fred:

Apparently the top ten finishers were sent paperwork to fill out which was sent to the insurance company. The finalists were chosen wrt insurability, but without regard to order finished.

 

That is very strange and seems quite unfair, especially since the rules gave everyone the option of selecting a proxy to compete in the finals for them. I am assuming "insurability" had to do with the contestant's ability to withstand the physical challenges?

Fred,  you deserve all bragging rights as it appears you solved the final puzzle hours ahead of everyone else. You (or your designee) also deserve to be in the finals.

Didn't the Doritos people read their own rules?

 
 

 

marooned:

fred:

Apparently the top ten finishers were sent paperwork to fill out which was sent to the insurance company. The finalists were chosen wrt insurability, but without regard to order finished.

 

That is very strange and seems quite unfair, especially since the rules gave everyone the option of selecting a proxy to compete in the finals for them. I am assuming "insurability" had to do with the contestant's ability to withstand the physical challenges?

Fred,  you deserve all bragging rights as it appears you solved the final puzzle hours ahead of everyone else. You (or your designee) also deserve to be in the finals.

Didn't the Doritos people read their own rules?

 
 

 

Thanks marooned!

I was reading the rules again and it clearly states "The first three (3) Entrants who successfully complete all of the puzzles released in the Puzzle Release Period 4 (based on completion time and date) will be the potential Contest Finalists." *not* 10. And "In the event Finalist is unable to participate in the Final Competition due to physical or medical concerns, Finalist may appoint an authorized "Designee" to participate on behalf of such Finalist in the Final Competition." I was given the opportunity to specify a designee, but that was before I was told I wasn't a "Finalist".

It isn't uncommon for a contest to choose extra potential finalists as alternates in case the first set doesn't work out, so it is not surprising that Doritos picked 10 to have fill out the paperwork so they could get 3 in the end. If they gave you a chance to pick a Designee to compete for you, then they held up their end of the rules. Chances are you maybe would have qualified if you had picked one.

Ultimately someone always feels like they've gotten screwed in these things. You basically have to take that as part of the challenge. The Google DaVinci one screwed pretty much all of the finalists... The Microsoft Vanishing Point one was solved by someone making a lucky guess (the AMD prize) and people always complain about the need for computer horsepower and broadband, and how other people (Pro) seem to have advanced knowledge.  After you've done a few of these you realize it is all part of the challenge. Most people never even get a chance to be a finalist. Take what fun you get from the game and hope for better luck next time.

Also most companies can't stick strictly to the rules as these games play out. AOL didn't contact the gold coin winners when they said they would, Volvo was surprised when nobody solved their final puzzle correctly, and other things crop up that weren't expected. Chances are the rules were written months before the game even started, and they typically have a clause that they can deviate as needed. Sometimes they deviate for the better. The first Volvo Hunt gave Volvos to all of the finalists even though they hadn't planned to, and you are lucky if you got a gift card, as that wasn't in the rules either. Hopefully they'll continue that nice gesture and give the 2 finalists that don't win the Artifact some money to cover the taxes on their trips.

These companies don't have to give away tons of money and make fun games for us to play, so it always pains me if people get into a gripe session after it is over, so lets not do that. This year has been slow with the lack of the AOL contests that were planned, and I thank Doritos for making this fun and challenging game. I think it is my second favorite ever, right after the original Volvo Hunt, which will be hard to top as my all time favorite. I imagine Doritos monitors these threads, so take a minute and tell them thanks and that they should do something like this again really soon.

Good job gdesignr. You said basically everything that I was thinking, but in better words. I agree with your comments and also thank Doritos for this chance to compete.

Yes, gdesignr, you're right. It was pretty awesome for Doritos to run this contest. I did really enjoy it and thank them for doing it.

After the finalists were announced and some of us posted times for submission, I got PMs from one of the finalists and one of the other potential finalists asking me what happened (as if I knew, hehe (the process has been extremely secretive, which was kind of interesting)).

I completely understand the selection process regarding picking 3 from the top 10. They have a business to run and what they did makes sense from that point of view. They have certain interests to protect. However, they set certain expectations in the "Official Rules". To wit, that the first three would be chosen and if unable to participate (for whatever reason) could designate a stand-in that Doritos would find acceptable. They could have protected themselves well enough with this selection process, had they given themselves time to do so. Or if they had stated in the "Official Rules" that they were going to select 3 from the first 10, I could accept that. I just ask, if they are kind enough to sponsor a competition like this in the future, that the rules be set/stated in a way that doesn't cause confusion like this. I think this would be to their benefit as well as the competitors.

BTW, there was speculation that the live event would be in Memphis, as there is a pyramid there and it was centered in the big triangle on the map. But the live event will actually take place in Vegas, from what I was told.

Anyway, congratulations again to the Finalists. Have fun in Vegas! I can hardly wait to see what they have prepared for you.

Yes, gdesignr  you are very sensible and wise. 

I certainly didn't mean to fuel any griping threads. I just thought Fred should get the credit because he solved the puzzle first (as far as I know) and then had been nice enough to share his solution on this forum.

Thanks Doritos for a spectacular contest and good luck to the final 3! 

chulo333:

it looks like they put up a plaque on the site saying "Finalists". I don't think that was there before. but clicking on it still takes you to the countdown timer. only 3 more hours left though. And i'm sure fred and jed already know they're finalists but can't talk about it until the results are posted :)

 

Nope nothing for me.  I was right there with Fred in submitting my answer.  Maybe I messed it up, or there was a bit I didn't do.  I was so tired, I have no idea really.  Congrats to the winners.

 

As for the finalists potentially not being the first three, it could be that the people who submitted the correct answer first made some sort of mistake in their paperwork, or there was some further criteria in the paperwork that no one knows about.

 

Let me know if there's another game like this in the future.  I missed out on what ever the volvo thing was and a the others people have been mentioning.  I'm not necessarily one who plays them to win, I just think it's fun to play them along with a community like this one played out.  Too bad they can't work out some sort of team/group competition, I think that would be fun. 

 

Also, I think that for something like this doritos game, they should give you only one chance at solving the final puzzle.  They should make it so that when you guess, you are told if you are right or wrong, then if you are wrong, you have to wait a certain time period before you can access the puzzle again.

 

-jed

You can still access the 2007 Volvo Hunt to play for fun. There is a winner update, then it goes straight to the first puzzle.

http://www.volvocars.com/thehunt/us/Pages/thehunt.aspx

There were 2 different hunts (2006 and 2007) and both were promotions for Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean films and Volvo. They were very much like the Doritos contest in format.

For the 2006 contest, Volvo actually buried a car on an island in the Bahamas for one of the finalists to locate.  Last year, they dropped a treasure chest full of gold into Mediterranean Sea that actually got tangled up in an international incident involving real sunken treasure and Spanish territorial rights!  As far as I know, the chest is still down there.  Despite that, Volvo went ahead and awarded the grand prize ( 50,000 and a car) to the winner.

 

Hi, everyone.  Thought I'd come out of the shadows to say to Doritos that this was an amazing challenge, and I hope there will be another one!  With help, I completed all of the puzzles, though tried to do the last one "on my own," getting creative with an answer of "Luxor Hotel."  Best wishes to the finalists!!!!

Found this writeup on the HitContests website.  It looks like we'll actually be able to see a replay of the finale, though not until August?

 "Doritos: The Quest Finalists
Wednesday 9th of July 2008
Congratulations to Travis Hogg of Austin, Texas, Jim Hutz of Carefree, Arizona, and John Wright of Rock Hill, South Carolina on becoming finalists in Doritos: The Quest online Treasure Hunt. These three competitors were the first three to successfully solve the final puzzle, and will compete in a live final competition in Las Vegas starting July 15th. A month later on August 15th we will be able to view the final competition online. One of these three finalists will win the grand prize of a $100,000 artifact. Jim Hutz was likely one of the finalists of the original Volvo Hunt. Good luck to all."

Congrats guys! Good luck in the finale. And hopefully The Artifact is cashable.

Travis Hogg here...I have been in the UK for two weeks and a little out of contact.  But congrats to Jim and John!

Looking forward to meeting the both of you in Vegas.  Also thanks again to everyone on this forum. You guys are a great group a puzzle solvers!

 

-Travis Hogg

So what are the 3 finalists doing to prep for this contest??  Have you hired a personal trainer? are you running and swimming every day? Practicing your rock climbing skills? Drilling yourself on anagrams and other puzzles?  Have you had the Quest alphabet tatooed on your arm?  I have to tell you, if I was a finalist I'd be doing many of these things...

I guess everyone is keeping their strategy secret...  today is the day that they travel to Vegas. Have fun and good luck!

 so I guess we wont find out who won til aug 15th?

I thought it was going to be televised but i guess not

The rules state that it is a live event (meaning in front of spectators) and that it will be recorded for possible playback on television, the internet, or something else.