Puzzle contest: Difference between revisions
Contestcen (talk | contribs) Starting a new article on the subject "Puzzle Contests" |
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Puzzle contests are popular competitions in which the objective is to solve a puzzle within a given time limit, and to obtain the best possible score among all players. Puzzle contests started in the 1940s and 1950s when millions of players tried to solve puzzles published in a wide range of newspapers and magazines. The first puzzle contests in that era were designed primaily to boost the circulation of the magazine or newspaper. These contests were usually free to play. |
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The most popular contest of this era was the Tangle Towns contest. These contests ran in newspapers in major cities. In this contest the names of local cities would be scrambled, such as WONKERY for NEW YORK. The player had to unscramble the name. As the contest progressed, two city names, and then three city names would all be scrambled together. The final tiebreaker would consist of several hundred letters from which the player would have to form 20 or 25 city names, with various scores assigned to different letters and letter combinations. |
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In the 1950s the focus of puzzle contests became fund-rasing. Organizations such as the Boy Scouts and the Salvation Army would advertise their contests in large-circulation magazines. These contests either had an entry fee to play, or required a donation to the sponsoring organization. The most popular format for these contests was a picture composed of digits. The player had to correctly add all of the digits. The final tiebreaker would require the player to draw a path through a grid of several hundred numbers to obtain the highest possible total. |
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[[This is just the start. The aim will be to cover contests up through today.]] |
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Revision as of 06:16, 21 June 2007
Puzzle contests are popular competitions in which the objective is to solve a puzzle within a given time limit, and to obtain the best possible score among all players. Puzzle contests started in the 1940s and 1950s when millions of players tried to solve puzzles published in a wide range of newspapers and magazines. The first puzzle contests in that era were designed primaily to boost the circulation of the magazine or newspaper. These contests were usually free to play.
The most popular contest of this era was the Tangle Towns contest. These contests ran in newspapers in major cities. In this contest the names of local cities would be scrambled, such as WONKERY for NEW YORK. The player had to unscramble the name. As the contest progressed, two city names, and then three city names would all be scrambled together. The final tiebreaker would consist of several hundred letters from which the player would have to form 20 or 25 city names, with various scores assigned to different letters and letter combinations.
In the 1950s the focus of puzzle contests became fund-rasing. Organizations such as the Boy Scouts and the Salvation Army would advertise their contests in large-circulation magazines. These contests either had an entry fee to play, or required a donation to the sponsoring organization. The most popular format for these contests was a picture composed of digits. The player had to correctly add all of the digits. The final tiebreaker would require the player to draw a path through a grid of several hundred numbers to obtain the highest possible total.