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Post by Geodus on Mar 4, 2018 20:05:50 GMT -5
I'm starting to create puzzles for my 2018 summer party, and I was hoping to get some testing of the puzzles. The theme of the party is superheroes and villains.
The first puzzle to test is a zebra puzzle. This is the first puzzle of this type that I've created, so I'd like to get feedback as to how easy/difficult the puzzle is, whether I need to create better flavor text, and any other criticism you might have. Thanks!
Rumors have been flying about Captain Electron, Menace, Teflon Man, Tempest, and Calamity.
Can you figure out each hero's outfit color, city, nemesis, and weakness?
Quantum Spectre is the nemesis of the hero who is afraid of spiders.
The hero who protects Highview is rivals with the dastardly Ice Baron.
The evil Doctor Centipede frequently terrorizes Crystal City just to antagonize the red and gold wearing super hero there.
The hero protecting Megalopolis wears black and yellow and can be weakened by ultraviolet light.
Tempest does not have Dark Warrior as her nemesis, nor is she bothered by mirrors.
The hero who whose weakness is mirrors does not protect Crystal City..
Calamity would team up with her hero friend in Shadowgate, but the rain there weakens her superpowers.
The silver and orange clad hero does not protect Shadowgate.
Mold causes sneezing fits in the hero who has Nightfish as her nemesis.
The hero who protects Star City is the boyfriend of Menace (who does not wear black & yellow.)
The hero who wears purple and white is adversely affected by mold.
Teflon Man’s favorite colors are green and blue.
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Post by craigrj on Mar 5, 2018 8:39:46 GMT -5
Unless I've gone mad, the puzzle is broken I'm afraid.
This piece of information gives us a trio of facts about one hero:-
The evil Doctor Centipede frequently terrorizes Crystal City just to antagonize the red and gold wearing super hero there.
So let's look at the weakness.
Not Spiders: Quantum Spectre is the nemesis of the hero who is afraid of spiders.
Not UV Light: The hero protecting Megalopolis wears black and yellow and can be weakened by ultraviolet light.
Not Mirrors: The hero who whose weakness is mirrors does not protect Crystal City..
Not Rain: Calamity would team up with her hero friend in Shadowgate, but the rain there weakens her superpowers.
Not Mold: Mold causes sneezing fits in the hero who has Nightfish as her nemesis.
So what is the weakness here?
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Post by chrisu on Mar 5, 2018 9:38:36 GMT -5
I think you didn't read each statement closely enough. PM sent.
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Post by craigrj on Mar 5, 2018 10:47:06 GMT -5
Quite right let me continue....
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Post by craigrj on Mar 5, 2018 11:04:25 GMT -5
OK, that completes, sending Geo a PM
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Post by Geodus on Mar 8, 2018 3:08:53 GMT -5
My next question that I wish to pose to the hive mind here concerns mapping puzzle solutions into numbers.
For the puzzle hunt, there will be numerous boxes locked with 4-digit combination padlocks (some will have multiple padlocks locking the box with a lockout hasp, requiring multiple puzzles to be solved). The codes for the locks will be generated by solving puzzles, but I don't want every puzzle to have a 4-digit numerical answer. Some puzzles might have word answers, which then also function as clues for a later meta puzzle.
What I need is some way of convert text answers into 4-digit codes. Speaking as a programmer, I need a human-executable hash function which generates a 4 digit hash value. Ideally, the process will require a complete answer to generate 4 digits, i.e., having half the answer shouldn't generate 2 digits. My reasoning for this is simple: I don't want people brute forcing the lock combination (which is trivial if you have 3 digits, and not too bad if you have 2).
Whatever the process is, it shouldn't be overly complex or tedious. I want the work (and fun) to be in solving puzzles, not generating digits from answers.
One idea I've had is a 26x26 table filled with random digits; puzzles would look up pairs of letters in the table to generate a number. The downside of this is that it requires 8-letter answers and doesn't meet my goal of partial answers producing partial numbers.
Do you have any better ideas?
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Post by craigrj on Mar 8, 2018 5:22:32 GMT -5
How simple do you want it? For example, can you use telephone code - so the answer is a four letter word, which converts telephone-wise into four digits?
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Post by amanda on Mar 8, 2018 8:22:34 GMT -5
One of them could be a year.
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Post by squirrel on Mar 8, 2018 9:02:08 GMT -5
I liked the Wilson Wolfe trick - decoding into a phrase saying 'the fourth digit on the blue lock is X'. You could make up a complicated meta puzzle on figuring out which code goes with which lock. 'one code is divisible by 7, one is a prime numbers, and the other starts with a 4'
You can also use props - have the answer to a puzzle be the name of an object (eg. candles) and the solver then has to count the number of candles in the room.
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Post by amanda on Mar 8, 2018 13:31:48 GMT -5
Are the codes preset, or can you set them?
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Post by Geodus on Mar 8, 2018 14:14:52 GMT -5
Are the codes preset, or can you set them? I haven't purchased the locks yet, but I believe that I will be able to set them. Another I idea I had was a simple table of 4-digit numbers, one for each letter. Add up the numbers corresponding to the letters of the answer, and use the last four digits of the result. The only downside to this is that any solution which required anagramming an answer could have the anagram step left out, but it's not a show-stopper. |
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Post by Geodus on Mar 8, 2018 14:16:14 GMT -5
I liked the Wilson Wolfe trick - decoding into a phrase saying 'the fourth digit on the blue lock is X'. You could make up a complicated meta puzzle on figuring out which code goes with which lock. 'one code is divisible by 7, one is a prime numbers, and the other starts with a 4' You can also use props - have the answer to a puzzle be the name of an object (eg. candles) and the solver then has to count the number of candles in the room. Since the codes are 4-digit numbers, that could require a LOT of candles.... |
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Post by amanda on Mar 8, 2018 20:08:01 GMT -5
Might be worth taking a look at the solitaire hangman look up charts setup to see if something like that might work for your codes.
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Post by rob on Mar 8, 2018 21:05:21 GMT -5
I think the simplest way to prevent your guests from avoiding any required anagram puzzle step is to give the more significant digits higher weights. Provide your guests with an ASCII chart, a calculator and a form with weighted columns to use as a worksheet. Specify a multiplier at the top of each column. For each word, they fill in the columns with each letter's ASCII decimal value, multiply each value by the multiplier above it then add the resulting products for a 4-digit lock combination. The advantage of this method is that it will work with words of greatly varying lengths: | x7 | x6 | x5 | x4 | x3 | x2 | x1 |
| | S | C | A | R | L | E | T |
| | 83x7 + | 67x6 + | 65x5 + | 82x4 + | 76x3 + | 69x2 + | 84x1 = | 2086 |
| x14 | x13 | x12 | x11 | x10 | x9 | x8 | x7 | x6 | x5 | x4 | x3 | x2 | x1 |
| | C | O | L | O | N | E | L | M | U | S | T | A | R | D |
| | 67x14 + | 79x13 + | 76x12 + | 79x11 + | 78x10 + | 69x9 + | 76x8 + | 77x7 + | 85x6 + | 83x5 + | 84x4 + | 65x3 + | 82x2 + | 68x1 = | 7982 |
You don't have to use ASCII. You can assign each letter any numerical value you like.
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Post by lucasscooter on Mar 9, 2018 3:31:06 GMT -5
I liked the Wilson Wolfe trick - decoding into a phrase saying 'the fourth digit on the blue lock is X'. You could make up a complicated meta puzzle on figuring out which code goes with which lock. 'one code is divisible by 7, one is a prime numbers, and the other starts with a 4' You can also use props - have the answer to a puzzle be the name of an object (eg. candles) and the solver then has to count the number of candles in the room. Since the codes are 4-digit numbers, that could require a LOT of candles.... Unless you had different colored candles, one color per number for a total of four colors. Then the max number of candles you'd need would be 36. You'd need to give your solvers some extra info, such as putting dots of paint or nail polish on your lock. Maybe it's too complex for what you want, but you could, in theory, make the candles work.  |
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