When will Winter Bash 2017 start?
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5I don't know the exact dates just yet, but we always start sometime in December. Usually it starts before the winter solstice, but most of the event occurs in (northern hemisphere) winter.– Jon Ericson StaffModCommented Nov 17, 2017 at 17:56
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1I had to google this since I didnt knw what it is, but it sounds reallly fun cant wait!!– Peter HaddadCommented Nov 19, 2017 at 7:22
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5 Answers
If it's hats you want, then have no fear;
The next Winter Bash is drawing near!
To know when, you must be fast,
And look up dates of winters past.
But finding the year will be a strain.
You might even say it's a royal pain.
Once you've found that date, shout "yay!"
And then move back a single day.
I'm sorry but I have to run;
We hope you all will join the fun!
answered Nov 17, 2017 at 19:28
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22That's a rather long way of saying in 6-8 weeks ...– Glorfindel ModCommented Nov 17, 2017 at 20:38
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13@Glorfindel Hey if you put in the effort to solving the clues I gave, it does reveal the exact date. ;) Commented Nov 17, 2017 at 20:39
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6While fun and cute, this really seems to be a link-only answer that is subject to immediate deletion. Commented Nov 18, 2017 at 0:12
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3@Robert You'll find that there are a lot of riddles and jokes on Meta around this time of year. Commented Nov 18, 2017 at 0:14
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Let's look at the poem, keeping in mind that animuson said that the clues are in the second line of each couplet:
To know when, you must be fast,
And look up dates of winters past.
So, we're starting from the dates of the past Winter Bash (stolen from another answer):
- 2012 – December 19, 2012 (Wed) –> January 4, 2013 (Fri)
- 2013 – December 16, 2013 (Mon) –> January 3, 2014 (Fri)
- 2014 – December 15, 2014 (Mon) –> January 4, 2015 (Sun)
- 2015 – December 14, 2015 (Mon) –> January 3, 2016 (Sun)
- 2016 – December 19, 2016 (Mon) –> January 8, 2017 (Sun)
So we've got some dates.
But finding the year will be a strain.
You might even say it's a royal pain.
So, we need a year that had a royal themed hat. The very first year was 2012 and it had the hat "Monarch by Right", awarded for rep capping five days during the Winter Bash.
The full lists for the other years don't seem to have any royal hats - 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016...
Except, apparently, this beauty, which I'd forgotten was "royal" headgear:
This is the "Fan-hat-ic" hat from 2015 and, based on the comments, is the one animuson actually intended. It was worn by Her Royal Highness Princess Beatrice Elizabeth Mary of York at the wedding of Kate Middleton to Prince William.
This leaves us with the start date of December 19th 14th.
Once you've found that date, shout "yay!"
And then move back a single day.
So... this is where we have to make a judgement call... I think this line of the poem is ambiguous - You can "move back" in time... which would put the date as December 18th 13th BUT one can also "move back" an event... which puts it later, implying the 20th 15th.
Most of the time, Winter Bash starts on a Monday, though in 2012 it started on a Wednesday. So, considering that neither choices are a Monday and one is a Wednesday, I'm going to say that Winter Bash 2017 will start on:
MondayWednesday December18th13th, 2017
This has since been confirmed with the release of the new Winter Bash count down page.
So, amusingly, both of the other answers were correct (assuming that I am)... just not for the right reason. It's worth noting that animuson said that using 2016 for the reference year was wrong, not that the resulting answer was. Both years started on the same date, so the clues could have been written to refer to either year and give the same result.
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1Huh, I guess I should have looked harder to make sure there wasn't another "royal" hat. But I was hoping someone would just type "royal" into the search box here on Meta, and see the first result there... Commented Nov 19, 2017 at 7:02
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Meh indeed. Clearly I'm not cut out for the Puzzling site. Commented Nov 19, 2017 at 7:09
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1@animuson it's a fun poem and kept me entertained today. I'd forgotten about that hat until you linked it.– CatijaCommented Nov 19, 2017 at 7:13
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@animuson I'm still not 100% on the whole "back" ambiguity... and now it's sort of worse because I've lost the "Monday" pattern...– CatijaCommented Nov 19, 2017 at 7:28
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I had nothing to do with choosing the dates and don't know why it was switched back to Wednesday. :P Commented Nov 19, 2017 at 7:31
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9I don't think anyone even looked at the calendar, tbh. The decision process went like this: "Need to start roughly mid-December and run for 3 weeks to go past January 1. Um... 13th to the 3rd? Sold." Commented Nov 19, 2017 at 18:19
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@AdamLear Well, so much for my logic. :D I'll keep that in mind for the future.– CatijaCommented Nov 19, 2017 at 18:22
This will probably prove more helpful than bad poetry:
http://winterbash2016.stackexchange.com/faq
What is going on? Why do I see hats? From December 19th through January 8th, you'll be able to earn hats all over the sites! Ask, answer, vote, edit, and chat, and you'll uncover hats hidden in all kinds of places.
In 2016, December 19th was a Monday. So rather than starting Winter Bash on Tuesday the 19th of December (who starts anything on a Tuesday) you can expect to see holiday cheer starting on Monday the 18th of December.
Bah humbug animuson, bah humbug indeed.
And look up dates of winters past.
- 2012 – December 19, 2012 (Wed) –> January 4, 2013 (Fri)
- 2013 – December 16, 2013 (Mon) –> January 3, 2014 (Fri)
- 2014 – December 15, 2014 (Mon) –> January 4, 2015 (Sun)
- 2015 – December 14, 2015 (Mon) –> January 3, 2016 (Sun)
- 2016 – December 19, 2016 (Mon) –> January 8, 2017 (Sun)
But finding the year will be a strain.
It's the 2016 Winter Bash.
Once you've found that date, shout "yay!"
yay! Winter Bash 2016 started on December 19 ...
And then move back a single day.
... so, Winter Bash 2017'll start on December 18!
Announcing Winter Bash 2017 ...
December 18, 2017 (Mon) –> January 7, 2018 (Sun)
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5Curious how you connected that line to 2016 (because it's not the correct year). The three clues were the second line of each rhyme. ;) Commented Nov 18, 2017 at 6:46
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1@animuson I haven't figured out which year is the correct year, but there was a TV show, Royal Pains, that ended in 2016.– CatijaCommented Nov 18, 2017 at 12:48
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2@Catija Oh man you all give me too much credit for the amount of effort I put into this. If you're still looking at winters past, maybe just look for keywords in past hats? Commented Nov 18, 2017 at 15:17
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1@animuson I did recall the "A link to the past" hat from Winter Bash 2013, so if that's the year, Winter Bash 2017'll start on Dec 15, 2017 :)– PandaCommented Nov 18, 2017 at 15:23
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1@animuson Actually, searching Google for "royal pain" is easier than going through old hat lists.– CatijaCommented Nov 18, 2017 at 15:27
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1@Catija Maybe for you, but not for an employee with easy access to all the past lists. ;) Commented Nov 18, 2017 at 17:06
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@animuson "Castle" ended in 2016, too, according to IMDB. Commented Nov 20, 2017 at 3:38
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December 18, 2017 (Mon) does not match to the date promoted at winterbash2017.stackexchange.com → it is Dec 13, 2017– BeatCommented Dec 6, 2017 at 9:04