see where you can improve.

[Tyndmyr]

Actually, I'd consider the silver ingots to be pretty badass as a prize. I've got no particular issue with that.

What's the goal of this treasure hunt anyway? Ad revenue? Traffic driving? Building a popular puzzle site? I'm not against any of these things, mind you, but knowing what you're after can allow us to give better advice.

[Mistral]

Do you have a jewelry store in your town? How many jewelry stores exist within 25 miles of you? I have about 1,000. But i do live in Chicago. Or *gasp* you could keep it. You are having issues with someone giving you silver for playing a game. A game that can be played without you having to do anything except think. No money has to be spent. No e-mail has to be given.

To be honest...I wonder why you would even post in this thread.

At this point...I wonder why I am even posting in this thread.

I only posted because you said that money is backed by precious metal and that any town would accept it as currency (that two-word qualifier being very important). Both of these are false, and were enough so that I effectively had to (and unwisely, it seems) respond. To be honest, an ingot of silver would be pretty neat prize to me. It's just that it is neither currency in itself, nor is it used in backing most currencies (including the US dollar, which was never backed by silver; the debates over the bimetallic standard in that nation were actually a really, really big political deal during the 19th century, to the point where entire presidential campaigns could founder on it). Claiming otherwise is disingenuous. It can be converted into currency, certainly, but so can most things.