Hey everyone, I played in last years iPod every hour contest here in Canada (I won 3 20 gig ipods!).
Here's some stuff about that contest.
was it legit?
Yes!! Like I said, I won 3 ipods (and never bought a Pepsi product).
the skill testing question
It was always the same, it was:
(40 x 8) / 2 + 55 - 15
(answer is 200)
I never noticed anything about a time limit.
Also, this is done for legal reasons, to avoid some kinda of tax on lotteries or something. The math question is not "to make sure you aren't a dog", as someone said.
no purchase necessary
On the contest site, one could fill out a 10 question survey every hour and recieve a free PIN to play. You could only fill the survey out once an hour, and your answers on the survey didn't matter (i.e. you could put an X in the spaces rather than a real answer).
multiple accounts
many people created an account for every member of their family, and thus could collect a pin for each every hour.
notification of win
at 5 mins past the hour, they would draw a winning pin and that person would be emailed (or SMS msged - I think that was an option). After getting the email one would have 48 hours to follow the instructions (go to a certain site, fill out some stuff, answer the math question) in it and recieve their prize.
how long did it take to get what you won?
about 3 weeks after you win the postman comes with your present.
how hard is it to win?
I played about 1700 pins total and won thrice. Other people played a lot more and won a lot less, and others played a lot less and won a lot more. Well, I dunno about a lot more, I know that if you check the winners list some family names comes up a good 7-8 times (family names in the same city I mean, which I assume is the same household unless it's Smith or something, in which case who knows).
Good luck all!
Too bad it's just the mini for the US, but hey, a free ipod is a free ipod!!
