Sledge O'Matic Solution
How It Works
Use the Sledge-O-Matic 2000 to reduce all of the fruits and vegetables to pulp, retrieve the word from inside each one, decode the clues to find the final answer.
Solution, Part 1
The clue is solved by counting how many items match each descriptive word. Then, index into the name of the item the word came from to get a letter. Finally, arrange the letters in the order the fruits and vegetables were in originally. The following table lists the data:
| onIon | VINE |
| baNana | GREEN |
| zuccHini | SEEDS |
| potAto | HAS T |
| toMato | CRAYOLA |
| waterMelon | ABOVE GROUND |
| lEttuce | LAYERED |
| oRange | SKINNY |
Solution, Part 2
Reading the letters above, you find the location of the final answer: IN HAMMER. There was another small copper strip hidden inside the head of the hammer, in a small hole drilled inside the hole used by the handle. All the teams had to do was to remove the handle. This could be accomplished by removing the wedge. Or by smashing the Sledge-O-Matic 2000 repeatedly against a solid object until it explodes. One team cooperated with another team and used one Sledge-O-Matic 2000 to drive the handle through another, splitting the head open to reveal the answer: STOP.
Design Notes
The idea for this puzzle came from The Amazing Race, where teams had to smash through a block of ice to get out a clue. Someone said what would really be great is to give teams a hammer and stuff to smash, but the answer would be in the hammer. When thinking about stuff that would be fun to smash, within our budget, and an environmentally friendly clean-up, Gallagher came to mind and the puzzle was born:
It's difficult to find enough 7-8 inch diameter logs to build 18 hammers without chopping down a tree. Tree services usually chip up to 12 inches, but sometimes have scrap you can pick through.
Drilling 1.5 inch holes in logs is a good way to melt a drill, even with a sharp drill bit.
17 sets of sledgees weighs a lot – about 400 lb. Good thing they had lots of extra garbage cans so I didn't have to haul away the slop!
Many interns and beta testers have never used a sledge hammer or axe or anything similar before in their lives – usually resulting in poor aim.
It's always good to get a commitment from your staff before they realize they will have to drive to Sedro Woolley at 2AM and then pick up smashed fruit all night.
Unseasonable April snowstorms make smashing fruit less fun, but easier to clean up.