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GAMES & PROMOTIONS

WHO AM I? GAME HIDDEN CODE CONTEST

TAKING STOCK CONTEST CURRENT PROMOTIONS

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Live Murder Mystery Video

CJ has been hosting and acting in live murder mystery events for years. Check out this video from an event at the Proctor Mansion Inn, Wrentham.

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Current Prize: $500
Contest Expiration: December 31, 2015

The messages are enciphered into the text using a null cipher. The letters for the messages are exactly as they appear in the book. The problem is that there are lots of other letters cluttering up the works. The trick to solving the code is to discover the starting point and the intervals between the letters.

This article has a good example of a null cipher. The contest works the same only with a different interval and a difficult challenge finding the starting point. If you have a signed book, that will help you find the starting place. Once you find it, you'll know you are in the right place. Good luck!

Current Promotions

The Sin & Vengeance Hidden Code Contest is still unsolved. Find the two messages hidden in the text of the novel and win $500. Read more...

The Taking Stock Character Contest has ended. Read about the code and the clues... Read more...

The End of Marking Time Photo Contest has ended, but you can see wonderfully creative pictures in the album here.

Who Am I? Character Guessing Game

A note from CJ about the Who Am I? Game:

This was clearly one of my crazier ideas. For those of you who don't know, I was in the computer field before I became a writer. I loved to write computer programs when I was younger and I got the idea for this game and had to do it.

For you other computer geeks... the system uses PHP, Javascript, and HTML including some AJAX calls.

To play the game, you tell the system which books you've read. The system then picks characters from those books and displays ten hints for each one. When you click to reveal a hint the system deducts points from your score. So, the faster you identify the character, the higher your score.

The game includes all of my novels along with a few from some of my friends. Give it a whirl.

Sin & Vengeance Hidden Code Contest

In 2005 CJ enciphered two messages within the text of Sin and Vengeance and offered a cash prize to the first person who could decode both messages. The messages were hidden using null ciphers. CJ has given numerous clues to the location of the first message. After 5 years, only one person has deciphered it. The second message has yet to be deciphered and the prize is still available. The contest ends on New Year's Day 2016. The answers will be given here then.

Contest Leaders

Second Hidden Message
This message has not been solved. There is still time to win!

First Hidden Message Solved 9/11/07

9/11/07 Steve Welch Hopedale, Massachusetts
Congratulations Steve! Many have tried. Only you have done it!

Website Clue Solved 1/17/06

1/17/06 Betsy Miller Massachusetts
What fun! Thanks for the challenge, CJ!

3/22/07 Betsy has also decoded the clue in the November Press Release. You can find the original text in the Press Room.

4/9/08 Betsy has discovered the starting point of the first message.

1/18/06 A. Rider Easton, Massachusetts
1 down, 3 to go!

4/26/06 Wilma J., Hawaii

5/12/06 Kerilynn Newman Easton, Massachusetts

6/26/06 Elena Black Cape Cod, Massachusetts

11/29/06 Tim Roberts Bargara, Australia
If I were playing, I'd normally split them!
CJ says, "This is EXCELLENT advice."

4/16/07 Steve Welch Hopedale, Massachusetts
On to the next clue!

4/18/07 It didn't take long. Steve solved the clue in the press release just two days after solving the website clue. Way to go Steve!

9/7/07 Steve solved the code in the newsletter before I even finished sending the newsletters. Just amazing Steve!

1/27/09 Claudia Massachusetts
I'm in the game now!!

9 4/5/09 Melissa Owens Canton, GA
Just getting in the game and hoping I can keep up!

10 8/5/10 James Crocker London, UK
I've given you all a chance, now I am going to HAVE to get that second message! :)

The website clue is no longer available here at 22wb.com. The answer is: 22 is two aces in Blackjack. Congratulations to those who solved it.

Taking Stock Character Contest

At the back of Taking Stock, there is a table of numbers (included below). Each number represents a single letter somewhere in the book. If you link the letters together in the right way, they spell out a message that led to a rendezvous with CJ.

Please note that the contest has ended, so CJ will not be at the rendezvous if you go!

103	68	12	69	23	20
77	66	9	61	7	72
54	6	71	5	3,032	64
75	5	65	21	62	33
4	34	78	4	88	63
667	86	90	9	6	2
9	34	64	7	83	1
7	46	1	67	69	63
64	129	60	11	172	124
336	11	265	13	261	61
109	37	2	131	58	41

The first clue:
Sixty-six numbers side by side, let the number of numbers be your guide.

What does it mean?
There are 66 chapters in Taking Stock. The numbers are arranged in a grid representing one number per chapter. The numbers are a simple counting of characters and punctuation to the character needed to complete the code. But it is not quite that easy...

The second clue:
Now and again you must start in the second most obvious place.

What does it mean?
It would have been too easy to start with chapter one and count off the characters. There is a double twist here, but it is quite literal. "Now and again" means their are two complications to the starting point. The number 22 figures prominently in all my contests. To solve this code you must start with chapter 22.
Again, starting from chapter 22 and going forward was a bit too easy, hence the the second complication. To complete the code, you must begin at the second most obvious place within each chapter. That is the second paragraph.

By beginning in chapter 22 (second paragraph) and counting out the characters and punctuation, you find the letter "M". Remember, to get the corresponding letter for the second number, you must move to chapter 23. There is only one letter from the code in each chapter. By doing this for each chapter, you get a series of letters that doesn't seem to make much sense.

Here they are:
M N H E G O E T U T A T E H S O Z W T A E W E O C M T N B A J M T C O T I A S O M T N S A M A E W S T M Y N R A T O T A E C H N W M

That's a mouthful. But if you put the letters into the table the way they were originally organized and read down, you can find the rendezvous.

M	n	h	e	g	o
e	t	u	t	a	t
e	h	s	o	z	w
t	a	e	w	e	o
C	m	t	n	b	a
J	M	t	c	o	t
i	a	s	o	M	t
n	s	a	m	a	e
W	s	t	m	y	n
r	a	t	o	t	a
e	c	h	n	w	m

Here is a more readable version:

Meet CJ in Wrentham Massachusetts at the town common gazebo May two two at ten am.

I hope you enjoyed trying to crack the code!