How to Play

General Guidelines

1. Read the contest story to learn about Greenbeard the Lizard pirate and how his treasure was lost.
2. Go to the puzzle board, where you can access 20 different puzzles to solve.
3. Click on an open square to view a puzzle. Solve it and submit your answer. Each solved puzzle provides a clue to the treasure's location.
4. Once you have enough clues and are confident about the treasure's location, visit the Make a Guess page to submit your guess.
5. Check your user dashboard to see your guesses on a map and track how many guesses you have left.
6. Visit the contest dashboard to monitor other players' progress, including their guesses and puzzles solved.
7. Connect with other players in the dedicated 12 Days of FME forum thread.

Puzzles

1. The puzzle board is divided into four rows: Code Puzzles, FME Puzzles, Image Puzzles, and Geography Puzzles.
2. Puzzles in each row must be solved in order. You cannot move to the next puzzle until the previous one is completed.
3. Puzzles increase in difficulty from left to right. The more challenging the puzzle, the more precise and accurate the clue it provides.

Winners and Prizes

1. Closest Guess: The player whose flag lands closest to the treasure wins the first grand prize – a large Stump Craft (Canadian-made wooden puzzle) or a Heye puzzle of your choice (up to $200 CAD value).
2. The next two closest players win the second and third grand prizes – a large Stump Craft or Heye puzzle of their choice.
3. Special Achievement Prizes:
   Worst Guess: A fun FME swag pack including stickers, socks, and a spork.
   Most Puzzles Solved: An FME hoodie to show off your puzzle-solving prowess.
4. Plus, four exclusive contest badges are available and automatically awarded depending on your level of participation.

Hints and Tips

1. If you’re not into solving puzzles, you can submit random guesses. Who knows? You might get lucky!
2. You start with 12 guesses, but you can earn bonus guesses throughout the contest.
3. Clues may seem confusing at first. Don’t waste guesses until you understand what they mean and how to use them.
4. If you forget a clue, return to the puzzle and enter any value in the entry field. It will remind you of the clue for that puzzle.
5. In addition to the main clue, each solved puzzle provides a minor clue to help figure out the overall solution.
6. Check the Contest Dashboard to see which puzzles have been solved and by how many players. This can help you decide if your guesses are strategically timed.
7. Use of AI:
   1. AI is allowed, but puzzles are designed to be AI-unfriendly. ChatGPT, for example, struggles with the harder puzzles!
   2. Puzzle data and solutions may include extra hints or bonus guesses that AI might miss.
8. Guesses appear on the Guess Heat Map (with a small random offset):
   1. One strategy is to save your guesses until the end, so you don’t reveal your knowledge to other players.
   2. Another strategy is to make a few intentionally bad guesses to mislead others.

Terms and Conditions

By participating in the contest, all users agree to abide by the contest terms and conditions. These terms cover rules, eligibility, prize details, and other important information that govern the contest.