Ginter Code Solution Part 5

Mike: So at this point we knew that we were looking for 9 columns with 11 cards in each (or 99 cards total) that matched up with the background color as well as matching the number of letters in the primer cards' last name. Because we now had more information at this point (including more scans as sellers posted new auctions), it became much easier to take the scans and break them into their respective groups.

What order do the names go in?

As Nick discovered, there were cards fit the first two criteria (same number of letters in last name, same background color) as well as ONE symbol that matched in the same spot as the primer card. So to order the cards, we would group them together and then place them by symbol matching in 1st position, 2nd position, 3rd position, etc. After a few hours, this is what we had...

Column#1

Background Red
Border Left
Letters in last name: 5


Wells ("L" on 3rd position)
Bruce (matches all left border symbols)
Lidge (Matches 1st left border symbol)
Thome (Matches 2nd left border symbol)
Giles (matches 3rd left border symbol)
Utley (matches 4th left border symbol)
Peavy (matches 5th left border symbol)
Garza (matches 6h left border symbol)
Maine (matches 7th left border symbol)
Braun (matches 8th left border symbol)
Lopez (matches 9th left border symbol)

Mike: Continue in this same manner for the top border and bottom border of the red set, and then again for the blue and green set. If you continue this manner the rest of the names fall as follows...

Column#2


Background: Red
Border: Top
Letters in last name: 7

Kinsler ("L" on 5th position)

Grienke

Fielder


Hoffman


Santana

Ordonez

Pedroia

Iwamura

Quentin

Berkman

Soriano


Column #3

Background Red
Border: Right
Letters in last name: 5

Uggla ("L" on 4th position)

Parra

Myers

Weeks

Crisp

Cantu

Upton

Votto

Meche

Abreu

Olsen


Column #4
Background Blue
Border Left
Letters in last name: 6

Ankiel ("L" on 6th position)
Posada

Aviles

Greene

Martin

Ichiro

Lackey

Doumit

Church

Harang

Matsui

Column #5
Background Blue
Border Top
Letters in last name: 8

Reynolds ("L" on 6th position)

Hochevar

Zambrano

Kotchman

Saunders

Youkilis

Jurrjens

Hamilton

Pettitte

Guerrero

Renteria







Column #6
Background Blue
Border Right
Letters in last name: 5


Loney ("L" on 1st position)

Eaton

Soria

Ortiz

Reyes

Danks

Ellis

Rolen

Blake

Young

Snell


Nick: As we started to find these cards that had one symbol match a symbol on a certain side of a corresponding L card, I kept wondering if we were on a wild goose chase. Mike was convinced, but I still didn't know if we were on the right track. I got really excited at this point though, because I thought I found the first part of the code. The first letter of Loney was boxed, so when taking the first letters of this group, you get LESORDERBYS...I noticed "order by" in there, and could have sworn it was part of the code.

Column #7
Background Green
Border Left
Letters in last name: 6


Miller ("L" on 4th position)

Smoltz

Burnes

Lowrie

Kuroda

Willis

Jacobs

Duncan

Helton

Maholm

Suppan


Column #8
Background Green
Border Top
Letters in last name: 4


Hill ("L" in 3rd position)

Cain

Cruz

Kemp

Webb

Drew

Mora

Cust

Zito

Span

Hart

Nick: I started to think we were on the wrong track (and the "order by" was a pure coincidence) when I noticed that there weren't any 7 letter green cards to match with Liriano. At this point I was ready to start from scratch, but I later figured out the 6 letter greens that DIDN'T match with Miller, matched with Liriano. I had no clue why this group was different (and it is a question I would like to ask the code maker), but I was completely relieved when I realized we were still (hopefully) on the right path. Once we figured this out, the spreadsheet Mike put together came together very nicely.


Column #9
Background Green
Border Right

Liriano ("L" in 1st position)

Theriot

Tejada

Weaver

Ibanez

Teahan

Hunter

Furcal

Lannan

Atkins

Gordon


Mike: This now accounts for 99 of the 100 cards...what about the last card? Well, he has a yellow background, and does not fit with the others, but this will all make sense after the next step.

Nick: We had no clue what Neshek was for, but we were both wondering if he was some sort of key to get the final message. Hmmm...