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weirdest thing in a sweepstakes...

OutThere

OutThere

macrumors 603
Original poster
Dec 19, 2002
5,730
3
NYC
So when I enter giveaways and such I usually read through all of the terms and conditions, just to be sure of what I'm entering on...

I entered the 'Countdown to Cars' giveaway today, just for fun (and the chance of winning a Mustang :p), and read through the terms and conditions. Well, about halfway through I ran into this:

Before being declared a Winner, any Canadian entrant will also be required to correctly answer, without assistance of any kind, whether mechanical or otherwise, a time-limited mathematical skill-testing question.
Click to expand...
(https://secure.carsgiveaway.com/pages/rules.htm)

WTF!? Can anyone explain this?
 
That's hilarious. Why oh why is that even there?! *much spluttering and laughage* I guess they just don't like the prospect of a Canadian winning...without cheating...at all...even with something mechanical!

Uber
 
When I won a trip to LA for the Pepsi Play for a Billion Game, the rules stated that to win the billion, you'd have to exactly guess a random number that was previously chosen.

What they didn't tell you is that an actual chimpanzee plucked numbered balls out of a bag to create that number.

Scout's honor.
 
I believe it's pretty standard that you have to answer a "skill-testing" question to win anything in any sort of draw here in Canada. I remember, back when I was a young sinful meat-eater and supporter of corporate America, whenever I'd win a free burger or ice cream (or anything really) at McDonalds, I'd have to do a little math to prove myself worthy.

Is that not common elsewhere?
 
Yeah, at my work we give contest of this sorts (mostly for ski vacations) and under Canadian law you can't just "give" something away, the person has to "earn" it in some way. So thus where the skill testing question comes in.

It's an odd little law, I can't ever seen some one being refused a prize because of getting it wrong though.
 
elfin buddy said:
I believe it's pretty standard that you have to answer a "skill-testing" question to win anything in any sort of draw here in Canada. I remember, back when I was a young sinful meat-eater and supporter of corporate America, whenever I'd win a free burger or ice cream (or anything really) at McDonalds, I'd have to do a little math to prove myself worthy.

Is that not common elsewhere?
Click to expand...

Nope, not in the US.
 
What Mongo said, it makes the difference between a game of skill and a lottery. Canadian government takes a very very dim view of people running private lotteries. It's a franchise reserved for the Provincial governments to license out.

You'll also see "no purchase necessary" - to establish that it is not a game where you have to pay for a ticket. Of course, the terms of entry without a qualifying purchase are usually made unduly difficult - as in requesting an entry form by sending a stamped, self addressed envelope to Skokie IL. The postage costs make it prohibitive to enter. But it fulfilled the legal requirement.
 
And according to my Canadian friends, it's usually something like "4 times 5 divided by 2 plus 1".
 
I've also heard that the question you have to answer is usually pretty easy. I doubt that requirement makes too many Canadians sweat. :)
 
elfin buddy said:
Is that not common elsewhere?
Click to expand...

yg17 said:
Nope, not in the US.
Click to expand...

I just learned something new. I thought every sweepstakes had these stupid questions, not just us Canadians. :(

aricher said:
And according to my Canadian friends, it's usually something like "4 times 5 divided by 2 plus 1".
Click to expand...

Yeah, they always ask that question. It's the standard. It would be pretty safe just to put 11 down without reading the question.
 
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