Room 34 Posted May 23, 2003 Share Posted May 23, 2003 In honor of my 2000th post to these forums, I am having a contest! It is inspired by the mental challenges posed for us by Pitfall Harry, along with my own Game Art Name Game from last year. ROOM 34's 2000th POST CONTEST! There are three parts to this contest: PART ONE: PHOTOSHOP TRICKERY Identify all of the alterations I've made to the Circus Atari cartridge label in the picture below. You must provide me with a list describing each of the changes, as well as the total number of changes made. (Relax... it is not a large number.) The changes are all distinct alterations to the printed content of the label. Some are obvious, some are not. Remember the total number of changes you've found, as you'll need it later in the contest. PART TWO: REVENGE OF THE GAME ART NAME GAME You are presented with a grid featuring close-up details of the box artwork from video games made for the Atari 2600 VCS. You must correctly identify the title of each game. Some games may appear more than once, but only if they have multiple box designs. PART THREE: MYSTERY CHALLENGE Once you've solved parts one and two, you are posed with a challenge: You must provide a specific piece of Atari 2600-related trivia. Parts one and two will steer you to the answer. You must provide both the challenge posed and its solution. Please do not post your answers in this thread. Rather, please send me a private message when you think you have a solution. You are welcome to submit a partial answer, but I must receive the complete answer to all of the following items within a single message to declare the winner: 1. List the details changed in the Circus Atari cartridge and the total number of changes made. 2. List the titles of the games in the grid, in numerical order. 3. Decipher the challenge posed by the solutions to #1 and #2 and give its answer. THE PRIZE The first person to send me a private message containing the complete solution to this challenge will win a copy of any homebrew or hack game cartridge of your choice from the AtariAge.com Store, up to a $25 value. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ATARI TROLL Posted May 23, 2003 Share Posted May 23, 2003 Nice layout and good idea for a contest! Good luck with it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Room 34 Posted May 23, 2003 Author Share Posted May 23, 2003 I should clarify something pertaining to sending me partial answers: If you send me a partial answer, I will only reveal to you whether or not you have successfully completed one (or more) of the three major parts of the contest. If you DO successfully complete one of the parts, you can then move on to the others knowing you're 1/3 of the way there. But if you've not completed a part, you will not get any clues from me to assist you. Also, even after you've completed part 1 or 2, I will not give you any additional information about those parts that may assist you with part 3. Good luck to all! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ATARIPITBULL Posted May 24, 2003 Share Posted May 24, 2003 I think I have to first part: 1) The word Atari is spelled wrong. 2) It should say "Use with paddle controllers. 3) The Atari symbol in the lower left corner is too big. 4) The CX number is wrong, it should be CX2630. 5) The copy date should be 1978. 6) The acrobat on the right side of the label should have a green coat on, not purple. 7) There are two ballons missing in the middle of the picture. I say there are 7 changes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy_Dude Posted May 24, 2003 Share Posted May 24, 2003 Number 13 could be ANY activision game... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+moycon Posted May 24, 2003 Share Posted May 24, 2003 Ohhh I hope I win Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Room 34 Posted May 24, 2003 Author Share Posted May 24, 2003 I am humbled at the sheer speed with which Ben (Pitfall Harry) has solved my puzzle. (He even got the box variations of Infiltrate correct, which were subtle but distinct.) Nice work, Ben! Here are my solutions to the puzzle, followed by a full quote of Ben's private message to me in which he solved it. PART ONE There are 10 changes in total to the Circus Atari label, as follows: 1. Changed "Paddle" to "Joystick" 2. Removed TM symbol 3. Removed ® symbol 4. Changed title from purple to red 5. Changed copyright year from 1978 to 1998 6. Removed blue balloons from center of art 7. Added extra white balloon on left side 8. Changed CX2630 to CX2633 9. Changed right side jumper's shirt from green to blue 10. Changed "ATARI" to "ATRAI" in title PART TWO The games are: 1. Indy 500 2. Memory Match 3. Air Raiders 4. Gauntlet 5. International Soccer (M Network) 6. Crossbow 7. Tax Avoiders 8. Infiltrate (standard box) 9. Thunderground 10. Lochjaw 11. Escape from the Mindmaster 12. Wabbit 13. Ice Hockey 14. Task Force 15. Halloween 16. Tac-Scan 17. H.E.R.O. 18. Infiltrate (blue box) 19. Shuttle Orbiter 20. River Patrol 21. Arcade Pinball 22. Room of Doom 23. International Soccer (Telegames) 24. Time Pilot 25. Yars' Revenge PART THREE If you take the first letter of each game title in the grid, they spell out: IMAGIC TITLE WITH THIS RARITY Using the number 10 from part one, your challenge is to identify the Imagic game that has a rarity of 10. The answer is: ATLANTIS II. Congratulations, Ben. Please send me a private message with your address and the homebrew or hack title (up to $25) from the AA store that you would like to receive! PART ONE - Photoshop Trickery Total Number of Changes: 10 The 10 changes made to the label of Circus Atari are as follows: 1. The positions of the 3rd and 4th letters of ATARI have been swapped so that a the title incorrectly reads CIRCUS ATRAI instead of CIRCUS ATARI. 2. A small white balloon has been added on the left side of the label, just below and to the left of the largest white balloon. 3. The color of the shirt on the acrobat on the right has been altered from green to blue. 4. The message "use with Paddle controllers" has been changed to "use with Joystick Controllers" 5. The copyright notice has been changed from 1978 to 1998 6. The TM annotation has been removed from "game program" 7. The registered trademark symbol (circled R) has been removed from the game's title, CIRCUS ATARI 8. The model number of the game has been altered from CX2630 to CX2633 9. Two balloons, which should appear below the left hand of the acrobat on the left are missing. 10. The color of CIRCUS ATARI has been altered from purple to red. PART TWO - Revenge of the Game Art Name Game 1. Indy 500 2. Memory Match 3. Air Raiders 4. Gauntlet 5. International Soccer (M Network) 6. Crossbow 7. Tax Avoiders 8. Infiltrate (Brown Box) 9. Thunderground 10. Lochjaw (also Shark Attack, older box) 11. Escape From The Mindmaster 12. Wabbit 13. Ice Hockey 14. Task Force 15. Halloween 16. Tac-Scan 17. H.E.R.O. 18. Infiltrate (Blue Box) 19. Shuttle Orbiter 20. River Patrol 21. Arcade Pinball 22. Room of Doom 23. International Soccer (Telegames) 24. Time Pilot 25. Yars' Revenge PART THREE - Imagic Title With This Rarity (Rarity 10) Atlantis II Ben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+moycon Posted May 24, 2003 Share Posted May 24, 2003 Sweet contest!!! Even if I didnt win... You made my night fly by at work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Room 34 Posted May 24, 2003 Author Share Posted May 24, 2003 Thanks for participating! I am planning to work up a few more puzzles like this, although I can't afford a $25 prize each time. I have a couple nice CIB Combats I could give away though! Clearly with the likes of Thomas and Ben around here I'll need to make them more difficult in the future, though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+moycon Posted May 24, 2003 Share Posted May 24, 2003 I would suggest seperate contests. One just for those two and another for the rest of us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Room 34 Posted May 24, 2003 Author Share Posted May 24, 2003 Moycon deserves honorable mention for providing a very good -- but not entirely correct or complete -- solution. He identified 7 changes to the Circus Atari label, but one of his changes was incorrect. (The Atari logo was not resized.) He identified 24 of the 25 games correctly, missing Time Pilot. He correctly deduced the challenge in part three, and if he had been correct about the number of changes to the Circus Atari label, his answer to the third part -- Wing War -- also would have been correct. Nice work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Room 34 Posted May 24, 2003 Author Share Posted May 24, 2003 I forgot to mention, Moycon's prize is a rust-covered loose PCB of Combat. And he has to come to my house to pick it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted May 24, 2003 Share Posted May 24, 2003 I would suggest seperate contests. One just for those two and another for the rest of us. Now that I stayed deliberately out of this contest, only to give everybody a fair chance , Ben jumps in and grabs the prize! Ok, you had your chance! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Room 34 Posted May 24, 2003 Author Share Posted May 24, 2003 I should amend what I said about Moycon's results -- I see he got his answers for part 1 from Ataripitbull's post. No rusty loose Combat PCB for you!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scooterb23 Posted May 24, 2003 Share Posted May 24, 2003 @ Room 34 - It's called using the resources available to you, of course, Moycon should have made sure he had good sources I of course always do all the work myself on these kind of puzzles...I'd never think about using somebody else's work for my own personal gain. My God, that last sentence was dripping with sarcasm... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted May 24, 2003 Share Posted May 24, 2003 My God, that last sentence was dripping with sarcasm... 499,000? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pitfall Harry Posted May 24, 2003 Share Posted May 24, 2003 Wow! This is the first contest posted on AtariAge I've ever won. I'd like to thank... Room 34 - for creating a FUN videogame challenge. Thomas - for giving me the idea of subtracting two images to quickly determine how they are different. Moycon - for working the late shift. Atari 2600 Homebrewers everywhere - for their extraordinary efforts to further the legacy of the greatest videogaming system ever made, without whose programming masterpieces my prize for winning would have been a rust-covered, loose PCB of Combat. Ben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+moycon Posted May 24, 2003 Share Posted May 24, 2003 Yeah that damn PITBULL screwed me again!!! Actually I had spent way too much time on part #2 and had to get an answer in... As it was I didn't get outta work on time.... and that sucks on a Saturday. Next time, I wont listen to PITBULL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Room 34 Posted May 24, 2003 Author Share Posted May 24, 2003 Room 34 - for creating a FUN videogame challenge. I'm glad you enjoyed it. ...my prize for winning would have been a rust-covered, loose PCB of Combat. Oh sorry, I forgot to tell you, I changed your prize to that too! Just kidding... your copy of Marble Craze is on its way! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Nathan Strum Posted May 24, 2003 Share Posted May 24, 2003 Hmmm... I guess I can stop working on this one. I'd gotten all of the changes right away (easy enough to do in Photoshop using "difference" to composite the two images), and had worked out most of the games, but not all of them. The annoying thing is - some of the games I didn't get are actually ones that I own! (grumble) Oh well. Nice contest! Congrats Ben! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scooterb23 Posted May 24, 2003 Share Posted May 24, 2003 @ Thomas - SHHHHH!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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