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Petals Around the Rose

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ephemerat

15:00 / 12.07.04

Here's game for you all to try. You may solve it extremely quickly. Or you might not. You are allowed the following items of information:

1. The game is called 'Petals Around the Rose'.

2. The name is significant.

3. For each dice roll there is only one answer.

4 The answer will always be an even number.

SPOILER REQUEST: IF YOU HAVE PLAYED THIS GAME BEFORE, OR YOU SOLVE IT, BE A TRUE POTENTATE OF THE ROSE; DON'T SPOIL IT FOR OTHERS (if someone gets really upset and baffled by it we can always help via PMs).

I solved it fairly rapidly, many don't. Often those who don't are extremely talented and intelligent individuals, and some go so far as to state that the longer it takes you the smarter you are. Hm. When you've worked it out there's a great article about it here, describing Bill Gates and a whole bunch of Comex staff being utterly baffled by it. Very amusing.

Right then, Barbelith, let's see how you do with this, then...

No star here laces

15:16 / 12.07.04

Took me three rolls but would have taken a hell of a lot longer without the clues you gave...

distractile

15:16 / 12.07.04

Got it immediately, which is unusual for me - normally with this sort of thing I'm the one who's still going "eh?" hours/days/months after everybody else.

Now I'm puzzled by how you could not get it immediately. Funny how getting one answer that works makes it impossible to conceive of alternatives. There's some sort of life lesson there, surely.

ephemerat

15:23 / 12.07.04

Took me three rolls but would have taken a hell of a lot longer without the clues you gave...

Gah. Have I given too much away? That is the requisite supply of information you should provide according to the article, or were the clues from outside of the four points listed?

Less searchable M0rd4nt

15:38 / 12.07.04

Oh, man. That took me aaages... he he.

grant

15:39 / 12.07.04

Got it after two, but wouldn't have if the page itself didn't emphasize that you don't have to be good at math, and that the answer is really obvious once you look at it the right way.

Ethan Hawke

15:40 / 12.07.04

ohmigod, that took me ages. I even had one related, WRONG solution that worked for three rolls in a row before I got it.

ephemerat

15:55 / 12.07.04

I got that, too.

I originally had around five or six hypotheses based on certain assumptions I made about the game, these were rapidly reduced to one hypothesis which worked for a while but when disproved made the answer obvious.

Eloi Tsabaoth

15:55 / 12.07.04

Got it in one. It's like a kilted man getting out of a car, sometimes you see it, sometimes you don't...

Spaniel

15:57 / 12.07.04

Got it pretty quickly - 5 or 6 goes - probably helped that I didn't make too many assumptions.

netbanshee

16:09 / 12.07.04

5-6 for meself too. Any other toys for us to play with?

w1rebaby

17:11 / 12.07.04

Christ, I still haven't got it. I'll work it out eventually.

I'm terrible at this sort of thing, I always have been. I come up with hundreds of ridiculously bizarre solutions to explain each roll, none of which ever work the next time, and I can't get them out of my head. It always takes me ages.

imaginary mice

17:20 / 12.07.04

Took me 5 minutes. Not too bad...

Olulabelle

17:28 / 12.07.04

Fucking hell I have no idea what you are all talking about, I seriously haven't got it and nor am I ever likely to get it because my brain has now shut down.

Can someone please PM me and tell me:

a/What I should have got as easily as you lot.
b/Why I am such a fuckwit.

Warewullf

17:32 / 12.07.04

Yay! I got it in about 5 minutes!! That's great for me cos I never usually get stuff like this.

*pleased!*

Hugh_DeMann

17:45 / 12.07.04

phew...

I was in danger of appearing extremely talented and intelligent for a mo!
But then I got it.

good game, good game.

Ganesh

18:25 / 12.07.04

Bloody hell, I just wasted an hour of my life. But then I got it.

The Puck

19:09 / 12.07.04

*smug* i got it in one, please allow me my little smug dance *smug*

*doing a smug dance thats last about a hour*

SMUGGLES

Mourne Kransky

19:21 / 12.07.04

Annoyingly hard for thicko here to figure out and then even more annoying to realise how simple the solution was.

w1rebaby

19:24 / 12.07.04

I still haven't got it. Though I've admittedly not been trying the whole time since I last posted.

Olulabelle

20:33 / 12.07.04

I STILL haven't got it despite receiving several helpful hints from people via PM, which only serve to make me feel even dimmer since the solution is not forthcoming even with the hints.

Can someone please just PM me the answer? I'm on the verge of weeping, such is the frustration.

Warewullf

20:33 / 12.07.04

Sadly, this is one of those things whereby the quicker you get it, the less intelligent you are. So take your time, you'll look all the better for it.

the cat's iao

20:39 / 12.07.04

Hey Fridge, yer not alone! I've rolled, I dunno', forty or fifty times and I can't get it. I had a few different working hypotheses, but all have been shot down. Hmm...get back to this later--hope it don't drive me mad!

Bed Head

20:50 / 12.07.04

Finally, my being completely hopeless at maths works in my favour. In two. I am in awe of anyone who rolls forty or fifty times to try out different hypotheses.

the cat's iao

20:58 / 12.07.04

Oh olulabelle I do not think it is worth weeping over, and hey, I can't get it, fridge can't get it, and so you're not alone!

Tezcatlipoca

21:10 / 12.07.04

"It had taken Dr. Duke well over a year himself, and he would always explain that the smarter you were, the longer it took to figure it out."

This is probably the first time I've ever been depressed at figuring out a puzzle in one move.

Bed Head

21:19 / 12.07.04

I think a really smart guy would have known to spend all that time on a more interesting game. Super-Monkey Ball, or something. I don’t believe anyone can spend a whole bloody year on this thing.

Eloi Tsabaoth

21:27 / 12.07.04

It had taken Dr. Duke well over a year himself, and he would always explain that the smarter you were, the longer it took to figure it out.
Yes, that's what I'd say if I'd spent a year on this. Denial's a beautiful thing.

21:29 / 12.07.04

OK, I got that straight away. I'm just gloating here a bit because it took me YEARS to even start to get the bloody Monty Hall door swapping dilemma...

Triplets

21:37 / 12.07.04

Actually, could it be a case of people being up their own arses? I mean people who think they're intelligent, or are and are really pleased with how smart they are... thinking the solution has to be ultracomplex therefore starting with a mid-to-hard solution, it not working, then going further up the abstract?

Like Stuart on Big Brother when asked to pick whoever doesn't get their suitcase... "Uh, I'm not sure I understand the process". Riiight.

I'd like to see how the results differ between various social strata.

w1rebaby

21:44 / 12.07.04

Actually, could it be a case of people being up their own arses? I mean people who think they're intelligent, or are and are really pleased with how smart they are... thinking the solution has to be ultracomplex therefore starting with a mid-to-hard solution, it not working, then going further up the abstract?

I'm certainly up my own arse.

I'll be able to comment further when I get the thing. Right. I'm home from work, I'm sitting around in my pants with a beer, it should be easy now.

The Apple-Picker

22:02 / 12.07.04

Hooray! I got it! Something less than five minutes. I was getting frustrated after about ten rolls so I came back here and read what other people said. And voila!

Numbskullery rubs off! Or else I realized my full numbskull potential.

Warewullf

22:23 / 12.07.04

My boyfriend just got it in about one minute.

Smart/dumbass.

I, Libertine

22:42 / 12.07.04

Criminy!!

That was intriguing, then annoying, then really annoying, and then I got it. It was fun to watch my lovely wife go through the exact same stages.

What's more interesting to me is why the good Dr. would claim that smarter people take longer to get at the correct answer. Sounds suspiciously like Freud and his cigar.

But that's a fun puzzle, it is.

Olulabelle

23:21 / 12.07.04

Not that fun when you STILL DO NOT GET IT.

*Sulkily goes to bed.*

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