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It was the competition that captured the nation. From financial institutions in Auckland to classrooms in Invercargill, more than 210,000 Kiwi made their guesses and today the final number has been revealed.
The answer? The Air New Zealand lolly jar contained an astonishing 729,370 lollies.
Over the past few weeks, the giant jar brimming with Air New Zealand lollies has journeyed across the nation as part of the Air New Zealand Sweetstake, making stops in 11 regions and asking New Zealanders a simple question: How many lollies are inside?
The Sweetstake winner, hailing from Mount Maunganui, came remarkably close with a guess of 729,374, just four lollies off, and is thrilled to be taking home the grand prize of 50,000 Airpoints Dollars.
Their winning guess was the culmination of some clever calculations after a personal visit to the jar, where they measured a lolly, the jar itself and even factored in the air and space inside.
Air New Zealand general manager domestic Scott Carr says it was wonderful to see thousands of New Zealanders visit the jar in person and great to see all the creative approaches employed in pursuit of the prize, with guesses ranging from one to 1,000,000,000.
“Kiwi came out in force to see the jar firsthand, with many employing different tactics to understand the dimensions of the jar in the hope a mathematical equation would help them guess correctly.
“We saw measuring tapes, some used AI, and others used the old-school method of counting a small square of lollies to then multiply. One Nelson family had an impressive piece of mathematical software, while a Hamilton local even brought a 3D scanner down.
“We even had a class of school children visit us in Invercargill as part of their maths lesson.
“Some used their Airpoints number as a guide, while others speculated our aircraft numbers might be involved – leading to numerous guesses like 777,000 and 787,000.”
Throughout the 20-day event, New Zealanders submitted their guesses, with 1300 lucky participants winning a share of one million Airpoints Dollars.
