1.06 Calibration

From DoctorWhen

Status

::FINAL-READY::

Location

Name And Address: Long Now Foundation (posing as a time-oriented research laboratory), Fort Mason Center, Building A, San Francisco, CA

Parking: Some free spots just outside of parking attendant's booth, pay parking inside lot

Bathroom: Yes, nearby building

Food:Safeway and a few restaurants a few blocks away

GC PoC: Allen, (415) 475-8463, lab@trenchwood.com

Site PoC: Danielle Engleman of LNF

Type

Mandatory Puzzle

How To Give To Teams

Lab assistant says this over phone. Note that we really want to make sure teams understand that the Doctor is going through different periods of time and space:

Are you on speakerphone?

[wait until they are]

We've determined that one problems caused by the failure of co-keypad #34 is that it is causing Doctor When to bounce around through time and space, appearing and reappearing at different points in the past, present, and future. Who knows what dangers he's facing!

Thanks to you we're almost able to rescue the Doctor from this plight. We do that by having the time machine project a return time portal archway to his current spatial-temporal coordinates.

But we need to do one last thing before the machine is fully repaired and can project a return portal: we need to recalibrate it.
If you can calculate the next time he'll materialize in, we can use that information to recalibrate the machine.

The machine's Temporal View-O-Scope has recorded the different times and places he's visited so far. So please go to the Long Now Foundation in Ft. Mason where their crack temporal mechanics will give you access to the View-O-Scope log. Once you've calculated his next destination just call the Institute.

SUPPLEMENTAL EMAIL

Research Project Title: Calibration
Objective: Help Institute to recalibrate the time machine by calculating the next time Doctor When will bounce to; do this by looking for patterns in the times the Doctor has bounced to so far; the log of his travels can be accessed using Long Now's Computer Remote Access Program for the time machine's View-O-Scope; enter access code 991858 into the program
Location: Long Now Foundation, Fort Mason Center, Building A, San Francisco
Upon Completion: Call the Institute and speak with any lab assistant
Parking: Some free spots just outside of parking attendant's booth, pay parking inside lot
Need To Park: Yes
Personnel Required: All
Bathrooms At Location: Yes
Snacks At Location: Safeway and a few restaurants a few blocks away
NOTE: Be sure to bring your Computer Remote Access Program disk with you.

Plot Setup

  • Iconoclast scientist Doctor When has attempted to demonstrate his time machine before an audience of VIPs.
  • But it malfunctioned due to a faulty key component. The players have helped fix that.
  • The malfunction is causing the Doctor to bounce around randomly in time from era to era, facing untold dangers!
  • Repairs also required access to the Doctor's supercomputer, but the team successfully hacked the password.
  • Along the way they learned someone named "Buffy" was important to him back in high school.

Props

  • 32 or 34 copies of Trenchwood Industries CDs, which contain the Calibration puzzle (2 per team, with 0 spares)
  • 16 copies of optional TBD puzzle (1 per team, with 0 spares)
  • 1 Lab coat (should already have from previous location)
  • 1 Long Now name badge and lanyard (should already have lanyard from previous location; look inside the lanyard for this badge insert)
  • 120 (7 per team) copies of blank co-keypad sheets (for use in 1.03.05 Co-Keypad Optional Driving Puzzles)

Plot Point to Convey

General time hijinx, ending in knowing that the next place Doctor When will bounce to is the Big Bang.

Short Description

Teams have to predict next time Doctor When will bounce to based on DVD containing short clips of where he's been so far.

Open Time Period

Saturday, 2 PM till all teams (16 in Game 1, 17 in Game 2) have picked up Calibration (estimated 4 PM)

Staff Instructions

Your Role: You are a Long Now Foundation lab assistant. (We are pretending that Long Now is another time-oriented research laboratory.)

What To Wear:

  • Lab coat
  • Long Now Foundation name tag insert (should be hidden within your lanyard already)

What Your Character Knows:

  • Trenchwood Institute is a secretive, but qualified research facility
  • Nothing about the Grand Unveiling nor the mishap
  • You've never heard of co-keypads or chronomentometers (those are the secret inventions of Prof. Chronos and Doctor When)

Puzzles At This Site:

  • Calibration--mandatory
  • TBD--optional

Where To Get Materials: GC HQ

Site Setup:

  • Greet front desk person.
  • Call GC.

Handout Instructions:

  • Discreetly keep count of how many teams have picked up the mandatory puzzle...so you know when to close down!
  • The initial interaction should go something like:

LAB ASSISTANT:

Welcome to the Long Now Foundation. Your colleagues at Trenchwood called ahead and asked us to give you this Computer Remote Access Program to the time machine's View-O-Scope log. Here are two copies in case you want to run it on two computers. The disks are exactly the same. Just run the program on this disk and enter access code 991858. It should autorun on PCs, but you'll have to open index.html on Macs.

Also, Trenchwood said you may want these...something called "co-keypad grids". I've never heard of them before, but you can have 'em if you want 'em.

Make sure they write down the access code. Then hand out two disks and offer them 15 extra co-keypad grids; they may choose to not all take them.

Hints: Teams may call in for hints. But if you familiarize yourself with the hints below, feel free to give hints.

Answers: Teams have been instructed to call in their answer to Calibration to the Institute. If they try to give their answer to you, remind them to follow their instructions.

Site Close Down:

  • Thank host
  • Call GC to confirm you're leaving.
  • Return your name badge(s) and lanyard to GC HQ at the end of your shift

Other Instructions:

  • Stay in character.
  • Except ... if a team says "time out," break character and help them.
  • There are lots of seats outside...and a few seats inside (check out the back room). Only allow the players to use the inside seats if it's not bothering the real Long Now staff and visitors. Use your judgment.

Detailed Description

Players receive a CD containing the View-O-Scope video recording of the different times that Doctor When has bounced to. Each of these is a short clip from a famous movie scene (Dr. Strangelove, Titanic, and Gone With the Wind are a few examples), with Doctor When inserted in a (hopefully) funny way. The players' goal is to figure out where Doctor When bounced to at the end, so that they can "calibrate" the time machine appropriately and "lock on" to him. Additional details that are relevant at other points: 1) Doctor When loses the envelope during the Vertigo scene at Fort Point - they'll need this information later to get to the Retrieve the Letter event; and 2) in Act III, players will use the sequence again (which will end partway through) to figure out his next location quickly.

Puzzle Answer

NEXTGATEWAYTHEBIGBANG

Puzzle Solution

0. The movie clips are in alphabetical order by movie, so their original order is irrelevant.

1. Order the movie clips chronologically by the time depicted:

Movie Original Order Year
Land of the Lost 8 -65000000
2001: A Space Odyssey 19 -3000000
10000 BC 16 -10000
The Ten Commandments 15 -1300
Spartacus 14 -71
Ben-Hur 3 29
Monty Python's Life of Brian 9 34
Monty Python and the Holy Grail 10 932
The Adventures of Robin Hood 1 1300
Amadeus 2 1787
History of the World, Part I 7 1789
Gone With The Wind 6 1861
The Wizard of Oz 21 1900
Titanic 18 1912
Raiders of the Lost Ark 12 1936
The Sound of Music 13 1938
Casablanca 4 1941
Vertigo 20 1958
Dr. Strangelove 5 1960
Terminator 2: Judgment Day 17 2029
Planet of the Apes 11 3978

2. Transform the dates in the timestamp to letters, setting A=1, B=2, etc.

Movie Date Message 1
Land of the Lost 19 S
2001: A Space Odyssey 5 E
10000 BC 20 T
The Ten Commandments 3 C
Spartacus 12 L
Ben-Hur 15 O
Life of Brian 3 C
Monty Python and the Holy Grail 11 K
The Adventures of Robin Hood 13 M
Amadeus 15 O
History of the World, Part I 14 N
Gone With The Wind 20 T
The Wizard of Oz 8 H
Titanic 16 P
Raiders of the Lost Ark 15 O
The Sound of Music 9 I
Casablanca 14 N
Vertigo 20 T
Dr. Strangelove 19 S
Terminator 2: Judgment Day 21 U
Planet of the Apes 16 P

3. The message, SETCLOCKMONTHPOINTSUP, tells the players to set clock hands according to the hour and minute of the timestamp, and then to rotate the clock so that the hour equal to the month of the timestamp is pointing up. The clock hands form semaphore letters.

Movie Month Hour Minute Semaphore Message 2
Land of the Lost 02 21 32 SW,SE N
2001: A Space Odyssey 04 02 28 NW,NE U
10000 BC 03 10 30 SW,E M
The Ten Commandments 06 03 00 W,S B
Spartacus 12 01 30 S,NE E
Ben-Hur 03 06 00 W,E R
Life of Brian 09 18 08 W,SE S
Monty Python and the Holy Grail 05 03 32 NW,NE U
The Adventures of Robin Hood 04 06 58 SW,E M
Amadeus 01 08 20 SW,E M
History of the World, Part I 10 08 34 W,NW O
Gone With The Wind 11 04 54 N,S D
The Wizard of Oz 06 16 30 NW,N T
Titanic 02 03 24 E,NE W
Raiders of the Lost Ark 11 17 01 S,NE E
The Sound of Music 10 02 28 SW,SE N
Casablanca 03 13 14 NW,N T
Vertigo 03 18 07 NW,E Y
Dr. Strangelove 07 15 56 W,SE S
Terminator 2: Judgment Day 06 13 23 NW,SW I
Planet of the Apes 01 14 28 NE,SE X

4. The second message, NUMBERSUMMODTWENTYSIX, tells the players to add all of the numbers (not digits) in the timestamp, take mod(26) of those numbers, and transform them into letters, to letters, setting A=1, B=2, etc.

Movie Year Date Month Hour Minute Sum Answer
Land of the Lost 96 19 02 21 32 14 N
2001: A Space Odyssey 44 5 04 02 28 5 E
10000 BC 13 20 03 10 30 24 X
The Ten Commandments 08 3 06 03 00 20 T
Spartacus 30 12 12 01 30 7 G
Ben-Hur 29 15 03 06 00 1 A
Life of Brian 34 3 09 18 08 20 T
Monty Python and the Holy Grail 32 11 05 03 32 5 E
The Adventures of Robin Hood 72 13 04 06 58 23 W
Amadeus 87 15 01 08 20 1 A
History of the World, Part I 89 14 10 08 34 25 Y
Gone With The Wind 61 20 11 04 54 20 T
The Wizard of Oz 00 8 06 16 30 8 H
Titanic 12 16 02 03 24 5 E
Raiders of the Lost Ark 36 15 11 17 01 2 B
The Sound of Music 38 9 10 02 28 9 I
Casablanca 41 14 03 13 14 7 G
Vertigo 58 20 03 18 07 2 B
Dr. Strangelove 60 19 07 15 56 1 A
Terminator 2: Judgment Day 29 21 06 13 23 14 N
Planet of the Apes 78 16 01 14 28 7 G

Budget

Cost for CDs to deliver the puzzle ($230), plus any cost to produce the movie (?). Estimate: $200.

Credits

Design: Erik Stuart, Wei-Hwa Huang (and Melissa Wilson!)

Movie production: Allen Cohn, Dan Kurtz, Christian Hoobyar, Ben Hansen, Ellen Juhlin, Wei-Hwa Huang

Manager

Allen

Hints

Ask teams what they have done, probing details if necessary (often this will get a team unstuck by themselves).


Teams are most likely going to call GC for hints, but it would be good if the on-site staffer was also able to help.

General hints:

- Any data associated with the movie – title, release date, names of actors or directors, etc. –is irrelevant to the puzzle. Recall that the introductory message said that these are actual events, despite their similarity to famous movie scenes.

- Anything Doctor When does is also irrelevant.

- The only thing the clips themselves are used for is to set the order. After that, the timestamp carries all the information.

- The "mass loss detected" message after Vertigo is not relevant to this puzzle.

- The semaphore letters are not exact, but it should be generally clear what letter they represent if teams look at an actual clock with hands set correctly.

- There’s a lot of data here – lots of numbers in the timestamp, the times depicted, and a lot of irrelevant information. If teams are having trouble, steer them toward ordering the clips as a first step.


Q: We can’t figure out what movie X is.

A: “Movie? What movie? These are real events –where the Doctor is in trouble, no less! Don’t think about any movies – that can’t possibly be right.”


Q: The timestamps are all screwed up! (E.g., months are wrong, or daytime scenes have a night timestamp.)

A: “Yep, it looks like a bunch of that data got corrupted. The years, though, seem right – or at least possibly right, given that the View-O-Scope can only show two digits.”


Q: We don’t know anything about the years when some of these scenes took place!

A: “Well – we can figure out _something_, can’t we? No, we don’t know exactly when the Doctor was running from dinosaurs – but it wasn’t the present day, and it wasn’t 5 billion years ago. Our margin of error may be wide, but we do have a range.”


Q: What the hell do we do? There’s so much data!

A: “Hmm… there has to be some reason for the Doctor bouncing to various times. If only we could figure out the right order in which to sift through all this data. With the scenes themselves - not the timestamps, since those seem to be at least partially corrupted – how could we order them?”

Response to Correct Answer

Responses are delivered by Lab Assistant over the phone. 

Great!  We'll get to work recalibrating the time machine.

To Do

Ben and Ellen are editing. Dan will make Javascript for distribution DVDs Make copies of DVDs.

Other Notes

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