Solve the Magical Maze Riddle: A Wizard Tournament Mystery

Imagine you're in charge of the annual Sly Wizard Tournament, a prestigious event featuring competitors from the greatest wizarding schools. You meticulously plan the events and scoring, ensuring utmost secrecy within the magical maze. But disaster strikes! A dark wizard casts a forgetting curse, throwing the entire tournament into chaos. Can you piece together the clues and determine the rightful winner before it's too late?

The Forgetting Curse

The competition was fierce, a true spectacle of magical prowess. However, a dark wizard's interference has left everyone confused, each competitor convinced of their victory. The stakes are high; failure to declare a winner could ignite another Great Wizarding War. Your memory is blank, but you recall a few crucial rules:

There must be at least three events, each with a single winner and loser.
A consistent scoring system was used, awarding more points for first place than second, and more for second than third.
All points awarded were positive integers.

Amidst the chaos, you find your scorecard, a glimmer of hope. It reveals that in Calchemy, Newt-niz emerged victorious, followed by Leib-ton in second place. This event also marked the only time Magnificent Marigold's Magical Macademy finished third. The final scores are equally perplexing: one school tallied 22 points, while the other two each scored 9.

Deciphering the Clues

With the wizarding world holding its breath, you must act swiftly. How can you determine the tournament winner from these fragmented memories?

Narrowing Down the Scoring System

At first glance, the possibilities seem endless. However, by analyzing the total scores, we can significantly narrow our options.

Since every event used the same scoring system, the sum of all points must be a multiple of one event's total.
For instance, if an event awarded 3, 2, and 1 points (totaling 6), the overall tournament score would be a multiple of 6.

With a total of 40 points, we can create a table of potential scoring systems. Considering there were at least three events, we can eliminate options like one event totaling 40 points or two events totaling 20. We can also rule out events with fewer than 6 points, as the minimum possible total is 3 + 2 + 1 = 6.

Analyzing Possible Points

Let's examine the remaining possibilities by breaking down the potential points earned in each event.

If first place received 7 points, the teams with 9 points couldn't have won any events, as their total would be at least 10. This would mean the team with 22 points won all events, resulting in a total of 28, which is impossible. Furthermore, with four events, these numbers cannot add up to 22.
Similarly, if first place received 5 points, the highest possible score with four events would be 20, eliminating those options. Five events scoring 4 each could also only reach 20.

The Solution

This leaves us with a single possibility: five events, each scored 5, 2, and 1.

There's only one way to reach 22 points: four first-place finishes and one second-place finish.
Scores of 9 indicate one team won once and lost four times, while the other lost once and took second place four times.
Based on your notes, Marigold's Macademy had their only third-place finish in Calchemy.
Leib-ton's second-place finish in Calchemy means they scored 22 and won the Sly Wizard Tournament!

With just enough evidence, you avert war and keep your job. The wizarding world is safe, thanks to your problem-solving skills.

Conclusion

This magical maze riddle demonstrates the power of deduction and logical reasoning. By carefully analyzing the clues and eliminating possibilities, you can solve even the most perplexing mysteries. So, the next time you face a challenging problem, remember the Sly Wizard Tournament and embrace your inner wizard!