Placebo Effect

Final Match 4: Placebo Effect

Are you ready to participate in a double-blind study?

Overview

In this DM, players will be solving puzzles while attempting to sabotage their opponent.

Setup

This DM involves a pregame submission that is due at the time of the scheduled DM. Each player will have 20 injection needles, labeled from 1 to 20. Your pregame submission involves assigning 10 doses of our patented Time Skip Serum™ drug into your 20 needles. Each needle may contain at most 1 dose.

There will be 8 rounds to this game.

Gameplay

In each of eight rounds, players will be presented with 3 observation puzzles, as well as a specific time limit. This time limit will be 180 seconds, which will be the maximum amount of time each player gets to solve the puzzles. The three types of puzzles will be revealed, as well as their point value. In each round, the three puzzles will be worth 2, 3, and 4 points (it will be known which puzzles are worth how many points).

Once you have received the types of puzzles, you may inject your opponent with any subset of remaining needles they have, specifying their numbers. This is done privately, and once players have done so, players will learn what needles they have been stabbed with. If your opponent is injected with a needle that has a dose of Time Skip Serum™, the time remaining that they will have during the round will be reduced by thirty seconds. If the needle has no dose, then no effect will happen. You may inject multiple needles at once.

After both players have finished injecting each other, the puzzles will be released.

There are eight types of observation puzzles that may appear:

Rectangle Count - A square grid (maximum size 8x8) is provided with X’s on some spaces. Name the number of rectangles using X’s as vertices with sides parallel to the grid.

Rectangle Sum - A square grid (maximum size 8x8) is provided with + and - on some (not necessarily all) spaces. The score of a rectangle is equal to the number of +’s in the rectangle minus the number of -’s. Name the largest possible score of any rectangle with axes parallel to the grid.

Sudoku Set - A square grid (maximum size 9x9) is provided with a positive integer from 1 to 9, inclusive, on each space. Select a 3x3 square with all nine distinct numbers by naming its center space.

Space-Filling Curves - A square grid (maximum size 9x9) is provided with cardinal and diagonal arrows on the grid. Name the number of spaces which do not contain an arrow nor have an arrow directly pointing to it. Arrows can point through other arrows.

Laser Frenzy - A square grid (maximum size 9x9) is provided, with lasers on certain sides of the grid (marked with a *), and both positive integers and diagonal mirrors on some spaces. Lasers bounce perpendicularly off mirrors; name the sum of the numbers hit by at least one laser.

Area Split - A square grid (maximum size 13x13) is provided with each square having a color (red, yellow, green, blue). Name the color which appears the most in the grid.

Run Ronald Run - A square grid (maximum size 11x11) is provided, with some spaces having an X. Ronald starts on the bottom left space and can move to any orthogonally adjacent space, ending at the top right space. However, Ronald cannot move onto spaces containing an X. Name the minimum number of distinct X’s Ronald must have at one point been orthogonally adjacent to.

Word Search - A square grid (maximum size 12x12) is provided with each square having a letter. A word bank will be provided, containing 12 words which will be related in some way -- exactly one of these words will appear in the word search. Name the word from the word bank that appears in the grid in any of the eight compass directions.

Submissions

In each round, players may submit to the puzzles in their private submission channels. The number of points you get for a puzzle will depend on a number of factors:

If your answer is incorrect, you get 0 points for that puzzle.

If you answer, but your opponent answered correctly with more time remaining, you get 0 points.

If you answer when you have run out of time, you get 0 points.

Otherwise, you get the number of points as defined by the puzzle's worth.

You cannot change your answers one you have submitted.

I will run each round for the entire duration of the time limit. Then, I will state how many points each player got. I will also reveal the correct answer for each puzzle. Any mistakes in puzzle answers should be disputed after the round and not during the round.

Restrictions

You may take notes during the DM; however, the use of external tools such as calculators, programs, or spreadsheet formulas is prohibited.

Items:

Clear Mind: Any doses given to you in a round do not affect your time limit. You must use this before you have learned what needles you are being injected with.

Dosage+: Gain 1 additional dose at the start of the game.

Needle+: Gain 4 additional injection needles (but no additional doses) at the start of the game.

Examples

Clarification: I can't believe I forgot to put this in. The winner is the player with the most points -- if there is a tie, the player who correctly answered the most puzzles wins. If there is a further tie, the player who correctly answered the puzzle with the most points on the most recent round in which a puzzle was correctly answered wins the DM (so it goes Round 8/4 points, Round 8/3 points, Round 8/2 points, Round 7/4 points... and so on). If there is a further tie, screw you I flip a coin.

Clarification: At the end of each round, you will know how many doses of Time Skip Serum you have received.

Clarification: Typos or abbreviations will not discount a correct answer as long as it is obvious enough (for instance, R instead of Red in Area Split)

Clarification: Puzzle answers can be submitted one at a time.

Edit: The pre-MM injection submission has been moved to the start of the MM due to item usage. Players can still presubmit this, though.

Clarification: "If you answer, but your opponent answered correctly with more time remaining, you get 0 points." refers to your/their time remaining (which can be affected by Time Skip Serum).

For instance, if you submit 5 seconds in, but your opponent submits 90 seconds in, if you were injected with 3 doses of TSS and your opponent was injected with none, your opponent scores and you do not.