Winners Round 8 !! Certificate Winners

Just two categories this round.

Excellently Specific Guesses:

WINNER: @atomicfez: REAL GUESS FOR #gwiitb IS AS FOLLOWS: hand-crafted Parchesi set, which reverses into map of NY subway for travelers.
- This guess is the winner because it is so very excellently specific , mentions play and travelling, and, if accurate, would be a wondrous thing to be able to award to someone.

@atomicfez: The box has a gift certificate for "all the Shakey's Pizza you can eat; but only if you were born on April 8, 1966", & that's me!!!!
- This guess has sentimental appeal, given that @atomicfez and I share a birthday. However, this could only be a strong contender argument is if Shakey is a kooky-looking person in a bow-tie, and that is not indicated.

@BrianPike: A small, polite roar of indignation.
- This is an excellently specific guess, even featuring two adjectives. However, with regard to this prize, no indignation is appropriate.

@Spam_Bot: *SpamBot AutoGuess* -- A [12cm] [embossed] [foam] [mouse] [rack]. (Guess no. 1/128,000)
- This guess is very specific, and was (thankfully) not followed by 127,999 more guesses. Unfortunately, it is also incorrect. Almost completely incorrect. The item in the box is not related to mice at all.

@AndrewLoeb: A baseball glove and several dirty baseballs from a scene of the 1993 blockbuster classic, The Sandlot.
- This guess is wonderfully specific and was only barely edged out by the winner in this category. There is also the obvious concern that these items could not fit into a box of the dimensions given and would weigh much more than the box does indeed weigh.

@suelyn: Lightness is in the box, but that is a concept - so are dreams, sleep leads to dreams and one sleeps with the pillow in the box.
- This guess became very specific, which is good, but the item in the box is not a pillow. I also wish to encourage entrants to rely less on the descriptive comments at the round opening post.

@The_No_Show: It's a fake plastic tree.
- What? No watering can? Would that be all you wanted? All the time? And, for that matter, Radiohead, neither the band nor the Talking Heads song, is not in the box.

@suelyn: aww but the abstract is sometimes so much more fun than reality. Another guess is a stuffed animal.
- This guess is specific enough, and I am properly rebuked for trying to prevent entrants from guessing in any way they enjoy most. However, compared to the other guesses in this category, this guess does not specify very much about the stuffed animal, making it impossible to judge it the winner.

@fistsoffolly: Space-age barbells are light as a feather!
- I love the simplicity and enthusiasm of this guess, and it is too bad that it is not quite elaborate and specific enough to take this category.

@michael_elliott: hmmm...i think it's a plush toy snake. and it's brown and splotchy like a copperhead but smiley, who can resist it? :D
- This guess was a strong contender. Unfortunately, there are key differences between this plush toy as described and the actual item in the box that prevent this from being a winning guess in this category.

@TheStepster: A lighter box in a lighter box in a lighter box in a lighter box in a lighter box in a lighter box in a lighter box in a light box.
- This is a very specific guess, but a guess unlikely to succeed, when I have stated again and again that this is not a thought experiment.

@myracles: A duffel bag.
- This is a specific guess, but there is very little information about the duffel bag’s distinguishing characteristics. Were something else in the box, that might not matter, but given the peculiarity of what is in the box all the guesses need a lot of detail to get close.

@1sjcorbett: A rubber chicken.
- As discussed above, with such a peculiar prize in the box, all the guesses need a lot of detail to get close.

@carterbob2: It is an intricately designed, but non-mobile mobile.
- This guess was a strong contender, except that the prize is quite definitely and inherently mobile (although it is intricately designed). I cannot award the win to this excellently specific guess.

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Excellently Ambiguous Guesses

@d_g_: A reason to smile.
- WINNER: I wasn’t sure whether to consider this guess pure smart-aleckiness. Perhaps it is. In fact, what is in the box is very much a reason to smile. This guess is in the “Excellently Ambiguous” category because it lacks specificity – there are many kinds of smiles, and many sorts of reasons for them – but I will not deny that what is in the box is a reason for at least one kind.

@icecolbeveridge: Technological paraphernalia, unsuited to any conventional use.
- There is an argument what is in the box is technological, but it has a conventional use and is not paraphernalia – it is the big thing in and of itself.

@ContemptSlots: A standard geometrical object surrounded by irregularly shaped objects within a rectangular prism saying "HANDLE WITH CARE" loudly.
- If there were a smart-aleck category this guess would be a contender. The object is not a standard geometrical object – it is irregularly shaped, encased in packaging, and only then in irregularly shaped objects and rectangular prism.

@hippophagy: something to remind spring that its time to stay and not just drop in from time to time. Maybe a tiny kite or paper flowers.
- This is a charming guess and apt to the times, but it is hampered by the hedging as to specifics. I am sorry not to be able to give it more recognition.

@KT30003k: Item has an official purpose, but is also a character test. The whimsical will put it on their heads; others will not.
- This guess made my day, but was too similar to something else I know about to judge it the winner. Further, I sincerely believe it unlikely that even an extremely whimsical person would put this on their head.

@jonathaneunice: It's something that goes well with a hearty breakfast.
- This guess is in a kind of limbo tie for runner up with @jonathaneunice’s next guess and @fistsoffolly’s guess just below that. Of course, yes. It is entirely conceivable, even likely, that this prize would be wonderful to own while eating a hearty breakfast.

@jonathaneunice: It's something I'd take with me everywhere. Even the bathtub.
- Again, yes, conceivable and even likely.

@fistsoffolly: I probably wouldn't think to take it camping, yet I might wish that I had.
- Again, yes, conceivable and even likely.

@TheStepster: Something with a purpose. Or with more than a purpose. It could be useful for me.
- Again, yes, conceivable but I am unable to determine the likelihood of this prize’s utility.

@1sjcorbett: An object of illumination. This object could shed either light or clarification on another object.
- I am pleasantly stumped regarding any arguments one could make that this prize could shed light or clarification on another object, unless, as in @KT30003k’s guess above, whimsical people would put it on their heads.

I will swing into action on preparing the Certificates on Sunday (probably around the same time I am getting Round 9 ready). Thank you all for playing, and I am sorry it took so long to get the results posted.