Balance Bi-Weekly Brain Bamboozler! (ON HIATUS)

WELCOME to the Balance Bi-Monthly Brain Bamboozler!

The Balance Guild of Maple Royals, will be hosting a series of brain bamboozling puzzles every other week right here on the forums!
We know that a lot of people can’t always log into the game, due to work, school, or dclagfest, but they still want to do something fun in their spare time!

So what better way to have a little fun and challenge ourselves than some brain puzzles!
Puzzles can range anywhere from logic games, crossword, Sudoku, hide n’ seek, and much more!
Come back every other week to find out what’s next! Anyone can play, no level requirements or godly weapons needed! Just you and your brain!
​

1) Only ONE submission per person. All submissions must be sent to @mystercool (Poohbear), through private message aka conversation on the FORUMS. You CANNOT change your answer or submit multiple so make sure that it is your FINAL answer! (Note: private messages can be edited within 3 minutes after you submit so that’s fine).
2) Submission TIMES:​

a. The puzzle will be released every other week on MONDAY at 15:00 PM Server time, (7AM PST).
b. All submissions can be sent in until the FOLLOWING MONDAY same time. Later that day, we will announce the winners!
**NOTE** Almost positive that people will solve the puzzle the same day it comes out lol. But just in case it is especially hard, we have given a WEEK period where you can submit.​

3) Once you submit, we will give you a confirmation message that we have received your submission. HOWEVER, we will not be telling you whether your answer is correct or not. You will find out when we announce the winners the following week.
4) CLUES! If you can’t figure it out, don’t fret! We will be releasing a clue to figuring out the puzzle every day during the week until the deadline. (*note* clues are not essential to figuring out the puzzles, it just helps make it easier to solve. Aka give you an “aha!” moment!)​

a. We will be releasing a clue every weekday (Mon, Tues, Wed, Thurs, Fri) until the deadline (Monday after release), at 3:00 (GMT+1, server time or 7PM PST). (1st clue 12 hours after release, next clues are 24hrs apart after that)​

5) Submission FORMAT:​

a. Title: BBB Puzzle # --- Your IGN: ------
b. Body: Put your answer here depending on the format for this week’s puzzle.​

​

1) Winners will be determined by who submits the CORRECT answers FIRST, SECOND, and THIRD.

a. There will be FIRST, SECOND, and THIRD place prizes.
b. If we receive incorrect answers, we will keep moving onto the next person who submits in the order that we received them until we reach a correct answer, simple as that.​

2) You can help each other. We won’t be able to tell obviously. But, we would encourage that if you do work in teams, to only submit ONE answer to give others a chance to win.

​

3) There will only be ONE correct answer. However, we are only human so we do realize that we may have made a mistake somewhere and that there may be multiple answers. In the event of this happening, we will determine from there whether to award an additional prize based on circumstances.

​

1) Since we are not especially rich and plentiful like some kids in the server, and since this is a new thing that we are trying out, prizes will be pretty basic for the first few times until we can get some funding for better prizes. Plus this event occurs every other week so can’t be giving out too much, YET!

2) All prizes are coming out of the kindness of the Balance Guild members’ hearts, and pockets, and our lovingness to give back to the community! See below for what you can win!

Bragging rights!
Zakum Helmet and/or Reloot (on hold till after new sauce)
1 hour leech services @ Petri/ Skeles/ WS/ GS2/ etc.
ToT quest clearance
Fame
Scrolls
Custom Signature Design
Foot rub from @Quil

Scrolls
ToT quest clearance
Fame
Mesos
Leech services
Back rub from @Quil


Scrolls
Leech
Mesos
Fame
Finger rub from @Quil

*Note* Choose from the lists


We know that Royals is growing at a rapid pace and will continue to do so in the future. We just want to provide a fun thing that EVERYONE can do regardless of your status or level in Royals. It’s not about the prizes, it’s about having fun and challenging yourself.

Seriously please have fun and ask us if you have any questions. Everyone in the Balance Guild is super friendly and responsive. (*Note* we will not be answering any questions specific to each puzzle, unless we goofed)

Be sure to check out the Balance page for more fun and awesomeness!

Enjoy!

Spoiler: More Fun!

Authors of the puzzles: Since this is just starting, Poohbear will be the primary designer and writer of the puzzles. All puzzles are original and no amount of Googling will help you!
Have a suggestion for a puzzle? No problem! We would love to have you submit something and feature it for the week! We might just tweak it a bit Send all suggestions to @mystercool and we will get back to you ASAP!

All Images © NEXON

Welcome back to the Balance Bamboozler! Puzzle #2!

Every other week we will be hosting a new, fun, and challenging puzzle right here on the forums!

This week we have a special surprise for all of you, we will be partaking in some fun… RIDDLES! MrsPink decided to punish last week’s cookie monsters with yes, riddles. Those catchy, short, very ambiguous, brain scratching ones. Can you solve these riddles to help release them from their fate?

These aren’t just any kind of riddles. These are super-duper special ones that require their own special rules that you need to follow to prevent maximum brain hurt.
​

1) There will be a total of 15 riddles and 5 bonus riddles. There is a max of 50 points that can be possibly earned. (point system explained down below)
2) Each riddle has its own unique solution. We know that they may seem ambiguous but that’s the point of riddles, try to figure out the mystery! If you aren’t sure of your answer, we will be releasing clues each day to help make it a teeny tiny bit easier

a. Regarding clues: A clue will be released every day about each riddle. So if you aren’t sure 100% of your answer, just check back each day to see if the clue helps.​

3) The riddles are all maple based. Answers can be anything. Monsters, NPCs, Maps, Items, etc. But it won't be something obscure like "the mountain in the background" or that "one tree in Ellinia".

You know that we can’t be having any plain old boring riddles. Sooo… we will be playing with a small twist mwahahaa!
Each riddle will have TWO ways of answering! Yes, TWO!
​

1) Pretty simple, each CORRECT answer gets 2 points. ( 30 max) However…
2) If you are able to take a SCREENSHOT (SS) of the answer as well, you get an additional 1 point for each CORRECT answer (15 points)

a. Each riddle has an answer that can be accessed and SSed in game by anyone, no level restrictions. They may be a little hard to get to but that’s the fun of it =)​

3) All INCORRECT answers get no points (of course)
4) BONUS Questions: There will be 5 bonus questions, each worth 1 point. (no SS)
5) In total, a MAXIMUM of 50 points can be begotten.

Each riddle will have a number. Please put the number and your corresponding answer. If you don’t know for sure, just try! You never know! If not, put N/A. If you choose to attach an SS, please attach the link to the picture and not use the [Image] tag, it can get cluttered very quickly. Imgur works wonders for uploading multiple pics! ​

Example:
1. Answer
2. Answer + SS URL
3. Answer + SS URL
4. N/A
5. Answer
. etc....
Bonus #1: Answer
Bonus #2: Answer
....

​

Here are our riddles! With the help of our super sleuthers from the last puzzle, they will be helping us present the riddles! We tried to get your picture as best we could, and for those that we couldn’t find, we based it off your IGN as best we could! Without further ado, our rattling riddles!

As always have fun and may the riddles be ever in your favor!

Spoiler: Puzzle #1 - The Cookie Monster

There once was a HUGE jar of cookies in the kitchen of the Balance HQ baked fresh by MrsPink for the upcoming monthly Balance birthday celebrations.

However, MrsPink upon returning from her morning tea, discovered that
ALL of the cookies in the cookie jar had GONE MISSING!

Infuriated but happy that her cookies had disappeared so quickly, she vowed to send out her minions and track down these cookie thieves.
Will YOU help her find out who stole the cookies and bring those cookie monsters to justice?

There are 8 people who are helping to set up before the party:
Sensei and the JMs of Balance (Check out the guild page to find out who these dashing people are!)
We will refer to them as: H, M, N, P, S, Q, PO, and X
(Holodrake @HoloDrake , MrsPink @MrsPink , NodiResolvo @nodibow , Poohbear @mystercool , Soaring @NightcoreFtw , Quil @Quil , POkee @pookilicious , and Xyla @Sovereign )
The night before, everyone was at a sleepover and MrsPink baked the cookies for the next day.



Your job is to find out:
WHO stole the cookies (maybe not everyone) but there are multiple because MrsPink found different fingerprints at the scene of the crime.
WHEN / ORDER in which the cookies were stolen by the thieves. (Specific times not necessary, just 1st, 2nd, etc.)
WHICH and how many of each cookie was stolen and by WHOM?
And lastly, what PUNISHMENT should be given to these cookie monsters!

What MrsPink has deduced thus far (aka RULES that you must use to figure it out)
1) Anyone could have brought the cookies to HQ in the morning at 8am. All 60 cookies were present.
2) Everyone goes into the kitchen exactly once and by themselves.

a. When POkee went to check at 9am, there were 37 cookies left.

b. When Xyla went to check later at 10am, there were 26 cookies left.
c. When MrsPink went to check at 11am, all the cookies were gone.​

3) Holo, Quil and Nodi woke up late. However, Quil and Nodi didn’t arrive to help set up until 10 am. However, Nodi is more skilled at FJ than Quil, so he got to the kitchen before him.

4) Poohbear is on a diet and PROBABLY did not steal any cookies because he brought his own pot of honey. However...
5) Pockets in Maple are surprisingly small so only a max of 10 cookies can fit in them. However, one person brought their pet along with an item pouch that can fit an additional 5 cookies.
6) Due to the overwhelming deliciousness of each cookie, a person can only handle 5 of a kind of cookie.​

a. However, Sensei, Quil @Quil, has mastered the art of the cookie and can handle any amount of a cookie.​

7) Allergies/ Restrictions:

a. Soaring no Chunky Croco Chip

b. Holodrake no Slime Frosted and Maple Sugar
c. Rabbits are vegetarian​

8) Xyla and POkee especially love Rainbow Mudkips and if there are any around, they will take them all. However, they both don’t find Slime Frosted particularly delicious.

Released CLUES for Puzzle #1

Clue #1:
Pay attention to the details. Oftentimes, the smallest ones offer the greatest insight.
Clue#2:
I didn't do it, nobody saw me do it, and I didn't see it, there's no way you can prove anything!
Clue #3:
Slow and steady NEVER wins the race.
Clue #4:
I (Poohbear) have very little self control XD
Clue #5:
Take a look at the puzzle. Every little detail can help you figure it out. Even the pictures....
​

*Place all of the following into the appropriate slots* H, M, N, P, S, Q, PO, X

Guilty Cookie Monster(s): ____________________________________________________________________________________
Innocent Bystander(s): _____________________________________________________________________________________

Order in which the cookies were stolen by the person, which cookies, and how many of each:
1)
2)
3)

Etc. or draw a timeline or grid.
PUNISHMENT! What wrath of MrsPink should the cookie monsters face? _______________________________________

Example Submission:
Guilty: A, B, D, G, and H
Innocent: C, E, F, I, J
Order:
1) A – 10 cookies – 5 CCC and 5 MS
2) B – 30 cookies (fatty) – 10 CCC, 10 SF, 10 RM
3) D – 5 cookies – 5 CCC
4) G – 5 cookies – 5 MS
5) H – 10 cookies – 10 CCC
Punishment: Strapped to a chair and having VERY hungry puppies lick peanut butter off their toes.

We hoped that you enjoyed reading it and trying to figure it out! This first puzzle is a little long but we wanted a nice story for the first one! If you don’t get it and get frustrated, take a break and come back to it. Sometimes, you think about it at random times during the day and get an “aha!” moment!

We hope you had as much fun trying to solve and read this as we had putting this together.

GOOD LUCK!
Be sure to check us out on our Guild page for more fun and awesomeness (currently being revamped)
​

Spoiler: Puzzle #1 - The Cookie Monster - SOLUTIONS

MrsPink had some amazing help from the Royals community this week and was able to catch the culprits! Thank you to all who played and participated in the very FIRST Balance Brain Bamboozler! We hope that you had as much fun as we did this week in solving this cookie monster mystery.

I bet everyone is dying to know how we caught those cookie monsters.

So here’s how we figured it out!
1) First step and easy way to get yourself in order, is to draw a timeline and map out the facts that you have been given, here’s what it might look like:

2) Next, fill in the chart with information that you can deduce from the clues.

a. Easy first deduction is to determine how many cookies went missing between the different time periods. Simple math.

​

b. Ok. So from this simple math, we can deduce the following from the clues given:

i. From 8 a.m. to 9 a.m., 23 cookies were stolen. Since a person can only hold 10 cookies (15 if pet) it holds that AT LEAST 2 people had to have stolen cookies during this time frame.

ii. From 9 a.m. to 10 a.m., 11 cookies went missing. This means that AT LEAST 1 OR 2 people, depending on if the person has the pet, had to have stolen the cookies.
iii. From 10 a.m. to 11 a.m., 26 cookies went missing. From the information given, we can determine that AT LEAST 2 people had to have stolen the cookies. And from the information given, we know that N and Q had to come into the kitchen after X.​

c. So the timeline should now look something like this:

​

3) Next order of business, figuring out HOW MANY cookies each person stole. Now this is where things got a little tricky… If we look CLOSELY at the puzzle and the information given. We can see some of the suspects “hiding” in PLAIN VIEW! So ballsy…

​

a. So if you guys didn’t catch that part of the puzzle, things could have gotten very confusing and you many have gotten multiple answers. However, this information narrows down the solutions considerably.

b. From this we get:​

i. P – ONE cookie. Wow cheated his diet! Yes, very little self-control.

ii. H – 8 cookies
iii. N – 9 cookies
iv. Q – 10 cookies. Sensei using his abilities to the fullest.
v. M / bunny – ONE cookie. Now this is where things could get tricky. Technically, MrsPink did not steal the cookie because in the picture, her bunny did. BUT did MrsPink train her bunny to do it? The world may never know… Anyways, rabbits are vegetarian.​

c. Cool, now that we have this information, we can start to fill in the blanks. Here is what the chart looks like now:​

​

d. Great! We basically filled out the order and the # of cookies stolen! Too fast? Here’s the explanation:

i. Ok, let’s work backwards. We know that N stole 9, Q stole 10, and bunny (M), stole 1.

1. We fill those in and we get 20 cookies. Since we know that 26 went missing, X must have stolen 6.​

ii. Now, we know that H stole 8 cookies. If we slot him in after PO, that would mean that PO stole 3 cookies.

1. However, since P only stole 1 cookie, and since the max a person can carry is 15 with pet, it would make it impossible to have 23 cookies go missing from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. This means that H must have stolen the cookies from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m.

2. Then, because we know that H came late, S must be the first, stealing a max of 15 cookies, H following after, and stealing 8 cookies.​

iii. This would leave PO stealing 10 cookies and P stealing 1 cookie.​

Phew!​

4) Alright almost done! We now have the order and # of cookies stolen by each person. Time to find out WHO took WHAT.

a. Let’s start by making a table and going in order:

Woot! So easy all done!​

Explanation:

a. S – We know that S cannot eat CCC, so he must have 5 of each cookie to add up to 15.
b. Next, distribute the CCCs. Since there are 30 left to split among the 6 people, might as well give everyone the max that they can take.​

i. P and M do not get CCC because they only took 1 cookie. M is easy to see, vegetarian, but P may not be as clear. Continue reading as to why.​

c. H – What’s the distribution of cookies? Well we know that H is allergic to SF and MS so he can only eat CCC and RM. However, we know that H cannot take all of the RM since PO still needs cookies and so does X.

i. If we gave him 4 CCC, that would mean he takes 4 RM, leaving 1 RM for PO. PO would then be forced to take 4 MS, leaving none for X. So this cannot be the right answer.

ii. If we have him 3 CCC, he would take 5 RM, leaving none for PO. PO would then be forced to take 4 MS, again leaving none for X. Again, cannot be correct.
iii. So we find that H takes 5 CCC and 3 RM.​

d. PO – Takes the 5 CCC (max)

i. Since there are 2 RM left, she takes them all.

ii. Since she cannot eat SF, she takes 3 MS to make 10 cookies stolen.​

e. P – Steals ONE cookie. For now, let’s leave this open because there are still some possibilities.

f. X – Takes 5 CCC (max)​

i. Since the only thing left is MS, she takes 1 for a total of 6 stolen.​

g. N – Takes 5 CCC (max)

i. Since the only cookie left is SF, he takes 4 to get a total of 9 stolen.​

h. Q – Takes 10 CCC (max for sensei)

i. M (bunny) – takes ONE cookie. Since bunnies are vegetarian, this means that the bunny stole the last remaining MS. (This can be figured out in the beginning to make it easier)
j. Finally, only 1 cookie left for P, which is SF. Yum.​

So the final solution looks something like this:
1) S – 15 cookies (5 MS, 5 SF, 5 RM)
2) H – 8 cookies (5 CCC, 3 RM)
3) PO – 10 cookies (5 CCC, 3 MS, 2 RM)
4) P – 1 cookie (1 SF)
5) X – (5 CCC, 1 MS)
6) N – (5 CCC, 4 SF)
7) Q – (10 CCC)
8) M/bunny – (1 MS)

*Note* Since the bunny or M is not explicit and kind of tricky, we also would have accepted X stealing 7 cookies. Also, since P and M/bunny could be interchangeable, we also would have accepted that. However, there really is only ONE sooper correct answer =)

Yayayaya! Mystery Solved! MrsPink is happy to have caught the culprits! Bunny will be put in time out for a VERY VERY long time!

We hope that you guys enjoyed this puzzle! It was really fun for us coming up with this and letting you guys play and submit your answers. We hope that you didn’t get too bamboozled! Check back next week for our next puzzle! It will be a surprise and even more fun we promise!

Here's a clue as to what is in store for next week kekeke

Lots of words I may be,
but clear as day you won't see.
But if you read me like a book,
you might have to take a second look.​

<3 Balance
​

 

Spoiler: Bamboozler Hall of Fame

 

Too hard ;-;
can't maths

 

Lovely puzzle, I submitted a potential solution but who knows D:

 

I love this. brb gotta do dis

 

d'aww Balance <3 am gonna give this a shot haha

Edit: k one hour in and I thought I was making headway but I've torn out too much hair so brb trying again later ;-;

Edit #2: I've submitted about an hour ago haha, was fun attempting it! I agree with the rest that the clues could've been better chosen as I think that there's a possibility of multiple answers here, but admittedly there's a fine line between ambiguity and not spoonfeeding completely. Perhaps something that can be improved on for future bamboozlers ^^ @mystercool

 

It might just be me being stupid but I feel like quite a bit of this is written ambiguously?
Really enjoying it tho!

 

For the @Quil back rubs alone, I'd do it.

 

My brain...

 

Great job guys! I hope that this first one hasn't hurt anyone's brains XD Lots of info haha. I've been getting a lot of great submissions so far
As we promised, we will be releasing a clue to solving the puzzle every day. I didn't write the specifics for this in the first post but I will change it now.

NOTE: We will be releasing a clue every weekday (Mon, Tues, Wed, Thurs, Fri) until the deadline (Monday after release), at 3:00 (GMT+1, server time or 7PM PST). (1st clue 12 hours after release, next clues are 24hrs apart after that)

As mentioned, clues don't provide any additional information necessary to solve the puzzle. It just makes it a lot easier So if you're having trouble on this first one, check back soon!

 

Having spent 15 minutes thinking about this puzzle I have concluded that there are most likely dozens of correct answers.

 

So a lot of people have been saying that the puzzle is a bit ambiguous and that there may be multiple answers. So, to help with that, here's the first clue.

Clue #1:
Pay attention to the details. Oftentimes, the smallest ones offer the greatest insight. Hope that helps

 

wow wow wow beautifully done!

 

Are the people who have allergies allowed to have the cookies they are allergic to?
I used to have this friend who is allergic to eggs but still eats them.

 

Think you almost got it?
Submissions are still open till next week! Get your answers in!
Don't be shy guys =) The puzzle isn't that hard.. Maybe a little tricky XD

 

Upon completion of this puzzle, I've concluded there is only one correct solution.

 

Clue#2:
I didn't do it, nobody saw me do it, and I didn't see it, there's no way you can prove anything! =)

Update: I know that I would not reveal the winners until next Monday. However, if people would like me to, I can reveal HOW MANY people have gotten the answer so far. Maybe I can do that halfway through the week's game? Like Wednesday/Thursday. What do you guys think? It might encourage more people to try the puzzle out and try to win our awesome prizes!

 

Won't revealing the number of winners deter participation? Since there are only 3 prizes to be won, if there are 3 or more who've already gotten the answer, people might not be incentivized to try to solve it anymore.

 

Haha yes true. But what if there aren't 3 or more lol. Just something to think about...