Puzzle Potluck 5: Iron Puzzlers

An impromptu puzzle competition organized after the cancelation of the original Puzzle Potluck 5 (canceled) due to lack of prepared puzzles.

History
This event took place on Saturday, January 31, 2015. Its rules were roughly based upon a planned Iron Puzzlers (original concept) for the previous January which didn't run. User_talk:Steven.clontz took over organizing the competition from the original potluck organizer Eric Harshbarger

Overview
The inspiration for this competition comes from cooking competitions like "Iron Chef" and "Chopped".


 * All players discussed the rules and made tweaks so that everyone (mostly) agreed on the rules for competition.
 * Three teams were organized. Kelly, Tim, and Robert were chosen as captains, and picked their teammates in that order (decided by previous numbers of trophies earned in competition). Since only eight full-time players were present, the team that chose Eric Harshbarger (a local pro puzzle designer) was only allowed two players.
 * The organizer revealed three prepared secret ingredients. Each ingredient should be used in some manner (physical or conceptual) within the puzzles.
 * Teams were given until 2pm to design and construct two copies of their puzzles.
 * Each copy is then given to the other teams to play through. Both puzzles are attempted at once, and teams are given one hour total to play.
 * After the end of play, each team reveals their intended solution to the other teams.
 * Finally, the teams choose which of the two puzzles they played best satisfied each of these three categories:
 * Concept: ignoring the use of the secret ingredients or any errata, which of the two puzzles was best in concept?
 * Polish: which puzzle was free of errata and/or boasted the best design?
 * Secret Ingredients: which puzzle featured the most creative use of the three secret ingredients?
 * Each team earned one point for being ranked highest in a category by another team. The team with the most points wins.
 * In the case of a two-way tie, the third team chooses their favorite puzzle to decide the winning team.
 * In the case of a three-way tie, shenanigans are called. (Perhaps there's a better way to handle this.)

Teams
Organizer: Steven Clontz


 * Team Kelly
 * Kelly Bragan Guest (captain)
 * Eric Harshbarger
 * Sarah (guest player for beginning of game)
 * Anna (guest player for beginning of game)
 * Team Tim
 * Tim Hardwick (captain)
 * Zachary Sarver
 * Andrew Owens
 * Team Robert - winning team
 * Robert Ford (captain)
 * Daniel Brice
 * Victoria Lam

Images
Imgur

Puzzles

 * Team Robert: Untitled Puzzle
 * Team Tim: Message from Gort
 * Team Kelly: Non-Traditional Sudoku

Results
Rows designate how teams voted for the column teams.