After 13 weeks, it looks like the Elimination Game has come to an end, with neither Garfield or Lighthouse identifying this week’s location.
It was a small island in the Novoya Zemlya archipelago. 71°04’31″N 53°27’14″E.
So we end with a tie for first between two great players who searched the world over several times and were finally stumped.
Provide feedback on this style of contest via a comment on this post – and we can decide if it’s worthwhile running a separate game in addition to the standard weekly contest for all. I’ll approve all comments so other players can see what is said.
I have a suggestion for a variant of the elimination game – do it in reverse. Instead of the series of images becoming more difficult and the objective is to be the last one standing, have a series that becomes easier and the objective is to be the first to find it. The first image would be so obscure that nobody would be expected to find it. In the second week the original location would be still be at the centre of the image but zoomed out a little so there was a bit more information. Keep zooming out slowly in subsequent weeks, with the original location at the centre, and at some point it would be found. The question would be how many steps outward it would take for the first person or people to find it. If more than one person found it, all correct responses received before the weekly deadline would be considered tied for first, not literally only the first correct submission, because people might not all have the same opportunity to search after a new image is posted.
By design, the elimination game was fun and challenging in its own right. The contests had a higher difficulty level than the regular weekly game. That makes it challenging, but it also takes a lot more time. That means you sometimes have to make a choice, two contests a week is sometimes a bit much. The fun of searching is the same in both types of game, albeit that the regular weekly game is sometimes very easy and sometimes difficult, so a lot of variation.
As for me, I have enough with one contest a week and then I prefer the ‘normal’ game. The elimination game has the big disadvantage that if you are eliminated, it can take a long time before you can search again; the motivation to search anyway is then no longer there.
In summary: for me, the regular game is sufficient, albeit that the difficulty level might need some attention.
The elimination game has been fun. I was pleased to have another quest opportunity in the week. The only drawback I see is that it does not stimulate more participants.
@Glenmorren Yeah that’s the classic zoom-out game that we have had on our Hungarian site for over 16 years now with over 7000 puzzles or so.
@Martin de Bock
I fully agree with you, the regular game is also what I would stay with, the elimination game is too time-consuming also for me.
I really liked the elimination game even though I totally sucked at it. Really hard ones are fun imho.
Gave me some extra challenges to look for after doing the weekly, even though i had already been eliminated 🙂
I actually found it very tough and had to spend a lot of time with it. Although I enjoyed it! Maybe it would be good if you gave us 14 days instead of a week for an image. We also don’t want you to have more work and that the whole thing becomes too complicated.
Completely satisfied with the game, excellent addition.
Elimination game is a good idea. It providing a unique prospective to the game.
But it should not be lengthy, otherwise eliminated players get bored. I would suggest you to run elimination game for 5 contest, it may be like easy , moderate, hard, very hard, extremely hard. If there ia a tie , fastest player wins.
Anyways you guys are putting a great effort to keep this running. Kudos to you.
The elimination game was an interesting contest, and I was proud on myself to resist until the end, but I felt sorry for the already eliminated players who must have been bored.
Of course they could continue to play, just for fun, but this is not the same.
I would prefer puzzles that all players can always participate in, since we’re only a relatively small group anyway.
Glenmorrens idea of a Zoom-out-game sounds interesting, might be worth trying.
I would not like a game where the fastest wins, since everyone works at different times and can deal with the puzzle. Some then have no chance at all, that would be demotivating.