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Jan. 14th, 2022 04:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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Alternatively, you may wish to post about fandom. Or whatever you just wanna chat about. Meme is here no matter what!
(start a comment thread by replying to this post)
Alternatively, you may wish to post about fandom. Or whatever you just wanna chat about. Meme is here no matter what!
(start a comment thread by replying to this post)
Re: Puzzles - Mystery Hunt - Final Thoughts
Date: 2022-01-20 05:51 am (UTC)Mystery Hunt 2022 is open to everyone now, if you'd like to check it out - it'll direct you to a login page, and you can select the 'Public Access' option to check it out in its entirety. I recommend checking out the main pages for the Ministry and Pen Station, at least. The art design for this hunt is top-notch and the location puns for each train stop are hilarious.
In the end, I had a lot of fun! I definitely took issue with the design philosophy of the hunt - it felt like each puzzle, individually, was a lot more work than previous hunts' puzzles, and many of them were more tedious than enjoyable for a small team like ours, where members will often solve puzzles solo. I was also surprised by the lack of book or poetry-based puzzles, considering that this entire hunt was themed around books.
At the same time, I think they did a great job of making the story of the hunt engaging, and even though I didn't like that this hunt was largely designed for a larger team, I really appreciate that they had a great mid-hunt interaction that made a satisfying conclusion for smaller teams. (Story/metapuzzle spoilers ahead!)
We start with an astounding discovery - Hayden Library has vanished, and in its place, there's nothing but a storm of children's books filled with puzzles. After solving the puzzles, we put them together to identify exactly what this mysterious storm is - it's a plot hole!
If we continue to investigate, we're contacted by a mysterious entity - the Ministry of Intertextual Transportation (MIT). They're a part of Bookspace, the world where all fictional entities live, and they've noticed a strange problem - their world is falling apart! We're then tasked with figuring out what, exactly, is attacking Bookspace. The ministers are happy to give their depositions; we get a bunch of descriptions from talking to them (read: solving more puzzles), but they all seem to be describing completely different things! If we put together all their viewpoints (read: solving another puzzle), we realize that they're like the parable of three blind men describing an elephant - and the real answer is that Bookspace is under attack by a voracious bookworm.
Now, we just have to figure out how to stop it. We turn to the Very Hungry Caterpillar for advice (read: solve more puzzles) and discover that the solution is simply to feed it a new berry (Newbury). Bookspace is saved - but we still have to repair the damage and get back to the real world.
This is approximately where we stopped. The rest of the hunt involved getting on the train to various parts of Bookspace - locations like Lake Eerie (horror), Sci-ficisco (science fiction), and Noirleans (mystery) - to find the components necessary to repair the Plot Device, then go through the Phantom Tollbooth to return home. All in all, some delicious flavor.
I'm also going to talk a bit about my favorite puzzles this hunt. I'll spoiler anything that talks about how to solve them, in case people want to try them out.
Make Way for Ducklings. I just really like ducklings. Relatively straightforward word puzzle with adorable art.
Magically Delicious. A good intro puzzle with a fun cookie theme. V npghnyyl tbg fghpx ba guvf bar sbe n juvyr - V tbg gur jbeq TOOBOVFPHVGF naq jnf nofbyhgryl pbaivaprq V'q fperjrq hc n yrggre fbzrjurer, naq vg jnf fhccbfrq gb or fbzr tboyva ovfphvgf cha. Sevraq ubccrq va gb frr jung V jnf qbvat naq jnf whfg yvxr "Vfa'g guvf n Terng Oevgvfu Onxr-bss chmmyr?" naq V jnf yvxr "Jung'f gung?"
Oxford Children's Dictionary. I found this word puzzle pretty tedious, but the puns involved are really funny. Gur bccbfvgr bs JVTUG orvat JRSG unq zr ynhtuvat bhg ybhq.
Charlotte's Web. We ended up doing this one electronically instead of physically (as intended), but I really love the concept. Lneapensg chmmyrf ner n Zlfgrel Uhag genqvgvba. V ernyyl nccerpvngr gung gurl znqr guvf bar npprffvoyr gb obgu xavggref naq pebpurgref.
Tikki Tikki Tembo. I'm usually very picky about language-based puzzles, but this one was fun and used the language in a creative way.
Fruits Stickers. The one and only weeb puzzle in the entire hunt. Jr qvqa'g pbzcyrgr guvf bar va gvzr - jr ernyvmrq vg jnf n Sehvgf Onfxrg chmmyr whfg sebz gur synibe grkg, naq tbg gbb pbashfrq gelvat gb eryngr vg gb gur gurzr naq zvffrq gur jbeqcynl ba rnpu fgvpxre. Nabgure pbby hfr bs n ynathntr va n chmmyr, gubhtu.
Re: Puzzles - Mystery Hunt - Final Thoughts
Date: 2022-01-20 06:58 am (UTC)Re: Puzzles - Mystery Hunt - Final Thoughts
Date: 2022-01-20 02:04 pm (UTC)