retro
Full Member
Posts: 249
|
Post by retro on Dec 10, 2023 20:56:45 GMT -5
Why do 2 people have 6 entries? Well my hacked together leaderboard isn't all that advanced for supporting two milestones. So when you guess the COIN and have the correct COMPASS you get on the board for the compass again. I am trying to improve it for future hunts. Just means people are trying to figure out the COIN answer. Just a reminder, If you can decode the encoded words then you have the compass answer. Then you do get another puzzle within the puzzle to solve for the final answer.
|
|
|
Post by mike6888 on Dec 10, 2023 21:36:44 GMT -5
Why do 2 people have 6 entries? Well my hacked together leaderboard isn't all that advanced for supporting two milestones. So when you guess the COIN and have the correct COMPASS you get on the board for the compass again. I am trying to improve it for future hunts. Just means people are trying to figure out the COIN answer. Just a reminder, If you can decode the encoded words then you have the compass answer. Then you do get another puzzle within the puzzle to solve for the final answer. Another puzzle other than the decoded words? I mean I have some ideas on a theme (something to do with nuclear war and/or cold war) and possibly even what the grand place is. But absolutely nowhere near enough words or directions to logically conclude what a password would be to defeat the machine. I'm not going to just sit and guess random things. Feels too much like the Incredible Hunt. My rule of thumb for a good final answer is I should be able to be relatively confident in it BEFORE I submit it. If the only way to know I'm right is to guess and check then it's not a good ending. Like the first answer here is good because I have a way of knowing it's right before I submit it. I was confident it was right before submitting. No idea what we are supposed to do in step 2. Not even a vague idea. The "adding of fear" thing feels somewhat thematic but also like a huge tangent from where I expected this to go. No idea. I'm just hoping others catch up so that someone either solves it or hints are given.
|
|
|
Post by mike6888 on Dec 11, 2023 0:18:58 GMT -5
Ok, feels like enough have caught up to have a discussion. So we can now explain "Buffalo Springfield", "The Byrds", and "The Hollies". They are all groups that eventually contributed to CSN. I still don't see an explanation for "Underdog". So maybe that's helpful in the second step. "War Games" is a song made for the movie "War Games" but didn't actually get featured in the movie. It was featured in early promotions of it. If this isn't about the machine in "War Games" I'd be really shocked. Because that's an awesome machine to try to defeat, especially given we know the "War Games" song is relevant.
Apparently an arcade is relevant. David played Galaga (featured in our puzzle image) within the 20 Grand arcade. This could possibly be our "grand situs". It was a real place. But it wasn't in Seattle. It was in LA. After that I'm lost trying to figure out what "the sum of all fears" has to do with anything. It's another movie about a potential nuclear war between the US and Russia. Do we jump to The Sum of All Fears, try to find something in common, or is it a distraction? Do we just use "sum" to mean add things up? Does "scores" mean high scores, musical scores, or something else?
|
|
|
Post by Jenny on Dec 11, 2023 12:46:42 GMT -5
Give us a hint Shadowgate. I don't think they are a member of this forum. From my understanding 'Shadowgate' is a team - and at least some of those members are on here.... just quiet....
|
|
retro
Full Member
Posts: 249
|
Post by retro on Dec 11, 2023 19:02:50 GMT -5
I posted a clarification on the Machine puzzle page.
"The answers for the compass and the coin are alphanumeric. No special characters and it is not case sensitive."
|
|
|
Post by g17714m on Dec 12, 2023 8:16:46 GMT -5
I posted a clarification on the Machine puzzle page. "The answers for the compass and the coin are alphanumeric. No special characters and it is not case sensitive." Will answers in any of your puzzles ever include spaces? Or can we safely remove them in all submissions?
|
|
retro
Full Member
Posts: 249
|
Post by retro on Dec 12, 2023 10:38:54 GMT -5
The solution checker will remove spaces. so you can add them or remove them
|
|
|
Post by choice on Dec 13, 2023 12:23:00 GMT -5
High score on the Galaga machine David is playing is 65050. In the midst of 65050 is 505, leet for SOS (saveoursouls).
|
|
|
Post by pb123 on Dec 15, 2023 23:20:30 GMT -5
C'mon, Retro! Introducing legalese into a puzzle isn't right! Ok, proper site is all I get from it.
Last hint was good.
Hoping the next hint is better.
Cool impossible puzzle.
|
|
|
Post by choice on Dec 15, 2023 23:38:02 GMT -5
Wow. A lot of guesses are being tossed at the machine since the last clue. I wish there was a way people could post their wrong answers so to reduce multiple posts by others. Here are a few observations or perhaps coincidences: The Machine and CPE1704TKS have the same numeric value, 86. Atom and Underdog symbols on nuclear cooling towers could mean Uranium or AU = Gold. [The Gold Codes] are launch codes for nuclear weapons. [Gold sequence] Nuclear 'football', The Sum of All Fears connection. Crystal Palace could be a grand situs. In Wargames the launch code was displayed on the middle screen. [It Could Be War] soundtrack. Confidence is low.
|
|
|
Post by pb123 on Dec 16, 2023 4:27:04 GMT -5
Hey, choice! It may be that we need a loser (underdog) to win the game.
|
|
|
Post by choice on Dec 16, 2023 11:31:44 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by choice on Dec 16, 2023 12:54:57 GMT -5
It may be that we need a loser (underdog) to win the game. For that we need to visit the Wargames sequel The Dead Code. When the kids are faced with losing the game to R.I.P.L.E.Y., they decide to play "Suicide Chess"; when you win you lose. At the end R.I.P.L.E.Y. learns that there's no winning by playing and says: "A strange game. The only winning move is not to play."
|
|
|
Post by pb123 on Dec 16, 2023 19:50:16 GMT -5
Yeah, I've hung around that thought too. Pretty much the same in both movies. Can't get the elusive code though. Still, it's fun trying.
|
|
|
Post by choice on Dec 16, 2023 20:55:33 GMT -5
Can't get the elusive code though. Still, it's fun trying. Are you deciphering "THE MACHINE" with the key and then trying to decipher that again for the final coin? Cause then you need to get a 12 letter result from 10 letter THE MACHINE. December 1 must be relevant. 12-1 = LA 20000VENTURA?
|
|