My friend collects baseball cards. In the Upper Deck series from 2000, there are insert contest entry cards to win various baseball memoralbilia. When looking at the rules on the back of the card, I noticed this in the fine print:
My first reaction to this was:
WTF?
After further thought about what circumstances might be required to put this clause in, my reaction was:
WTF?
Does anyone know what the nature of this test is, what it is supposed to prove or do, and why limit this to Canadians?
My guess is Canada may have different legislation regarding some types of competitions, in that there may be a requirement for something that could (at least notionally) be regarded as a test of skill, purely in order for this competition not to count as a game of chance. Of course, the ways it is phrased tends to suggest all Canadian people, rather than people living in Canada, but I don’t suppose they really meant that…?!
I’m passing this along as third-hand information, so take it for what that’s worth.
Canada apparently has some laws against the sort of sweepstakes that are common here in the USA. They do, however, allow contests that involve some sort of skill test to qualify for prizes. So, in order to get around the law and allow those north of the border to get in on the goodies, they pose an easy question, such as, “What is the sum of two plus two?”
That is exactly right… and the ‘skill-testing’ question is in fact about that difficult.
Bill
Actually, the skill-testing question is ALWAYS an “order of operations” trick question. I’ve never seen an exception. It’s always something to the effect of
5+10x4=?
A great many people will answer 60, when in fact the answer is 45. I imagine it’s done this way so that they can objectively show people can get it wrong. However, there’s nothin stopping them from giving you the prize anyway, or coaching you into saying 45 so they can say you got it right.
RickJay wrote:
You’re right. However, I automatically group the operations without having to think about it, and assumed (always a dangerous procedure) that everyone else does the same.
Bill
I think I remember hearing something on the CBC about this. IIRC it has smomething to do with not being able to give something away for simply purchasing a product. Canada has skill testing questions so in theory the companies are rewarding math skills… you just need to buy something to qualify. The US equivalent is the “reasonable hand drawn facsimile”. I guess it’s just two ways around the same problem. All I know is I’d be a little pissed if I lost out on some McDonald’s fries because I screwed up the question in the Monopoly game.
For the record I have been asked to do it, but everyone always knew the answer because it was the same on every card. We had a little conspiracy theory that the Grand Prize Winner would be forced to work out some word problem using the quadratic formula and fractal geometry. Unfortunately none of us were ever in a postion to find out one way or the other.
I carry around in my wallet a little promotional card I picked up years ago after eating at Subway. I carry it because I was so amused by the rules, which mentioned a skill-testing question for Canadians. You are the first person I’ve ever run across who found something similar!
I just got back from a (Canadian)store that had ballots set out for customers to fill in for a draw to win a trip for two to London, Paris, and Milan. The Skill Testing Question (identified further in the fine print as a “mathematical skill testing question”) was (tah-dah):
9 X 8 :- 4 + 70 - 3 = _________
(:- = division symbol)
9 * 8 / 4 + 70 - 3 = 85. The operations are in the correct order in the problem as stated.
I’ve had to fill those out at like McDonalds or some place, when I win a free fries. The people at the counter actually just told me the answer without even giving me a chance to look at it. I don’t think that a prize has ever been denied when someone doesn’t know the answer. Well, at least not for free fries, anyway.
Derleth: 9 × 8 ÷ 4 + 70 - 3
I’m compulsive, too… Try Start, Accesories, Charmap under Windows (there’s something similar for Mac).
Very often they will actually have the answer written on the side of the entry box or barrel. Just for those a little more “challenged”