Final Results

February 23, 2014

1     103
2     72
3     69
4     67
5     65
6     56
7     53
8     44
9     40
10     36
11     11

 

Congratulations to INONUTINK who outdistanced the competition by a country kilometer! Her score of 103 comes remarkably close to the maximum of 119 that the Laughton.org Department of Hindsight could contrive from the final medal counts in Sochi:

Korea, South Germany Czech Republic Latvia
Netherlands Sweden Canada Japan
Italy Russia United States Ukraine
Australia Austria France China
3 8 2 0
8 2 0 1
0 3 9 1
0 4 4 3
30
3 6 4 2
7 7 0 4
2 1 7 0
2 8 4 4
41
2 5 2 2
9 6 5 3
6 9 2 1
1 5 7 2
48

INONUTINK had this to say about her victory:

  I am pleased AND humbled by this outcome, surrounded as I was by some of the best game minds of our generation here in the greater Washington area and beyond. After numerous years of watching David's contests, this was the first for which I understood the rules well enough to play, no less formulate a strategy. Of course, I got lucky, too! And three cheers for the GameMaster, who tells me the next stop is Rio for the World Cup! Thanks!  
 
Alexander Legkov of Russia won the men's 50km cross-country ski race in 1:46:55.2, a time which was well below all of our contestants' tiebreaker predictions. As if she needed it, INONUTINK submitted the closest prediction.

The Contest Manager and staff thank everyone for playing. As our winner has already noted, look for the next contest to be based on the World Cup soccer tournament, which will be held in Rio de Janeiro in June of this year!

 

Medals

CountryGoldSilverBronzeTotal
Russia1311933
Norway1151026
Canada1010525
United States971228
Netherlands87924
Germany86519
Switzerland63211
Belarus5016
Austria48517
France44715
Poland4116
China3429
Korea, South3328
CountryGoldSilverBronzeTotal
Sweden27615
Czech Republic2428
Slovenia2248
Japan1438
Finland1315
United Kingdom1124
Ukraine1012
Slovakia1001
Italy0268
Latvia0224
Australia0213
Croatia0101
Kazakhstan0011

 

Player Roster and Scoring Details

40
Austria Chile Switzerland Italy
Norway China Finland Iceland
Canada Denmark France Japan
Argentina United States Germany Netherlands
Tiebreaker:   2:05:57.3 Submitted:   6:55pm, Jan 29
4 0 6 0
1 3 1 0
0 0 4 1
0 9 8 8
18
8 0 3 2
5 4 3 0
0 0 4 4
0 7 6 7
18
5 0 2 6
0 2 1 0
5 0 7 3
0 2 5 9
4

65
China Korea, South France Slovenia
Switzerland Russia Japan Croatia
Austria Sweden Poland Slovakia
Netherlands Italy Finland United Kingdom
Tiebreaker:   2:05:44.5 Submitted:   11:56pm, Feb 4
3 3 4 2
6 3 1 0
4 2 4 1
8 0 1 1
13
4 3 4 2
3 1 4 1
8 7 1 0
7 2 3 1
32
2 2 7 4
2 9 3 0
5 6 1 0
9 6 1 2
20
From Friday night gaming at Crystal City. :)

72
United States Austria Slovenia Finland
Norway Switzerland Sweden United Kingdom
Korea, South Netherlands France Japan
Belarus Russia China Italy
Tiebreaker:   2:06:00.0 Submitted:   11:59pm, Feb 5
9 4 2 1
1 6 2 1
3 8 4 1
5 3 3 0
16
7 8 2 3
5 3 7 1
3 7 4 4
0 1 4 2
32
2 5 4 1
0 2 6 2
2 9 7 3
1 9 2 6
24
This is the official entry of the Contest Manager, who is ineligible to receive a prize.

56
France United States Netherlands Denmark
Germany Austria Canada China
Norway Sweden Italy Switzerland
Russia Finland Japan Georgia
Tiebreaker:   2:05:55.5 Submitted:   4:18pm, Feb 5
4 9 8 0
8 4 0 3
1 2 0 6
3 1 1 0
11
4 7 7 0
6 8 0 4
5 7 2 3
1 3 4 0
14
7 2 9 0
5 5 5 2
0 6 6 2
9 1 3 0
31

44
Latvia Finland Switzerland Slovakia
United Kingdom Poland Estonia Croatia
Czech Republic Belarus Australia France
Netherlands Japan Sweden Italy
Tiebreaker:   2:05:43.4 Submitted:   9:06am, Jan 31
0 1 6 1
1 4 0 0
2 5 0 4
8 1 2 0
2
2 3 3 0
1 1 0 1
4 0 2 4
7 4 7 2
20
2 1 2 0
2 1 0 0
2 1 1 7
9 3 6 6
22

69
Switzerland Germany France Russia
Japan United States Poland Netherlands
Finland Norway Korea, South China
Austria Canada Czech Republic Sweden
Tiebreaker:   2:05:11.4 Submitted:   2:57am, Feb 5
6 8 4 3
1 9 4 8
1 1 3 3
4 0 2 2
21
3 6 4 1
4 7 1 7
3 5 3 4
8 0 4 7
10
2 5 7 9
3 2 1 9
1 0 2 2
5 5 2 6
38

67
Switzerland Italy Czech Republic Poland
Austria Korea, South Finland Netherlands
Norway China France Sweden
Russia Canada Germany United States
Tiebreaker:   2:05:54.5 Submitted:   3:47pm, Feb 2
6 0 2 4
4 3 1 8
1 3 4 2
3 0 8 9
9
3 2 4 1
8 3 3 7
5 4 4 7
1 0 6 7
38
2 6 2 1
5 2 1 9
0 2 7 6
9 5 5 2
20

103
France Korea, South China Italy
Ukraine Norway Canada Sweden
Netherlands Germany United States Czech Republic
Switzerland Russia Austria Japan
Tiebreaker:   2:04:58.9 Submitted:   9:37pm, Feb 5
4 3 3 0
1 1 0 2
8 8 9 2
6 3 4 1
28
4 3 4 2
0 5 0 7
7 6 7 4
3 1 8 4
22
7 2 2 6
1 0 5 6
9 5 2 2
2 9 5 3
53

53
Norway Russia Finland United States
Austria Slovakia Netherlands Ukraine
China United Kingdom Canada Korea, South
Slovenia Belarus Switzerland France
Tiebreaker:   2:06:14.2 Submitted:   6:13pm, Jan 31
1 3 1 9
4 1 8 1
3 1 0 3
2 5 6 4
5
5 1 3 7
8 0 7 0
4 1 0 3
2 0 3 4
20
0 9 1 2
5 0 9 1
2 2 5 2
4 1 2 7
28

11
United States Ukraine Albania Sweden
Canada Czech Republic Spain Slovakia
Italy Switzerland Russia Finland
Romania Japan Belarus Norway
Tiebreaker:   2:05:35.7 Submitted:   9:35am, Jan 16
9 1 0 2
0 2 0 1
0 6 3 1
0 1 5 1
3
7 0 0 7
0 4 0 0
2 3 1 3
0 4 0 5
0
2 1 0 6
5 2 0 0
6 2 9 1
0 3 1 0
8

36
Switzerland Finland Russia Austria
Czech Republic Poland Sweden China
Canada Germany Hungary United Kingdom
Croatia United States Denmark Korea, South
Tiebreaker:   4:43:11.4 Submitted:   10:49am, Jan 18
6 1 3 4
2 4 2 3
0 8 0 1
0 9 0 3
6
3 3 1 8
4 1 7 4
0 6 0 1
1 7 0 3
8
2 1 9 5
2 1 6 2
5 5 0 2
0 2 0 2
22

 

Rules

Think of this contest as a virtual Rubik's Cube with a 4x4 grid of squares on each side (if you're not familiar with such a cube, click here for a description). Instead of colors, the squares contain numbers, and these numbers will be determined by the medals won by selected countries during the Olympic Games. All you have to do is pick 16 countries and arrange them in a 4x4 grid before the Games begin; we'll do the counting as medals are awarded. If you wind up with the same number in all 16 of your squares at the end of the Games — and the number is greater than zero — you win!

Wait a minute — is this even remotely possible?

Funny you should ask. No, your chance of successfully predicting the medal counts for 16 countries — all of them equal — is somewhat less than your chance of being struck by lightning while cashing in a winning lottery ticket during a total solar eclipse. Such a highly improbable opportunity for success reminded the contest staff of Laughton.org of the legendary Gordian Knot and inspired this contest's name.

Out of a sense of decency, or perhaps just because they don't want to spend two weeks updating a scoreboard full of zeroes, the contest staff has decided to make two concessions that will give players a chance of scoring some points. First, as Alexander the Great sliced the Gordian Knot in half with his sword, our virtual cube will be halved as well, so players only need to solve three sides — one gold, one silver, one bronze — rather than the usual six. Second — in a first for Laughton.org — the contest staff will award points for partial solutions: getting as few as two adjacent squares to match on any side of the cube will earn points.

Playing and scoring

A contest entry is composed of 16 different countries arranged in a 4x4 grid as in this example:

RussiaFinlandCzech RepublicFrance
Korea, SouthAustriaCanadaPoland
NetherlandsChinaUnited StatesUnited Kingdom
SwitzerlandNorwayGermanySweden

No country may be appear in the grid more than once.

As the selected countries compete in the 2014 Winter Olympics, the number of medals won by each will be tallied on separate grids for gold, silver, and bronze, using the same pattern as entered by the player. Only the last digit of the medal count will be used; if a country wins 15 gold medals, the number 5 will appear in the corresponding square. Thus if the countries shown in the grid above won the following medals,

gold silver bronze total
Austria 9 7 7 23
Canada 7 10 7 24
China 2 4 5 11
Czech Republic 1 2 1 4
Finland 0 6 3 9
France 3 2 4 9
Germany 11 12 6 29
Korea, South 6 3 2 11
gold silver bronze total
Netherlands 3 2 4 9
Norway 2 8 9 19
Poland 0 1 1 2
Russia 8 6 8 22
Switzerland 5 4 5 14
Sweden 7 2 5 14
United Kingdom 0 1 0 1
United States 9 9 7 25

these results would be entered in the grids for each type of medal:

Gold
8013
6970
3290
5217
  Silver
6622
3701
2491
4822
  Bronze
8314
2771
4570
5965

Points are awarded for adjacent squares containing identical values; adjacent squares may be in any direction, including diagonals. The number of points awarded equals the sum of the numbers appearing in the adjacent identical squares. In the grids below, squares contributing to the point total are highlighted and scored:

Gold
8013
6970
3290
5217
22
  Silver
6622
3701
2491
4822
30
  Bronze
8314
2771
4570
5965
33
Total: 85 points

Which countries to pick and how to arrange them in the grid is the choice of each player. The contest staff can't give you any guidance on strategy, but we can direct you to some links that may prove useful.

Participating Countries

Albania
Algeria
Andorra
Argentina
Armenia
Australia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Bahamas
Belarus
Belgium
Bermuda
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Brazil
Bulgaria
Canada
Cayman Islands
Chile
China
Chinese Taipei
Colombia
Croatia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Eritrea
Estonia
Ethiopia
Finland
France
Georgia
Germany
Greece
Haiti
Hong Kong
Hungary
Iceland
Iran
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Jamaica
Japan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Korea, North
Korea, South
Kyrgyzstan
Latvia
Lebanon
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Macedonia
Madagascar
Malta
Mexico
Monaco
Mongolia
Montenegro
Morocco
Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Pakistan
Peru
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Puerto Rico
Republic of Moldova
Romania
Russian Federation
San Marino
Senegal
Serbia
Slovakia
Slovenia
South Africa
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Tajikistan
Thailand
Tonga
Turkey
Ukraine
United Kingdom
United States
Uzbekistan
Venezuela
Virgin Islands, British
Virgin Islands, US
Zimbabwe

During the competition

A roster of players with country selections and comments will be added to this page before the opening ceremonies begin in Sochi on February 7, 2014. Scores and standings will be posted on this page and updated frequently during the Olympic competition. Only the final tally will count for winning prizes and acquiring the eternal bragging rights associated with victory in a contest at Laughton.org, but intermediate results may confer some fleeting opportunities for one-upmanship at your local watering hole.

How to Enter

Use the Official Entry Form to submit your entry no later than midnight (US Eastern Time) on February 5, 2014. No late entries will be accepted.

While we have allowed — even encouraged — multiple entries from individual players in the past, we politely but firmly request that each player submit only one entry for this contest. Previous contests were advertised only to friends and family, but this one will be advertised to a much wider audience, and multiple entries from many players will be unmanageable.

Your e-mail address will be the unique identifier for your entry; it will only be used to contact you to confirm acceptance and/or to notify you of a prize (should you be so lucky). It will not appear anywhere on this website or be used for any other purpose. If you want to change your entry after submitting it, simply submit another using the same address; the new entry will overwrite the previous one as long as it is submitted before the deadline.

The Prize

  Due to the small number of entrants, only one prize will be awarded: a Signalman Programmable Word-Signal Bar With Siren. This is the ideal device to guide a delivery drone to your doorstep, place your order at your local coffee shop when you've lost your voice, or send a message to your neighbor that the NSA won't monitor (unless it's their drone that's buzzing by your doorstep).

Ties

The Official Entry Form provides a field into which the player may make a prediction of the winning time for the men's 50km cross-country ski event scheduled for February 23. You may find it useful to know that the winning time for this event was 02:06:20.8 in 2002, 02:06:11.8 in 2006, and 2:05:35.5 in 2010. If two or more players earn identical point totals at the end of the Olympic Games, the player whose prediction is closest to the actual winning time — regardless of whether it's higher or lower — will be the winner. In the highly unlikely event that players are tied even after comparing tiebreaker predictions, the player whose entry arrived first at Laughton.org will be the winner (if you revised your entry, the arrival time of the latest revision will count for this purpose).

Etc.

All contests at Laughton.org are free and open to anyone with an e-mail address.

Illegible, irrational, or improperly formatted entries will be discarded. The Official Entry Form is designed to prevent erroneous entries, but we always expect the unexpected.

The Official Entry Form also allows players to add comments to their entries. Such comments will appear in the player roster. Voluminous text may be edited, perhaps brutally. Much depends upon the mood of the contest staff when the entry arrives. Entries containing libelous, scurrilous, or scandalous text — which never fail to peeve the contest staff — will be discarded.

The contest staff originally wanted to call this contest Rubik's Ice Cube, but it turns out that such a thing already exists, along with a lot of other Rubik variants. There's even software to design your own cube and a virtual 4-dimensional Rubik's cube that you can play with. Alas, 4-dimensional contests are beyond the capabilities of the contest staff of Laughton.org... for now.

A Final Word

Beware!


Not all cubes are fun.

Do aliens want our cubes?

Don't torture your cubes.