 |
The Repton Challenge
March 8th, 2004 |
|
On Wednesday, January 21st 2004, at exactly 17:00h GMT
= 18:00h CET (Paris/Berlin), 12:00 noon New York, 22:30
Delhi, 02:00h Tokyo, 04:00h Sydney, we unleashed our Repton
Challenge. At precisely that time we uploaded a Very
Hard Level for Tommy's Christmas
Repton, an ancient but fascinatingly complex game that
had occupied our readers over the Christmas season.
At 18:00:48, precisely 48 seconds after the upload, our
server logged the first download of the Repton Challenge
file. This produced a fiendishly difficult level, which
participants had to solve as quickly as possible.
The winner of the Repton Challenge was the first participant
to send in the password that appears, together with a congratulation
message, when you have solved all parts of the Very Hard
level (finallev.rep). The prize for this was a copy of
Fritz, signed by the winner of the Corus Wijk aan Zee super-GM
tournament.
Well, the first correct solution to the above very daunting
level came at 19:04 GMT, just four hours after we had released
the level. It was by Carlos Adán Bonilla
of Madrid, Spain. "Have I won the Repton Challenge???"
Carlos asked.
Not so fast. Even before this message we received one
from "John Doe from Somewhere, USA" with the
following disconcerting information:
First, let me assure you that this is not a claim
on the Repton Challenge prize. Although I expect I am
the first respondent with the correct password [correctly
given], I did not obtain it by solving the puzzle. Rather,
I discovered that it is possible to alter one file within
Christmas Repton such that extracting the password from
any level becomes possible [full instructions given].
I recommend asking the winner of the Repton Challenge
to verify their claim with a question along the lines
of "Wow, so how did you get past <difficult part>?"
So we sent Carlos Adán a new program with a securely
encrypted final password, asking him to very quickly repeat
the level and also make a screen dump of the final screen.
His answer came a few hours later, at 22:33 GMT. He sent
a screendump of the solved level and of the final congratulatory
message:
 So
Carlos Adán Bonilla is the winner of our Repton
Challenge and receives the copy of Fritz signed by the
winner of Wijk. But there was a slight problem.
At the time we could not know who the ultimate winner
would be. So we took a program that was signed by a whole
bunch of contenders: Vladimir Kramnik, Peter Leko, Vishy
Anand. We hope that Carlos will not be upset. Here some
information on him:
My name is Carlos Adán Bonilla. As your own website
said, in Spain we have two surnames. The first belonging
to our father and the second to our mother. Therefore,
the proper way to call me in official events is Mr. Adán.
I am 30 years old, single, and an Atletico de Madrid soccer
team supporter. I work as a telecommunication engineer
for a Swedish telecom multinational.
Repton reminded me of some old Spectrum and PC games,
such as Sokoban and Supaplex. Very nice game you made!!!
I love all kind of logical games, but chess is my favourite
one. My first "serious" games of chess were against
computers, in early 1980s. I remember playing against the
Spectrum Computer by Sinclair, when playing programs were
extremely weak. I even remember when some PC programs didn't
know how to mate with rook versus king. I am not very skilled
at chess, but making some progress each month at a local
club. I also played a variant of chess named Suicide Chess
for several years. It was a very good game indeed, more
emotion, more long sequences, more building nets, more
chances to come from a clear defeat to a final win.
Finally, I want to say congratulations to the ChessBase
team for the programs, the Playchess server and the New
Page contents! Very good job!!
Carlos Adán getting a book signed by Garry Kasparov
Thirteen hours after Carlos sent in his solution we received
the second correct one from David Zammit
of Sydney, Australia, who regretted not getting up at 4
a.m. Sydney Time to try to get first place. David is 31,
a self-employed software developer/consultant (c/delphi/vb)
who likes martial arts, squash, tennis and chess. He is
currently fascinated by a chess variant known as "kriegspiel
chess".
David Zammit, enjoying the ocean view "down under"
Another remarkable message came from Dylan Lehti,
a 12-year-old from Colorado, USA:
I live in Colorado in the United States of America
and have just turned 12 years old. I got started in chess
7 months ago and am closing in on a 1300-1400 rating
(I am beating 1400's, but I started
tournaments four months ago and my rating is not yet
up to speed). I have a father who is beginning to study
chess, and a mother and sister who don't know anything
about the game at all. Some other hobbies are guitar,
trumpet, football, etc. I enjoyed Repton tremendously
and have made a level that I think is good and fairly
tough. You have to know what you're doing to solve it.
I was wondering if you could post it on your site for
download when you give the results for the solving contest.
Sure thing, Dylan. The level is included in the link list
at the bottom of the page. We thought it was pretty neat,
and even Tommy thinks you should continue composing Repton
levels.
More feedback
Michael Becker, Aachen, Germany
My commentary on Repton is easy and short: great game,
I am constantly looking for new maps!
Tom Halford, Preston, England
Thank you for introducing me to this fantastic retro game,
the best I have ever played.
Meir Lakhovsky, Redmond, USA
The game was wonderful, especially level 7! I could not
participate in hard level solving because unfortunatly
I was at school when it was released. Thanks for all the
fun!
Chaitanya Sonavale, Pune, India
Thanks to all people who have contributed in making of
Repton. Undoubtedly it was the best game I ever have played
– of course after chess. I loved small box, though
big box was a bit more challenging. It required a lot of
fundas. Of course, the beauty of small box is that at any
step you have only one correct choice. If you dont see
it then you are screwed. Starting all over again can be
simply most annying thing. So guys, keep up the good work.
Winston Chow, Singapore
It's 1:15 am here in Singapore on the first day of Chinese
New Year and I just downloaded the game. All my relatives
are going to wonder why I will look as though I've not
slept a wink when I'm visiting them later this morning.
I'd like to thank Tommy for making a level so hideously
difficult that I will probably spend the next few days
tearing my hair out trying to solve it. You guys weren't
kidding when you said it was hard!
Srinath Pune, India
The final passoword is "DamnIt". Ya, you guessed
right, I've not yet solved it :(. Ingenious contest. Highly
punctual, and I loved the way you conducted the contest.
However the final level is It's not "obscenely difficult",
as you claim, it's just plain damn impossible. Sorry to
say so, but frankly, this has none of the beauty I was
expecting after solving "small box" and "big
box". It sure is damn difficult, but it's ugly. Actually,
only the section with the key is ugly. The rest is Gorgeous.
Tom Halford, Preston, England
Frederic, your great puzzle section brightens up my life,
although some are difficult considering I am 15 and only
started playing chess last summer. I have successfuly completed
the Repton boxes and am currently attempting the very hard
level, but I fear it is too difficult. I fully agree with
Srinath, Pune when he praises the "big box" and
"small box" levels, which I have funally done.
The top-right corner of big box is very difficult as many
people have mentioned. I was stuck for hours here but,
like a chess problem, the answer suddenly jumped out at
me eventually. Genius design. Oh, and please tell Tommy
that his "very hard" level is too difficult for
me. Thanks for the great game and excellent coverage of
Wijk aan Zee.
Correct submissions
Carlos Adán Bonilla, Madrid, Spain
[Correct password sent on January 21st at 19:04 GMT]
Have I won the Repton Challenge??? I found it quite hard,
needed one complete hour of concentration to complete it.
The Very Hard Level name was quite appropriate. Thanks
for this game!!!
We sent Carlos a new program with a securely encrypted
final password, asking him to very quickly repeat the level
and also make a screen dump of the final screen. His answer
cam a few hours later, at 22:33 GMT:
Sorry for the delay, I was out having dinner. I repeated
the whole thing with your new level and the password has
now changed to [correct password given]. I think I was
quite lucky the first time because this second time I was
stuck in several places, maybe even for more time than
this evening. I attach a GIF of the final window. I hope
that my prize will be a program signed by Anand, who may
win Corus Wijk aan Zee 2004. It is funny than both Anand
and me live in Madrid, but not yet got his autograph. I
played Karpov in a simul in 2001 and got his signature,
and this year I got the Kasparov's book signed by Garry
Kimovich himself!!! (plus a photograph).
David Zammit, Sydney, Australia
[Correct solution received on January 22, 08:36 GMT]
Is that the word you are looking for?? What an incredibly
challenging level. Lucky I have a day off work! I have
also saved snapshots of the final level. Woohooo! Congratulations
to Carlos for being faster. Maybe if I'd gotten up at 4am
(Sydney Time) when the competition started I may have been
in with a chance! :-) But I had a lot of fun anyway. And
thanks for choosing to send me a prize too!
Stephane Harvey, Alma, Quebec, Canada
[Correct solution received on January 23, 07:35 GMT]
Finally after many hours of hard work, I MADE IT!!! The
very hard level (I agree!) is mine. The christmas part
was easy and all the other practice level too compare to
the last one.
Nikolaidis Marios, Athens, Greece
[Correct solution received on January 23, 16:50 GMT]
I finally completed the very hard level. Thanks for giving
us such a tough challenge! I spent most of the time (about
11 hours) trying to solve the middle right room which I
believe was the most difficult of the screen. On Wednesday
I reached the room but I had to go to university at the
morning so I went to sleep. After the first lesson I went
to the computers' lab and downloaded repton. I tried again
for about 2.5 hours, but still I couldn't get out of the
middle right room. Thought I should keep as much soil as
possible. In fact the solution for the room came to me
on Friday at about 5 pm, 30 mins after I got back home.
The rest of the map was still challenging but not as complicated,
so I managed to finish the map at about 6:30.
Dimitris Kamilis, Kavala, Greece
[Correct solution received on January 23, 22:26 GMT]
I have solved Tommy's very hard level. Probably it's too
late for the prize, but anyway it was a great and very
difficult experience.
John Vasileff, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
[Correct solution received on January 24, 03:46 GMT]
I solved it! This puzzle is rediculous. I figured out two
of the sections by pure luck. Since the level was released
over two days ago, I'm probably not the first to solve
it. But, just in case, the password and message are posted
below, and yes, I have screen captures!
Rakesh Rai, Mumbai, India
[Received on January 24, 10:35 GMT]
I finally managed to solve the 'hard' level. Since it needed
lot of precise moves, which I may not be able to perform
everytime (even though I knew what to do). I saved interim
versions of the puzzle, in order to move forward. But unfortunately
I did not get any password. It simply said "Congratulations,
you have completed the episode!" Please advise - can
I save interim versions or not? Is that why I did not get
the password. I did get the passwords for the earlier levels,
though!! [You only get the final password if you solve
the level in one straight session, Rakesh]
Jeremy Williams, Candler, North Carolina, USA
I loved Repton. Kudos to Tim and Thomas for a great game,
especially for the time that it came out. I think that
it is amazing that with all of the new graphics and such
in games in general today that it could still entertain
but this one does. I'm almost finshed with the hard level
and I've just got to give it to the guys that made this
one, it's amazing!! Before when I was finishing the other
beginner levels I thought that I was pretty good, but now
I know that I stunk! The difference in difficulty in the
combinations in the previous levels compared to this one
are like this to me, the first Chirstmas Reptons were ok
kind of like taking candy from a five-year-old (not from
a baby because some of them were pretty good). But this
new one, oh this new one, tring to find the combinations
in this is like trying to find a poppy seed randomly placed
in one of the huge football stadiums! Kudos again to all
you guys at ChessBase.
Roberto Mizzoni, Buenos Aires, Argentina
[Correct solution received on January 25, 04:04 GMT - no
commentary]
Jeremy, Williams, Candler, North Carolina, USA
[Correct solution received on January 25, 23:51 MET]
I finally finshed the very hard level! I only have one
problem though, my sisters camera won't zoom in so it's
very hard to get a clear picture of the botton of the screen.
Themis Argirakopoulos, Athens, Greece
[Correct solution received on January 26, 11:11 GMT]
It took me the whole Sunday evening to solve this level,
but it was really great! I think that the most difficult
room was the one with the key inside, and the easiest by
far, was the last one.
Justin Tomes, USA
[Correct solution received on January 27, 00:42 GMT]
I hope the contest isn't over yet. I just found out about
it yesterday.
Adam Haselhuhn, Ames, Iowa, USA
[Correct solution received on January 27, 01:52 GMT]
I've solved the very hard level. The large room on the
right of the maze was certainly the most difficult, but
I managed to stumble upon the solution to that room, and
was able to remember enough of the details to reproduce
it a few tries later. The long tall room on the left side
also gave me a bit of trouble. It became apparent that
I needed to somehow keep a path open to the final rooms
after picking up the last diamonds at the top of the room.
After realizing that, I found the solution fairly quickly.
Great puzzle, that was a lot of fun!
Matt, Noyes, Seattle, USA
[Correct solution received on January 28, 17:21 GMT] I even
have a video of me beating it. I will finally be able to
sleep at night now that I know how to beat the funnel part.
Great puzzle, hope I am the first :).
Ondrej Such, Banska Bystrica, Slovakia
[Correct solution received on January 28, 20:26 GMT - no
commentary]
Ben Ceschi, Novato, CA USA
Thank you for such a challenging puzzle. I finally finished
it! There was no way I was going to be able to figure it
out in one go. So I used the editor feature of the game
to save my progress after I had cleared an area. I'm not
going to be a redo all my work in one sitting just to get
the password by the deadline. Besides winning the contest
was never my goal, finishing the puzzle was. It's probably
too late anyways, someone must have won the contest by
now.
Michael Spencer, Oxford, England
I have become convinced that the "big box" level
of Repton is impossible. The only way in to the upper-right
quadrant is to go under the first rock. The next move must
be right, otherwise you get trapped; the first rock then
falls. If you then push it left, you can never get the
bottom diamonds, because this rock will always fall on
you when you make the down move. The only alternative,
then, is to allow the second rock to fall also. To make
progress then, you obviously must take the top diamond.
If you then go left under the first rock, to avoid being
killed you must allow the rock to fall again and trap the
lower diamonds. If instead you go right allowing the second
rock to fall again, it becomes impossible to take the diamond
on the right without trapping yourself. As this exhausts
the possibilities, the level must be impossible. Please
help me!
The winners
For our Repton Challenge the software game manufacturer
Superior Interactive donated three dual prizes, each consisting
of their programs Galaforce Worlds and Ravenskull. To this
we added a special chess prize, which is a copy of Fritz
signed by the 2004 Wijk aan Zee winner.
The winner of the special Repton Challenge prize, as described
above, was Carlos Adán, who got the signed Fritz
program and the Superior games kit.
The other two Superior games kits went to David
Zammit of Sydney, Australia, and Dylan
Lehti of Colorado, USA.
Links
Garry Kasparov enjoying Repton on Christmas Eve 1985
 The
latest Repton game is available from the Superior Interactive
site. Click on the logo on the right to download a trial
version. For $19.95 you can get a key that upgrades it
to the full version. You may also want to try the PDA and
cell-phone versions of Repton from Masabi.
The Superior site also has the games Galaforce and Ravenskull.
Frederic Friedel
|
