5.03.2010

Surely, you have nothing better to do

In response to the the contraction of the PCS season, the board of directors has voted to institute a sensible alternative (final vote: 1 for, 0 against) to relieve the monotony of those summer days without baseball. On days (other than Mondays) when the Dodgers are not playing, a puzzle will be posted for your viewing enjoyment. It's a little thing I like to call "Value Over Replacement Puzzle"

The rules are simple. The puzzle will be posted at 8:00 AM. When you have a solution, E-mail your answer to the address on the sidebar and post a notification in the comments. Sound familiar? Here's the lineup.
  • May 13
  • June 10
  • July 1
  • July 14
  • September 2
Because there always needs to be a meaningless distinction between leagues, there will be a few differences in the scoring system. When the puzzle is posted, each solver starts with 90 points, with 10 bonus points being awarded to the first correct solution. Every 15 minutes, 1 point will be subtracted from that total. A solution submitted at 10 am scores 82 points, while one submitted at 2pm scores 66, etc. If a player does not submit a correct solution before 11:00 pm, participation in the thread is still worth 10 points.

Rankings for the VORP classic will be calculated by a weighted total. The most recently solved puzzle will be worth 3 times the puzzle score, the previous puzzle will be worth twice the score, and older puzzles will be counted normally.

27 comments:

Josh S. said...

I'm in!

Nostradamus said...

Nice!

I hope I can lure some Sons over, just so they can have a taste of their own medicine.

Josh S. said...

You're nuts, btw. Trying to make one puzzle was hard enough (especially after somehow developing the rep of being clever...still not sure how I did that), never mind FIVE.

Nostradamus said...

I've never claimed otherwise. I've just been writing down all the stupid and incorrect ideas I've had when trying to solve PCS!

Steve Sax said...

I think I want to give this a shot, too.

MR.F said...

Hey, the comment page looks exactly like SoSG!

Nostradamus said...

@MR. F

*cough*knockoff*cough*

Steve K said...

I'll give it a shot! Unfortunately, I always take advantages of ways to waste some time...

Mr. LA Sports Czar said...

Puzzles? It'll never last.

Nostradamus said...

@MLASF

It was either than or EPL. I went for the broader niche market.

Sax, J. Steve, welcome aboard!

Eric Karros said...

I'll definitely take a look, but based on your PCS puzzle, I'm gonna go ahead and admit to being a little scared.

Nostradamus said...

@EK

It's ok to be scared.

I'm trying to keep a good mix of styles, You'll be fine (for the most part)

karina said...

You are a bunch of geeks!

I'm so in though i'm gonna fail all the time.

@MrCustomer EPL?

Nostradamus said...

@Karina

English
Premier
League

I'm trying to order the puzzles easier-to-harder to warm everyone up. I believe in you!

QuadSevens said...

This should be fun! I'll be ready for a bit of mind torture next week.

Bryan said...

I'm in, we'll see how many of these i can do

Kyle Baker said...

English
Premier
League

Wait, I know this one....EPL! Right? Answer sent? Do I get credit?

That puzzle was easy.

Nostradamus said...

@Dusty

Your current score has been doubled for that correct response!

Eric Karros said...

So I guess if I can't get the first one, I should just bail out while I can.

Actually, unfortunately I won't be able to participate in the first one next Thurs.

Mr C, I expect at least one poem-based puzzle. Nobody else ever seems to make those.

Nostradamus said...

There is at least 1 poetry puzzle in the queue, EK.

Paul said...

Wooooah.

This is like a Mr. C. Blog and the SOSG make the comments but then so do other regulars.

My mind is totally blown right now.

I am only good to look at these puzzles shake my head and then have night terrors about them.

Kyle Baker said...

Oh my god, why don't you just start a puzzle blog and solve a bunch of puzzles on that blog?

rbnlaw said...

Great. Another blog I can follow from afar at work.
Count me in for the cash and prizes!

karina said...

I'm with EK, more poem puzzles! (please)

Nostradamus said...

@EK/karina

*re-shuffles papers on desk*

OK, but don't say I didn't warn you!

karina said...

waiting anxiously...

Neeebs (The Original) said...

EPL

Epale of course, No?