Epicurious cheats! They are sooooo busted!

[MaxDepth]

This is the link

Epicurious Cheats
When you go the the main Epicurious site, you see a link in the lower right hand of the page. It is the "Help us celebrate 10 years with a Culinary Trivia Sweepstakes."

Click on it and you are sent to the link given above. This new page tells you that you could win daily prizes like a Kitchenaide mixer or food processor, along with other prizes. Instant winners every day! And you could win a chance to enter the drawing for a culinary getaway to beautiful Tuscany! Who wouldn't want to win that?

All you have to do is first register. Okay, done that.

It then gives a trivia question. Uh-oh, can i answer that? You could google it of course but what if the session id times out, what if the googled page is wrong? omgwtfbbqwtmln!!! Relax, they have a link to the answer. Click on it.

Okay, next page you have two chance to win today, yay! Click the button.

Now you've got two chances, right? Click da button to play. You're at cake page now. Reading the instructions, sounds like you have a chance right? Based on fate and dumb luck but you can control your fate right? heh heh heh

On this birthday cake page, view the page source code. Look for the <document.write> js statement. Does it reveal this?

<param name='movie' value='flash/instant_lose_" + movie + ".swf?page=instant_janky2&email=removed _by_me&session_id=a1x0csr9c9i0jabu' />

Notice the swf file name? "instant_lose_X.swf" (X being a number variable) Yup, that's right - YOU LOSE! Even before you blow out the candles.

Now the technical parts. Skip this if you are bored already. The swf files are easy to find even though they blocked the access to the root.
http://clients-00.eprize.net/advancemags/anniversary/flash/instant_lose_1.swf
http://clients-00.eprize.net/advancemags/anniversary/flash/instant_lose_2.swf

Yes, there is a winning swf, and only one:
http://clients-00.eprize.net/advancemags/anniversary/flash/instant_win.swf

If you decompile the swfs you'll see in the action scripts that the lose swfs will always lose. There is no way you will win. Even if you get two cakes, the third will always be confetti. The winning swf you cannot help but win. The script will only let you have cake, no matter what candle you click.

Can you win by playing the instant win swf then fudging the output url? No, it is tied back to the session id. Can I just scan the page source for the swf param and then hit refresh? You have that ability but each refresh counts as if you played the swf.

Well, then you are screwed but hey, they don't really say anything about the cake being really a part of the contest, right? Well, let's look at their rules. And I quote:

4. How to Enter: During the Promotion Period go to http://clients.eprize.net/epicurious/anniversary and register by filling out the online registration form completely, and submit the form. Existing users will log in with their password and email address. You will automatically be entered with one (1) entry into the Sweepstakes and one (1) Instant Win Game play. Then, you will advance to the Trivia Challenge, where you will be asked a trivia question. If you get the answer correct you will be awarded one (1) additional Sweepstakes entry and one (1) additional Instant Win Game play. At this point you will be able to play the Instant Win Game. Once on the Instant Win Game page, click on three (3) of the ten (10) candles. Each candle will reveal an image, and if you reveal three (3) matching images, you are a potential winner. Entrants will be notified immediately if they are potential winners of the Instant Win Game and will be provided directions for validation. Administrator is responsible for the functionality of the Instant Win Game. Limit: Six (6) Instant Win Game play/Sweepstakes entries per person per email address per day during the Promotion Period.

Hmm, says right there the candles are an integral part of the process. It's not exactly fraud but is very misleading. I don't want the trip to Tuscany and I already have a mixer and food processor, but I think that the very least they should give me a cookie.
Right?

 

[MaxDepth]

Ye olde cliff notes
Epicurious has a game.
You won't win.

 

[Modeps]

Originally posted by: MaxDepth
Ye olde cliff notes
Epicurious has a game.
You won't win.

Did you really think you'd win?

 

[MrYAK]

Epicurious is suck

 

[konichiwa]

Respondent's "cliff notes" (sic)

Yawn

 

[FoBoT]

what is an "Epicurious"? is that the tree the Koala bear eats the leaves off?

 

[frodrick]

i used to watch a cooking show back in the day called epicurious. i don't care to follow the link and see if it is related to this though. it was great for a while, but then they fired the regular guy (format was a chef that knows how to do stuff and a regular guy to taste it and look like a tool), demoted the chef to regular guy status and brought in a new chef. the new chef was a total prick. i felt sorry for the original chef because she then had to pretend like she didn't know what she was doing and bow down to the new chef guy.

man i had a tough childhood.

 

[BigJ]

How is this any different than a scratch-off lottery ticket?

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: BigJ
How is this any different than a scratch-off lottery ticket?

It sounds like that's effectively exactly what it is. Those are pre-chosing, whether you can win or not. That's what the "validation code" under the "Void if Removed" scratch-off area is for, or in this case, the filename for the SWF file in the page's source-code, apparently.