I learned about this little puzzle thing called Petals Around the Rose yesterday (via BoingBoing). It’s sort of a dice game where you have to figure out how to solve the puzzle as you go, and once you know how, you can’t tell anybody else. It took me a while to figure it out, because I tried to over-analyze it. In fact, it’s almost an accident that I figured it out at all, considering the line of thought I was trying to follow. Of course, now I’m sworn to secrecy, so I can’t tell you what that line of thought was…
The name of the game is Petals Around the Rose, and that name is significant. Newcomers to the game can be told that much. They can also be told that every answer is zero or an even number. They can also be told the answer for every throw of the dice that are used in the game. And that’s all the information they get.
The javascript app on the page listed above didn’t work for me in Firefox. I had to use the sample dice rolls detailed in the story about Bill Gates in order to figure it out. As I mentioned before, I’m sworn to secrecy about how to get the answers. But I will say that a child in first or second grade (or even a bright pre-schooler) could give you the answers, once they know the method.
does anyone have a helpgful hint about figuring out the number of Plankton in the version that involves plankton as well as fish, bears, and holes?
So… anyone else feel kinda disappointed when they finally figured it out? Like for real…
are all those things you put next to ur writing cluse or just for show
Well.. I figured it out a year ago after about an hour of hard work… unnecessary hard work I should add…
I’ll try to give hints without ruining the answer…
Because the answer is always even, try to figure out how that is possible if the numbers are random… I mean if you add them all up, there is the same chance of it being even or odd…
In my opinion, the ROSE is the most important… find the rose, then look for the petals…
Sorry, can’t be more specific without all of it being edited out…
Remember, the visual representation of a die, or an actual die is better than 5 numbers.
Oh, and anybody have a link to “Petals and Roots”? there is a slight reference on wikipedia but I’ve tried googling it and I’m not coming up with anything
AHHH its sooo sooo frusteratiing… I asked my computer teacher about it and he said “cant tell its a secret…” NO DUH! TELL ME PLEASE TELL ME!
I consider myself to be relatively skilled in the field of brain teasers, and I could not solve this myself in the half hour I had. So after twenty minutes I just gave up and wrote a computer program that would analyze the several hundred rolls I had accumulated. It got the solution in about a minute or so, and the code was relatively short.
So to those of you who are struggling – try getting your computer to do the busy work…
If you never figure it out, YAY your the smartest person on the planet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i figured it out and you didnt haha
the anwser is 3=2 and 5=4
type this in the adress bar http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petals_around_the_rose
type this in the adress bar http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petals_around_the_rose
It doesn’t matter if you figure it out within the first 5 minutes or 5 months, as long as you do figure it out. Different people take different approaches to problems, the point is to analyze every possible solution with the information given.
im so frustrated…. who cares ir you’re sworn to secrecy?? just tell me the answer!
OMG! I cant believe this game. I solved it in about like 2 hours. I felt really dumb after i solved it because its so simple like pre-school stuff. The name of the game is petals around a rose right? Well think about a rose and whats AROUND a ROSE. Just think about the name look at the dice and THINK. You’ll feel so dumb once you get it. Anyway if you did get good for you and good luck for the people out there that still dont get it.
OMG!! I just figured it out! it is so amazing. I promise not to tell the solutuion. man, that is so cool. very sweet game. defetally going to do that at the partys.
The name of the game ought to be the petals around the ROSES
Seriously people, don’t cheat and look up the key to the puzzle.. You will regret it afterwards, I know that I did. If you did cheat yourself like me, theirs two more versions of the game that I have really enjoyed and that are even more confusing than the original. You can find all three versions at http://www.petalsaroundtherose.net/?Welcome Good luck to all beginners