rattlebrain, inc. contest....anyone ever signed up for this?

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i dunno if this has ever been posted....but....

ive seen this contest in magazines forever....and have always wanted to try it out....so i signed up and completed the first set of puzzles....now im waiting for the next set to be mailed to me....

it goes like this....in some magazines (recently the june 04 issue of psm on page 61) they have this contest advertised....where you pay as you play (a few bucks)...filling out mystery word grids and puzzles to compete with other people who are filling out different versions of the same puzzle for prizes....you can win "the ultimate gaming rig" of over $20,000 in prizes.......they have a computer contest, video game contest, and media rig contest......

does anyone know what im talking about? has anyone ever tried this? is it a scam?
 
Is it that silly crossword contest I always used to see in GamePro where the example crossword's answer is 'POWER'?

If so, yes I know what you are talking about. Seems like a rip off to me, but it ain't my money either.
 
yeah....thats it....its like $5 so far for each time you send away for the next round of puzzles (thats if you signed up for all of the contests)....i figured id give it a try....if all else fails....i can at least warn others not to waste their money on it
 
That crossword puzzle thing was in my Nintendo Power in 1989, I swear it's still the same answers too. Hey, let me know how it works out though.
 
I always wanted to do it when i saw it in magazines and never had the disposable income to do it, a big concern of mine is that it probably goes on for years, bringing the cost up to 100 or more dollars.
 
its supposedly only like 5 or 6 rounds....im either on round 2 or 3....i dont see how the puzzles get any harder either....but....we'll see.....ill keep ya posted as we go....im not supposed to receive the next round til mid-late may
 
I've seen those for years and yes it seems like the same puzzles! Good luck I hope you aren't throwing your money out the door. If you win, you gotta post a pic of your winnings. So all of us who wouldn't do it can kick ourselves in the ass :wink: ......
 
I have seen them around for at least 6 or 7 years but never tried it.

What I didn't like about the rules was that it says if contestants are tied at the end, they split the prize value.

Now I'm not sure how many people make it to the last round and have the higest score possible but I am guessing it's a lot (judging by how simple the puzzles seem to be). Maybe once everyone splits the final prize, they get something like $20 or less because there are so many winners.
 
I'm doing the phase one thing...( the first one you get besides the one in the mag) and i've done multiple searches on the company but i can't find anything... but nothing about it being non-legit either so there is no way to know
 
I decided to be so bold as to email Rattlebrain and ask them whether this contest was legit or was it a scam. Amazingly enough, they replied. The following is the letter from the contest director. None of it has been manipulated (BTW, I posed under a different name just in case):

Hi Stephanie,

I've been doing puzzle tournaments for twenty years. In that time, if I
had been a scam, none of the magazines would let me advertise. I do what I
say I will do and if you find yourself not happy at the end of the
contest, I'll send you a complete refund. This is why I have lasted so
long.

I hope you give us a shot.

Rick Lund
Contest Director
Baindramage, Inc.
503-889-4070

I also asked several other puzzling things about their contest. I'm waiting for their answers. I might just post them.
 
have none of you seen that episode of Doug where he decides to enter it using his $50 US Bond his grandmother had given him? well long story short he didn't win because there were plenty of competition.
 
i forgot all about this thread...anyways, i didn't win...why? because the puzzles that they send you are all time sensitive and they sent the last set of puzzles to me later then the due date...great scam, bastards
 
I was smart enough to get my hands on their Official rules. If it came after the deadline, it is not their fault. It is the postage system's. I was worried that because of Hurricane Katrina, the mail system was clogged or destroyed or something like that. Not that I wasn't worried about the victims, either. I donated alot of money, it was just a thing that bothered me. It was like 4 weeks between the puzzles. So, yeah.

Anyway, their official rules explain alot, too. What caught my eye the most was the possibility of getting a FULL refund if my puzzle came past the deadline or if I'm not happy with contest results. I might just post it. Also, I'm in the finals and just mailed it out. On the off chance I do win something, I'll take pics or something.
 
im on the final phase of the video game system puzzle. i think i might have it figured out and im really hoping this isnt a scam...
 
What are/is your high score on final phase(s)?

mine are:
6,xxx for video games finished in June
12,xxx for media rig finished in August
14,xxx for computer finished in August

I put X's because I don't remember the exact numbers.
Just curious about how our scores compare.

[email protected] the correct email?
Haven't gotten responses to my emails.
 
[quote name='m0nkeybl1tz']Damn man, I was totally gonna cite that Doug thing too...[/QUOTE]great minds think alike.
 
I'd say that it's a scam if they sent it to you past the contest due date.

There are most likely a hundred people who would tie with the highest score if they received the puzzles on time. That's probably why there's never been one.
 
I did it when I was younger. I made it to the final one, but it was very difficult. (And I was young) I don't think it's a scam, but I think you have to be very good to get the last one.
 
The puzzles start off very easy, and stay easy up until the final phase. That is the 'catch'. Even though I think it is a very legitimate catch. The last phase is a lot tougher because they dont give you the words you have to create your own, using various ways to put them into the grid, which is larger. They are legit, I get a response to the email everytime I send one to the guy, and like he said they would not be allowed to put their contests in the magazines for so long if they were found out to be frauds. I just finished the Video game rig on oct 29th (the due date) and now am awaiting the results of that, and my final phase puzzles for the media, and computer rigs. I asked the director of the thing why they changed their name from Rattlebrain inc to Baindramage and he said because he wanted to put the games on the internet and rattlebrain domain was already taken. So we will probably be seeing them on the net very soon. Hope this helps some and good luck to all y'all who are going against me and countless others!!!
 
[quote name='Rig']I did it when I was younger. I made it to the final one, but it was very difficult. (And I was young) I don't think it's a scam, but I think you have to be very good to get the last one.[/QUOTE]

Ditto.

I think the ad was in EGM when I did it.
 
Man I can't believe they are doing this, it sounds EXACTLY like the same contests they used to run 15 years ago in Game Pro. I don't know if it's a scam or not though.
 
They are in the judging stage right now on the video game contest. They say it takes 10 weeks for them to figure out who won. I hope it is much sooner than that tho.
 
Hi all, im in this too, just started looking around to see if anyone else had heard of them too. I'm on the second finale puzzle...they are rather hard. you have to make your own grid, using legit words from a nationaly published source. they have a strict set of rules you have to follow. Trik is to use only the letter worth one poin in the "FD" (force divider) and the rest use high count letters, with a few vowels. my sore on the first one is alittle over 16,XXX.X. could any one whose e-mailed them give me that address? im gonna call them with that number above sometime today and ill give an update. PS. if they do refund, then have to be legit.... thanks for help
 
+++UPDATE+++

i called them and....got a message, but they say they will return my call. im in a fix, i was wanting to know if i can use the same gride from the videogame puzzle on the media puzzle...well anyways im writing them a letter thats going with this puzzle stating their lack of response. (cause i sent this question to them the day i got my FIRST puzzle.) and if im disqualified ill get my money back, their attention to customers needs improving...but if not im good cause its a pretty high score, and the max is 18 somthin'. respond with any thoughts :)
 
you could probably use the same answers, but the scores for each letter will be different. For example, "h" might equal 24 in the video game one, but might equal 2 in the media rig one. I would've used all the same answers, but like I said, the scores will change.
 
oh ya...oh man i feel really dumb...but they called back, i got to talk to Rick, and he said that the reason this time we're having e-mailing everyone back is because of all the sore losers that didnt make it. said something like this is the most contestants this year ever. Then I pointed out its cause of the next-gen systems your giving to the winner. so thats that, if i win anything ill post a pic of the loot. :bouncy:
 
Making it to the final automatically gets you a prize. Correct?
I got to the final on all 3 and currently have received nothing.
Do you think they hold different sets of contests simultaneously?
I begin to worry because my deadlines were June(VG), Aug(MR), Sep(COM).
Others barely receiving their finals last month while I finished mine months ago and received no prize(s), notices, or responses to my emails.

I'm currently thinking (until or IF I receive something. Anything) that this is a waste of time and money.
 
I was told that if you messed up on anything on any of the puzzles (say, a calculation error or something), then you would be disqualified. according to the official rules, you would get nothing in the mail telling you that you lost. That may explain why some never got some of their puzzles.

One time I waited 4 weeks for a single puzzle and I was fretting, but it eventually came. Also, as I said before, on the off chance I win and all, I take pics and such.
 
oh, and to answer huerta_5's question(s), I'm pretty sure you don't win a prize if you get to the finals, but , of course, you do if you win. You should've received a copy of the winning puzzle, unless you're the winner, which then they would call you.
 
You do not receive anything at all for making it to the final. You did not read that because they never stated that anywhere. The only thing you can win is the final puzzle. Only one winner. I too got in the 16,000's. I hope the winner is on this site so we can actually see the stuff if they win.
 
You have to make your own copies if you want to keep them. I dont know if anyone has saved theirs.why do u wanna see? are you in the contest?
 
Nah, like I said, saw the Doug episode, turned me off them forever. But what kind of puzzle is it? Is it like a crossword puzzle, or what?
 
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