50 + 30 points
mn0pq1 by S 4, space bug
June 6th, 2008 11:15 PM
Our pinch-hitter teammate visiting from Europe summed up our puzzling experience, but here's a little more!
I was something of Team Kaiju's "captain", as I assembled our motley crew, but can't take much individual credit beyond that. We were lucky to have a really good team dynamic, especially for a group that had never worked collaboratively on anything together- our skill sets and puzzle brains seemed to work in ways complementary enough to communicate well and differently enough to not get overly frustrated and always think of a new problem solving strategy. Two team members had never met until puzzle time! I think Matt deserves special recognition, considering he was a late entry, hadn't done any of the three teaser puzzles, and was still transitioning time zones and dominant language usage (significant for a game that used a lot of ciphering and word-play!)
The crazy weather only served to make the game more fun, to my mind, though I do admit our team had uncanny timing and managed to hit the worst of the hail/rain/thunderstorm when we were safely working out clues that happened to be indoors. Other puzzlers were not nearly so lucky- they arrived at our rendezvous point completely drenched, but still smiling. Our closest run-in with the elements was working out a puzzle while taking cover from the downpour in a bus shelter. We could see the puzzle set up from where we were, not more than 30 feet away, and soon the Game Control players joined us to stay dry. We were prepared to move on, again, just as the rain let up, but then we realized that two pieces of the puzzle had been taken in the few minutes Game Control had stepped away! Oh, dear! Prompt improvisation ensured that there would still be a clue intact for the teams yet to play though.
It is still a bit amazing to me that I was part of the winning team; I didn't expect that at all! I had been pretty frustrated with some of the teaser puzzles, and knew the game would be harder still. I think we owe the win to a great team, a good dose of luck, and also our willingness to take clues when needed. The time penalty was a fair price for what we got in terms of jump starting our thought process or in validation that we were on the right track.
Kudos to Oliver and Star5 for an incredibly well-organized and challenging game. It was wonderful fun. I look forward to the next one!
Check out our totally bitchin' trophy! Hell yeah!
I was something of Team Kaiju's "captain", as I assembled our motley crew, but can't take much individual credit beyond that. We were lucky to have a really good team dynamic, especially for a group that had never worked collaboratively on anything together- our skill sets and puzzle brains seemed to work in ways complementary enough to communicate well and differently enough to not get overly frustrated and always think of a new problem solving strategy. Two team members had never met until puzzle time! I think Matt deserves special recognition, considering he was a late entry, hadn't done any of the three teaser puzzles, and was still transitioning time zones and dominant language usage (significant for a game that used a lot of ciphering and word-play!)
The crazy weather only served to make the game more fun, to my mind, though I do admit our team had uncanny timing and managed to hit the worst of the hail/rain/thunderstorm when we were safely working out clues that happened to be indoors. Other puzzlers were not nearly so lucky- they arrived at our rendezvous point completely drenched, but still smiling. Our closest run-in with the elements was working out a puzzle while taking cover from the downpour in a bus shelter. We could see the puzzle set up from where we were, not more than 30 feet away, and soon the Game Control players joined us to stay dry. We were prepared to move on, again, just as the rain let up, but then we realized that two pieces of the puzzle had been taken in the few minutes Game Control had stepped away! Oh, dear! Prompt improvisation ensured that there would still be a clue intact for the teams yet to play though.
It is still a bit amazing to me that I was part of the winning team; I didn't expect that at all! I had been pretty frustrated with some of the teaser puzzles, and knew the game would be harder still. I think we owe the win to a great team, a good dose of luck, and also our willingness to take clues when needed. The time penalty was a fair price for what we got in terms of jump starting our thought process or in validation that we were on the right track.
Kudos to Oliver and Star5 for an incredibly well-organized and challenging game. It was wonderful fun. I look forward to the next one!
Check out our totally bitchin' trophy! Hell yeah!
Congratulations on your win! You very much earned it. Had we actually ended up winning by being the only team to finish, it would have been ill-deserved.