Hausigel Contest Series

[Hausigel]

Hello,
the next contest will take place Sep 13-16.
Hausigel

[Hausigel]

Hello,
the contest HCS 10 is planned to take place Oct 4-7 as WPC preparation.
Hausigel

[kiwijam]

Hello,
the contest HCS 10 is planned to take place Oct 4-7 as WPC preparation.
Hausigel

Roland, does that mean it will contain puzzle types that are in the WPC Instruction Booklet(s)? That's a great idea! Slightly ambitious, but very useful.

[Hausigel]

Sorry to disappoint, but no, it will just be sort of an Evergreens contest.

[Hausigel]

Hello,
the contest HCS 9 will start in about 12 hours; I hope you enjoy the puzzles.
Concerning score adjustments: I will inquire only in case of syntax errors, otherwise I will wait for the participants to send their score adjustment requests to me first; in either case, there will be a 20% penalty for manual score adjustments. Please note that there is a clarification of the rules for the puzzles 19-22 (Blackout Math) in the German forum.
Hausigel

[Hausigel]

Hello,
the contest HCS 9 is over; thanks to all participants. Score adjustment requests are still possible till Wednesday noon (hcs@hausigel.de). Meanwhile I have activated the next contest which will take place Oct 4-7.
Link to the contest page
Hausigel

[Hausigel]

The scoring of the contest HCS 9 has been finalized. Congratulations to Hideaki Jo who beat Ulrich by an inch, to Ulrich Voigt and to Daisuke Takei, and to the runner-ups as well, of course.
Hausigel

[Hausigel]

Hello,
I have uploaded a new version of the instruction file for the contest HCS 10. The solution keys for the following puzzles have changed: 3, 6, 8, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 24, 27, 28, 30 and 39.
Basically, only the row information must be entered for several puzzle types (instead of row and column information), for example the number of black cells for Hitori/Heyawake, the number of mines in Minesweeper, etc. In the Hashi, only the number of horizontal and vertical double bridges is required; in Stations, the contents of two marked rows must be entered (like in Second turn).
Plus, I have rotated two examples by 90°.
Hausigel
PS: If I have overlooked any puzzles which appear suitable for a similar change of the solution key, or if I have made any mistakes in the process, you are welcome to let me know.

[kiwijam]

Great, thanks for listening to the little people...

[sknight]

Great, thanks for listening to the little people...

"I saw a leprechaun once. He told me to burn things!" -- Ralph Wiggum

[Hausigel]

Hello,
the contest HCS 10 starts in a few hours. Enjoy!
Manual score adjustments wll be handled as in most of the HCS contests: there will be a 20% penalty, and I will inquire myself only in case of syntax errors. (If someone who has not read my last notice enters the old answer keys, I will correct them without penalty.)
One more thing: The puzzle files in my contests typically contain one page for each puzzle type. That means, you would have to print 40 pages. If you want to save paper, I am offering you this: There will be a second version of the contest file, with two puzzles on each page, but without instructions and without any explanations on the answer keys. Of course, that file will be encrypted, too; I will upload it in the German forum shortly before the contest begins.
Hausigel

[Hausigel]

Ouch - I was just told that, in the Stations puzzle, the arrows are missing which are supposed to mark the answer key rows. These are the rows 3 and 6 from above. Sorry!
(I have uploaded a corrected file version.)

[Hausigel]

The contest HCS 10 is over. Thanks to all participants, congratulations to Ulrich Voigt, Hideaki Jo, Tomasz Strózak and Philipp Weiß.
I will announce the next contest in a weak or two; meanwhile, good luck to the WSC/WPC participants.

[sknight]

By the way, I really enjoyed this round of evergreens. I was a little dubious about 40 puzzles in 2 hours, but the puzzles generally manage to be both quick enough that you can get through a lot of them in the time allotted and also pretty interesting and elegant. Combining quick/easy with elegant/memorable is always something I'm impressed with. Definitely worth doing for those that missed it.

[Hausigel]

Hello,
I have updated the total scoring and activated the next contest which will take place Nov 15-18.
Link to the contest page
Hausigel

[Hausigel]

Hello,
the contest begins shortly; good luck to all participants. As usual, I will send you a message by myself in case of syntax errors and otherwise just wait for score adjustment requests. And the usual 20% penalty will applay if manual adjustments are necessary.
Hausigel

[Hausigel]

Hello,
please note: Just as page 1 of the contest file, page 3 does not contain any puzzles, but only the instructions for Persistence of Memory. They are very long, and there was not enough space left below them for any puzzle grids...
Hausigel

[Hausigel]

Hello,
the time window for the contest is closed; please send score adjustment requests no later than Wednesday.
Hausigel

[Hausigel]

Hello,
the scoring has been finalized. Congratulations to Endo Ken who beat uvo by an inch, to uvo, Tomasz Strózak and to the runner-ups. Thanks to all participants.
The contest HCS 12 (Mazes) will probably take play Dec 6-9. The instruction file and the contest file are not quite finished, but they will be uploaded shortly.
Hausigel

[Hausigel]

Hello,
at last, the final HCS contest has been set up, and the instruction file is available now. As always, feel free to ask questions about the puzzle types.
Link to the contest page:
In case you already had a look at the file: I have just uploaded an updated version which includes a few amendments to the puzzle instructions and a 3D image for the Rolling Block Maze. (Many thanks to uvo who gave me access to his image files for the HCS.)
Regarding the solution keys: In puzzles where the solution key consists of directions, an E may be entered instead of an O for Ost (=East). The notations RLOU (Rechts, Links, Oben, Unten) or RLUD (Right, Left, Up, Down) will also be accepted.
Hausigel

[Hausigel]

Hello,
the contest starts tomorrow, I hope you enjoy the puzzles. Regarding the solution keys:
As said earlier, different notations are accepted in puzzles where the directions must be entered. Other solutions than the intended ones (especially those with extra loops) will of course be accepted, too. If your entries differ only slightly - by my jugdement - from the correct ones, I will inquire myself. Apart from that, you are as usual welcome to request manual score adjustments until Wednesday (hcs@hausigel.de). Please note that some of the answer keys might be very long; that is why there will be no penalties for manual adjustments in this contest whatsoever, as long as I can expect that you have solved the puzzles correctly.
Hausigel

[Hausigel]

Hello,
another short remark: Since some of the mazes are very large, the pages 6-18 of the contest file contain only the puzzle diagrams; the instructions can be found on the pages 1-5. Please note furthermore that the second Escher maze (puzzle 8) has been rotated by 90° to fit on the page.
Hausigel

[Hausigel]

The contest HCS 12 is over. Congratulations to James on a great victory! You will find a few closing remarks in the German forum.
The total scoring table will be updated within the next few days.
Hausigel

[PuzzleScot]

The contest HCS 12 is over. Congratulations to James on a great victory!

Phenomenal effort James - well done!

[Nilz]

Congrats James. I'm sure when I had a quick look yesterday your name was much lower down (below mine, which is why I noticed! ) so I guess you must've had a few alternative solutions- thanks again Roland for taking the time to check all the alternatives (usually uniqueness is necessary, but, probably due to the nature of the puzzles, I don't personally feel this competition was devalued in any way due to a few multiple solutions).