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Puzzle Games (Games) Entertainment Games

2004 U.S. Puzzle Championship Winners 103

Posted by michael from the brain-teaser dept.
Fortran IV writes "The winner of the 2004 Google U.S. Puzzle Championship has been announced. Roger Barkan, last year's runner-up, scored 367 of a possible 432 points by solving 22 of 25 puzzles in just 2-1/2 hours. (It would take me an hour just to copy down all the answers.) This was previously mentioned here. The complete test is still available for the fun of it."
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2004 U.S. Puzzle Championship Winners More

2004 U.S. Puzzle Championship Winners

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  • OMG (Score:4, Funny)

    by Seeker_Omega ( 791930 ) on Sunday June 27, 2004 @01:46PM (#9544673)
    Dear God, It would take me a week just to figure out which side was up
    • I Google for PDF Password Recovery, crack the password then have plenty of time to get help working on this.

      Now, only if I had know about the contest beforehand.
      • ...when "Omni" magnizine used to publish "The World's Hardest IQ Test". The goal was to identify people who were in 180+ or triple sigma. Mensa ("table" in Latin) accepts the top 2% but Triple Sigma wants those who are in the top 1/10,000.

        What's really interesting is when Omni was going under. An "official" announcement went out that they were preparing to be an online magazine, then several months past, and *poof*

  • Google interview process? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Grant29 ( 701796 ) * on Sunday June 27, 2004 @01:59PM (#9544785) Homepage
    I wonder if Google takes some of the higher placed winners and offer them jobs? These contestants are probably the brainiacs Google would like to employ.

    --
    11 Gmail invitations availiable [retailretreat.com]
    • I would venture to say that these people are so smart they have a hard time functioning in the real world. So smart they forget to eat, or brush their hair for instance. I haven't studied up on any of them, and can't even read the test for it being /.'ed but I did see the practice test and all of my answers where C, C, C.

      • You'd think that, but Roger is the most normal genius you'll ever meet. Orders of magnitude more normal that I am for sure.

        Although his personal hygine has been in question in the past he does have a real job...

      • Re:Google interview process? (Score:1, Interesting)

        by Anonymous Coward
        That's why Google provides food, showers, laundry, haircuts, an onsite doctor, and other perks [google.com]
      • Curiously, it doesn't seem to work that way. Once you get past a certain level, geeks end up fitting in without any problems.

        For some reason, the cliche comic-book-store hygiene-less tech is never actually all that skilled - second- or third-tier at best.
        • I would argue against that. The cliche is alive and well. I work with 2 UNIX and AIX gurus who know anything you want to know and have helped me with several scripts. But you can't have a conversation with them that doesn't involve an OS. Kind of weird actually, but I do see it everyday. They are the most skilled AIX guys I have ever met.

          • Re:Google interview process? (Score:1, Insightful)

            by Anonymous Coward
            OK, but are these people really that smart (genius level) or are they just very knowledgeable about a particular subject, in this case UNIX/AIX?

            Think of it this way: people have a certain number of brain cells that they can dedicate to learning any particular set of fields of knowledge. Call this an "Intelligence Quotient". A reasonably smart person can become an expert on one particular subject if they dedicate their entire "Intelligence Quotient" to that subject. But this leaves them unable to carry

            • That's exactly what I was going to say, only you put it better than I would have. ;)

              Yeah, I think you're right about this. Just saying "they're great UNIX/AIX people" doesn't imply, in any way, that they're the top tier of everyone.

        • Curiously, it doesn't seem to work that way. Once you get past a certain level, geeks end up fitting in without any problems.

          For some reason, the cliche comic-book-store hygiene-less tech is never actually all that skilled - second- or third-tier at best.

          Amen. I attended a high school [bxscience.edu] that has produced five Nobel Prize winners in the 65 years it's been around. Although I didn't know him well, my class' valedictorian was by all accounts a quite normal guy who dated one of the school's most gorgeous girls e

    • Re:Google interview process? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Rageon ( 522706 ) on Sunday June 27, 2004 @02:33PM (#9545011)
      It's actually not all that uncommon for a company to do this. I've actually competed in a programming competition sponsored by Digikey (http://www.digikey.com/). When you think about it, the money they spend on crappy prizes a day of showing the geeks around is pretty smart. Basically, they bring the best students at schools from the area, and then figure out who the best amongst them are...and offer them jobs. Pretty smart idea, really.

      • oh yeah... (Score:5, Funny)

        by Rageon ( 522706 ) on Sunday June 27, 2004 @02:40PM (#9545062)
        I'm sorry, I forgot to add this. Nothing says "Hey Ladies", quite like "I've actually competed in a programming competition..."
      • You bet. Rather than hire the "right" person for each type of work skill, many smart managers are finding it to be better to "get the right people on the bus" (without regarding what their skillset is). Once you've done that, "get them in the right seat".

        The synergy of talented people who in a position to work together is infinitely stronger than getting the "best" person for each role. It's no different than an All-Star game (pick a sport). Pick the best of each position (right now, it's often done v

    • Re:Google interview process? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by ZorbaTHut ( 126196 ) on Sunday June 27, 2004 @02:53PM (#9545150) Homepage
      Probably. If you remember the Google Code Jam [google.com], I was #1 in the world before the finals (and bombed in the finals, so it goes.) There wasn't any pressure about "you should work for us", but it was quite clear that if anyone was *interested* in working for them, it was a definite possibility.

      AFAIK only two people were interested - me being one of them - and we both now have jobs at Google, although I don't start for another week and a half.

      I'd be surprised if this wasn't a similar deal.
    • I wonder if Google takes some of the higher placed winners and offer them jobs?

      I'm told that a previous World Puzzle Champion is an employee who was partially, if not primarily, responsible for pushing Google's association with this.

  • /. Google? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 27, 2004 @02:00PM (#9544793)
    Wait a minute... did we just slashdot Google?

  • GRRRRR..... (Score:2, Funny)

    by jwcorder ( 776512 )
    /.'ed already!!!

  • How ironic (Score:5, Informative)

    by Zorilla ( 791636 ) on Sunday June 27, 2004 @02:04PM (#9544824)
    ...a Google cache of a Google site that got slashdotted: Click Here [216.239.57.104]

  • Server already melting (Score:5, Informative)

    by Rupan ( 723469 ) on Sunday June 27, 2004 @02:07PM (#9544840) Homepage
    I am trying to get the actual challenge file, but for the moment I have the 180k instructions pdf mirrored here:

    http://www.css-auth.com/google/

    If/When I get the challenge file I will put it up there.

  • Here's a site for all you puzzle fans... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by queenofthe1ring ( 768698 ) * on Sunday June 27, 2004 @02:08PM (#9544848) Journal
    A great online puzzle site can be found here. [jigzone.com]

    Warning! can be very addictive, especially since the pieces make a most satisfying click noise when you snap them together. The site logs your completion times for the puzzles and the various types of pieces, so this can help everyone practice for next years contest.

  • Awesome! (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 27, 2004 @02:11PM (#9544870)
    Slashdotting Google! Is there nothing sacred left? How about slashdotting Slashdot [slashdot.org]?

  • Your tax dollars at work (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 27, 2004 @02:25PM (#9544953)
    I heard on NPR that the winner was a 'mathematician from Laurel Maryland'. I wonder who [nsa.gov] he works for??

  • Different/similar images note differences, etc... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Shanep ( 68243 ) on Sunday June 27, 2004 @02:32PM (#9545003) Homepage
    Since I was a child, I could always solve these puzzles within seconds.

    How? I cross my eyes so that the two images form an overlapped image to my perception. So I see three images, but concentrate on the "middle" image. This takes some concentration to retain focus and alignment, to begin with, but it does not take long to master doing it quickly.

    All the differences appear to flash and really jump out in an instant. That's about the best I could describe the effect. The hard part is trying to circle the differences with a pen whilst holding this state, because the pen comes into just one eyes view and causes loss of alignment.

    Anyone else do this?

    • Re:Different/similar images note differences, etc. (Score:5, Funny)

      by demsthenes ( 736957 ) on Sunday June 27, 2004 @02:43PM (#9545084)
      So your saying if I were drunk and had crossed vision, I could easily solve the puzzles faster than any sober man. Maybe thats how he finished these puzzles in 2 1/2 hours, the answeres just jumped out.
    • So, how many differences is there in Question 3 ?

      Only spotted 5 differences so far.

      "COAT AIR"
      The sun ray
      The river
      The bridge
      The bush above house

      • Cows pocket in 5.

        The bridge? They all look the same to me.

        The bush above the house? Again, all look the same to me.

        By river, you mean the extra riple around the bridge in 2?

        The diffs I see are:

        1. COAT AIR

        2. Extra ripple around bridge.

        3. Extra sun ray.

        4. No difference here.

        5. Cows right pocket (on our left) has moved.

        • The bridge? They all look the same to me.
          The bush above the house? Again, all look the same to me.

          Hmm.. about the bridge and the bush above the house. There are minor nitpicking differences, which might just be drawing defects.

          For the bush above the house, the highest bush is shaded in different tone (darker vs lighter) on the left outline.

          For the bridge, the "dots" on the bridge are not exactly the same. For example, in pic 3 and 5, the dot on the bridge along the highest row to the right side,

          • For the bush above the house, the highest bush is shaded in different tone (darker vs lighter) on the left outline.

            For the bridge, the "dots" on the bridge are not exactly the same. For example, in pic 3 and 5, the dot on the bridge along the highest row to the right side, differ from the rest.

            Okay. I picked out lots of very small differences that seemed to be the cause of dither-dots that did not have the same grouping or alignment as each other.

            Looking at the PDF, it seems that this is coming down to

    • Re:Different/similar images note differences, etc. (Score:1, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      yes - as a kid I too used the same trick (I'm some 50yrs older now but still works) - works well for stereo images though often I find my eyes need time to re-adjust - as a kid I used to look at regular patterns and 'move' the images of left and right eye to overlap on different components, I presume its a trick of moving the eyeball but retaining focus
    • Exactly. It's called stereopsis and it is how those 'magic eye' puzzles work. Any differences will literally jump out at you.

      http://members.lycos.co.uk/brisray/optill/vision 3. htm

    • I talked about my doing this in an earlier thread [slashdot.org]. In the practice test, they changed to problem to identify differences in the mirror image--which would screw this method. Did they change it back for the real test? That's not too smart.

  • Hmm, I know that guy.... (Score:5, Informative)

    by strook ( 634807 ) on Sunday June 27, 2004 @02:45PM (#9545091)
    I was roommates with Roger at summer camp way back in the day. His girlfriend would write him encoded letters and he'd figure out how to break the code. Silly me, I thought it was a waste of time....
  • Figuring out how to get to it while its slashdotted!

  • No it isn't.. (Score:3, Funny)

    by WhatAmIDoingHere ( 742870 ) <sexwithanimals@gmail.com> on Sunday June 27, 2004 @03:34PM (#9545452) Homepage
    The complete test is still available for the fun of it.

    Not after we got to it!

  • Questions 26, 27 & 28 Extra Credit! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Nom du Keyboard ( 633989 ) on Sunday June 27, 2004 @03:52PM (#9545562)
    26: Prove how SCO can have any hint of a case against IBM and Linux users. Show your work!

    27: At the current rate that the RIAA is suing file sharers, and given the world birthrate and spread of broadband, how long before they sue you? Negative and imaginary answers not accepted.

    28: The irresistable force (Slashdot users) and the immovable object (Google file servers) are about to clash. Predict the result to five decimal places.

    (After all, we need questions with real world significance, don't we?)

  • mirror (Score:4, Informative)

    by mahbidness ( 641513 ) on Sunday June 27, 2004 @03:53PM (#9545576) Homepage

  • Well, I got 7/25 right ... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by admiralh ( 21771 ) on Sunday June 27, 2004 @03:59PM (#9545613) Homepage
    for a score of 82. Though I really got 8, but I misentered the answer for 2.3, so is cost me 11 poins (-5 plus not getting the 6 it was worth). I still had fun, though. The final rankings haven't been posted yet, so I don't know how well I did comparatively. I did score better than last year, though.

    I just finished number 1 and submitted it with 8 seconds to spare.

    I got 1, 2.1, 3, 6, 8, 10 and 12 right. I missed 2.3, 5, and 16.

    I tried a few others (7, 9 especially) and realized I would not finish them in time.

    It seems they were much better organized this year. Last year, the server melted right at the deadline, and I wasn't able to submit my final answers until about 5 minutes after the deadline. Also, this year we got email confirmation of our scores, which is really nice. I'm eager to see the final statistics.

    Those people that scored best must practice these type of puzzles constantly and know the exact techniques to be able to solve them so quickly.

    More power to them.
  • Well, it is password protected, and I thought xpdf would ignore that, but obviously not. That sucks, and is this what it is going to be when we get DRM?

    I just love postscript more and more...

  • I Can't Find The Link (Score:3, Funny)

    by crem_d_genes ( 726860 ) * on Sunday June 27, 2004 @08:37PM (#9547199)
    I checked all through Yahoo....

  • It took me 3 tries to get past the password.....
  • These puzzles aren't that difficult. They just require some good reasoning and patience. If just for fun I can finish a good portion of the test sitting here scribbling a few things down on an envelope, I don't see how any real /.'er would have a problem.
    These are like logic questions. Two and a half hours doesn't seem that hard to accomplish a really great score - I don't consider myself very proficient at math and/or the advanced logic and reasoning disciplines either. Whats with being intimidated?

    • Re:Wha..? (Score:3, Insightful)

      by kevinatilusa ( 620125 )
      It's not that the puzzles are individually that difficult, but that there are so many of them. Several of the puzzles (a word search with some letters missing, for example, or some of the "matching pictures") can be brute forced in time. The catch is, there really isn't that much time...the winner averaged a puzzle solved every 6 minutes 49 seconds!

      I could solve some of the easiest puzzles in that time, but the more difficult puzzles would take me (and most other solvers) MUCH longer than 7 minutes to fi
      • I got 15 out of 25 in the time alloted (I did it during the official time on the 19th), and the two matching puzzles were the most time-consuming for me. The first was relatively easy, but it took me at least a good 10 minutes. The second, where you had to find the 10 differences and the ones that were unique, took me easily the most time out of ANY of the puzzles. A couple of the puzzles (Battleships and Full House) I actually had practice on before (thank you, GAMES Magazine), so they came off rather e
    • I'm not sure which puzzles you were scribbling from, but a lot of them, mainly the later puzzles, just end up being quite time-consuming unless you hit a leap of intuition right off the bat. And believe me, I didn't think 2.5 hours was that bad either, but between the test-taking anxiety and the frustration when looking through the test and seeing all of the problems I wasn't gonna be able to get right off the bat, that time FLEW. The test WAS fun, but unless you hit some kind of zone, there's little chan

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