You deserve +1 just for the effort you took to create the riddle! And I agree with you that giveaways are much more exciting to be something more than "Hey! I'm in!"

The contest is over, and no random picks had to be made as we only had two who qualified. Congratulations to the winners ashwald and klaattu. Enjoy your new games. ;)

I can do that. First things first: the answer to the riddle was "roller coaster".

As for the games, they are:
Duke Nukem 3D, The Longest Journey, Unreal Tournament GOTY, Startopia
Stronghold, Master of Orion 2, FlatOut, Heroes of Might & Magic 3
Descent 2, Crusader: No Regret, King of Dragon Pass, Wing Commander: Privateer
Original War, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Dungeon Keeper 2, RollerCoaster Tycoon 2
Fallout, Chris Sawyer's Locomotion, Gemini Rue, The Settlers 2 Gold Edition

Congrats to the winners( I don't really mean it, just trying to be polite) and I hope your next giveaway will be less confusing :)

Yeah, I was wondering whether I made it a bit too complex. Obviously I did. Next time it'll be a bit easier, but not too much. Gotta make 'em work for their free games. ;)

Thanks. I was right about the first part I guess I just suck at matching screenshots to games. Could you tell me if there's something that sets Rollercoaster Tycoon 2 apart from the others in the series? I bought the first here on GOG a while ago but I haven't got around to playing it yet. Oh, and congrats to ashwald and klaattu and thank you for the contest.

Part 2 is still quite similar to the original, but some of the improvements are quite noticeable:
- You can easily build elevated rides/tracks with the help of the shift key. In RCT1 you had to use the awkward 'raise terrain, build part of the track, lower terrain again' method.
- Handymen don't automatically mow lawns when hired. It might sound like quite a trivial detail, but after having had to turn this off on their joblist in RCT1 for each and every one of them, it is quite a nice minute change.
- Supports widescreen resolution (to a degree) where the first did not, but at the same time the ability to run the game in a window was nixed from RCT1 to RCT2. Kind of strange. *shrug*
- A lot more different rides, partially to do with certain rides reskinned for the various new themes.
- Which leads me to the overall greater variety in themes: RCT1 rarely ever changed and your parks end up looking pretty similar from the first to the last scenario. RCT2 may have quite a bit fewer scenarios that come with the Triple Thrill Pack, but their different theming ensures you don't grow bored of them.
- RCT2 has a coaster-creator tool outside of the regular scenarios, which you can save for later scenarios (or for exchanging with friends), as well as a scenario editor. RCT1 has neither.

That's all I can think of for those two. Part 3 is quite a bit different:
- because it's a 3D engine building rides, track, paths can be considerably easier as you're not constricted to one static camera angle. the isometric perspective in the first two titles can sometimes screw with one's perception, building paths that are way off
- it is considerably easier to build tracks underground
- supports any resolution (via manual fix)
- being able to ride most of your attractions can be quite fun, even the more mundane ones like the big ferris wheel
- your staff isn't as likely to get stuck on confusing paths, though it still can happen from time to time
- a good variety of rides and themes, thanks to the expansion packs
- a very handy "fast forward" button.
- features a coaster-builder and scenario editor like RCT2, as well as a sandbox mode
- has plenty of life left in it after the official scenarios, as it is the one RCT game with the most user-created content: rides, items, scenarios

Yet RCT3 also has some downsides in comparison to the first two games:
- no keys for menus. for the first two you can customize your keyboard layout to easily call up pretty much any menu you may need. this isn't doable at all within rct3 for some baffling reason. everything has to be done via mouse clicks, which can become tedious at times.
- connecting paths on uneven terrain can occasionally be quite frustrating
- guests have erratic behavior at times, especially when building new drink/food stalls to satisfy their needs
- due to being a more demanding game engine, there can be noticeable degradation in performance as the park ever increases in size. that doesn't happen with the other two, for obvious reasons.

That's about it. I still quite enjoy both RCT2 and RCT3. They each have their ups and downs, but they're different enough to be worth owning both.

Thanks mistermumbles for the contest, and thanks for the great games I recieved

oh, maybe i was overthinking the riddle...(damn) o/

Anyway, congrats mistermumbles, and thanks ashwald and klaattu!..

oops, thanks klaattu and mistermumbles, and congrats ashwald..

no, is not that: Congrats ashwald and mistermumbles and thanks klaattu!!

......

Thanks mistermumbles!

Congrats to ashwald and klaattu and thanks again, mistermumbles!

Glad to know I guessed the part one right! Too bad I suck at matching up screenshots to games. :D