Doc
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Post by Doc on Oct 16, 2022 7:46:07 GMT -5
Top of the day on a foggy October morning from the great state of Louisiana!
The Keychain
1. The lower left corner has the keychain. This is used with the photo from the website that depicts the emblem on the keychain is NOT a thumbprint, even though we used it that way. The emblem actually MEANT A MAZE. 2. MEANT A MAZE is rearranged into 'AMAZEMENT MEANT AT THE END'. In the word 'amazement', the 'ment' is at the end. According to our rules, this is correct and left alone. 3. The next step is to find the 'equal and opposite' for 'amazement meant at the end'. The definition of 'amazement meant at the end' is an EXCLAMATION POINT. '!'. It's opposite is a lower case i. It's 'equal' is to turn the pair of the exclamation point and letter 'i' on their sides: they become MORSE CODE LETTERS for 'A' and 'N'. 4. The third step is find something missing. From the first step, we know 'MEANT AT THE END'. We now have the word 'MINT' at the end. Anagram into 'TIN M.' and we see that the anagram is missing the letters 'A' and 'N' which connects back to the second direction of the morse code letters. 5. A digression--MINT AT THE END sounds like the treasure in our safety deposit box, but I also think the 'mint' is going to refer to a TIC TAC--a breath mint--and is going to connect into that missing TOE I found with that 3 x 3 grid of letters earlier.
So much to consider, and enjoying every moment,
Doc
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Post by cowlazars on Oct 17, 2022 19:02:38 GMT -5
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzs8F_qi2ckA beginners walkthrough when we played it SPOLIERS tho so watch at your own risk!! The game was awesome I cant wait for the next one from Mr Harris!!!
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Doc
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Post by Doc on Oct 22, 2022 10:32:13 GMT -5
Good morning on a stunningly beautiful day aboard the Amtrak Crescent on its way to the Big Apple!
I’ve been looking over some of the information posted—I’ve been working on it diligently since yesterday, and I wanted to share some thoughts.
1. Our game consists of a Box One, Box Two, and a Box Three each nestled inside the one above it. I think the hunt’s solution will be something similar. Box One is a single 1x1 square, Box Two is a telephone keypad—a 3x3 square, and Box Three will be constructed from the 25 cards. The Fool’s Errand—the original—consisted of cards that had to be discovered and sequenced. I think we’ll be doing the same thing before this is said and done.
I had already noticed the two ‘key’ cards that are notched, when placed aside each other—one face up and one face down—appear to be create and equals sign and a fill in the blank. The resulting symbol appears as a weird keyhole to boot.
2. Our directions from Card 24, from bottom-to-top consist of a III, II, I, and a missing element. This is exactly what I think I need to be solving from the secret box on the cover.
A digression: All police procedurals consist of that wall covered in pictures, articles, maps, etc. connected by strings of yarn. I was originally unable to discover the beginning and following a path. Now, I have so many connections to these things I’m on my second skein. LOL.
Applying the mechanism:
1. The disc cover I. EIL: Opposite of LIE = TRUE. ELI goes with ROTH: a DIRECTOR. The missing N was apparently stolen by NPH on the cover. TRUE NORTH is certainly a sort of ‘director’. II. Opposite and equal: A TRICK. For our current purpose, I think this is a MAGIC trick. Doing the alphanumeric conversion on the letters in MAGIC (and rotating the M to an E), one gets the odd numbers 5, 1, 7, 9, and 3. The opposites, of course are the EVENS. In a magic square for numbers 1-9, the only combinations have the evens in the corners, and the odds in the middles. This is the opposite of a telephone keypad. Another aside—each row, column, and diagonal is equal to 15: an ‘O’.
A digression again—I think we’ll revisit this and PLAY A TRICK. That means we’ll play four cards. This feels like something we’ll accomplish when we tackle constructing the 5x5 grid of the 25 Challenge Cards. As stated before, I’m on my second skein. LOL.
III. ARI ARI STOTLE STOLE IT? Don’t know. Just putting that out there.
Missing AIR or HEIR.
This missing air is a MISSING ELEMENT that creates the connection to the LOCK.
2. The LOCK
If we realize we’re looking at a telephone keypad, the bottom right with a picture of a lock on it is a LOCK BOX.
I. OPEN SESAME. The O PEN means no pen, and is the ‘missing element’ that connects us to the bridge clue. SE SAME = Southeast Same II. Equal and opposite: = and II atop each other is a symbol: ‘#’. III. SE SAME is missing SEEM SAME. This was the key to a previous hunt by Mr. Johnson: Mysterious Stranger. The missing ME is also equivalent to ‘I’. Doing an alphanumeric conversion of ME is 1 3 5. 135 degrees is the correct designation for southeast, and the 135 = ACE
3. The keychain
Using the photo from the website we know the apparent thumbprint MEANT A MAZE. This is the bridge clue to connect us to the lock. ME AN + A MAZE: ME was the missing letters from step 3, the A and N are Morse code letters, and MAZE = MAIZE = CORN. So, A MAZE = ACORN = SEED. Sesame and acorn are both seeds.
I. AMAZEMENT MEANT AT THE END II. ! And a lower case I. Equal and opposite III. MINT at the end. MONEY = MY ONE TIN M. Is missing the letters A and N. I would also point out on a telephone keypad that this occupies the seven square: EVENS. The seven key on a keyboard is also the AND sign. Our box is missing NSEW or a +. 4. The key
I’m working on this one now. The one key on the telephone is MISSING LETTERS.
I. Collecting the missing letters from the other corners: The missing AIR, the missing ME, and the missing AN and the missing +. A RAIMENT.
Continuing to work,
Doc
PS—I’ve tried posting for the last three days. Let’s hope this one finds its way into the ether. LOL.
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Doc
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Post by Doc on Oct 22, 2022 10:55:03 GMT -5
A quick meandering:
I found another 3 x 3 grid of letters:
P U C O R A E N D
Again, as stated many posts ago, I have sense enough to realize these can’t be random occurrences, but I’m not sure what strings attach to these. That’s a ‘mixed-up cup’ on the first row, OR A on the second row and END on the third.
The answer to the riddle is LOOSE. A ‘SOLO’ cup and a loose end.
This goes to the way-back to the original Fool’s Errand. The answer to a card from that game was RED URN, and my antennae are twitching that a red solo cup is a version of a RED URN. LOL.
Doc
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Doc
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Post by Doc on Oct 23, 2022 16:13:30 GMT -5
Greetings on a drizzling afternoon from Times Square!
I’ve been working on The Key in the top left corner of the box cover—looks like fun.
The 1 key on a telephone keypad is MISSING LETTERS, and I think that’s the clue to tie all this together.
I. A RAIMENT is the anagram of the missing letters from the first three stops. It means A CLOTHES. That can be interpreted as
I. CLOTHES or I. CLOSE. This means we leave it as is. CLOSE is the opposite of OPEN or NE PO. The northeast corner is the location of our 1 key and PO is BOX ONE. This is a confirmer we’re doing this correctly. Converting alphanumerically the P O into 1 6 1 5 and converting back we get A FAE.
This means A FOOL or a FAIRY. I’m thinking it’s supposed to be a ‘fairy tale ending’. And we know we’re playing ‘The Fool’s Errand III.’
The fairy tale in this particular instance based on our clues of ‘open’ and ‘close’ has to be the ending of the Harry Potter tale: “I open at the close.” The golden snitch.
We know we’re playing ‘The Fool’s Errand III’.
I open at the close The Fool’s Errand III.
Notice the Roman numerals I and III at the first and last. The question I’m having is what’s equal and opposite in the middle. Has to be something with the golden snitch. Maybe golden switch? Just throwing that out there for me to remember later.
The other part of this is that A RAIMENT anagrams into MEANT AIR. HEIR. The ‘missing element’ was the first bridge—the connector between the disk and the lock.
I’m hoping that means the other two bridges will be used here as well to help confirm we’re doing this correctly.
Continuing to exercise very anaerobically,
Doc
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Doc
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Post by Doc on Oct 25, 2022 8:26:07 GMT -5
Good Tuesday morning from a foggy Big Apple in the Westin Times Square! There’s a lot going on with this KEY. I’ll try to organize this as best I can, but it’s not finished. 1. When we arrive at the KEY on the box, we should notice we are more or less seeing a KEY on each of the box covers: Box One, the box of challenge cards has a key on it, and the secret box, Box III, has a key on top of it that’s set apart by showing itself face down. If you remember, the Challenge cards were arranged 1 - 25 face up. In other words, we haven’t even opened the boxes yet. 2. The 1 key on a telephone keypad is MISSING LETTERS. The anagrams of LETTERS includes SETTLER (as in a mediator) and a TRESTLE (a bridge). This is the theme for the KEY. MISSING LETTERS and the missing ‘bridges’ between each of our elements in the corners. A. Collecting the letters as noted before we create the words A RAIMENT or A CLOSE. This is THE END again, and links us back to card 24. It also signifies we have found the missing letter ‘A’ from card 24, and now it’s CASE CLOSED which is a great description of the current condition of our three boxes. I’m also thinking the ‘end’ is also a period—the end of a ‘sentence’, which for our little escapade indicates some sort of jail sentence. In other words, I think now that we found what was stolen, we’re going to find who stole it in the first place. According to this wonderful logic, we do exactly that. We’ve got to go back to the first place, namely the disc cover, and we’re going to make another ‘discovery’. LOL. As noted above: I open at the close The Fool’s Errand III What’s missing in the middle is trivia from Harry Potter: The Golden Snitch and the Philosopher’s Stone. It finally dawned on me that the ARI STOTLE is a rebus puzzle the letters STOLE T are missing from Aristotle. In other words our thief STOLE IT FROM ARISTOTLE. Apparently it was the Fool, and now we’re the detectives that are going to track his whereabouts. Fun stuff. The Star will guide us. Another anagram of our missing letters is MEANT AIR: a ‘missing element’. If you recall, the ‘missing element’ was the connection between the disc cover and the lock. This is also corresponding to a 1 key on a telephone keypad in that the 1 key has no letters. B. Equal and opposite. The ‘MEANT AIR’ is a hint that the MEANT A MAZE is the next part. If one recalls from an above post, the ME AN + ACORN is found from going bottom to top: in other words, 1-2-3 becomes 3-2-1. The 1-2-3 is the ABC on the ‘2’ key on a telephone keypad which confirms we’re on the right track. MEANT ACORN is SEED. Our game kicks in again. SEE D is a CD and CEDE means gives UP. Hugely interconnected. The original Fool’s Errand was issued on a FLOPPY DISK (how well I remember). The Fool’s Errand II was issued on a CD. I can tell you by looking ahead that the 4 key on the telephone keypad is going to have a TOE and FINGER involved: DIGITAL. The Fool’s Errand III, namely Box One is a combination of cards and digital. Card reading and Electronic arts. We have all the ‘mediums’ accounted for. LOL (I love this game.) C. The one that’s missing: The connection between the keychain and the key is a CHAIN. We need to find the MISSING LINK. It’s the 3 key on a telephone keypad. 1. DEF are the letters on the 3 key: DEF INE. I NE is one northeast which is the location of our 1 key, and IN E is telling us what happens next. It’s in the E or the 5 key on the telephone keypad: The J, K, and L. 3 key: 3 = C = SEE. Key is abbreviated as K. When you look inside the 5 key, you see the K, you see the J. ( C J is the abbreviation of our author, Cliff Johnson), and you see an L, or ‘a right angle.) 2. Equal and opposite: FED. Means both X ( Fed X) and Up ( fed up). This may be too deep a dive, but FED UP. Put me in mind of that famous newscaster from the old movie ‘Network’. Which goes back to network ABC. But that may be one connection too many. LOL. Note that both links now use UP. 3. What’s missing: An X. X marks the spot—we’re back to card 24 again. And lo and behold, that’s what seems to appear to be in in our 5 in the telephone keypad: the X. An X inside a square. TIMES SQUARE. I think this is going to be the AREA CODE for our secret phone n. It’s area code is 212–the boiling point of water. Sounds like we’re getting hot. More to ponder, Doc
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Doc
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Post by Doc on Oct 26, 2022 16:03:13 GMT -5
It’s a balmy Wednesday afternoon from the Westin in the Big Apple! DEFINE ONE There’s a lot hiding here, methinks. Not only are we defining a ‘1’, we’re defining an ‘X’. In the order we solved the corners of the box: 1. The disk cover: a graphic depiction of the letters of O N E is a circle with an arrow pointing to the northeast. This is the symbol for ‘male’ and that’s what we have here—NPH 2 and 3. Equal and opposite. The lock occupies the southeast corner and corresponds to the 9 on a telephone keypad. The ninth letter of the alphabet is ‘i’. ‘I’ is another definition of a ‘one’. The keychain occupies the southwest corner. We discovered the exclamation point here. The exclamation point corresponds to a ‘1’ key on a typewriter keyboard. The i and ! Are equal and opposite and represent the Morse code letters of ‘A’ and ‘N’. 4. Missing. AN ONE = A NONE = O. This is our circle clue. ONE can be interpreted as having the first letter as a nothing—a blank as it were—leaving the letters NE, which is the direction this occupies. A NONE is also A NUN which implies a ‘SISTER’ which is the opposite of the ‘male’ that started everything off. Which I don’t completely understand. SISTER also anagrams to RESIST, also not being understood at this time. A NONE is also the ‘X’. Drawing an ‘X’ in our box, the intersection lands on the 5 key, our ‘E’. ENDS ONE or ENDS ON E. Homophone END ZONE. I think we’re defining END ZONE as well. It’s the AREA definite in football by the END LINE, the GOAL LINE, and the SIDELINES. Going back to the very beginning of this escapade, recall that card 24 SAFETY DEPOSIT BOX resulted in DEPOSIT being anagrammed into TOP SIDE BOX. The keychain was never completed, and I think it’s being brought into play now. The SIDE of the BOX contains the BAR CODE which ties into the keychain. That certainly fits the definition of SIDELINES. Also going back to the very beginning of this topic, I think the SEAL is being brought into play as well as it hits both the TOP and SIDE of the box. That symbol has bugged me forever. I realized part of its description included CROSSED THE LINE—that coupled with the various ‘black box’ warnings on the cards helped frighten me earlier in the game. That curvy line at the top I now realize is half a parenthesis. It gets flipped over to obtain both the left and right parenthesis—the 9 and 0 keys on a typewriter keyboard. The bar code on the side of the box will be converted into alphanumeric equivalents. Continuing this absolutely amazing hunt, Doc PS: I realized this much is being obtained from the first two cards of the Challenge Deck. We have 23 more to go. Cue Janet Leigh. Happy Halloween to us!
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Doc
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Post by Doc on Oct 29, 2022 21:05:23 GMT -5
Greetings on a warm, humid evening from the Big Easy of New Orleans!
We’ve reached a ‘The End’ in our game, and we’re about to begin again. In keeping with our directions, what we’ve been doing is the first half an equal and opposite portion of the Challenge Cards.
I realized we go back to the PS Video that told us to ASSEMBLE IN REVERSE. Homophone time: A SYMBOL IN REVERSE. Which is a pretty good description of our mirror imaged male symbol at the end. Taking the mirror image, we have a circle and its arrow points to the northwest now, which is where our ONE KEY is located.
I also realized the secret box on top of our box is a square, we’ve made a complete circle, drawn an X in the middle of it, and had our END ZONE defined by THREE LINES.
Gentle readers, a square, circle, X, and triangle is located on our PS 5, and its the opposite of our square. The four buttons are shaped as a DIAMOND, and correspond to the 2, 4, 6, and 8 keys of our telephone keypad.
We’re about to make another pass through this. We’re undoubtedly about to play another card from the Challenge deck.
The dummy that I am left my notepad with all my original notes in New York, and it’s being sent back to me. I’m going back through everything we’ve done so far, finding a few more confirmers and details that escaped my notice the first go around. Once I complete that, I hope to post a summary of the secret box and be ready to dive into the next cycle of this.
Trying to stand back and observing this, I realize I might be making a mountain of a molehill with the little evidence we have, but everything appears to fit together in a very nice neat package.
(I’m loving all of this immensely. LOL. As if you couldn’t tell.)
Happy Halloween weekend,
Doc
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Doc
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Post by Doc on Nov 8, 2022 17:12:23 GMT -5
Greetings from a misting Tuesday afternoon in Mickey Mouse land in Orlando, Florida!
I’ve been absent from these boards because, quite frankly, I realized I’ve been missing something fundamental early on, and being the completionist freak I am, (plus thinking the game will become much easier if the instructions are better understood), I haven’t really had anything new to post.
The next step involves finding the bar code on the side of the box. Doing an alphanumeric conversion of the numbers there, four elements crop up, one of which is missing. A couple of days ago, I realized that placing the initial card into the freezer is placing it into an ‘icebox’.
Something’s going on with all of this that I missed early on that might help explain some of this. I’ve been pondering this game every day since I last posted, but I’ve been stuck.
It’s starting to wiggle loose—not completely, but improving to the point I’m comfortable sharing what I’m seeing without leading anyone astray.
The thing about the four game elements. This actually started when we first opened the box for the first time.
We found the following: 1. A box—the Challenge Cards 2. A pen 3. A pad 4. A card in an envelope.
I would point out that there are keys on the box, the pad, and the envelope, but not the pen. A missing key.
There was a peculiar photo from the website that was unused during the initial run through of the game: The pen and pad together. I realized early on that represented a keypad and a pen name, and I’ve been thinking this entire time we would eventually find someone’s name and dial it, and that might happen, but more fundamentally, it’s showing the two are used together. We’re back to the three directions from card 24. 1. Right and left alone 2. Equal and opposite 3. Missing
A box is correct. A BOX = BOX ONE The pen and pad are opposite and equal. The pen is used to ‘write’ and the pad was unused, or ‘left alone’. Anagramming PEN with PAD = APPEND and NAPPED.
The ‘append’ means ‘add’ or a great big “+” sign. It represents a ‘crossroads’ as well as the ‘four directions’. ’Napped’ means ‘slept’. L STEP = EL STEP = THE STEP. L STEP means ‘left step’ as well. There’s more meaning to that—the capital ‘L’ is a ‘right angle’ as well as the pigpen cipher for the letter ‘E’.
I think it might mean ‘A step in the right direction’ which happens to be a step in the opposite direction. West = East or W IS E or WISE. ‘Y’s’. The fork in the road again.
C A R D = See a RD or See a road. Since step 2 has both a crossroads and a fork in the road, this step shows us the correct path to the next location. I would point out that the cards contained in the envelope are ‘missing’. The first card went into the freezer, and the very last card was the reward card hidden inside the envelope.
In summary, I think each correct step involves a box, a card, and directions.
Keeping the gray cells churning,
Doc
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Doc
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Post by Doc on Nov 13, 2022 14:33:52 GMT -5
Good sunny afternoon on a spectacularly beautiful day in the boonies of Louisiana! I'm still pondering on the basic fundamentals of this game. I feel if I can ever fully grasp all the fundamentals, this will fly. The I, II, and III Rules I. Box One is our game. Box Two is inside Box One--the Challenge Cards. Box Three is the secret box inside Box Two. 1-2-3. Right and left alone. II. Equal and opposite. Box one is a 1x1 square. Box two is a 3x3 grid based on a telephone keypad that has the 1x1 at its center. Box one is 'inside' box two. Box three is a 5x5 grid consisting of our 25 challenge cards (of which I am certain of very little--the other two Fool's Errand games consisted of creating a map, and I'm already seeing 'Play a trick' meaning to play four cards, but it's not time for that yet). Box one inside box two, and box two inside box three. 3-2-1. III. What's missing? That's the Big Question I'm wondering about. I see the safety deposit box being a Lock Box (Loc box--as in 'location' or 'at' box) and an Icebox (I can see this being a 'one box' by realizing the 'I' is a one and turning ICE into ACE), so that's a box one and a box two. I wonder about the Box 3--might be the rotated 'E', but not convinced of anything at this point. Something else I realized--the top left symbol on the outside of the box is actually a KEYHOLE. WHOLE KEY. And THAT gives me a lot to think about. Loving the brain exercise. It's been far too long. I wish I had discovered this game much earlier when people had just purchased it--undoubtedly would have had more opportunities to kick around some different ideas. Talking to one's self generally results in medication. Doc
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Doc
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Post by Doc on Nov 20, 2022 12:12:28 GMT -5
Good morning on a spectacular Sunday from the deep south!
Your handy-dandy soliloquist here still plugging away....
I'm still working on the fundamentals--I see the alphanumeric ramifications of the bar code, but I can't get myself moving on it until I have a better understanding of What's Really Going On. If you've ever encountered one of Mr. Johnson's puzzles, you'll know the puzzle logic is flawless, and everything has a purpose.
I'm trying to see through the mist--it's always going to be simple, logical, but extremely clever, and once figured out, the "Aha!" tends to be glorious.
My current musings this morning trying to Tie It All Together:
1. When we opened Box One, we had that single sheet of paper that described the conundrum at hand. It contains two specific instructions: OPEN the black envelope, and OPEN the box of Challenge Cards. This sheet of paper is the 'Opening'. 2. When we begin the second pass through, we have another 'Opening': Card 25. "NPH has a secret. Continue by using the clues in the cards below...." We will have assembled the cards in reverse with card 25 on top, and the other cards under it. 3. I think the third time we have another 'Opening', and it changes perspectives. For the other two Fool's Errand games, there was an 'opening' given by the sun and the moon. I think the 'star' (namely NPH) provides the opening for the third phase of this and would read "I have a secret".
These each lead to a card and a box, and I'm curious to see where this leads me.
Doc
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Doc
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Post by Doc on Nov 24, 2022 7:31:57 GMT -5
Happy Thanksgiving from the Sportsmen's Paradise of Louisiana!
Some Incredibly Disjointed Thoughts (I have been playing the original game again and saw and heard some interesting things....)
1. If you have access to the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory with Gene Wilder, play the ending where Charlie returns the everlasting gobstopper. Pay attention to Gene Wilder's response. Compare that to NPH's Congratulations video at the end of the game. It's not just the script--it's the inflections, nuances, all of it. They're identical. Somebody won the Chocolate Factory, and reinforces the idea there's more to our game than meets the eye. In my opinion, it's a treasure hunt.
2. The freezer card. "You will need the second key" that referred to the second set of four card numbers SILENT MOVIE FAMOUS ATHLETE. This is also a standalone riddle, and I think it means BUSTER KEATON. I was somewhat surprised to find NPH made a silent movie commemorating him several years ago. Anagram time: KEATON = A TOKEN. From a homphone perspective KEATON = KEY TON. The opposite of 'not' meaning this is most definitely a key. I think this references the "token" that comprises our little decoding wheel. That decoding wheel uses an Atbash alphabet, which is certainly "equal and opposite". I'm wondering if this winds up being a second step for some sort of final solution. For instance, we find a string of letters, then the second step would be to convert that string into their Atbash equivalents.
3. The exit from the room videos is Room 6, and it's the entrance into the building. It's another example of Last = First. I had forgotten the image of the keyhole on the bottom of the box--the one that the Sherlock Holmes card overlays. I realize that's to help align the card properly, but I think it's implying something else. To get the image to appear properly, one would have to turn the box sideways to have the keyhole facing north.
There's another keyhole here, folks. It's contained inside Room 4, and if you notice, that keyhole is perfectly aligned to N.
I'm bringing this up because it might relate to the original two of the original four elements inside the box: the pen and pad.
As noted before PEN + PAD = APPEND and NAPPED. Append = ADD, and Napped = SLEPT, or Z's.
If one makes a stretch, the ADD is a big '+' symbol, and the Z placed in the east position makes a big compass. (When the contraption turns, the 'Z' turns into an 'N'.)
Like a key in a keyhole, I'm wondering if something is going to 'turn' or rotate in all of this.
Curiouser and curiouser,
Doc
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Doc
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Post by Doc on Nov 28, 2022 22:22:09 GMT -5
Greetings on a clear fall evening from the great state of Louisiana!
I'm still pondering fundamentals and symmetry. I was struck by something odd:
1. When we first open the box, we read the initial set of instructions that inform the reader to find the black envelope and open the box of Challenge cards. We find four game elements inside the box: a card, a box, a pad, and a pen. 2. When we reach the secret box, we find three elements: a token, a letter, and a keychain. Keeping with symmetry, I think there's an implied fourth element here: an 'open box'. The letter informs us to use a 'key' and unlock the box from the bottom where we find another black envelope. 3. Four elements again in the black envelope: a disk, a letter, a fortune, and a card. Working through the game at this point, we eventually are told to unlock the box a final time: the pen through the back shows us the map on the bottom, and we have to open the box again. At the end of the exercise we open the black envelope a final time. 4. The four elements on the box top are arranged as a box as well. I can see the connections being made--if you recall that the thumbprint yielded the word MINT and we happen to find a 'FORTUNE' inside the black envelope containing the disk.
There's a fearful symmetry taking place here that I'm trying to get my head around.
And everything's connected. I'm getting the distinct impression there's zero left to chance in this thing.
And the words have to be correct, and mine aren't there yet. The disk in the northeast corner on the box cover is actually a CASE. The symbol in the lower left corner is a THUMBPRINT. The key in the top left corner I'm thinking eventually is described as a WHOLE KEY (to make it contrast with KEYHOLE.)
Enjoying the mental gymnastics,
Doc
PS: I'm worried about finding if HER RING is RED, because those tend to throw me for a loop.
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Post by Doc on Dec 2, 2022 15:48:32 GMT -5
TGIF on a beautiful afternoon from the Bayou State of Louisiana!
Meanderings....
1. Why I Think We Have a Treasure Hunt. I've gifted several friends with the game, and they inevitably ask me that question when I make a declarative statement. It's THE question, I suppose. A summary:
a. Card 24. This highlights a STASH, a REWARD, and a SECRET BOX. That sounds amazingly treasure huntish to me, especially considering that the 24th letter of the alphabet is an X. b. The congratulatory video from NPH. "You DID it, etc." Compare that stretch of dialogue with Gene Wilder's original Willie Wonka after Charlie returns the everlasting gobstopper. They're not similar; they're identical. And, Charlie didn't get that speech for having completed Box One--he'd won the whole shooting match. c. Odd Clues. An audio file on the web site, "Let's make the trivial non-trivial," ie, the Challenge Cards. "Anagrams are dope." These might be important clues concerning a treasure hunt. The strangely unused clues: an extra circled word found in the box bottom, the USA photo, the seemingly underused peanut butter card, etc. The initial challenge cards that used Capital letters to spell an actual Capitol: PARIS, that just so happens to anagram to PAIRS. That's an amazing-looking puzzle clue to me.
2. Caffeine is a Wonder Drug I hadn't had a Diet Coke in a week, and after falling off the wagon, the neurons began firing. I began to put together puzzle pieces. This is analogous to working a jigsaw puzzle: Putting together pieces that will belong in the middle of the puzzle, but completely clueless where they will fit as yet. I'm still working on the straight edges. LOL.
a. The post script video instructs us to reassemble the box: ASEEMBLE IN REVERSE. "A SYMBOL IN REVERSE". I'd been trying to force stuff to fit this clue, but I realize it's going to be the runic symbol for YEW. b. The photo that shows the pen together with the symbol of a key from the box cover: That's a WHOLE KEY and the pen is actually the HOLE KEY for the back of the box. (I dread to think it might be A-HOLE KEY, LOL.) c. The freezer card states that we will need the second key, and that key forms a standalone riddle: SILENT MOVIE FAMOUS ATHLETE whose answer is Buster KEATON. I found a 3 x 3 grid of letters earlier that I had posted (which is also a middle piece of the jigsaw puzzle)
ITS NOT KEY
It's not key because it's KEY-TON. (Buster KEY-TON). d. The top of the box's maze ends at the center of a telephone keypad: 5 or the letter E. We wound up finding the number 1 and the area code of a phone number, and that means we're missing SEVEN NUMBERS. The EVENS NUMBERS, which is exactly what's missing from the path. I realize we're going to be doing this in reverse as well. The buttons of a playstation controller have a circle, an X, a triangle, and a square: one line, two lines, three lines, four lines. I realize now we're going to solve them in reverse order starting with the square.
The chances are very high I will be imbibing more caffeine in the very near future.
Doc
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Doc
Junior Member
Posts: 61
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Post by Doc on Dec 3, 2022 8:33:18 GMT -5
Good morning on an overcast day from the Deep South!
As I've started work on the next step, I put together some puzzle pieces I wanted to share.
If one recalls, as we worked on the square on top of the box, we found missing letters from NPHSS. The second part, the 'P' was missing A TRICK. According to the directions this second step is supposed to be 'equal and opposite'. I couldn't find any puzzle elements to fulfill this requirement.
Well....
It's because we find it when we now play through it again.
I've started preliminary work on the next step, and it involves using card the next card, card 23.
The second part of that card states, "I am also in Neil Patrick Harris, but not in Bob Smith". For those familiar with medical terminology, 'NPH' is a type of insulin. Robert Smith turns out to be a famous person: He's the lead singer in 'The Cure'. Insulin is not a cure, it's a TREATMENT. MEANT A TREAT. TREAT and a TRICK.
Made me SO excited! LOL.
Many are the pleasures of the simple minded,
Doc
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