Here it is as promised, albeit a little late. All of the information I will reference in this post can be found in its entirety on the
how to play page.
The Eurostar quest began on May 3rd and ends on May 30th. You must be at least 18 years of age to win the prizes, oh yea, and don't forget, you must have access to the Internet (hmm... let's see: check, check, What!! I need Internet access, your joking right?). Level 1 and Level 2 will be live at 06:00 GMT (01:00 EST) on 3 May 2006; Level 3 will be live at 06:00 GMT (01:00 EST) on 19 May 2006 and the Grand Prize Puzzle will be live at 06:00 GMT (01:00 EST) on 25 May 2006.
How to win the Ultimate Prize: You must complete all the Main Puzzles correctly and be the player from your Territory who completes the Grand Prize Puzzle in the fewest attempts. If two or more players complete the Grand Prize Puzzle in the same number of attempts the player with the fastest time will be chosen from your Territory. You may be required to provide the answer to a skill tiebreaker in case two or more players submit identical fastest times and have the same number of attempts.
Your time is measured from when you start a puzzle to when you complete it and is unrelated to the date or time of release of the puzzle. You have up to three entries to play. You can try on subsequent entries to reduce the number of attempts and improve your time. Your best entry will be submitted for the Grand Prize Puzzle.
In the Eurostar quest you will start your challenges at your table (as opposed to your personal homepage in the Google quest). Your table consists of the Map Folder, a Sony PSP, a Sony Ericsson camera phone, an Organiser, and various hidden items that will be revealed as you progress.
The quest is comprised of 16 puzzles over 3 levels in 6 differant puzzle types. The puzzle types are described as follows (copied verbatim from the how to play page):
“Level 1” means Main Puzzles 1-5;
“Level 2” means Main Puzzles 6-10;
“Level 3”means Main Puzzles 11-15;
Cryptographic puzzlesCodes and ciphers. Alphabet characters, numbers or symbols are used to replace and disguise the answer. You will be given instructions and clues for each puzzle.
Memory gamesGames that require you to memorise images, words or symbols, then use your memory skill to remember their position or other details about them.
Construction gamesGames that ask you to fit together a selection of pieces to construct a pre-defined shape or image, such as the outline of a building.
Research puzzlesPuzzles that can be solved by on-line research, either within this site or using external resources, such as Google or Wikipedia.
Cryptic puzzlesRiddles, word games, anagrams. Use logic and lateral thinking to solve these puzzles. The answer can usually be found somewhere within the question, if you look in the right way.
Prize PuzzlesDuring your Quest you will be able to play for some amazing prizes. Each prize puzzle is a specially created cryptographic puzzle that offers randomised multiple attempts. No matter how many times you try and solve these puzzles, no advantage can be gained over and above your knowledge of how to operate the puzzle mechanics.
Instructions on how to play each individual puzzle are provided before playing.
And apparently, that's all you need to know, so as soon as you give away all of your personal information to the Columbia Tristar Marketing Group you'll be on your way to finishing the quest. Lastly, make sure you have Flash Player 8 or you won't be gettin' very far.
Good Luck (Chance plays no part in this Promotion.)!! By the way, I'm starting my first challenge tomorrow, any hints or tips about what the first puzzle is about??
