Can you solve the dragon jousting riddle? - Alex Gendler

Summary

After centuries of war, the kingdoms of elves, goblins, and treefolk agree to a grand tournament of dragon jousting to determine who will rule Center-Realm. You are tasked with recording the scores for the inaugural tournament but wake up late, missing the start. With no chance of obtaining correct scores, you bribe a wizard, only to discover the wizard is cursed to lie. Through deduction, you uncover the truth behind each match's score, saving your job and life. The process reveals how even false information can lead to solving the puzzle with sharp reasoning.

Takeaways

• 😀 After centuries of war, the kingdoms have agreed to a grand tournament every five years, where teams of elves, goblins, and treefolk compete in dragon jousting.
• 😀 Each team faces the others once, and the kingdom with the most wins at the end of the tournament rules Center-Realm until the next competition.
• 😀 The tournament is secretive, with wizards ensuring that no team uses magic to cheat.
• 😀 The player’s role is to record the scores for the tournament, but they oversleep and miss the beginning of the games.
• 😀 To catch up, the player offers their life savings to a wizard in exchange for a completed scorecard, but the wizard is cursed to tell only lies.
• 😀 The player’s boss, the head tournament official, informs them that the scores are currently very low, with no match having more than five total hits.
• 😀 The player deduces that the elves played two matches, the goblins played one, and the treefolk have not yet played their match against the goblins.
• 😀 The match between elves and treefolk ended in a tie, and the elves must have beaten the goblins since they won at least one match.
• 😀 The elf-treefolk tie must have been 2-2, as no team scored fewer than two hits.
• 😀 The match between elves and goblins ended with a score of 2-1, meaning the elves won with a total of 2 hits.
• 😀 Despite the false information on the wizard's scorecard, the player uses logical deduction to figure out the correct scores and save their job.

Q & A

What is the main objective of the grand tournament in the script?

The main objective of the grand tournament is for teams representing elves, goblins, and treefolk to compete in dragon jousting. The kingdom whose team wins the most matches will rule all of Center-Realm until the next tournament.

Why are the tournament games conducted in absolute secrecy?

The games are conducted in secrecy to prevent outside meddling, ensuring that no one can use enchantments, hexes, or spells to cheat during the competition.

What crucial role does the protagonist play in the tournament?

The protagonist's role is to record the scores of the matches for the first inaugural tournament, ensuring that the results are properly documented.

What happens to the protagonist at the beginning of the story?

At the beginning, the protagonist wakes up late after the opening celebrations get out of control, realizing that the games have already begun and they must quickly get up to speed.

How does the protagonist plan to get the information they need about the scores?

The protagonist offers their life savings to one of the regulation wizards in exchange for the score information and gives him a blank scorecard to fill out.

What happens when the protagonist's boss arrives at the tent?

The protagonist's boss arrives and chuckles, revealing that the wizard (Gorbak) has been cursed to only tell lies, even in writing. The boss expresses disbelief at the low scoring of the tournament and then leaves to review the scorecard.

Why is the scorecard Gorbak filled out considered unreliable?

The scorecard filled out by Gorbak is unreliable because he is cursed to tell lies, so every piece of information on the card is false.

How does the protagonist figure out the correct scores despite the misinformation?

The protagonist uses deductive reasoning to figure out the correct scores, starting with the understanding that certain matches must have occurred or not, based on the false information about the matches that have taken place.

What is the key piece of false information that helps the protagonist deduce the correct match outcomes?

The key piece of false information is the claim that the treefolk tied zero matches, which is impossible. This leads the protagonist to deduce the actual outcomes of the matches based on the false details.

What are the final match scores that the protagonist deduces?

The final match scores deduced by the protagonist are 2-2 for the elf-treefolk tie and 2-1 for the elves' victory over the goblins.