Opportunities Unlimited Publications

Information about Opportunities Unlimited Publications puzzle contests

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OPPORTUNITES UNLIMITED
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The Contest Center
59 DeGarmo Hills Road
Wappingers Falls, NY 12590

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THERE IS NO CONNECTION BETWEEN THE CONTEST CENTER
AND OPPORTUNITIES UNLIMITED

       Opportunities Unlimited Publications is a subsidiary of Contest America Publishers, along with North American Award Center. Opportunities Unlimited Publications sponsors a variety of puzzle contests including number path contests and two types of word-building contests.

       Each of their contests gets tens of thousands of entries. Only top experts have a realistic chance of winning the bigger prizes.

       Each contest starts with a very simple puzzle. One variety that they use frequently is a verbal math puzzle. A typical example is

You have inherited a 4-carat diamond ring worth $3,000 per carat. The total value of the ring is

__ $9,000 or __ $12,000
       The initial fee to enter these contests is usually very low. For example, there may be a single game with a $10,000 first prize, and an entry fee of $10, or there may be 3 games with $7,000 first prizes and an entry fee of $5 each. Each game will have a series of 4 or more puzzles.

       After the first puzzle, there will be a tiebreaker puzzle that is slightly harder than the initial puzzle. For example, the second puzzle might be something along these lines

You find a pair of diamond earrings. Each earring contains a 3-carat diamond worth $3,000 per carat, and has a platinum setting worth $1,000. The total value of the earrings is

__ $10,000 or __ $20,000
       At this point, there will be an offer of bonus prizes. The bonus prize will increase the amount of the first prize, but not any of the other prizes, if any. Typically, the maximum bonus will be about $5,000 for an additional entry fee of $30. In contests with 3 separate games, this amounts to an additional $90 beyond the original $15.

       The second tiebreaker puzzle will be a little harder than the first tiebreaker. For example, they may present a bankbook showing an initial balance, 3 deposits, 3 interest payments, and 2 withdrawals. The player has to determine the final balance.

       This puzzle will have another offer of bonus prizes. The new bonus prize often will be smaller than the first bonus prize, but will have a larger entry fee. For example, the maximum second bonus prize might be about $3,500 for an additional entry fee of $35. In contests with 3 separate games, this amounts to an additional $105 beyond the original $15.

       A three-game contest, that initially cost only $15 to enter, might end up costing $210 to play for all bonus prizes.

       Once all of the entry and bonus fees are collected, the main tiebreaker puzzle will be issued. Opportunities Unlimited uses a variety of tiebreaker formats including number paths, letter stamps and word building.

       Their number path puzzles typically have a 20x20 grid using numbers from -999 to 999. In addition some of the numbers will have × and ÷ signs, which multiply or divide the path score. This makes the total score range into the millions. Some of the puzzles allow both positive and negative scores. Often they will leave 10 of the boxes blanks, and give you a list of 10 numbers to fill into the blanks. The player must determine which order gives the highest score. The path may be any length, and may have any number of turns. Typical paths will contain over 200 numbers, and require over half an hour just to calculate the score or copy a path from one worksheet to another.

       Their letter stamp puzzles give the player a set of peel-and-stick stamps with a letter on each one. Each letter has a different score. The players must paste the letter stamps into a 7x7 grid to form words reading horizontally and vertically. Certain spaces in the grid have bonus values, like double or triple letter score, or double or triple word score.

       Their word-builder puzzles have a grid of typically 14 rows with 9 blanks on each row. Players must fill words into the blanks to get the highest score. The words may be taken from a huge supplied list of perhaps 1500 words, or a story of similar length, or the player must choose words from a given category, such as names of mammals. More than one word may be placed on any row, and there may be blanks before, after or between the words. There are math signs between the letter blanks, and special rules about scoring the rows.

       It typically takes 2 years or longer from the first mailing of the initial puzzle until prizes are actually paid. Winners of any prize are required to submit notarized affidavits confirming their identities.

       By contrast, in Contest Center puzzle contests the fee that you pay when you enter the contest is usually the only fee. (There may be a small additional fee if a tiebreaker is required.) We do not have bonus prizes that require much higher additional fees. We tell you all of the prizes and all of the fees right at the start.
       Most Contest Center puzzle contests do not have any tiebreaker puzzles. Most of our contests take less than 6 months from first mailing to prize payment.

       Below are some links you may use to reach the Contest Center's puzzle contests.

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