1.11.03 Particle Zoo

Status

::FINAL-READY::

Location

• Act I: Schroeder's Restaurant. (See Consolidator 1)
• Act II: Gym (See Consolidator 2)

Type

Optional Puzzle (SCIENTIST)

How To Give To Teams

See "Staff Instructions"

Plot Setup

(See Consolidator 1 or 2)

Props

• Act I: 9 copies of Trenchwood version of Particle Zoo
• Act II: 16 copies of Peach Frontier version of Particle Zoo

Plot Point to Convey

The players have found out the theoretical approach to managing the particles, thus allowing the lab assistants to correctly adjust the time machine.

Short Description

Players need to classify a large number of "particles" (similar images).

Open Time Period

(See Consolidator 1 or 2)

Staff Instructions

(See Consolidator 1 or 2)

Where To Get Materials: GC HQ

Handout Instructions:

If a team is directed to this puzzle over the phone, then they will ask the onsite lab assistant for the puzzle by name. Give it to them (and don't forget to enter it in the "Teams Vs. Role Puzzles Grid" online document)

If you're assigning this puzzle to them in person, then say words to the effect of,

FOR SCIENTIST TEAMS:

We're run into a problem that could really benefit from the special expertise of you and your colleagues:

CONTINUE FOR ALL TEAMS:

It seems that when the time machine malfunctioned, it ignited a proliferation of new elementary particles. We think that we need to include these new particles in our calculations as we continue to tune the tine machine, but we're not exactly how to approach the problem. Ask the lab assistant onsite for the Particle Zoo research project. Call the lab and speak with any lab assistant when you're done.

SUPPLEMENTAL EMAIL

Research Project Title: Particle Zoo

Objective: Find out how to deal with proliferation of particles caused by time machine malfunction

Upon Completion: See the lab assistant onsite or call the lab and speak with any lab assistant

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

Answers: Teams may give answers to either onsite staff or GC HQ. Say words to the effect of,

Of course! Chronozoic spacetime field theory is the perfect theoretical approach to figuring out how to tune the time machine to account for these new particles! In fact, it's easy - we can make the adjustments almost instantly.

There - we're done. Now we can send Doctor When to 1986 just like he requested. We've opened a portal for him and are sending him back to school!

Enter code 202751 in the View-O-Scope remote access program, and then we can see if it worked. I'll hang up now and watch as well. If you need to, you can call us at the lab after you watch the Doctor on the View-O-Scope.

Whenever a team correctly answers a puzzle be sure to replace the slash with an "X" in the online "Teams vs. Role Puzzles Grid".

Site Close Down: See Consolidator 1 or 2

Detailed Description

Players receive a printout with 23 columns of images, and need to classify those images into sets. Having done so, they figure out letters for each set, which they then must figure out how to order correctly in order to read the final message.

Puzzle Answer

CHRONOZOIC SPACETIME FIELD THEORY

Puzzle Solution

1) Players receive pages with columns of images. These images belong to 30 "groups", such as peace signs, balls, and moons.

2) Players must figure out what the groups are, and the order of the groups. The order is consistent in every column, but each column only contains images from some of the groups.

3) The order of the groups is as follows. (Exact names don't matter.) The numbers in parentheses indicate the column(s) that disambiguates the order of that group and the next.

Lamp (5,15,20)
Star (18,20)
Peace sign (20)
Triangle (20)
Christmas ornament (18)
Dial or gauge (5,18,19)
No smoking sign (5,18)
Hole or window (9)
Globe or Earth (1,7,21)
Asterisk (21)
Ball (9)
Exclamation point (16)
Trivial Pursuit piece (1,3)
Red circle (1)
Black & yellow travel sign (5,12)
Face (12)
Ancient coin (1,9,13,16)
Screw (5,9,13)
Keyhole (5,18)
Clock (5,20)
Handicapped emblem (5,19)
Dog (18)
Bolt (4)
Moon (14,15,21)
Arrow (14,15)
Green circle (5,18)
Pizza logo (5,18)
Sun (5,15,18,20)
Shower holes; may be mistaken for phone speaker holes or something similar (9,15,18)
Blue & white food/drink sign

4) Next, write down the column numbers that each symbol group appears in. For instance, the lamp appears in columns 3, 5, 15, 15, 20, and 25. (This includes appearing twice in column 15.)

5) Column numbers become letters (1=A, 2=B, etc.) For instance, the letters for the lamp group are C, E, O, O, T, Y.

6) Each group's letters anagram to the name of an animal (e.g., the lamp group anagrams to COYOTE). The animals are:

Lamp        -        COYOTE
Star        -        HORNET
Peace sign  -        RABBIT
Triangle    -        OCELOT
Christmas ornament - NUTRIA
Dial or gauge -      OSPREY
No smoking sign -    ZEBRAS
Hole        -        ORIOLE
Globe or Earth -     IGUANA
Asterisk    -        COUGAR
Ball        -        SQUIDS
Exclamation point -  PIGEON
Triv. Purs. piece -  ALPACA
Red circle  -        CAIMAN
B & Y travel sign -  EAGLES
Face        -        TURTLE
Ancient coin -       IMPALA
Screw       -        MAGPIE
Keyhole     -        ERMINE
Clock       -        FERRET
Handicapped emblem - IBEXES
Dog         -        EGRETS
Bolt        -        LIZARD
Moon        -        DUGONG
Arrow       -        TOUCAN
Green circle -       HERONS
Pizza logo  -        EARWIG
Sun         -        OYSTER
Shower holes -       RHINOS
Blue & white sign -  YORKIE

7) The first letters of each animal, in order, give CHRONOZOIC SPACETIME FIELD THEORY, the answer.

Files for the Act 1 and Act 2 versions, respectively:

File:Proliferation of Particles.pdf File:Proliferation of Particles Act 2.doc

Budget

Minimal

Credits

Design by David Greenspan

Manager

David Greenspan

Hints

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

- There are clearly "groups" of symbols that belong together. A good first step is to identify what the groups are. (Note that exact names don't matter).

- There are 30 groups in total. (The toughest group to be precise about is probably the pizza logos/signs.)

- Note that if two or more images from one group appear in a single column, they always appear together.

- That's because the order is always consistent. In fact, after classifying the groups, the second key step is to figure out the order of the groups, from examining the orders of the symbols in each individual column. Columns with many symbols are good places to start.

- There are lots of symbols in some columns - 1, 5, 9, 15 are some examples. Does that suggest anything?

- The column numbers represent letters (for example, 1, 5, 9, 15 are a, e, i, o respectively).

- Each group appears six times, yielding six letters. How do we order the letters?

- Hmmm. Check the flavor text. What are these particles called?

- They're called zuons. And some of the letter combos might be suspicious - try the one containing a Q.

- D,I,Q,S,S,U anagrams to SQUIDS. Hey, that's an animal!

- "Zuons" - this is a "zoo" of particles. Each group anagrams to an animal word.

- Some of the anagrams are easy; others are pretty hard. In fact, you may never have heard of some of them before, and would need an anagram solver with a large dictionary to find. The toughest ones are probably OCELOT, NUTRIA, DUGONG, and YORKIE.

- What now? Well, you've got a lot of animal names - have you written them all down? In order?

- Write the animals in the order of the groups. Read down the first letters of each.

202751

Response to Correct Answer

See Staff Instructions

To Do

• Enhance "How To Give To Teams"