Enigma Book with a money prize
Clash Royale CLAN TAG#URR8PPP
The idea is simple: we intend to publish a puzzle book that contains a difficult enigma. The first one to solve this enigma will win a prize (i.e., $10.000). Some obvious rules:
- The solution needs to be validated by us (the authors);
- In order to be the first we are going to provide the means for proving
it (an e-mail address); - After the prize is given, we need to publish somewhere (a website) that it has expired and we are not accepting new submissions.
My question is if we are the first to propose something like this, or if there are other books like this. I have found only treasure hunting books and stories like the Goonies, but nothing promising real prizes.
As a bonus: is there any law-esque problem we are not seeing?
publishing legal contests
add a comment |
The idea is simple: we intend to publish a puzzle book that contains a difficult enigma. The first one to solve this enigma will win a prize (i.e., $10.000). Some obvious rules:
- The solution needs to be validated by us (the authors);
- In order to be the first we are going to provide the means for proving
it (an e-mail address); - After the prize is given, we need to publish somewhere (a website) that it has expired and we are not accepting new submissions.
My question is if we are the first to propose something like this, or if there are other books like this. I have found only treasure hunting books and stories like the Goonies, but nothing promising real prizes.
As a bonus: is there any law-esque problem we are not seeing?
publishing legal contests
Which country is this for? Also, it may be specific to your city/state/province/etc.
– phyrfox
Jan 12 at 18:10
Law-esque problems depend on jurisdiction, which you don't state. They're also belong over at Law, though I imagine they'd close a question as open-ended as "Are there any legal problems with this reasonable-sounding situation?"
– David Richerby
Jan 12 at 22:07
add a comment |
The idea is simple: we intend to publish a puzzle book that contains a difficult enigma. The first one to solve this enigma will win a prize (i.e., $10.000). Some obvious rules:
- The solution needs to be validated by us (the authors);
- In order to be the first we are going to provide the means for proving
it (an e-mail address); - After the prize is given, we need to publish somewhere (a website) that it has expired and we are not accepting new submissions.
My question is if we are the first to propose something like this, or if there are other books like this. I have found only treasure hunting books and stories like the Goonies, but nothing promising real prizes.
As a bonus: is there any law-esque problem we are not seeing?
publishing legal contests
The idea is simple: we intend to publish a puzzle book that contains a difficult enigma. The first one to solve this enigma will win a prize (i.e., $10.000). Some obvious rules:
- The solution needs to be validated by us (the authors);
- In order to be the first we are going to provide the means for proving
it (an e-mail address); - After the prize is given, we need to publish somewhere (a website) that it has expired and we are not accepting new submissions.
My question is if we are the first to propose something like this, or if there are other books like this. I have found only treasure hunting books and stories like the Goonies, but nothing promising real prizes.
As a bonus: is there any law-esque problem we are not seeing?
publishing legal contests
publishing legal contests
edited Jan 12 at 18:51
Cyn
7,85311443
7,85311443
asked Jan 12 at 17:04
ChaoticChaotic
371215
371215
Which country is this for? Also, it may be specific to your city/state/province/etc.
– phyrfox
Jan 12 at 18:10
Law-esque problems depend on jurisdiction, which you don't state. They're also belong over at Law, though I imagine they'd close a question as open-ended as "Are there any legal problems with this reasonable-sounding situation?"
– David Richerby
Jan 12 at 22:07
add a comment |
Which country is this for? Also, it may be specific to your city/state/province/etc.
– phyrfox
Jan 12 at 18:10
Law-esque problems depend on jurisdiction, which you don't state. They're also belong over at Law, though I imagine they'd close a question as open-ended as "Are there any legal problems with this reasonable-sounding situation?"
– David Richerby
Jan 12 at 22:07
Which country is this for? Also, it may be specific to your city/state/province/etc.
– phyrfox
Jan 12 at 18:10
Which country is this for? Also, it may be specific to your city/state/province/etc.
– phyrfox
Jan 12 at 18:10
Law-esque problems depend on jurisdiction, which you don't state. They're also belong over at Law, though I imagine they'd close a question as open-ended as "Are there any legal problems with this reasonable-sounding situation?"
– David Richerby
Jan 12 at 22:07
Law-esque problems depend on jurisdiction, which you don't state. They're also belong over at Law, though I imagine they'd close a question as open-ended as "Are there any legal problems with this reasonable-sounding situation?"
– David Richerby
Jan 12 at 22:07
add a comment |
3 Answers
3
active
oldest
votes
There have been several similar books in the past, known as "armchair treasure hunts". However, these generally involve actual physical treasures that have been buried somewhere, and cracking the riddles in the book leads you to their location. The principle is the same, though: the author of the puzzle has to confirm that your solution is correct before you can go off and dig up the prize. In your case, you'd confirm that the solution is correct and then simply hand over the cash.
I don't think there would be any legal issues - you certainly won't have to deal with treasure-seekers going around and digging up people's back gardens because they think that's where the prize is. The main issue is the possibility that nobody will ever actually crack the code and claim the prize - On The Trail of the Golden Owl, for example, hadn't been solved by the time the author died in 2004 and remains unsolved to this day.
add a comment |
Legal issues depend on where you live and who your contestants are.
In the US, there is a difference between sweepstakes, which are games of chance, and contests, which are games of skill. Your proposal is for a contest. Inc has written an excellent article outlining the various issues.
For a prize as substantial as $10,000, I would hire a lawyer to go over and improve your contest rules. $500 can save you a world of pain later (including things like perhaps having to award a duplicate prize).
Have a central location to make announcements.
A website is the best because then you can print the full rules, where to get a copy of the question/book, etc. Use Twitter to point to the website every time you update it. And to send reminders, etc. You could also use Facebook but Twitter would be a more reliable choice as it's public and they don't restrict who posts go to like Facebook does. State in your rules that it is the contestants' responsibility to keep up with the website if there are changes.
add a comment |
I was given a book which offered a cash prize to the first person who solved the puzzle. Because the time limit for claiming the prize had already expired and the book was not very engaging, I didn't bother even though I quite like solving puzzles. This was nearly thirty years ago and so the concept is not new.
I don't think this really answers any questions. It just says it's not a new concept, which I'm sure they already knew
– MCMastery
Jan 12 at 22:13
add a comment |
Your Answer
StackExchange.ready(function()
var channelOptions =
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "166"
;
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);
StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function()
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled)
StackExchange.using("snippets", function()
createEditor();
);
else
createEditor();
);
function createEditor()
StackExchange.prepareEditor(
heartbeatType: 'answer',
autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
convertImagesToLinks: false,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: null,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader:
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
,
noCode: true, onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
);
);
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function ()
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
);
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function ()
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fwriting.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f41242%2fenigma-book-with-a-money-prize%23new-answer', 'question_page');
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
3 Answers
3
active
oldest
votes
3 Answers
3
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
There have been several similar books in the past, known as "armchair treasure hunts". However, these generally involve actual physical treasures that have been buried somewhere, and cracking the riddles in the book leads you to their location. The principle is the same, though: the author of the puzzle has to confirm that your solution is correct before you can go off and dig up the prize. In your case, you'd confirm that the solution is correct and then simply hand over the cash.
I don't think there would be any legal issues - you certainly won't have to deal with treasure-seekers going around and digging up people's back gardens because they think that's where the prize is. The main issue is the possibility that nobody will ever actually crack the code and claim the prize - On The Trail of the Golden Owl, for example, hadn't been solved by the time the author died in 2004 and remains unsolved to this day.
add a comment |
There have been several similar books in the past, known as "armchair treasure hunts". However, these generally involve actual physical treasures that have been buried somewhere, and cracking the riddles in the book leads you to their location. The principle is the same, though: the author of the puzzle has to confirm that your solution is correct before you can go off and dig up the prize. In your case, you'd confirm that the solution is correct and then simply hand over the cash.
I don't think there would be any legal issues - you certainly won't have to deal with treasure-seekers going around and digging up people's back gardens because they think that's where the prize is. The main issue is the possibility that nobody will ever actually crack the code and claim the prize - On The Trail of the Golden Owl, for example, hadn't been solved by the time the author died in 2004 and remains unsolved to this day.
add a comment |
There have been several similar books in the past, known as "armchair treasure hunts". However, these generally involve actual physical treasures that have been buried somewhere, and cracking the riddles in the book leads you to their location. The principle is the same, though: the author of the puzzle has to confirm that your solution is correct before you can go off and dig up the prize. In your case, you'd confirm that the solution is correct and then simply hand over the cash.
I don't think there would be any legal issues - you certainly won't have to deal with treasure-seekers going around and digging up people's back gardens because they think that's where the prize is. The main issue is the possibility that nobody will ever actually crack the code and claim the prize - On The Trail of the Golden Owl, for example, hadn't been solved by the time the author died in 2004 and remains unsolved to this day.
There have been several similar books in the past, known as "armchair treasure hunts". However, these generally involve actual physical treasures that have been buried somewhere, and cracking the riddles in the book leads you to their location. The principle is the same, though: the author of the puzzle has to confirm that your solution is correct before you can go off and dig up the prize. In your case, you'd confirm that the solution is correct and then simply hand over the cash.
I don't think there would be any legal issues - you certainly won't have to deal with treasure-seekers going around and digging up people's back gardens because they think that's where the prize is. The main issue is the possibility that nobody will ever actually crack the code and claim the prize - On The Trail of the Golden Owl, for example, hadn't been solved by the time the author died in 2004 and remains unsolved to this day.
answered Jan 12 at 18:34
F1KrazyF1Krazy
4,0941234
4,0941234
add a comment |
add a comment |
Legal issues depend on where you live and who your contestants are.
In the US, there is a difference between sweepstakes, which are games of chance, and contests, which are games of skill. Your proposal is for a contest. Inc has written an excellent article outlining the various issues.
For a prize as substantial as $10,000, I would hire a lawyer to go over and improve your contest rules. $500 can save you a world of pain later (including things like perhaps having to award a duplicate prize).
Have a central location to make announcements.
A website is the best because then you can print the full rules, where to get a copy of the question/book, etc. Use Twitter to point to the website every time you update it. And to send reminders, etc. You could also use Facebook but Twitter would be a more reliable choice as it's public and they don't restrict who posts go to like Facebook does. State in your rules that it is the contestants' responsibility to keep up with the website if there are changes.
add a comment |
Legal issues depend on where you live and who your contestants are.
In the US, there is a difference between sweepstakes, which are games of chance, and contests, which are games of skill. Your proposal is for a contest. Inc has written an excellent article outlining the various issues.
For a prize as substantial as $10,000, I would hire a lawyer to go over and improve your contest rules. $500 can save you a world of pain later (including things like perhaps having to award a duplicate prize).
Have a central location to make announcements.
A website is the best because then you can print the full rules, where to get a copy of the question/book, etc. Use Twitter to point to the website every time you update it. And to send reminders, etc. You could also use Facebook but Twitter would be a more reliable choice as it's public and they don't restrict who posts go to like Facebook does. State in your rules that it is the contestants' responsibility to keep up with the website if there are changes.
add a comment |
Legal issues depend on where you live and who your contestants are.
In the US, there is a difference between sweepstakes, which are games of chance, and contests, which are games of skill. Your proposal is for a contest. Inc has written an excellent article outlining the various issues.
For a prize as substantial as $10,000, I would hire a lawyer to go over and improve your contest rules. $500 can save you a world of pain later (including things like perhaps having to award a duplicate prize).
Have a central location to make announcements.
A website is the best because then you can print the full rules, where to get a copy of the question/book, etc. Use Twitter to point to the website every time you update it. And to send reminders, etc. You could also use Facebook but Twitter would be a more reliable choice as it's public and they don't restrict who posts go to like Facebook does. State in your rules that it is the contestants' responsibility to keep up with the website if there are changes.
Legal issues depend on where you live and who your contestants are.
In the US, there is a difference between sweepstakes, which are games of chance, and contests, which are games of skill. Your proposal is for a contest. Inc has written an excellent article outlining the various issues.
For a prize as substantial as $10,000, I would hire a lawyer to go over and improve your contest rules. $500 can save you a world of pain later (including things like perhaps having to award a duplicate prize).
Have a central location to make announcements.
A website is the best because then you can print the full rules, where to get a copy of the question/book, etc. Use Twitter to point to the website every time you update it. And to send reminders, etc. You could also use Facebook but Twitter would be a more reliable choice as it's public and they don't restrict who posts go to like Facebook does. State in your rules that it is the contestants' responsibility to keep up with the website if there are changes.
edited Jan 12 at 22:10
answered Jan 12 at 18:50
CynCyn
7,85311443
7,85311443
add a comment |
add a comment |
I was given a book which offered a cash prize to the first person who solved the puzzle. Because the time limit for claiming the prize had already expired and the book was not very engaging, I didn't bother even though I quite like solving puzzles. This was nearly thirty years ago and so the concept is not new.
I don't think this really answers any questions. It just says it's not a new concept, which I'm sure they already knew
– MCMastery
Jan 12 at 22:13
add a comment |
I was given a book which offered a cash prize to the first person who solved the puzzle. Because the time limit for claiming the prize had already expired and the book was not very engaging, I didn't bother even though I quite like solving puzzles. This was nearly thirty years ago and so the concept is not new.
I don't think this really answers any questions. It just says it's not a new concept, which I'm sure they already knew
– MCMastery
Jan 12 at 22:13
add a comment |
I was given a book which offered a cash prize to the first person who solved the puzzle. Because the time limit for claiming the prize had already expired and the book was not very engaging, I didn't bother even though I quite like solving puzzles. This was nearly thirty years ago and so the concept is not new.
I was given a book which offered a cash prize to the first person who solved the puzzle. Because the time limit for claiming the prize had already expired and the book was not very engaging, I didn't bother even though I quite like solving puzzles. This was nearly thirty years ago and so the concept is not new.
answered Jan 12 at 20:45
S. MitchellS. Mitchell
4,0831622
4,0831622
I don't think this really answers any questions. It just says it's not a new concept, which I'm sure they already knew
– MCMastery
Jan 12 at 22:13
add a comment |
I don't think this really answers any questions. It just says it's not a new concept, which I'm sure they already knew
– MCMastery
Jan 12 at 22:13
I don't think this really answers any questions. It just says it's not a new concept, which I'm sure they already knew
– MCMastery
Jan 12 at 22:13
I don't think this really answers any questions. It just says it's not a new concept, which I'm sure they already knew
– MCMastery
Jan 12 at 22:13
add a comment |
Thanks for contributing an answer to Writing Stack Exchange!
- Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
- Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
- Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function ()
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
);
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function ()
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fwriting.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f41242%2fenigma-book-with-a-money-prize%23new-answer', 'question_page');
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function ()
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
);
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function ()
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
);
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function ()
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
);
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Which country is this for? Also, it may be specific to your city/state/province/etc.
– phyrfox
Jan 12 at 18:10
Law-esque problems depend on jurisdiction, which you don't state. They're also belong over at Law, though I imagine they'd close a question as open-ended as "Are there any legal problems with this reasonable-sounding situation?"
– David Richerby
Jan 12 at 22:07