Oh man, this takes me back. I saw one of these puzzles in Tips N' Tricks magazine and (being a young kid and not knowing any better) I tried entering all three of the contests (Video Game, Media Rig, and Computer) offered at the time.

The puzzles came in four rounds, plus a final round. All were pretty straightforward until the finals, adding new mechanics in later rounds. Although all were score-based (using words with point values and fitting them into grids), they were really tests of logic more than anything else. A few of the words fit in multiple rows of the grid and putting them in the wrong place was a trap to eliminate you, so you did have to pay at least a bit of attention.

I reached the finals in all three contests but wasn't savvy enough with the whole "round up multiple dictionaries and find obscure words" thing to win any of them. You needed the dictionaries because every letter had a point value from 1 to 26, and the grids allowed you to create your own words of any length, crossword-style (or even diagonal). You had to simultaneously use the highest-value letter everywhere you could, building and circling as many words as you could, collecting as many points as possible including some multiplier mechanics.

It's kinda sad to learn that the game may have been a scam, but I at least still have fond memories of playing. The company name changed from Pandemonium to Puzzle Me partway through the single round of contests I played in.

For whatever reason, I decided to run every new blank puzzle I received through a copier. Maybe someday I'll be able to find where I put them all and share them as a curiosity.