2.02 Core Dump 2

Status

::FINAL-READY::

Location

(See Sign In Act II)

Type

Mandatory Puzzle

Plot Setup

• All evidence of Trenchwood Institute and its timeline has mysteriously disappeared.
• Peach Frontier Laboratories has taken its place
• Prof. Chronos demonstrated her time machine in front an audience of important people. It malfunctioned, but no one knows why. She doesn't reemerge from it.

Props

• 16 or 17 baggies with "Core Dump 2" components
• 16 or 17 supplemental data sheets
• Lab coats for all lab assistants (should have from previous events)
• Peach Frontier Laboratories name badge and lanyard for all lab assistants (should have from previous events)

How To Give To Teams

Given out in person by Doctor When--see Staff Instructions

Plot Point to Convey

• The problem with the time machine is that one of the "quantum chronomentometers" is all screwed up.
• Luckily Doctor When is an expert in such matters--he did his dissertation on the topic.
• Moreover, he's not surprised that Prof. Chronus screwed it up; she never was any good at mentometry.

Short Description

Teams receive the "core dump" from Prof. Chronos's time machine, and try to figure out why it's broken.

Open Time Period

Saturday, 10:15 PM till all teams (16 for Game 1, 17 for Game 2) are done (estimated midnight). However site remains open after for the next event.

Staff Instructions

Your Role: Lab Assistant at Peach Frontier Laboratories.

What To Wear: lab coats + Peach Frontier Laboratories name badges

What Your Character Knows:

• Only that the time machine has malfunctioned (but not the cause of the malfunction), and that the Professor is somehow lost in time, and it's very urgent to rescue her.

Puzzles At This Site: Several, but this sheet only covers Core Dump 2.

Where To Get Materials: GC HQ

Setup Instructions: n/a

Handout Instructions:

• Help Doctor When hand out one pack to each team when he indicates. Then usher them out the door to solve outside.
• After 10 minutes hand each team the supplemental data sheet.

Hints: See below.

Answers: When a team has its answer it returns to the lab and seeks out Doctor When. (The very bored Buffy is nearby.) The interaction should go something like,

VISITOR 1: The error code says the machine's quantum chronomentometer malfunctioned!

DOCTOR WHEN: Oh, of course! Prof. Chronos never was very good at quantum chronomentometers. But luckily I am the world's expert on the subject. I'll fix it right away!

BUFFY (to the visitors): Ha! Don't hold your breath. It took him two months just to get the new shower rods in.

DOCTOR WHEN: That's not the same thing!

BUFFY: Whatever. Can I go to the reception now? I don't have to wait for what's her name to show up, do I?

DOCTOR WHEN: No, you can't go yet. I have to work on the chronomentometer.

(to the visitors): Thank you so much for your help. While I work on the chronomentometer, would you please see any of the lab assistants and ask what research project you could tackle next?

VISITOR 1: Sure thing!

Site Close Down: n/a; site remains open for next event.

Other Instructions:

• Stay in character.
• Except ... if a team says "time out," break character and help them.

Detailed Description

In contrast to Act I's Core Dump puzzle, a set of apple cores are presented as a pun on the phrase "core dump". The solution to puzzle points toward the quantum chronomentometer as the problem.

Players arrange a jigsaw puzzle of apple core shapes, guided by some ASCII-art printouts, to reveal a plain-text message.

Puzzle Answer

GREAT SCOTT BAD QUANTUM CHRONOMENTOMETER

Puzzle Solution

Group the puzzle pieces by color. They anagram to the following words, each with one letter missing:

• Black: HE(A)RT MONITOR
• Brown: (S)QUID
• Red: BA(S)SOON
• Orange: COMMENC(E)MENT
• Yellow: (M)UTANT
• Green: HONEYCOM(B)
• Blue: BATT(L)E AXE
• Pink: ROCKING HORS(E)

There is an ASCII image for each word, to help solve the anagrams.

The missing letters spell "ASSEMBLE" (when ordered by Resistor-color-code).

The tiles of each color must be assembled into a connected shape, where each tile has a neighbor on one of its four sides, and the lines drawn on the tiles flow from the first letter to the last. The rules are as follows: All tiles are oriented "right-side up," based on the letter, which is in normal orientation. Some tiles are found to be "horizontal" apple cores with the apple stem on the left, and some are "vertical" with the apple stem towards the top, while others are edge tiles or corners. The line segments indicate where the next and previous letters (and tiles) are to be found, and they must be continuous, not changing direction even at a corner. That is, if a line segment extends northeast, then the next letter will be found up and to the right, and the incoming line segment on that tile will enter from the lower left. Diagonals may cross each other, Boggle-style (in a nice parallelism with the sister puzzle from Act I). Assembly should be easy and unambiguous once the pattern is recognized.

Assemble the colored multi-tile shapes into an 8x8 square, with the border letters around the outside. Ignore the border letters; the remaining ones spell the final message:

GREAT SCOTT BAD QUANTUM CHRONOMENTOMETER

Credits

Puzzle design and fabrication 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).

When players first get the tiles:

• Sort (group) tiles by color

• Can you match a group of tiles to a picture and spell something? Not quite? For example, players may notice they have a picture of a SQUID and a group of tiles that anagrams to QUID.

When players are starting to spell words missing a letter:

• What do the missing letters spell? "ASSEMBLE." (That assembly is required is probably obvious without this clue.)

• Can you assemble each word/color by itself? If players are not sure whether they've assembled a color correctly or think there are multiple ways, they may need help with the assembly process. For example, they may have some of the apples upside down, not having realized the letters should be properly oriented, or they may have diagonal line segments that meet at a corner but don't continue straight through it. Proper assembly should be unique and satisfying.

After color-group assembly:

• Can you put it all together? If each color is assembled properly, the final assembly into a square should be straightforward, as there is no ambiguity about which edge or corner is which.

• The non-apple tiles with straight edges are border tiles, four of which are corners (shaped like squares).

Once the final square is formed:

• Great, you've assembled the core dump! What does it say?

• Players must read the letters on the 36 apple tiles, ignoring the border, in normal top-to-bottom left-to-right order to spell the answer.

Response to Correct Answer

n/a; teams answer puzzles in person

To Do

• Print ASCII art
• Laser cut final tiles