FAQ
Got any questions? Send an e-mail to inquiries@coedastronomy.org - we'll post your question here, and answer it as best we can. For the purposes of this page, a question asked once is frequent enough.
--------------------------------------------------What's the point? I'm concerned that due to the rushed nature of the event, I'll be frustrated on Sunday solving poorly thought out and not well tested puzzles.
This concern has been brought up several times, actually. Don't underestimate the abilities of your fellow puzzle creators- some of the designs that came out of previous Iron Puzzlers were extremely elegant and a joy to solve. A team of 6 can accomplish a lot in a full, focused day of work/fun. Of course there were, and always will be some problems, but honestly, that's part of the fun of the event. To answer the question, the point is to challenge yourself, to see what you and your team can do working together under pressure, to get your creative juices flowing, and most importantly to just have fun.Are we allowed to come up with puzzle ideas before the event?
Absolutely! You are not only allowed but encouraged to come up with lots of ideas before the event starts. Just don't get too specific with your ideas, as you must leave plenty of room to be able to incorporate just about anything.-
Let's say "Popsicle Stick" was given as a secret ingredient. Would we actually have to physically use a popsicle stick in our puzzle, or could we use the written phrase "Popsicle Stick", a picture of a frozen treat with the handle visible, or some other creative interpretation of the ingredient?
Interpretation of the secret ingredients is left to the teams. Snacks and/or lunch items: just for ourselves, or for everyone?
Just bring food for your team- no need to feed everyone there. If someone else forgets to bring food, then your advantage.During the construction phase (Saturday), can we use people who aren't on the core team (gang of six) for e.g. playtesting? My interpretation of the "spirit" is that the core team of six should be the "creative drivers", but that sending things to friends for playtesting should be O.K.. If you have dinner with them and they happen to make some useful suggestions that's O.K. too (?). But if your friends spend all day with you, participate in the brainstorming, and help you carve Mayan numerals into 90 canteloupes at 3 a.m., then they should really count as part of the 6-person team. I figure somewhere in the middle is a grey zone?
I'd say you've pretty much got it spot on. Having friends playtest and give feedback is totally legit. I'd even go so far as saying that having a few additional friends help out with purely manual labor is ok- as long as they aren't coming up with puzzle concepts. I mean, if that's going to make the difference between having 90 cantaloupes carved with Mayan numerals and not, then by all means get more carvers!In IPs past we've had limited answer submissions -- 14 for 12 puzzles, or something like that. Will we have a limit for this year as well? Or, are teams expected just to be reasonable?
It is unlimited this year, but you will only be allowed to make 2 guesses within a 60 second period. (Note this ruling is for Iron Puzzler 2012. It is subject to change for future events)
Any other questions? inquiries@coedastronomy.org