You Are Games:
Letters In Boxes #8
We'll cut to the chase on this one: This Letters In Boxes challenge is a bit more hands-on than normal. Please note that this week, you may need access to a printer, some scissors and maybe some tape to solve some puzzles (it's possible to solve them without these things, but it will likely be much harder). We're always trying new things to keep the puzzling experience fresh, and we always take your comments into consideration! So this week, we'll ask you to jump right into the fold and take our tricky tribulations for a spin, then let us know what you think.
If you're not familiar with how our series works, here's a quick review: If you click the image below, you can bring up the first puzzle in a new window. When you think you've solved it, focus on your browser's address bar (which in this case reads "https://jayisgames.com/images/lettersinboxes/eightisntenough.gif"). Change the filename (namely, "eightisntenough") to your answer, using all lower-case letters and no spaces (be sure you stay in the same directory). If you're right, you'll find the next puzzle appearing before your eyes. If not, take another look at your work and try again.
This batch of puzzles contains four puzzles to solve. On the fourth puzzle, you'll find the email address for sending your final answer. Note: Please read the directions carefully on the fourth puzzle, as we've tweaked the rules a little bit for this week's puzzle series. We'll hand out a prize to the first correct entry we receive, plus ten additional randomly-selected correct entries. Please include your Casual Gameplay account display name with your entry. You must be at least 13 years of age to enter. Only one submission per participant, please. Offer void where prohibited. Your deadline for submitting your answers is Monday, July 25th at 11:59 PM (GMT-5:00). When you're ready, your challenge awaits, and we also await your thoughts!
Update: Congratulations to these 11 winners! :D
All eleven winners were given a choice of prizes or an entry into a GRAND PRIZE drawing to be held at the end of August! Congratulations and thanks for playing with us! Look for another Letters in Boxes again soon!
- BobBobBobson ...First!
- mercurious2001
- kdausman
- Vespert
- Kim.V
- tigrita
- Mr.Boomp
- bluemoose19
- Metacom
- physkid94
- han519
I have to say I am truly and well stumped on #1. I can only see one puzzle that it could be, and that is leading me nowhere.
#1
try to connect the dots
Does anyone have any hints on #2
I thought of doing that too, but there are far too many possible ways of doing that, so I'm not really any closer to solving it.
#3 appears on the surface to be the easiest so far, and it is giving me fits.
Ridiculous, angry fits.
Fun!
Themepark:
you want to connect them in one continuous line
Any hints on #2?
Thanks, jakramar75, that helped a bit, enough to get the message. But I don't understand it. Puzzle #1 is turning out to be the worst puzzle that has been made, because it is not at all clear how to solve it, and there is no helpful hints by looking at it.
An extre note for #1.
No diagonal lines.
I've looked at #2 for about 10 minutes now, and my brain has declared it quits. :[
*looks over at brain for a second, then turns back to the puzzle* QUITS! QUITS! DOOOHOHOHOHOHOHOO!
@Themepark:
If you have the message, have you followed the directions?
More specifically, there are two messages...
#1:
Look closely. There's only one way you can connect the dots in one continuous line from beginning to end.
Start at the top and work your way to the bottom. There are no diagonals.
Dots indicate a 90-degree turn.
It helps if you work backwards.
Now, I could use some help with #2.
I've cut the grid up into quadrants like the lines suggest, but I can't for the life of me figure out how I'm supposed to arrange them to make sense.
Yeah, but I can't follow the directions when I don't get them.
The Y? Say what? I could leave the Y out of the message, but that doesn't help. I could put it into the other part, but that doesn't help. I could cut out the two parts by the lines I've made and assemble them into a Y, except there is no way they can be assembled into that.
@ThemePark:
"They," not "the Y." "Because THEY might help."
Also:
There are two messages. "File two at..."
Doh. Thanks, Ryusui, I don't know why I couldn't see that myself.
For some reason I got #2 straight away.
Symmetry
Thanks, ThemePark! Number 1 was cake to me, but 2 had me stumped until your hint.
*sigh* Damn. Well, that was unfair. I solved that sucker with a paint program. And here I was expecting all of these would require us to fiddle with the paper in some physical way.
Hmm, this is going from hard to easy to hard. Has anybody actually solved #3?
@ThemePark: I've solved #3, but I haven't taken a long look at #4 yet.
It's quite a bit easier when you actually do the puzzle physically rather than trying to analyze it. Staring at my computer got me nowhere.
I've folded the paper along the indicated lines, but I get nothing but nonsense. I assume the dots indicate order - 1, 2, 3, 4 - but they don't say which way to fold the paper. Not that I can tell, anyway.
Yeah, I've printed it out and followed the instructions, but nothing is springing out.
Okay, really stumped on #3. Here was my latest approach to solving it:
Fold along the line marked by the single dot (it goes through "SAWAYREADYTO") and find the letter that ends up touching the black square. Then fold along the two-dot line (goes through BYYASLGTSEC) and find the letter that touches the letter that I found in the previous step. Repeat.
This gave me IGND, which is obviously wrong. I've tried everything I can think of, but I'm still stuck. Help please?
For number 3:
I've found a needle to be useful.
#3:
Listen to bluemoose.
You'll need to print it out and physically fold it - no, it doesn't matter which way, just as long as you make the folds in the proper sequence. (Note that #2 and #4 are diagonal!) It helps if you keep the black square on the outside, though.
Anyone gotten anywhere on #4 yet? I've done an awful lot of cutting and folding in all sorts of different directions, but only gibberish is coming from it.
Not really.
I cut on the solid lines and folded on the dotted lines, and with some expenditure of tape I have in my hands a mutant Tetris block.
It's actually pretty cool. :3 But I'm still stumped.
I still don't get #3.
If the folds themselves do not matter, only the order, then there can't be a word hidden in the puzzle. I can fold different ways and get different figures so the name of the figures can't be the answer either. And the four folds all go over an A, but that's not it either.
@ThemePark:
Bubblecamera got half the solution. Well...a little less than half, strictly speaking, but he was on the right track.
Fold the paper as directed, as evenly as possible, and with the black square on the outside.
Then punch a hole through the black square.
When you unfold the paper, you'll have ten squares marked with holes: the black square, and nine letters spelling out the solution.
Thanks again, Ryusui.
As for #4, I'm right there with you. I get the shape but I don't get the puzzle.
Okay, brain's had a chance to rest and recoup, and now I've managed to squirm my way to the last one.
Also, an unexpected note of thanks to whoever came up with #3...as much of a pain as that was, it DID drive me to finally get my printer working! :D
Having problems seeing the
symmetry
in #2...
@hhii8888:
You have to make the grid symmetrical.
Fill in the black squares so the grid is symmetrical both vertically and horizontally.
Regarding #2, Ryusui said, and I paraphrase:
Make the grid symmetrical both horizontally and vertically by strategically filling in the black squares.
Is that the full grid as pictured or each quarter of the grid after cutting?
Also, some letters are just not symmetrical.
Color me quite confused.
@ray9na:
The pattern of black squares needs to be symmetrical. You don't have to cut the grid at all - the lines indicate lines of symmetry.
If there's a black square in one quadrant, its "mirror images" in the other three quadrants need to be filled in as well.
For example, the four black squares in the center will all be filled in when you're done.
Ryusui:
Well, that makes it rather easy, don't it?
As for #3,
Am I supposed to be vaguely reminded of cootie catchers?
ray9na, about #3:
You are going to be folding things, but make sure you pay attention to the direction of the lines.
@nerdypants:
I caaaughtt that. :)
@ray9na:
The folding is self-explanatory. What to do after that...isn't, but it's not hard to figure out.
As bluemoose mentioned, a needle comes in handy. Or a nail, or a sharp pencil, or anything you can drive through several layers of paper.
Keep the black square on the outside and punch a hole straight through the paper after you're done folding. Unfold, and the answer is clear.
Anyway, has anyone figured out #4 yet?
As I said before, I've got this neat papercraft covered in letters now, but no idea how to decipher it. Plus eighteen letters' worth of leftovers.
Stuck on #4.
I've cut out the blocks, and tried to fold up that one block, but it ends up looking... not good. I do end up with a three-letter word on that one folding block, but I'm not so sure about it. Also, there's a blank on the folded block which is the back of the paper. And I haven't used the other blocks at all, except to cut them out.
Very confused.
Here are my thoughts on #4, although they'll probably not be very helpful.
I believe that the figure you get from folding one piece of the puzzle, is crucial to solving the puzzle. After all the review does mention using tape, which hasn't been necessary so far.
Other than that, my only idea is to somehow cover up 18 of the 22 letters on the block with the remaining letters, and the 4 letters left will be the solution.
I've also noticed that the 3 remaining pieces can be made into a 6x3 rectangle.
Wow, be careful with #3. I kept lining up with the wrong letters somehow. But I got it now.
Onto the last one!
Big, huge, fat hint to #3
It's possible to solve it without printing and folding.
It's a lot like the previous one.
Still on #4.
I've been folding things under. Maybe I'm supposed to be folding over?
...or not.
Is anyone actually done with #4?
@nerdypants I am still trying to get that answer by folding as much as I can & some smart person is probably laughing at this because they got it
The fact that #4 CAN fold up into a closed, 3D block of some sort, without any overlaps, tells me that that's probably the way to go. But, like ThemePark, I can't see what to do next.
Viewed from the different angles, I've found a number of possible 4-letter words, but none of them bring up a test answer gif.
Well, I'm calling it a day. I wouldn't be surprised if someone solves it the minute after I've gone to bed. But if noone has solved it soon, maybe JIG should consider giving us a proper hint.
Yep, also stuck on number 4. I've
tried turning it and anagramming all the letters facing the same direction
with no luck, plus the methods shared above.
Update on #4:
Have attempted to fashion 3D block by folding and taping paper. Ended up with Escher-esque nightmare of letters and tape, none of which makes sense to me. Currently drowning in ever-deepening well of despair.
If anyone has solved this, could you please just say if I'm on the right track here? Yes or no is all I ask.
nerdypants:
Fold up 90° between the B and N, and down 90° at every other fold line. You can construct a pentacube that way.
still stuck on number 4.
From #4, I can see that
the three other pieces can be formed as a box as well, but I don't know what to do next
Should it be done like that? I'm not sure to really make it like that
Since we're all sharing our fruitless thought processes on #4:
My thought was to make an enclosed 3D block using all of the pieces, but for all I know that could be impossible, because I haven't managed it.
Got the answer!
You do have to make the pentacube, but the word isn't directly on it.
bluemoose19, thanks! That worked, so now I have a
3D blocky thing. With letters on.
I see a few words on this block, but none of them seem to work when I enter them in the address bar.
Are we supposed to be using the other pieces of paper at all? Is there a word on the 3D block that I'm just not seeing?
Oh my God, you guys, I figured it out.
You'll only need the main piece. All the extra letters are irrelevant. You'll need to construct it into the closed 3D figure others have mentioned.
View each side straight on, no weird angles.
You're looking for a theme.
Solved the first three easily without using paper, tried the fourth and realized whatever's going on there is beyond my ability to solve either mentally or with a paint-type program. Worse than that, I don't have access to a printer today, so when I decided I had to go with real paper, I had to draw the thing by hand.
If anyone's figured that one out, they're clearly not sharing, which is fine, because after working on this all day, I've got a vendetta to solve it myself.
Ooohhh...
I shoulda googled some of those words earlier
Got it!
If you're like me, you were staring at that thing you made for a while, trying to figure out anagrams to the letters you found on each face.
The key is:
You may not know all the words you're looking for. As in,
they may not be in your language.
Keep at it, and focus on the words that you do know. Guaranteed, at least 1 will jump out at you. Try and think along those lines and look at the others; you should recognize one or two as you rearrange the letters. That should be enough for you to make a leap of .gif's.
I recommend not using an anagram generator, or at least one that will show all possible outcomes, not just the obvious ones.
Oops, guess I should have refreshed the page before posting!
are you allowed to tell the number of letters in an answer? im on 3 and i have some letters, and they dont make sense in any combination. im wondering if i missed a letter or if i have too many?
Oh God. *facepalms*
I recognized 4 out of 6 right off the bat and didn't think to connect them.
Brilliant puzzle, this. Though I do have one big problem with it:
I probably wouldn't have been stuck so long at it if "bath" wasn't infinitely more obvious than "baht." I might have noticed the connection sooner if there wasn't one word that was "obviously" different from all the rest.
@jimmy one shoe:
I don't see any harm in providing you with an answer. There are nine letters.
In case you haven't caught the solution, fold the paper as directed. Mind that 2 and 4 are diagonal folds, and neatness counts!
Then, drive a needle or a nail or a pencil or whatever you have handy through the black square. Unfold, and ten squares will be marked: the black square, and nine spelling out the answer.
Guys, going back to #1-
Which sides of the dots should I look at to find the letters?!? The dots are in the middle of the boxes, how do I know which side to see?
raddaya:
I think you may have the wrong idea. All of the letters are used in messages. If you've got the line drawn as hinted above, it should divide the letters into two halves (may not be exactly half). Each half has its own message. If this is hard to see, try printing it out and cutting along the lines you made, or try coloring ALL blocks on one side of the line some color.
*sigh* I wouldn't say that puzzle #4 was bleeding obvious, in fact it was obviously too obscure, even though we've all had a facepalm moment.
All in all, this version of LIB has been the worst one yet. Please go back to making regular puzzles that require logic and knowledge of puzzles instead of various tools.
@raddaya:
Cut along the dotted line.
It might help to open the file in a paint program (or copy it there), then draw a guideline to help you visualize which path to cut on.
Each dot signifies a 90-degree turn (apart from the first and last, which simply indicate where to begin and end). There are no diagonals.
There are a few places where the right path seems ambiguous, but it helps if you work backwards from the end.
There is only one path that connects all the dots.
Finished! I found all of this weeks puzzles to be quite clever, but they weren't as "hands on" as I was hoping. These aren't hints, but who knows, they might help.
1.
I didn't solve this one like everyone else. In fact, I didn't use the dots at all. I just used the "scissors" message.
2.
This one drove me crazy! First I'm sitting there trying to arrange 4 blocks to make the pattern symmetrical, then I'm trying to place letters in the black boxes, and then, several hours later, I finally figure it out. This isn't hands on!
3.
This one was annoying. It was obvious what to do, but you had to have it perfectly aligned. =(
4.
It took me a while to figure out how to fold it, but once I did, I found the connection really quickly.
I can't wait for next week!
Ah, I should say again.
I've drawn the line(reminds me of that puzzle wayyy back when JIG did the Nikoli puzzles) but I can't figure out which side of it to look at. If it's a vertical line, should I look at the words on the boxes to the left, or to the right? If it's horizontal, do I see top or bottom? Or do I actually have to cut along the line? In which case booo since my printer is out of ink right now :(
raddaya:
Looking at letters which border the line or the dots is the wrong way to think about it. All the line does is divide the puzzle into two parts. Each part has a message which is read from left to right, top to bottom. Printing it out and cutting is one way to easily separate and visualize the two parts, but it can be done pretty easily without printing. Here's a simple example
JAYI|CA
S|SUALG
GAM|AME
ES|PLAY
The | represents the line separating the messages. On the left is "JAYISGAMES" and on the right is "CASUAL GAMEPLAY". Obviously, the dividing line in the puzzle is a lot more complicated, but that's the basic idea.
finally got the last one by connecting the only 2 words that i saw. It wasn't obvious at first, but when i found the second word, i got a connection. The one hint i have is
This one connects Europe and North America
@ryusui:
There's also pose and darn. Plus, now I know that roue is french for rake. If all the words only had the one obvious meaning, then everybody would get it, wouldn't they?
@hhii8888:
Your hint doesn't make any sense.
@ThemePark:
This was by far the most ingenious and creative LIB yet. I don't remember the last time I used scissors and tape for anything. I loved the idea of having to get up from the computer and physically do something in order to figure it out.
Follow-the-url puzzles can easily go from fun to "how am I supposed to know EXACTLY which of the several possible answers the author was thinking of: read his mind?" (If you've ever heard of The First Door, you know what I'm talking about.) But this brought it back to one clear answer, so long as you figured out the puzzle correctly. All the LIB have done it well, and this one was by far my favorite. The fact that you didn't like it just shows how good it was. XD
My ONLY issue with puzzle 4:
There should have been indication that that one line was a valley fold.
DAM:
Excuse me? So if I dislike it, it automatically has to be good. That's not really an argument. Besides, you know perfectly well what the author was thinking of IF you have figured out the puzzle correctly for any of the 8 LIBs so far, there is no difference in that whether it's paper or logic puzzles. And you had to follow the url here too, so the only difference is in HAVING to print out the puzzle if you wanted any chance of solving it, meaning you'd need access to a printer.
Follow-the-url riddles have often been critisized for when you've needed a specific tool, usually a program, for solving them and the same criticism goes here.
Besides, just look at how hard #4 was for everyone. Normally, the same day the puzzle is uploaded, there will be hints for all levels of the puzzle. There wasn't here, and I certainly wasn't having fun trying to solve these ridiculous puzzles, especially with the dexterity needed with #4. So the fact that you like it, just shows how bad it was.
DAM, thanks for the hint about
words not being in your language.
That was exactly what I needed to solve #4!
And, ThemePark:
I don't have a printer, but I was still able to do every puzzle by either using MS Paint or copying things down onto paper.
nerdypants, yeah that is written in the review too, but it's also written that it is much hard to do it without printing it. And as you say you still need paper for some of them, unless you can somehow visualize some of them, which very few would be able to, I imagine.
One of the best LIBs yet! For me, the toughest puzzle this week was #3 (I actually found #4 quite easy), which I would probably still be stuck on had I not figured out how to solve it without folding.
I actually really liked this set of puzzles. After some of the previously confusing sets, this one had a great theme, a perfect difficulty curve, and was a step above the previous puzzles in difficulty. I do feel sorry for those that might not have access to a printer, but you have all weekend to solve these!
The final puzzle was excellent. The graphic immediately hints at what to do, and it's obvious it's wrong until you get it right. The last part of the puzzle is tricky, but once you see it it's incredibly obvious. The extra confirmation gif ensures there is no confusion.
I've been consistently pleased with these, excepting the changing .gif puzzles from the previous session. Hopefully when the contest ends we will still get just-for-fun LiB style puzzles at least once a month!
I'm somewhat inclined to join the complainers and say that this week's puzzles were ridiculously hard, but really, in the end, it's nice to have challenge and variety. One of the things about variety is that different puzzles will work better for some than others. Reading comments, I see that a lot of people had a difficult time with #3, but it was the easiest one for me. The hardest one was #4, but then, we were warned ahead of time that we'd need scissors and tape, so it should have been clear that something unusual was afoot there.
The purpose of puzzles is not just entertainment, but to exercise your mind and find new ways to think. In that capacity, I believe these puzzles were a great success.
Don't get me wrong, I loved #4. It's been a long time since I've had an excuse to whip out my mad papercraft skillz. When I was a kid, I made two different combining Voltrons out of construction paper (fragile as hell, though). I always wanted to build a Unicron, but alas, I never quite pulled it off.
My only gripe is the misleading anagrams - if you don't notice the recurring theme in the others, it's easy for the alternate possibilities to lead you astray.
I look forward to these each week, but I don't submit my answers because I usually need so much help that I feel winning a prize would be somehow dishonest! But even though I make liberal use of the hints, I still get a great feeling of satisfaction when I have the AHA moment.
Just one request: If you're going to post a MAJOR spoiler, please indicate that so we can decide whether to read it or not.
@JIG please keep this series going!
I was gonna say, maybe they should do the first ten (or 11) correct entries instead of ten random correct ones. That way, once you're done, it doesn't hurt you to help others. I feel weird about giving help to people so they can put another entry into a contest and decrease my chances of winning. I still do it, but I feel weird about it.
@ThemePark: After reading the comments you post around here, yeah, I think you not liking something is like a stamp of approval for me.
DAM - I am guessing the reason they choose ten random entries is not to punish those who can't be waiting by their computers for all of Thursday to get first crack at the puzzles.
Got #1. Really confused at the #2 hints.
The four quarters have absolutely no symmetry....not even with the placement of the black squares. What do you mean, mirror images of the black squares?!?
raddaya:
If there isn't any symmetry there to begin with... (bigger hint)
maybe you should make some.
I got that much.
How? The position of the black squares themselves are not symmetrical considering all four quarters.
raddaya:
The positions of the squares aren't symmetrical. You're trying to make them symmetrical.
Er...
How can I? The position of the letters or the boxes are not symmetrical, if I try to randomly fill in the boxes it's impossible(as most of them don't make words, like T_ha). Do I move the black boxes?
Sorry, but I'm just really confused.
raddaya
Forget about the letters at first and just draw the grid with the black squares only. Then, add squares to make the grid symmetrical. For example, a square in the first row, second column, top left quadrant requires a square in the first row, third column, top right quadrant and a square in the bottom row, second column, lower left quadrant.
to make this an even bigger spoiler
Then, fill in the letters that remain.
Kind of byzantine, I know, but I hope it helps.
@raddaya:
Imagine the black squares are covered in ink. Now fold the paper along the marked center lines. Which squares are now covered in ink?
Pretty sure I did #2 wrong, I got a mass of letters and a word at the bottom, tried the word, it was correct xD
However, seeing #3 makes me sad.
Both my printer and my friend's printer are out of ink, and it's pretty obvious you can't do this in paper as it needs to be perfect. Oh well, I got this far.
@raddaya: You don't actually need to print out #3. If you don't have access to a printer, all you need to do is copy the puzzle onto Paint or some program where you can draw on it, then add the fold lines and
treat them like the lines of symmetry from #2. However, in this puzzle, you don't want to black out the "reflections" of the black square, because they spell out the answer. Once you've found the two reflections, find their reflections, then keep finding reflections-of-reflections until you have nine of them. Those nine letters will spell the answer.
However, #4 will require you at least to copy it onto graph paper.
They were all interesting, but all kind of possible to figure out without printing except for #4. Yes, #4 really does need printing and scissors, although tape turns out to be optional. The fact that tape may be needed seems more of a hint than an actual necessity.
One thing that couldn't realize at first for #4 is that
the direction in which the letters end up when folded does not matter.
Steve-
I'm interested to see how you post the answer to #4. If you hadn't planned to already, can you show a picture of the cube all folded (and taped) properly.
Here's this week's puzzle solutions, complete with pictures... AND VIDEOOOOOOO!
Puzzle 1
Puzzle 1 Answer
To start this first puzzle, you needed to connect the dots on the grid to form one continuous line from the top of the grid to the bottom. If you were to cut along that line (mentally or physically), each piece had a message. On the right, there was GRAB THE SCISSORS BECAUSE THEY MIGHT HELP. That was somewhat of a red herring, but definitely foreshadowing for later. On the left, there was FILE TWO AT APARTMENT DOT GIF OR PDF. (Puzzles two, three, and four were available as .pdf files for your printing convenience.)
Puzzle 2
Puzzle 2 Answer
Puzzle two involved a bit of folding. The two lines sticking out of the grid marked where you should fold. In this case, you were simply folding the grid into fourths. If you paid attention to where the black squares overlapped other squares while folded (I particularly liked Ryusui's suggestion to imagine that the black squares are covered in ink, and you're looking for which squares are covered after folding), you'll see that the remaining untouched squares spell out THIRD PUZZLE IS PERFORMANCE.
Puzzle 3
Puzzle 3 Answer
This, like the last puzzle, involved folding and that "inky" marking system, but the folds became a little more complicated. The dots indicated an order for making the folds (and note that some are at angles), but the folds could theoretically be made in any order, so long as you were careful. In making the indicated folds, the black box would cover a total of nine letters, which spell PROVIDING.
Puzzle 4
Puzzle 4 Answer
The key to solving the final puzzle was to realize that the outlined shape in the grid was the net of a three-dimensional object. If you cut along the heavy black lines (including some internal cuts) and folded along the dotted lines, you could make the shape pictured above (or in this YouTube video). To solve this final puzzle, it was almost required that you print out the image and make the shape, unless you have some fantastic powers of spatial visualization. If you looked at the shape from all six "sides", you'd find six sets of letters, which could be rearranged to spell EURO, BAHT, PESO, RAND, YEN, and LEV, all of which are world currencies. For the final answer, we set up CURRENCY and MONEY as test answers, though we accepted a broader range of answers when verifying submissions.
Winners will be announced soon!
I thought these puzzles were great and a lot of fun to solve. I didn't need a printer for any of these -- pencil and graph paper worked just fine.
I just ran out of time. I had found and constructed the pentacube, but then spent too much time mapping all possible paths across the surface looking for patterns, over thinking it and missing the simple. It would be nice if there was a little more time given to solve these.
A thought to ponder:
What's worse: Finding an email saying "You've won!" in your Spam folder, or NOT finding an email saying "You've won!" in your Spam folder?
Update