Just solved it finally.
Thanks to some of the clues, and no thanks to others. ;)
Nice puzzle guys, but holy cow, how would people have known where to start without the first clue? I would seriously like to know that... I guess that pretty much is the puzzle though. At least that was the hurdle for me, using that first clue the way it's intended.
Good luck to everyone else working on it... it's probably easier than you think, if you're like me then you are probably over thinking it too.
Just solved it finally.
Thanks to some of the clues, and no thanks to others. ;)
Nice puzzle guys, but holy cow, how would people have known where to start without the first clue? I would seriously like to know that... I guess that pretty much is the puzzle though. At least that was the hurdle for me, using that first clue the way it's intended.
Good luck to everyone else working on it... it's probably easier than you think, if you're like me then you are probably over thinking it too.
I wondered the same thing... I had enough trouble *after* the first clue was posted. I've no idea how your supposed to solve it with out that key bit of info.
Doh!!! I finally got it! Thanks Jail House Rocks and everyone else for the help. ~winces~ It was a hard puzzle! The only thing that kept me going was that I was not going to let the Were-Hampster beat me!
The T does mark the spot. Just remember that!
But most thanks to Titan Games for the puzzle...
*cough*
TITANIC Games.
*cough*
:-)
Finally!!! ... I want to thank all of the people who posted clues, especially Vandemonium for the poem, and Jail House Rock for the letter work.
Capital, my man.
Shifty Henry said to Bugs, "For heaven's sake... someone went widdershins when they oughtn't."
-Vic.
.You know, I actually understand your jazz. My name may be Shifty, but I am not a pagan . ;)
If only I could turn my clock backwards I would be able to see a rainbow.
Nice rock! (I finally got it)
Also, they don't look that bad.
and, for the record, I did not choose my name because it was associated with a particular song... I chose it because it is the deadliest form of Martial Arts human beings have ever created!
It is said Jail House Rock has it roots in Africa. Slaves in slave ships first formulated it as they crossed the ocean. Remember these captives had been warriors and their Martial Arts were high-tech.
Jail House Rock is the art of fighting while shackled and in small confined spaces. It is alive and well in American penitentiaries, and may be about the only place one can still learn it in a pure form. As you can image it has since transformed again with Asian influences being woven in.
In fact, in the Mel Gibson movie “Lethal Weapon 1,” Mel’s stunt coordinator showed him some Jail House rock which he used in the final scene when it was pouring down rain and he took the gun away from the cop. Wonder how the stunt coordinator learned it…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jailhouse_rock
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Doh!!! I finally got it! Thanks Jail House Rocks and everyone else for the help. ~winces~ It was a hard puzzle! The only thing that kept me going was that I was not going to let the Were-Hampster beat me!
Yeah. Getting beat by a werewolf is one thing; a were-hampster would be down right embarassing.
Finally!!! After days and days, my Int damage is gone and I have solved the puzzle! I want to thank all of the people who posted clues, especially Vandemonium for the poem, and Jail House Rock for the letter work.
But most thanks to Titan Games for the puzzle...
I think. ;)
Dan
Glad it helped!
Cheers,Van
Finally! I've got it!
And not a second too soon. I was just about to decide that the puzzle had an impossibly obscure solution and that I'd never go back to it. And merely spent two hours at it. I used to have much more patience with puzzles.
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Woo Hoo! I solved it!
I won't give anything away, but I will tell you which hints I found most helpful:And why a "T," exactly?What does that mean for that stone? What does that mean for other stones?Hope that helps.
"I see!" said the blind man.
Thanks Mike.
Though I agree, I can't see how you're meant to know where to begin without the first clue. And speaking English does help.
So when can we expect the next puzzle?
Clue #2 is up.
Well, I finally got it. I think the problem is that there's nothing to indicate what the colours are supposed to represent. It was only from a comment in a post on this thread that I suddenly realised what to do with the colours. You really need a third clue on the web site, maybe just a small picture in the background or something.
HA! Finanally. I think the "TSR" hint gave it to me. I give a semi-related nod to arthur c clark...
So When's the next puzzle?
I got it. My husband told me he was stuck for ideas, showed me the two clues and I told him to try a theroy and it worked.
Total time: 5 mintues.
Writing it down helps a lot. Don't just count the capstones, you'll likely get it wrong.
Oh, and that map of game designers? Crazy.
TK
Oh, and that map of game designers? Crazy.
There's an updated version here:
http://www.erzo.org/shannon/images-gg/6deg-v2-large.gifI can't wait to see what Stonehenge does to that chart. It'll probably become a tesseract.
Mike
:: cry :: Been trying to figure this out for two weeks.
I *still* just cannot get it ... one post says you have to go clockwise. Anyother clue says you have to go *counterclockwise* .... one clue says "it's no combination of ROYGBIV". Another clue says "count from horizontal line to horizontal line and double it to get the number of capstones" ... 13 ... x2 ... = 26 !!!
And Vic says there is 30 capstones.
ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!
How in creation is it even *slightly* possible to even GUESS at the $%(&*W$*()Q#& ANSWER ????
I don't understand either of the two OFFICIAL clues. I don't understand ANY of the 5 pages of posts clues.
I am officially clueless and very, very very depressed.
And I'm a member of Mensa too.
:: grumble ::
Chief Technical Officer
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one post says you have to go clockwise. Anyother clue says you have to go *counterclockwise*
Both are correct, from a certain point of view.
I'd say that counterclockwise is backwards... but if you're considering the "T" clue, you might find it easier to work backwards.
-Vic.
.
Oh, and that map of game designers? Crazy.There's an updated version here:
http://www.erzo.org/shannon/images-gg/6deg-v2-large.gifI can't wait to see what Stonehenge does to that chart. It'll probably become a tesseract.
Mike
So, when do the poster version of this chart go on sale?
actually, if you try using the first letter of each color in place of equinox in the web address bar, it will take you somewhere else.
actually, if you try using the first letter of each color in place of equinox in the web address bar, it will take you somewhere else.
I retract that staement. Hadn't seen the rest of the forum before posting it. I really need to learn to read these first. As far as the puzzle is concerned, even with all the clues, I'm still totally lost. It's not making any sense to me.
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I think it's going to take another clue...Here's my advice: forget, for a moment, about colors and URLs and such, and think only about the new clue for a while. Mousing over exactly one stone causes the Titanic T to appear. What does that mean for that stone? What does that mean for other stones? Come up with some theories, and then use the other information in the puzzle to test them.
-Vic.
.
There's two parts: first you figure out what the T means, THEN you figure out what to do with the rainbow. I'm trying to not totally blow the whole riddle.
Hi. New to the site. The Stonehenge puzzle was pretty devious! I was thrown off track for a while by trying to account for the stones one couldn't see behind the big center ones.
I looked at the six degrees image -- is it limited to just certain game companies or certain types of games?
I looked at the six degrees image -- is it limited to just certain game companies or certain types of games?
The updated version I mentioned above seems to get a lot of companies and a lot of game types. I think they all have boards and cards, though. Shannon's done an amazing job with that thing.
Mike
Can you solve the mystery?
10, the answer is 10. I don't care what else everyone says I think the answer is 10 or 42...this answers all! Yes!
I otherwise say...what's with the 7 colored blocks that lead nowhere? This image is confusing enough when it doesn't link to anything!!!!!
We're nearing the time that we reveal the solution, so here's a big hint for you....
Mousing over one stone causes the Titanic T to appear. So let's henceforth refer to that one as the "T" stone.
So what would you call the stones adjacent to the T stone?
-Vic.
.
I'd call them "stones next to the T stone."
How is that supposed to help?
X(
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Chief Technical Officer
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So what would you call the stones adjacent to the T stone?I'd call them "stones next to the T stone."
This puzzle requires you to take a couple of logical leaps. This particular area is where you must make one such leap. At this point, it's really, really hard to guide you further without just making that leap for you, but I've got one more try.
Let's say you've decided that one of the adjacent stones is the stone that comes before the T stone, and one of the stones is the stone that comes after.
So what might you call the stone that comes before T?
I'd call them "stones next to the T stone."
This puzzle requires you to take a couple of logical leaps. This particular area is where you must make one such leap. At this point, it's really, really hard to guide you further without just making that leap for you, but I've got one more try.
Let's say you've decided that one of the adjacent stones is the stone that comes before the T stone, and one of the stones is the stone that comes after.
So what might you call the stone that comes before T?
I'd call those two stones on either side "S" & "U" ... I know that and knew it then ... but no combinations of letters which make logical sense (to me at any rate) work.
Gawd. I'm so stupid I'm gonna start wearing a helmet and ride the short bus...
:: bangs head against wall ::
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Chief Technical Officer
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I'd call those two stones on either side "S" & "U" ... I know that and knew it then ... but no combinations of letters which make logical sense (to me at any rate) work.
Perhaps you're going the wrong direction?
Have you considered that the instructions for combining the letters might be related to the colors?
-Vic.
.
Still havent answered my question... Whens the Next puzzle gonna be?
Perhaps you're going the wrong direction?Have you considered that the instructions for combining the letters might be related to the colors?
-Vic.
.
Most likely. I've been going the wrong way & crashing into stone walls ever since I tried this thing the first time. No, I hadn't considered that. So now I am. Now what :) ???
I'm still stuck on a basic fact. I don't know why you say there are *30* stones. I count, horizontal to horizontal, *13* in the front half of the circle. Multiplied by 2 that equals *26* stones....
Is that even important?
Where are the other 4? <oops!>
Most likely. I've been going the wrong way & crashing into stone walls ever since I tried this thing the first time.
(... cut to end of quoted message ...)
FINALLY! Dear God I finally got it! Very, very, very, good puzzle. (Took me long enough, though ... )
And you know what? I'm not p.o.'d - that was a lot of fun... frustrating, but still a LOT of fun :)
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Chief Technical Officer
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I don't know why you say there are *30* stones. I count, horizontal to horizontal, *13* in the front half of the circle. Multiplied by 2 that equals *26* stones....
I guess looks can be deceiving—I can assure you that the circle contains 30 pillars and 30 lintels.
Is that even important?
Not at all important to this puzzle, but presumably very important to the designers of Stonehenge.
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Chief Technical Officer
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The Equinox puzzle has now been up for four weeks, and it's time to reveal the solution.
If you're still working on it, now would be a good time to stop reading!
The Solution
There are a couple of different strategies for solving this puzzle (which was designed by the ever-so-crafty Mike Selinker, by the way). Solving it without using the clues required more complex mental leaps, and perhaps even a different approach. Some people might have managed to do these steps in a different order; some people managed to skip some steps entirely and still figure out the solution using other methods.
No matter what, the first important step was figuring out from "http://titanic-games.com/???????" that we were asking for a URL that ends with a seven-character sequence.
Next, you needed to work out that each of the visible colored capstones represent a letter of the Roman alphabet. This is hinted at by the first clue, and reaffirmed by the second clue.
Then, if you didn't use the clue that suggests where the alphabet might start on the circle, you'd have to choose an arbitrary stone to call "A." If you were clever and a little lucky, you picked the orange stone and went clockwise around the circle, which is a somewhat logical starting point; if you were really clever and really lucky, you picked the stone just counter-clockwise from the orange stone, which is our actual starting point. Using the first clue, you might have realized that the stone that made the Titanic T appear is the stone representing the letter T, and using the second clue, you might have realized that the alphabet is arranged clockwise around the stones.
Once you had the correct starting point for your alphabet, assigning letters to the other colored stones would give you the letters BEIKLOS.
Finally, you needed to work out that the order of the letters in the final URL is determined by the wavelengths of the corresponding colors—for those of you using English, that means putting them in ROYGBIV order (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet). Reordering BEIKLOS in this way, you get the solution to the puzzle: OBELISK.
We hope you all enjoyed our first puzzle. Mike has a few more to share in the coming months—look for the next one around All Hallows' Eve.
I looked at the six degrees image -- is it limited to just certain game companies or certain types of games?The updated version I mentioned above seems to get a lot of companies and a lot of game types. I think they all have boards and cards, though. Shannon's done an amazing job with that thing.
Mike
I didn't see my favorite RPG game company in there -- Hero Games!
No matter what, the first important step was figuring out from "http://titanic-games.com/???????" that we were asking for a URL that ends with a seven-character sequence.
That part wasn't too hard. :)
Next, you needed to work out that each of the visible colored capstones represent a letter of the Roman alphabet. This is hinted at by the first clue, and reaffirmed by the second clue.
This was my real sticking point. I saw the "giant 'T'" and thought to myself "What's a piece from a Soma puzzle have to do with this?" Then I got stuck on the colors, and their names being the important thing (ROYGBIV). I also got mired into trying to figure out how many lintel stones there were in the whole circle.
Then, if you didn't use the clue that suggests where the alphabet might start on the circle, you'd have to choose an arbitrary stone to call "A." If you were clever and a little lucky, you picked the orange stone and went clockwise around the circle, which is a somewhat logical starting point; if you were really clever and really lucky, you picked the stone just counter-clockwise from the orange stone, which is our actual starting point. Using the first clue, you might have realized that the stone that made the Titanic T appear is the stone representing the letter T, and using the second clue, you might have realized that the alphabet is arranged clockwise around the stones.
Once I realized that the puzzle was alphabetic, not numeric, and not related to the names of the colors, the 'T' clicked into place, and I was able to ignore the total # of stones by going counter-clockwise from 'T' to get to 'A' by going backwards. Thus it didn't matter how many I couldn't see, or what the total number was.
Once you had the correct starting point for your alphabet, assigning letters to the other colored stones would give you the letters BEIKLOS.
Finally, you needed to work out that the order of the letters in the final URL is determined by the wavelengths of the corresponding colors—for those of you using English,...
I had realized that the different colors must mean the order, since they had only indicated what letters of the alphabet to use so far (which all the same color could have done).
Once I got to "Obe" I immediately saw that it was Obelisk. Though capitalization did matter, as 'obelisk' worked but 'Obelisk' didn't.
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Chief Technical Officer
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I have to say that I was thrown off by the comment from one of the Titanic folks that all we needed to solve the puzzle was on the picture. I am not an expert in ordering of the light ray color breakdown and would have needed extra information from outside the picture to solve the puzzle.
If you don't know ROYGBIV, you can still solve the puzzle by anagramming BEIKLOS—there's only one single English word that works out to.
-Vic.
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There are a couple of different strategies for solving this puzzle (which was designed by the ever-so-crafty Mike Selinker, by the way).
And illustrated by the ever-so-talented Corey Macourek, and graphic designed by the ever-so-visionary Sean Glenn, and coded by the ever-so-technical Gary Teter, and coordinated by the ever-so-organized Josh Frost, and beaten within an inch of its life by the ever-so-humble Vic Wertz.
I'm glad folks enjoyed it. I'm looking forward to being pilloried at Samhain.
Mike
Still havent answered my question... Whens the Next puzzle gonna be?We're thinking right around Oidhche Shamhna.
So Around Halloween, Hope its a good puzzle . . .
Can you solve the mystery?
I never did solve this. Maybe I'll try again this weekend.