3.10 Detention and Dance

Order

3.075

Status

::BUILD::

Location Status

Reserved

GC Point of Contact

Erik & Melissa

Location Notes

Detention Room and Dance Class, Paine Memorial High School, 1986.

Type

Mandatory Puzzle

Plot Setup

The players have used the time machine to visit the high school itself in 1986. As they arrive on campus, they're caught by a hall monitor who sends them to Saturday detention.

Props

Copies of "busy work" (SAT test and current events quiz). Several objects that can serve as hall passes. Boombox for dance class with dance-music CD. Copies of Buffy's dance list. Paper sign pointing the way to dance class.

Plot Point to Convey

The players are in an 80's high school movie - with Saturday detention (a la Breakfast Club) and thinly-motivated dance scenes!

Short Description

Players must figure out how to escape detention.

Detailed Description

Players are sent to Saturday detention; to escape (so that they can continue with the plot), they must figure out how to appease the Mean Proctor. They are first given an SAT practice test designed by Tiresias the janitor, which suggests that one person get a bathroom pass and go to dance class, where they learn a dance routine taught by Buffy. Meanwhile, the other players are given a current events quiz. When the dancer returns, the quiz answers and dances are combined to give a final instruction, which tells the team to perform the Time Warp for the proctor (outside). The proctor is so delighted that he/she lets them go.

Puzzle Answer

The puzzle is completed when the team collectively takes the proctor outside and dances the Time Warp for him.

Puzzle Solution

- The SAT practice test is composed of actual SAT questions. If players need help, or need to verify answers, the Mean Proctor will give them answers from his answer key, but requires a dance in exchange. (The dances and dance/answer exchange rate are subject to the proctor's discretion.)

- Pairs of SAT answers become 2-digit base-5 numbers (where a=0, b=1, c=2, d=3, e=4) between 0-24, which then becomes a letter (with 1=A, 2=B, and so on). The SAT test thus spells ONEPERSONGETBATHROOMPASSBUTGOTODANCECLASS.

- The current events quiz is true/false; each question must be answered from a "May 31, 1986 perspective". As with the SAT test, if players need help, or need to verify answers, the Mean Proctor will give them answers from his answer key, but requires a dance in exchange. (The dances and dance/answer exchange rate are subject to the proctor's discretion.)

- The answers in each subcategory (e.g., a continent in the International section) form a letter in Morse code, with True = Dah and False = Dit. Each category forms a word. The current events quiz thus spells DANCES VIGENERE POMPON PERFORM OUTSIDE.

- Meanwhile, the dancer learns a dance routine containing the following dances, in order: In & Out Arm Wave, Sprinkler, Moonwalk, Box Step; Hokey Pokey; Voguing; Bump & Grind; Shopping Cart; Irish Stepdancing; Pee Wee Herman; Flashdance; Chicken Dance.

- Doing a Vigenere decryption on the first letter of each dance (ISMBHVBSIPFC) with the keyword POMPON reads "TEAMTIMEWARP".

- The whole team must perform (outside) the Time Warp for the Mean Proctor.

Budget

About $150 for Buffy's dance costume, hall passes, reference materials for the detention room, batteries for the boombox, and copies of written materials.

Credits

Design & execution by Erik Stuart

Manager

Erik

Hints

- Hints for this puzzle should generally come from the Mean Proctor or his assistants.

- If players need help with the tests or need to verify answers, the Mean Proctor will give them answers from his answer key, but requires the asker to do a dance in exchange. (The dances and dance/answer exchange rate are subject to the proctor's discretion.)

- If players are stuck with the SAT message, point out that the answer key always shades answers in pairs. If still stuck, point out that there are 5 possible answers - a through e - and thus 25 possible combinations of pairs of answers.

- The Proctor may want to discreetly verify that a team has solved the full SAT message (including the "dance class" phrase) before giving a player a bathroom pass.

- Players should be discouraged from looking up answers online - e.g., the Mean Proctor may say "put that Walkman away!"

- If players are spending time looking at the dance list (thinking there may be a hidden message there), the Proctor should tell them to stop wasting time and get to work on the current events quiz.

- If the players are stuck on the current events quiz message, remind them that Tiresias was nice enough to group the questions by subcategories, and comment that true / false tests have only two possible answers. If needed, the Proctor can describe the answers as "truuue" and "false" (said very quickly).

- If teams simply come up to the Proctor and say "Time Warp" or "Team Time Warp" or something like that, the Proctor can respond, "I LOVE the Time Warp! Would you do it for me? But not in front of everyone - here, let's go outside."

Response to Correct Answer

"I LOVE the Rocky Horror Show! I guess you're not such bad kids after all. I'll let you out of detention early."

To Do

Alex/Melissa - get Buffy's dance costume