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Post by thisjustin on Dec 2, 2020 11:41:23 GMT -5
There wasn't enough of a nudge to rip out your pages and start folding them I always took "C MASQUERADE HINT" as the nudge to fold pages. I know this requires knowledge outside the book, but I was never in the camp that you didn't need outside knowledge. In my view, any solution would almost require it. If you thought GPS or astrology or cardinal directions were required you had to go outside the book. But again, that was just my view.
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Post by ronemund on Dec 2, 2020 12:03:49 GMT -5
Well, geez, now I feel bad.
I think everybody gets that you put a lot of time and money into it. It actually was pretty enjoyable, I think it was probably fine right up until the post-fold part with the 1s. Looking back now, it now seems pretty obvious about the star on the back cover and the little border stars, and then all the red/yellow clues. Some things you really hammered on and I don't know how more people didn't pick up on it, including me. And somebody here actually did follow the path, but the 1s were the big problem.
"I guess that was because I knew what to look for."
That's what worries me about a lot of these hunts. I think it's what happened with the Secret Treasure Hunt and I think it what may be happening with the Oracle. A riddle is always easy when you know the answer. I think the makers think it's going to be too easy because they know the answer, so it gets covered up so much nobody else is able to resolve it.
I'm curious as well if there were other things that we missed. The letters in the shaman picture in the rocks, the symbols on the rocks on the cover - did they mean anything?
For what it's worth I did go to MDI to look up my wrong solution, and enjoyed it a lot. I was pretty convinced it was in the Shore Path area because of the signs saying "open from dawn to dusk" which matched up to DUSK TO DAWN on p. 27. There was also a key shaped gouge taken out of the foot of one of the signs, which seemed like a crazy coincidence.
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Post by ronemund on Dec 2, 2020 12:05:19 GMT -5
I always took "C MASQUERADE HINT" as the nudge to fold pages.
Oh man, I had read about the Masquerade hint a long time ago and forgot about the folding. And then I guess the semi-unfolded map was another one. I guess we can't say there weren't any clues pointing to folding, after all.
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Post by thedawailey on Dec 2, 2020 12:07:51 GMT -5
This was an attempt to put together an illustrated story book incorporating a treasure hunt to make it fun and to draw readers in. I put this together in my spare time as a hobby. Clearly from the comments it did not live up to the expectations of some readers. I had hoped that someone would solve the riddle. As no one did, I accept that the hunt was a failure. I thought I could incorporate some clues and patterns that would identify a location. And I tried to keep the riddle simple. On the other hand, I did try to keep hunters distracted and yes, as part of the hunt, most of the book was meant to distract from the riddle. As for the ‘ones’, I thought that once folding the pages was uncovered the ones would become apparent - I guess that was because I knew what to look for. After reading comments, I do recognize that they were not so clear and I apologize for not making them more obvious. In regards to helping anyone in their quest, I did not offer anything other than an “incorrect” to the solutions that were submitted. I provided no additional clues or direction. But I accept the comment that I should not have responded to anyone. I do think using longitude and latitude were legitimate to use as a means of identifying the location. As the hunt just ended, I am still in the process of donating the money. I will post the recipients on this site. But as of now, the Jessup Memorial Library and Open Table have received donations. When I created the book, I was not aware of the extent of treasure hunting sites and groups. Should I do another book, I will consult with the community beforehand. I apologize to those who are disappointed. The intent was to create a story that readers could have fun with. Thank you for this. I agree that many things were not done correctly, especially giving some people information others did not have - an 'incorrect' allows them to rule out a theory and a location, while others did not have this information, so it did give them an edge. I also would have liked for the website that was created for communication and updates was used as intended and that so many of us were not simply ignored over the years.
Having said that, I did enjoy the book and the hunt, making many trips to to explore the island, reading up on MDI history and staying up to all hours of the night with a ruler and a compass as I worked on some theory. I'm amazed at all the connections people have made and paths they followed to specific places, although I know they were all probably just our minds seeing unintended connections. My favorite "wrong connection" was using the sign mileages as degrees on a 360 degree compass and applying them to the Criss Cross page. I found 8 of the 'degrees' pointed to letters that spelled ROCK BROOK, a set of ruins left from the 1947 fire, and right along Rte 3. So perfect, and yet so wrong!
Errors and frustrations aside, it was a fun and challenging book to work with. I enjoyed it as much as I did with Masquerade years ago, and I didn't solve that one either. It is disappointing that no one found the key, so the hunt was unsuccessful. But we had fun working on it and sharing ideas, so the book itself was a success. Thanks for that. And yes, I would be interested in a sequel.
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Post by petpet on Dec 2, 2020 12:13:56 GMT -5
I'm a total layperson who didn't even own the book, but was interested to see the solve, and can confidently say I would never have solved this in a thousand years!
However, I do want to point out that when I view the folded pages in the solution doc with fresh eyes, the yellow 1 on page 5 does jump out visually when looking at the fold as a whole. All the other bars lie horizontally, and it's the only spot that forms a vertical bar. I still think it's a stretch to translate that bar into a 1, but I do think Pel attempted to make that bar stand out.
The red bar on page 40 appears to stand out in the same way when looking across the whole fold, though glare on the page makes it harder for me to spot.
The red 7 on page 47 IS surrounded by multiple yellow 1s, but there are so many yellow 1s across the whole fold (I count at least 13) that it seems those might either be confirmers for the fold or just noise.
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Post by thedawailey on Dec 2, 2020 12:20:17 GMT -5
"I guess that was because I knew what to look for." ronemund,
I agree. I used to make up a yearly scavenger hunts at work and always thought my clues were too obvious, mostly because I knew what they meant. Sometimes, though, even with multiple hints, my co-workers just could not figure out what I was getting at. I think it's important to have someone test your hunt for you. Go through the material, pose questions to the creators, and that back and forth helps work out some of the kinks and stumbling blocks to a hunt. Finding someone who is willing to do that for you is difficult. though. I found that people either wanted to 'play' when the hunt came out, or were not interested in treasure hunts in general. Because these hunts were very specific to my work, I couldn't have them tested by anyone not familiar with the workplace. So I do understand that dilemma, but it always helps to have an editor!
BTW - anyone out there who wants an editor for their hunt, I like that side of the hunt as much as the solving. No prize required!
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Post by ronemund on Dec 2, 2020 12:26:09 GMT -5
>The red 7 on page 47 IS surrounded by multiple yellow 1s, but there are so many yellow 1s across the whole fold (I count at least 13) that it seems those might either be confirmers for the fold or just noise.
I think that was the main mistake right there. Those two yellow 1s right next to the 7. There's nothing to tell you that those should or shouldn't be counted as ones. Actually, I would count those more likely as ones because they follow the full length of the band, like the 7 and 3, whereas the other yellow 1 or red 1 don't. They follow the exact same 'rules' as the 7 AND the 3: 1. they cross the fold, and 2. they fill the entire band. The yellow 1 and red 1 that are supposed to count only follows the cross the fold rule.
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Post by ILLUMINATINPS on Dec 2, 2020 12:36:04 GMT -5
"I guess that was because I knew what to look for." ronemund,
I agree. I used to make up a yearly scavenger hunts at work and always thought my clues were too obvious, mostly because I knew what they meant. Sometimes, though, even with multiple hints, my co-workers just could not figure out what I was getting at. I think it's important to have someone test your hunt for you. Go through the material, pose questions to the creators, and that back and forth helps work out some of the kinks and stumbling blocks to a hunt. Finding someone who is willing to do that for you is difficult. though. I found that people either wanted to 'play' when the hunt came out, or were not interested in treasure hunts in general. Because these hunts were very specific to my work, I couldn't have them tested by anyone not familiar with the workplace. So I do understand that dilemma, but it always helps to have an editor!
BTW - anyone out there who wants an editor for their hunt, I like that side of the hunt as much as the solving. No prize required!
I can echo this 1000 times. i love the creative side more than the hunter side. Zero stress, zero feeling of being pressed for time, and total creativity. Ive been co-creator and editor for a few hunts and love really piecing together something that people never forget.
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Post by morpheus221 on Dec 2, 2020 12:36:47 GMT -5
The folded map on the Harlequin page was a big clue in hindsight I suppose. I do like the idea that red-yellow compass rose was the confirmer to fold the pages and the DMS coordinates make sense.
Few unanswered questions: 1) Does anyone know if the words pointed out by the fox’s nose was actually a clue? If it I recall it alluded to the idea the moon face (upside down) was a treasure map. 2) were the triangles on the Neptune page a substitution cipher?
3) why “red yellow boo(n)k” as a clue? Red, yellow makes sense. Not sure how the books would help.
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Post by searcher1991 on Dec 2, 2020 13:01:37 GMT -5
You don’t need to apologize! No one forced any of us to participate in this hunt and although it was difficult it wasn’t impossible! You added enough details that are crazy theories made sense to a lot of us, which is what you want from a hunt.
The only thing I would maybe add to the next hunt, would be some sort of confirmed or way to know we were on the right track because for those who don’t live in MDI, I’m not sure if creating those coordinates would have been enough to go travel and search.
A confirmer you could have added would have been something like the first letters on pages 44,17,57,68,13,and 2 spelling out like like huntr (there’s no e because it’s only 58 page book). Other than that and maybe a connection in the story.
Still it was fun and I appreciate you creating it!
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Post by Jenny on Dec 2, 2020 13:45:25 GMT -5
This was an attempt to put together an illustrated story book incorporating a treasure hunt to make it fun and to draw readers in. I put this together in my spare time as a hobby. Clearly from the comments it did not live up to the expectations of some readers. I had hoped that someone would solve the riddle. As no one did, I accept that the hunt was a failure. I thought I could incorporate some clues and patterns that would identify a location. And I tried to keep the riddle simple. On the other hand, I did try to keep hunters distracted and yes, as part of the hunt, most of the book was meant to distract from the riddle. As for the ‘ones’, I thought that once folding the pages was uncovered the ones would become apparent - I guess that was because I knew what to look for. After reading comments, I do recognize that they were not so clear and I apologize for not making them more obvious. In regards to helping anyone in their quest, I did not offer anything other than an “incorrect” to the solutions that were submitted. I provided no additional clues or direction. But I accept the comment that I should not have responded to anyone. I do think using longitude and latitude were legitimate to use as a means of identifying the location. As the hunt just ended, I am still in the process of donating the money. I will post the recipients on this site. But as of now, the Jessup Memorial Library and Open Table have received donations. When I created the book, I was not aware of the extent of treasure hunting sites and groups. Should I do another book, I will consult with the community beforehand. I apologize to those who are disappointed. The intent was to create a story that readers could have fun with. Enjoyed the many years working on Fandango......(right from the start!). Thank you! And thank you for inspiring us/my family to visit Mount Desert Island...it is a beautiful location, and I'm not sure we would have ever experienced the fun there if not for the hunt..... Best to you! Treasure was/is found in many ways...... and it was found in Fandango!
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Post by ronemund on Dec 2, 2020 14:05:32 GMT -5
1) Does anyone know if the words pointed out by the fox’s nose was actually a clue? If it I recall it alluded to the idea the moon face (upside down) was a treasure map.
I'd like to know, too. My solution was based on that. It sounds like just red herring because it's hard to see how it could fit in with the border-number solves but I'd love to know.
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Post by AJ on Dec 2, 2020 14:55:21 GMT -5
This was an attempt to put together an illustrated story book incorporating a treasure hunt to make it fun and to draw readers in. I put this together in my spare time as a hobby. Clearly from the comments it did not live up to the expectations of some readers. I had hoped that someone would solve the riddle. As no one did, I accept that the hunt was a failure. I thought I could incorporate some clues and patterns that would identify a location. And I tried to keep the riddle simple. On the other hand, I did try to keep hunters distracted and yes, as part of the hunt, most of the book was meant to distract from the riddle. As for the ‘ones’, I thought that once folding the pages was uncovered the ones would become apparent - I guess that was because I knew what to look for. After reading comments, I do recognize that they were not so clear and I apologize for not making them more obvious. In regards to helping anyone in their quest, I did not offer anything other than an “incorrect” to the solutions that were submitted. I provided no additional clues or direction. But I accept the comment that I should not have responded to anyone. I do think using longitude and latitude were legitimate to use as a means of identifying the location. As the hunt just ended, I am still in the process of donating the money. I will post the recipients on this site. But as of now, the Jessup Memorial Library and Open Table have received donations. When I created the book, I was not aware of the extent of treasure hunting sites and groups. Should I do another book, I will consult with the community beforehand. I apologize to those who are disappointed. The intent was to create a story that readers could have fun with. I think a particular quote works here: "You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all the people all of the time" -Poet John Lydgate as made famous by Abraham Lincoln
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Post by willfish on Dec 2, 2020 16:49:21 GMT -5
This was such a fun treasure hunt....what started as a pass time became an obsession!!! I literally would fall asleep at night thinking what SPF could stand for, calculating distances from Otters Creek to Jordan Pond, wondering what the IL9 meant on the red buoy....my grown daughter and I drove our husbands and kids crazy with our maps, rulers, protractors, and notebooks filled with ideas....some of them were valid enough to continue following, and others fizzled out pretty quickly. Fandango became one of our favorite things to talk about. I was sure that there would be an AHA moment somewhere in the middle of the night when all the pieces would come together. Pel, a huge thank you for the hours of fun entertainment that you provided. I feel like my brain has been stretched and exercised in ways that I never would have imagined. As for the solution, I am both relieved and disappointed. Relieved that I never would have figured it out, and so I dont feel like I missed the obvious. Disappointed because I was hoping the solution would be more sexy. A little more fun and exciting than between 2 boulders in a cove I never heard of. In any event, it was $100. well spent ( we both bought 2 books and one for my granddaughter as well) You have given me the bug to continue doing other hunts. Like the Lobsterman, I am tossing a mackerel to Fandango...my goodbye
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Post by thedawailey on Dec 2, 2020 18:49:53 GMT -5
This was such a fun treasure hunt....what started as a pass time became an obsession!!! I literally would fall asleep at night thinking what SPF could stand for, calculating distances from Otters Creek to Jordan Pond, wondering what the IL9 meant on the red buoy....my grown daughter and I drove our husbands and kids crazy with our maps, rulers, protractors, and notebooks filled with ideas....some of them were valid enough to continue following, and others fizzled out pretty quickly. Fandango became one of our favorite things to talk about. I was sure that there would be an AHA moment somewhere in the middle of the night when all the pieces would come together. Pel, a huge thank you for the hours of fun entertainment that you provided. I feel like my brain has been stretched and exercised in ways that I never would have imagined. As for the solution, I am both relieved and disappointed. Relieved that I never would have figured it out, and so I dont feel like I missed the obvious. Disappointed because I was hoping the solution would be more sexy. A little more fun and exciting than between 2 boulders in a cove I never heard of. In any event, it was $100. well spent ( we both bought 2 books and one for my granddaughter as well) You have given me the bug to continue doing other hunts. Like the Lobsterman, I am tossing a mackerel to Fandango...my goodbye Well said willfish - I have to clean up all my rulers, compasses, protractors, maps, notebooks which I have had out and stacked around my house for 10 years! Thanks to my many Fandango adventures, I have visited places on MDI I didn't know existed before the book came out, even after years of visiting the island. So yes, thanks Pel for way too many hours of a fun challenge.
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