# Trying to remember the details of a magazine postal contest **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** magazines-newspapers\ **Created:** [March 11, 2024, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-remember-the-details-of-a-magazine-postal-contest/998717 "2024-03-11T21:14:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2024, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-remember-the-details-of-a-magazine-postal-contest/998717/1 "2024-03-11T21:14:26Z")
I have the vague memory of a magazine (it might have been the popular science monthly Omni) that ran a contest in which readers were invited to creatively address a letter and mail it to the magazine via the USPS. The most creative letter that actually got delivered would win, probably something like a free annual subscription, it was mostly for fun. There were some clever entries that worked. They only did it once because the Post Office wasn’t happy. Anyone else remember this? ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2024, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-remember-the-details-of-a-magazine-postal-contest/998717/2 "2024-03-11T21:16:42Z")
I believe it was GAMES that did this. Envelope of the Month. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2024, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-remember-the-details-of-a-magazine-postal-contest/998717/3 "2024-03-11T23:09:14Z")
Not what the OP is asking for, but I recall an issue of _Mad_ magazine in the 1970s that published a letter from one its readers. The envelope was addressed with only a picture of Alfred E. Neumann and the magazine’s ZIP code. Someone at the post office must have had a sense of humor, since as I recall it was delivered with no further markings by the postal service. I hope someone here can dig up exactly which issue it was. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2024, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-remember-the-details-of-a-magazine-postal-contest/998717/4 "2024-03-12T11:55:56Z")
> [@zimaane](#): > > They only did it once because the Post Office wasn’t happy. _Why_ wouldn’t the Post Office be happy, though? ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2024, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-remember-the-details-of-a-magazine-postal-contest/998717/5 "2024-03-12T13:12:43Z")
Some of the envelopes were hard to read, and it took them some effort to work out where the senders wanted them to go. I may not be remembering this part correctly though. ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2024, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-remember-the-details-of-a-magazine-postal-contest/998717/6 "2024-03-12T13:13:07Z")
I think that’s it! Thanks ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2024, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-remember-the-details-of-a-magazine-postal-contest/998717/7 "2024-03-12T19:46:12Z")
> [@JohnGalt](#): > > I recall an issue of _Mad_ magazine in the 1970s that published a letter from one its readers. The envelope was addressed with only a picture of Alfred E. Neumann and the magazine’s ZIP code. Also in the 1970’s, I was living in a sort of commune on a back road some miles outside a small town. I went to visit my parents, and while there, sent a postcard addressed to: All Those Weird Folks Out Past The Mitchells [Smalltown, State, Zip code.] It got there. I doubt you could pull that off these days. ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2024, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-remember-the-details-of-a-magazine-postal-contest/998717/8 "2024-03-12T20:12:44Z")
My favorite story of this type, which may be apocryphal, involves Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! which (as I remember it) once ran an article about the odd ways that people addressed mail to it. One of the letters they received had no printed address, just a large rip in the envelope. The Post Office got so tired of trying to interpret these weird addresses that they made a regulation to the effect that envelopes which were not properly addressed to Ripley’s would be returned to the sender. So somebody pasted a printed copy of the regulation to an envelope. It was delivered to Ripley’s. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2024, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-remember-the-details-of-a-magazine-postal-contest/998717/9 "2024-03-13T02:53:52Z")
You’re welcome! Glad I could help. Some of those envelopes were true works of art, or so my memory says. ---
**Author:** ![Die\_Capacitrix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/die_capacitrix/32/9_2.png) [@Die\_Capacitrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Die_Capacitrix)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2024, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-remember-the-details-of-a-magazine-postal-contest/998717/10 "2024-03-13T07:59:41Z")
> [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](#): > > I believe it was GAMES that did this. Envelope of the Month. I don’t know anybody in real life who had a subscription to GAMES, except my family and the person who gave me my first subscription. I’m happy to see there are others who remember it. ---
**Author:** ![Petek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/petek/32/1590_2.png) [@Petek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Petek)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2024, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-remember-the-details-of-a-magazine-postal-contest/998717/11 "2024-03-13T08:16:04Z")
When cleaning out my apartment several years ago, I found a dozen or so copies of Games Magazine from the 1980s. I’m checking with the moderators whether it’s acceptable to post scans of some of the Envelopes of the Month. ---
**Author:** ![Petek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/petek/32/1590_2.png) [@Petek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Petek)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2024, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-remember-the-details-of-a-magazine-postal-contest/998717/12 "2024-03-13T08:35:22Z")
Received quick approval to post links to a few of the envelopes. Will do so later today (it’s 1:30 AM for me right now). ---
**Author:** ![Petek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/petek/32/1590_2.png) [@Petek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Petek)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2024, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-remember-the-details-of-a-magazine-postal-contest/998717/13 "2024-03-13T21:12:36Z")
Here are some envelopes from GAMES Magazine: [[Album] GAMES Envelope 1 ![](https://i.imgur.com/BuPZttZ.png?fb "GAMES Envelope 1") ](https://imgur.com/a/N9ESroi) (Click on the picture to see all envelopes.) ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2024, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-remember-the-details-of-a-magazine-postal-contest/998717/14 "2024-03-13T21:32:14Z")
Cool, thanks! ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2024, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-remember-the-details-of-a-magazine-postal-contest/998717/15 "2024-03-14T02:08:50Z")
I was a long-time subscriber to GAMES; I can’t say for sure if I read it from the beginning, but it was close. ---
**Author:** ![Petek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/petek/32/1590_2.png) [@Petek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Petek)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2024, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-remember-the-details-of-a-magazine-postal-contest/998717/16 "2024-03-14T02:45:46Z")
The back issues from 40 years ago are still a good read today. It’s somewhat strange, though, to see ads for cigarettes and distilled alcohol. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2024, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-remember-the-details-of-a-magazine-postal-contest/998717/17 "2024-03-14T08:07:31Z")
I subscribed to GAMES for years and years. At one point I had a stack of back issues with puzzles I meant to get to … someday. ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2024, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-remember-the-details-of-a-magazine-postal-contest/998717/18 "2024-03-14T15:52:51Z")
When I retired I had a stack of unfinished back issues (along with a stack of puzzle pages from the Chicago Tribune Magazine) which I finally had time to catch up on. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2024, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-remember-the-details-of-a-magazine-postal-contest/998717/19 "2024-03-14T19:38:45Z")
> [@Die\_Capacitrix](#): > > > [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](#): > > > > I believe it was GAMES that did this. Envelope of the Month. > > I don’t know anybody in real life who had a subscription to GAMES, except my family and the person who gave me my first subscription. I’m happy to see there are others who remember it. I had one from the mid-1980s until it folded, and then renewed it when Kappa Publishing took it over from Playboy (and still have a subscription to Games World of Puzzles, which had parts of Games folded into it, although I miss the letter columns), although I switched to an online subscription last year. I even got a Games T-shirt once, and probably would have gotten a second one except that the mistake I saw was so obvious (it was a chess problem where the “solution” was to promote a pawn to a piece of the opponent’s color, which is not allowed under either FIDE or USCF rules), yet the mistake was never mentioned in the magazine so I am assuming nobody pointed it out) that I figured that somebody had already reported it.