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CrowsnestRidge · Oct 30, 2020 9:44 AM

Spooky greetings! This Halloween I’m running a haunted house mystery contest with three grand prizes.

Today at 6pm game time I am going to post all of the contest information and you will have until 11pm game time on Monday Nov. 2nd to submit your answers. You’ll have to make use of your HaJ knowledge and deductive reasoning.

Here's the contest info: https://forms.gle/pwfRHHMyw25U2sM29

And see my post below for my policy on getting a hint! And for a clarification regarding Argent's Horse.

Also note that not all horses will necessarily be named or wearing distinctive tack - go with what is listed in the clues.

Everything is designed to be solvable using only: The FAQ User Guide, the Genetics Guide, the Search Horses function, the Forum, and maybe a little basic googling for general knowledge. If any of the details are unclear to you, feel free to leave a post here to see if I can clarify it for you.

If no one solves the mystery with a correct solution by Nov. 2nd, I’ll extend for another week to Nov. 9th.

The top 3 highest scoring players will be the winners and in the case of a tie, I’ll decide based on the player who was first to submit their answers. Winners will receive one of: my Diamond Age stallion, this 1,000 point show horse, or 125,000 hbs (first choice to winner, second choice to runner up).

Ink Blot G1

Firelight G1

Good luck!

WitchwaterAcres · Oct 30, 2020 10:05 AM

So excited!

annismyrph · Oct 30, 2020 10:20 AM

this sounds SO cool !!

cissycat · Oct 30, 2020 11:50 AM

I am going to have to enter! This sounds cool!

SandyCreekAcres · Oct 30, 2020 12:01 PM

Sounds interesting. I'm looking forward to the mystery.

SandyCreekAcres · Oct 30, 2020 3:01 PM

I'm very sure that November 1 is on Sunday, not Monday.

CrowsnestRidge · Oct 30, 2020 3:43 PM

Alright, slightly late but contest info is posted now! And thanks @SandyCreekAcres, you're right I've corrected the date to Nov. 2nd

KittyPeri14 · Oct 30, 2020 5:05 PM

I can’t find how to search a horse’s ID number. Is this part of the search or am I just thinking of something else?

CrowsnestRidge · Oct 30, 2020 5:44 PM

Ah, good call! You're right, I'd used the ID as a stand in... meant to eventually put the name back in. The first horse that everyone is looking for is named: CNR Cursed Secrets. Hopefully that will get you back on the right track, sorry!

SaraB · Oct 30, 2020 6:01 PM

Dang it, already stuck lol

LEAcres · Oct 30, 2020 6:53 PM

I'm going to leave this to some of the newer players, but I've been following along and I just have you applaud you @CrowsnestRidge this is a very well put together contest! :O

HarmonyC · Oct 30, 2020 7:32 PM

Stuck already! Can’t figure out the next horse at all..

CrowsnestRidge · Oct 30, 2020 8:21 PM

Thanks @Bambi207 and hang in there folks, you can do it! I did design it to be pretty tricky so don't feel discouraged if it's taking a fair bit of trying. I also have a couple extra clues I'll consider releasing later on in the weekend to help with finding the first couple horses.

Also, just in case this wasn't clear - don't expect that any of the clues will allow you to do a search and just get a single result. I've tried to give you enough clues so that you shouldn't have to scroll through more than 5 pages of results, but will be some hunting through search results involved even if you do everything perfectly!

HarmonyC · Oct 30, 2020 9:07 PM

Well Good Luck Everyone! I give up! I’m getting a headache from searching.

Humboldt · Oct 31, 2020 4:15 AM

This is really fun, 2 horses found so far! Are all the horses tacked up? Could we message you with a question, I'm stuck on one but wouldn't want to give away posting on the forum.

cissycat · Oct 31, 2020 4:50 AM

I am stuck on the second!

GildedFire · Oct 31, 2020 5:06 AM

I’m stuck on the second

CrowsnestRidge · Oct 31, 2020 6:40 AM

Well, sounds like there has been some good work and some roadblocks, so I'm going to open things up for some hints!

Everyone gets one opportunity to message me and get a hint on a part that they are stuck on. If your account was created 4 months ago or less (July), you can receive two hints (offering the double clue to folks who are new to HaJ, not if this is a newer second/third account and you've been around longer). I will probably offer one additional hint to everyone closer to Monday but that will be it, so use your hints wisely!

If you're stuck on a horse the best way to get a hint is include in your message which horse you're looking for (Agnes', Vlad's, etc.) and copy the url of the search that you've been trying so I can let you know if you're going wrong and then give you a hint. If you're stuck on the logic, similarly include in your message which deductions you've made so I can tell you if anything is wrong and then give you a hint on how to go forward.

I'll try to get back you to asap, but it might take me at least a couple hours if I'm away from my computer.

MasterStablesMS · Oct 31, 2020 7:32 AM

Ooh I'd love this! Can't participate now but hopefully tomorrow :D

CrowsnestRidge · Oct 31, 2020 8:33 AM

One more clarification to point out from I question I got: not all of the horses you are looking for are necessarily named or are tacked up. All of their pictures should be visible, but if you don't get a clue that says to look out for a tack set or background, don't assume that you should be looking for that. (Sorry folks, this is the first time I'm trying a contest like this, so there are a few wrinkles to iron out, thanks for your patience with me!)

CrowsnestRidge · Oct 31, 2020 9:37 AM

And... Clarification two. It seems like it is pretty common for people to be stuck on Argent's horse. Re-reading my clue, I think I'll blame my wording for not being clear. In particular, I would like to clarify that the bit about the horse not receiving the same training benefits as others was intended to disqualify geldings and spayed mares... fine, but it was also supposed to remove foals (it made more sense in my head). So you should be looking for a stallion/mare that is 2+ years old, then narrowing down with the rest of the clue.

If you've already used your hint to clarify this, then consider it reimbursed - you can use it on something else!

Humboldt · Oct 31, 2020 11:11 AM

That helps drastically for Argents horse!

cissycat · Oct 31, 2020 11:14 AM

I never saw that clue about training stuff.

DarkFrost · Oct 31, 2020 11:33 AM

@Cissycat the clue is on the second horse you find - and to me, it meant the horse must be younger than 2yrs as they couldn't get any of the training bonuses.

LadyhawkeStables · Oct 31, 2020 12:03 PM

That was so fun! Thanks for organizing @crowsnestridge, I love a good logic puzzle, especially a spooky horse themed one (~~)

SaraB · Oct 31, 2020 12:29 PM

Submitted! That was great; logic puzzles are fun and this one was tricky. I hope I got it right!

CrowsnestRidge · Oct 31, 2020 2:21 PM

Glad you both had fun, good work to get through all the clues! I'll reveal answers and winners on Monday, good luck to those still hunting for answers!

WhiteValley · Oct 31, 2020 2:38 PM

I've just finished finding the horses but it's getting late now so I'll tackle the logic puzzles tomorrow. This has been great fun so even if I don't get to finish it, thank you very much for putting it together. :)

CrowsnestRidge · Nov 3, 2020 11:00 AM

Congratulations detectives, we have two completely correct answers to the contest who correctly identified that it was Argent the Werewolf with the Cursed Talisman in the Dungeons. Lenore, Ichabod and Vlad all left earlier in the evening and are innocent. Good work!

@LadyHawkeStables submitted the correct answer first, so please send me a message letting me know which prize you would like. @SaraB was next to submit the correct answer, so I'll message you once LadyHawkeStables has chosen and you can pick between the two remaining prizes. I didn't see any other answers submitted, so I'll save the remaining prize to use for a future giveaway.

Thanks to everyone who gave it a try! If it is of interest to anyone let me know and I can post some information about how to go about figuring out the answers. As I said before, this was my first try so hopefully I can make a few improvements based on what people found difficult this year and put together a new and improved version for next year.

Also a big thank you to @Bambi207, @HorseAngel, @annismyrph and @Nightphoenix for helping me out by placing the clues on your horses!

Glengirl2 · Nov 3, 2020 11:47 AM

This was a great contest. I enjoyed it, but just did not have enough time to finish (busy work schedule). Thank you for doing this. I look forward to any future puzzles that you may do.

cissycat · Nov 3, 2020 11:48 AM

Darn, I forgot to submit! Congrats to the winners!!! <:-P <:-P <:-P

WhiteValley · Nov 3, 2020 1:54 PM

I really enjoyed it and managed to find the horses but didn't have time to try and work out the logic puzzle part. Perhaps allowing a little longer time for the contest next time would be good. Thank you for doing this, I really hope you do another one at some point, although I realise it must have been a lot of work for you.
:)

HorseAngel · Nov 3, 2020 2:40 PM

Your very welcome @CrowsnestRidge! I was glad to help, also I am a little interested in just how you would go about finding the answers(even though I didn't play lol) to the puzzles! This was a great idea for a contest and probably took some work putting it together! Congratulations to the winners too!

LadyhawkeStables · Nov 3, 2020 3:50 PM

Thanks again for such an awesome contest! For those of you who want to give it a try on your own time, here a link to a logic sheet that I created for the contest. These types of puzzles take a lot of "reading between the lines" as well as a little guess work so I printed out several sheets before solving the puzzle!

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1MknnTxmcd0EYOBpAqSEnD-bmi0oUWjGRMebekHZVyw4/edit?usp=drivesdk

cissycat · Nov 3, 2020 4:09 PM

I had a lot going on so I never discovered the killer. Who was it?

Nightphoenix · Nov 3, 2020 4:32 PM

SPOILER

Argent

SaraB · Nov 3, 2020 4:56 PM

Thank you again! I cant wait for another contest. It was challenging, but but solvable. I couldn't get my printer working so I had to draw out several logic grids by hand

DarkFrost · Nov 4, 2020 4:28 AM

I couldn't find the 3rd horse and ran out of time. :-S

Couldn't wrap my head around the clue with the way it was worded, but I am a very small minority in terms of the way I think.

CrowsnestRidge · Nov 5, 2020 10:34 AM

Well I’m glad so many people found the contest interesting! It is helpful to know that people were running out of time or couldn’t find a free moment – sounds like running the contest over a whole week is probably a better option for the future than just doing a weekend. I thought about it this time around, but was worried that the rollover would change some of the clues since horses would age up if I ran it into November.

Since there was a bit of interest, here’s how I approached the horse-finding clues (warning this will be super long).

CrowsnestRidge · Nov 5, 2020 10:35 AM

Agnes’ Horse was a simple search by Horse Name.

CNR Cursed Secrets G2

CrowsnestRidge · Nov 5, 2020 10:46 AM

To find Vlad’s Horse there were several ways to narrow down a search.

The clue says he was “a very young fellow” which would suggest a Stallion/Gelding under 10 years old. It also tells us that he has “just started training” for horse shows. Foals do not get training benefits, but 2 year old horses do, so he is probably 2 years old. The clue then says that he is dark like “black smoke” rather than red like “blood” so he is probably a black based horse, not chestnut (E/e or E/E). A further possibility is that he is Smoky Black (black with cream). The clue then says that he has a “blizzard of visible markings” like snow. This is most likely talking about snowflake, which to be visible needs at least het appaloosa and homogenous snowflake.

Then the clue says that he is “light-footed and good for riding” which would suggest a light boned horse aka Riding Horse, and if he is tall enough to carry an adult vampire, this suggests a Horse not Pony for height.

Finally the clue also told us that he has a PT under 11, so we could order the search by PT and ignore all of the higher scoring horses.

This is the search I used (now searching for 3 years old because of the new in-game year) https://www.huntandjump.com/adv_search.php?runsearch=go&agee=3&heightg=14.2&bonel=1.5&f_basic=pt&mare=0&spayedmare=0&1=1&40=1&114=2

And here he is:

Snow Holiday SH H

CrowsnestRidge · Nov 5, 2020 10:59 AM

To find Argent’s Horse, I messed up a little with the clue-writing, but I think the clarification helped.

We are told again that he is a “young fellow” so looking for Stallion/Gelding under 10. A build that is more "similar to a Thoroughbred than an Arabian" is suggesting medium bone weight and since both these breeds are horses not ponies, we can eliminate the heights that count as a Pony. His colour is mistaken for a prize at the Olympics (gold, silver, bronze medals) but opposite to his owner’s name (Argent, which is associated with silver). Since there is no “bronze” colour, he is probably Gold. You could either try “Gold” in Colour Name or put in the genes required to get a Gold Champagne horse.

Having a documented gene found in prehistoric horses takes us to the Genetics Guide, which in Documented Genes notes that both Dun and nd1 were found in prehistoric horses – both will need to be tried. [I think in the future I'm not going to allow for clues like this that make you try multiple valid possibilities... just makes the search takes longer if you try the wrong one first]

Now the bit about the training benefits was not as clear as it could have been… the clarification says that we are looking for an unaltered horse, since they don’t get the benefits geldings and spayed mares do when training, and that we are looking for a horse that is older than a foal.

This is the search I used:
https://www.huntandjump.com/adv_search.php?runsearch=go&agel=10&boneg=1.49&bonel=2.5&mare=0&gelding=0&spayedmare=0&color=Gold&96=1&offset=25#key-filters

And here he is:

LG 2 Cocoa 11651829

CrowsnestRidge · Nov 5, 2020 11:08 AM

To find Lenore’s Horse, we can again narrow down the search.

The clue says he is a “little fellow” which suggests Stallion/Gelding who is at home with “Shetlands” but isn’t “as stout” which probably means a Pony for height but either medium or light boned.

Then it says homogenous for a Hypothetical Well-Supported gene that influences red and black pigment – the only one listed in the Genetics Guide that affects both red and black is Sooty. We are told the gene is quite common and isn’t expensive, ruling out S+ in favour of Sty.

Then it says that his colour was magically changed (probably a fantasy gene) that is commonly associated with a rodent native to the Andes (a chinchilla, found by google searching Andes Mountains rodents), so he has at least het Chinchilla. The clue then says “if he was an appaloosa” suggesting that he isn’t, so no Lp, “he would probably have a nice blanket of spots” suggesting PATN1.

Then we are told his stall has purple wallpaper, which makes it easier to look out for his picture in the search results.

This is the search I used: https://www.huntandjump.com/adv_search.php?runsearch=go&heightl=14.3&bonel=2.5&mare=0&spayedmare=0&16=2&18=2&40=2&42=1&95=1&offset=25

And here he is:

SH 11142220

CrowsnestRidge · Nov 5, 2020 11:22 AM

To find Ichabod’s Horse, once again we narrow the search.

The horse is “a lovely lady” suggesting Mare/Spayed Mare who is “truly an original creation” suggesting Foundation rather than Lined. She is “two horses in one” suggesting Chimera. “Added spice” could also be a reference to the Pumpkin Spice rank special but this wasn’t a mandatory inference.

She is “middle aged” and many horses live to around 17-20 in the game so playing it safe that probably means 8-16. She is not “hot nor cold, but warm” suggesting warmblood for bone weight. She has the motto “two splashes are better than one” suggesting homogenous Splash. But she “hates swimming in Bays” suggesting that she is not a Bay horse. Bay is a little tricky because she could either be E/E or E/e with no bay genes (eliminating A and +) or she could be e/e with or without bay genes. In my search I tried eliminating the bay genes first, leaving E and e at default, planning to try the e/e with Bay genes possibility next.

The clue also says she was “created by a magical firebird” (phoenix) “that enjoys discussing horse genetics with other breeders” which points us in the direction of the Forum and specifically the genetics discussion page. Here there are plenty of posts from Nightphoenix. Clicking on Nightphoenix’s profile, we can find their stable ID and put this number in the BreederID (the person who created the horse).

This is the search I used:
https://www.huntandjump.com/adv_search.php?runsearch=go&ageg=10&agel=21&boneg=1.49&bonel=2.5&stallion=0&gelding=0&lined=0&breeder=265093&3=2&5=2&brindle2=0&35=2

And here she is:

Oasis of the Islands

annismyrph · Nov 5, 2020 2:08 PM

wow ; this was really cool and i could tell you put a TON of effort into it

DarkFrost · Nov 5, 2020 3:08 PM

A very thoughtful quest :))

I got stuck searching for Dun instead of Nd1 :-(

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