Frequently Asked Questions

  • General Information
    1. How is Microsoft involved?
      Alumni from each of the participating schools who are now employed by Microsoft organize the College Puzzle Challenge out of a love for fun and competitive ways to challenge technology-minded students. We’ve provided the prizes, food, and all the fun puzzles we know you’ll enjoy. While this is not quite a recruiting event, we will be accepting résumés, so feel free to bring one along! And of course, we’ll be happy to answer any questions you may have about working at Microsoft.
    2. I have a question not covered in this FAQ. Is there someone I can contact?
      Please also review the rules of the event as well. Some questions may also be answered on the team blog. If you still have a question that is not answered, you may contact us via email at cpc@microsoft.com.
    3. How do I get College Puzzle Challenge to come to my school?
      Talk to the Microsoft recruiter for your school.
  • The Event
    1. Is there a limit on the number of teams that may participate?
      Yes. There will be a limit for each location based on funding and available physical space.
    2. How does registration work?
      Teams must register for the event and will be accepted on a per-school first-come, first-served basis. Teams will be wait-listed if space fills up at your school. Wait-listed teams will receive email updates as additional spots open up or become available. Teams that register under false identities or email addresses are subject to deletion. Teams consisting of less than four players may be combined for the event. Sign in to check your team's up-to-date status.
    3. What equipment do we need?
      Primarily your brain, and a lot of imagination. Pens, pencils, and various types of paper will also be helpful. A dictionary is recommended, and you may bring other printed material that you want, like a thesaurus or atlas, but in general, extensive research is not intended to be a part of the contest. Each team will need at least one computer with internet access. This is both for research and for submitting answers. Oh, and don’t forget your student ID cards.
    4. Can we have more than one computer?
      Yes, you may use whatever computers you can access.
    5. Are there any system requirements for the computer(s) that we use?
      Since we won't be distributing any custom applications as part of this competition, there are no hardware, operating system, or software requirements. However, you must be able to access this web site, and to ensure compatibility we recommend using Microsoft Internet Explorer 7, Mozilla Firefox 1.5, or Apple Safari 2.0. If we need to issue any puzzle corrections, they will be in PDF format, so Adobe Reader or a compatible PDF reader is recommended as well.
    6. Can I get help from outside sources?
      Participants may use any source on the internet, of course, as well as any printed materials you bring or can acquire from the school library during the event. You can use friends or strangers as reference sources but not to help you solve puzzles. Collaboration between teams will result in disqualification of those involved.
    7. What about food?
      Food will be provided. Both meals and snacks will be available to all teams during the day. Participants will also be allowed to leave in the middle if they wish, but there will be no organized breaks for food and the event will run continuously from 12:00 PM to 12:00 AM EST.
  • Puzzles
    1. What is the format of the contest?
      Teams will receive several packets of puzzles distributed throughout the event (a team will not be kept waiting if they finish a packet quickly). The answers to these puzzles will form clues to a final meta-puzzle – a special puzzle that combines the results from all of the others. The meta-puzzle may or may not be explicitly designated as such, and, like the other puzzles, the manner of its deciphering may or may not be openly stated.
    2. How many puzzles are there?
      You can expect to receive 15-25 puzzles.
    3. What are the puzzles like?
      The formats of the puzzles are extremely varied. Some may have explicit instructions, while for others, figuring out what to do with what you’re given is part of the puzzle. In all cases, the implicit instruction is "figure out the final answer," which will always be a single word or short phrase. The content and topic is also extremely varied; many are essentially word puzzles and some may involve basic computer concepts such as cryptography or encoding, binary/hexadecimal numbers, and logic. To help prepare you for the event, we have provided several resources for you:
    4. Do we have to solve all the puzzles in order to solve to meta-puzzle?
      Not necessarily; the meta-puzzle is designed so that not all the input solutions are absolutely required to solve it. However, the more inputs available, the easier it becomes. You should expect to have to solve most puzzles in order to have a good shot at solving the meta-puzzle.
    5. How are answers submitted?
      Answers will be submitted via this website. After you log into the site, you will be able to access the submission form. When an answer is received, Puzzle Central in Redmond will review the submission and reply back to your registered email addresses, indicating whether the answer is correct or not. The time when your submission is received (not evaluated) is used for any tie-breakers. A full solution to a puzzle is not required unless specifically asked for by Puzzle Central.
    6. How many times can we submit an answer? Is there a penalty for submitting more than once or submitting an incorrect answer?
      There is no set limit as to the number of times an answer may be submitted for a particular puzzle. There is also no penalty for submitting more than once; in fact, replies from Puzzle Central may require a follow-up response. However, unnecessarily frequent submissions for a puzzle may prompt Puzzle Central to demand full solutions in future submissions. As such, guessing is strongly discouraged.
    7. Who wins?
      The grand prize winner is the first team to submit the correct answer for the meta-puzzle. In addition, there will be per-school prizes handed out for the fastest teams to solve the meta-puzzle or the teams that solve the most puzzles at each school. See the rules for details on the scoring system used to determine the final ranking.
  • Strategy
    1. What is the best way to win?
      The best way to win is to solve the most puzzles before any other team, and then solve the meta-puzzle. The best way to do that is teamwork. Work individually on the easier puzzles so everyone on your team is productive. Work together on harder puzzles so you can solve them more quickly, with more creativity. If you get stuck, move on to another puzzle. Make sure you keep track of which puzzles you’ve already solved and their solutions.
    2. What is the best way to lose?
      Not having fun. If you’re not having fun working on a particular puzzle, switch to another one. Collaborate with your team members, and enjoy the event. If there's anything that can be done to make the event more enjoyable for you, don't hesitate to contact Puzzle Central representatives.
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