Part of the publicity for the Tom Hanks film based on Dan Brown’s bestseller includes a puzzle-solving contest and lots of trips and Sony goodies as prizes.
The Da Vinci Code Quest on Google offers puzzle solvers the chance to win trips to New York, London, Paris, and Rome, and Sony gadgets like HDTVs and VAIO laptops. It also represents an interesting integration with Google’s Personalized Homepage.
Starting on April 17th, users who have added the contest’s content module to the Personalized Homepage will have an opportunity to solve that day’s puzzle. There will be 24 daily puzzles presented over the course of the contest, and the first 10,000 people who have solved all the puzzles and submitted an entry form will be finalists and eligible to continue in the contest.
Those finalists selected to compete in the final puzzle challenge will be sent a Cryptex and a screenshot of four codes. One of the codes opens the Cryptex and reveals a scroll with instructions on accessing the final puzzle challenge, a time-sensitive series of five puzzles.
Whoever correctly solves all five puzzles the fastest wins the grand prize, the impressive collection of trips and electronics Sony and other sponsors like Orbitz have provided.
After accepting the rules, the entrant will be prompted to add the contest module to the Personalized Homepage. At 1 pm EDT on April 17th, the first puzzle should appear, with new puzzles appearing every 24 hours.
Fortunately, no elderly museum curators were harmed by albino fanatics in the creation of this contest.
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David Utter is a staff writer for murdok covering technology and business.
