For the first time in this blog's history, you can solve puzzles and donate to charity at the same time! Whether you are a long-time reader or new to this blog, I hope you will enjoy solving these puzzles and supporting these causes. :)
How to enter:
This contest is a fund-raiser for three charities, listed below. Each charity has a ChipIn allowing you to donate to that charity; you may donate any amount you wish to each one. Every $5 donated to a charity earns you entries in that charity's prize raffle. (If you would like to donate money without entering the raffles, please leave a note accompanying your donation or e-mail me at glmathgrant[at]gmail[dot]com.) Each charity also has a logic puzzle attached to it; send an e-mail to glmathgrant[at]gmail[dot]com (preferably from the same e-mail address you used to donate) containing the answer to a charity's puzzle to earn one free raffle entry in that charity's drawing, plus a bonus entry for every $20 donated. (For example: a $20 donation is worth 4 raffle entries; a $20 donation plus a correct puzzle solution is worth 6 raffle entries.) There is also a grand prize drawing, which you may enter by donating $5 to every charity or by solving all of the puzzles (one raffle entry for doing one of these tasks, or three raffle entries for doing both).
How to win:
After the ChipIns expire on November 16, the winners will be determined by chance! So donate, solve the puzzles, and if you're lucky, random.org will favor you. Of course, the real winners in this contest aren't the recipients of the prizes, but the beneficiaries of the charities. :)
Prizes:
For the sake of brevity, more details about the prizes will be given below.
Terms:
By entering this contest, you agree to provide me with a mailing address in the event that you win. In return, my partners and I agree not to do anything malicious with this information. Short and sweet.
Now that you're done reading all that, here are the three contest puzzles. Good luck! :)
Charity 1:
Sanctuary Home for Children
Not all of the citizens of India are logic masters like Deb Mohanty; unfortunately, India also has orphans and widows. Sanctuary Home for Children aims to serve destitute orphans and widows in Tenali, India. My best friend and regular gaming partner Ray Pettit is one of the board members on the Abilene side of the operation, making this cause near and dear to my heart.
To donate to this charity and get an entry for this charity's prize drawing for every $5 donated,
CLICK HERE (or use the widget on the left side of the blog). To earn a free entry, plus a bonus entry for every $20 donated, solve this
Proof of Quilt puzzle:
What is the total number of black triangles (each occupying half a cell) in the three indicated columns? E-mail me this combined total (a single number).
Prize: One lucky winner will receive a copy of Shakashaka 1 by
Nikoli. Another lucky winner will receive
ThinkFun's Daily Puzzle, a cute puzzle which doubles as a desk calendar, created by Wei-Hwa Huang and Oskar van Deventer.
Charity 2:
Child's Play Charity
Child's Play aims to put video games in a number of children's hospitals around the world. Many video game fans, and even some companies in the video game industry, have contributed money to improve these children's lives, while some crazy people have raised awareness and donations by playing video games for extended periods of time (for some reason, watching people play Mario games and give things away affects my generosity and that of other Mario fans).
To donate to this charity and get an entry for this charity's prize drawing for every $5 donated,
CLICK HERE (or use the widget on the left side of the blog). To earn a free entry, plus a bonus entry for every $20 donated, solve this
Crowd Nine puzzle (that's Sudoku for those of you new to my blog):
What are the digits in the indicated row? E-mail me this series of nine digits.
Prize: One lucky winner will receive a copy of Fresh Sudoku 2 by
Nikoli. Another lucky winner will receive
ThinkFun's Daily Puzzle, a cute puzzle which doubles as a desk calendar, created by Wei-Hwa Huang and Oskar van Deventer.
Charity 3:
The Jack Vasel Memorial Fund
Tom Vasel, a highly-respected board game reviewer, named the Jack Vasel Memorial Fund after his son who passed away at a tragically young age. The generosity of others in the board game community during this hardship inspired Tom to pay it forward to other board gamers in need.
To donate to this charity and get an entry for this charity's prize drawing for every $5 donated,
CLICK HERE (or use the widget on the left side of the blog). To earn a free entry, plus a bonus entry for every $20 donated, solve this
Tetra Firma puzzle:
Which of the lettered cells are NOT shaded in (that is, the cells are white)? E-mail me this set of letters.
Prize: One lucky winner will receive a copy of LITS 1 by
Nikoli. Another lucky winner will receive
ThinkFun's Daily Puzzle, a cute puzzle which doubles as a desk calendar, created by Wei-Hwa Huang and Oskar van Deventer.
GOOD PRIZE:
To enter this drawing, solve all three puzzles. (Donations play no role in winning the good prize.) One lucky winner
will receive a very commemorative shirt featuring
artwork by an artist who goes by
Norzman!
GRAND PRIZE:
To enter this drawing, donate $5 to each of the three charities above, or solve all three puzzles. Doing one of these tasks will earn you one entry, while doing both will earn you three entries. One lucky winner will receive this grand prize package:
* Any single book from Nikoli's
Pencil Puzzle Books series!
* The shirt from the good prize mentioned above!
* A keyring and a necklace, both featuring carvings of elephants! These came from trips to Tenali, India (where the Sanctuary Home orphanage is based).
* Used copies of Brain Age and Brain Age 2 for the Nintendo DS! Brand new copies are beyond my prize budget, but used copies that aren't currently being used are well within my budget. These games have Sudoku puzzles which were previously published in Nikoli books, as well as minigames that purport to help keep your brain young.
* A wooden copy of my board game
Battle of LITS, made wooden by Lyris Laser Studios! This game is based on the Japanese logic puzzle LITS (known here as Tetra Firma – see above), and has been described as "cool" and "existent" (well, at least one of the two adjectives, anyway).
* A copy of
Heptalion by Spanish board game designer Néstor Romeral Andrés! In response to a puzzle posed by the designer, I created a board with the same properties as the default board, but a different shape; this board will be included with the game.
GIANT PUZZLES!
As added incentive for donating, I will post large puzzles if all of
the charities hit certain levels! (This is not a combined total; every
single one of the three charities must hit the threshold before the
deadline for it to count.)
At the $100 mark, puzzle 601 will be upgraded to the giant (31x45) size! (Puzzle 600 will be giant no matter what.)
At the $210 mark, puzzle 602 will be giant, too!
At the $330 mark, puzzle 603 will be giant!
At the $460 mark, puzzle 604 will be giant!
At the $600 mark, puzzle 605 will be giant!
At the $750 mark, puzzle 606 will be giant!
At the $1000 mark, puzzle 600 will be upgraded to a super-giant
(64x50)!
At the $1250 mark, puzzle 601 will be upgraded to a super-giant!
At the $1500 mark, puzzle 602 will be upgraded to a super-giant!
At the $1750 mark, puzzle 603 will be upgraded to a super-giant!
At the $2000 mark, puzzle 604 will be upgraded to a super-giant!
At the $2250 mark, puzzle 605 will be upgraded to a super-giant!
And last but not least, at the $2500 mark, puzzle 606 will be upgraded to a super-giant!
Get to solving! Get to donating!
