3.10 Detention and Dance
Contents
Order
3.075
Status
::BUILD::
Location
This puzzle has three locations: the entrance (where all teams arrive), a sectioned-off section of the Gym, and an area outside the Student Journalism Office.
"Paine Memorial High School" -- actually Highlands Rec. Center, 1851 Lexington Ave. San Mateo, CA 94402
GC PoC: Erik & Melissa
Parking: Outside, parking lot (no teams park there)
Notes: Reserved
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
Entrance
- Checkoff list of teams
Gym
- List of teams
- Door sign
- Painter's tape
- Chair
- Tape player
- Child's puzzle book
- Wall sign, "PASS WITH HARD WORK"
- 16 Copies of SAT practice test
- 16 Copies current events quiz
- ? blank SAT answer sheets
- 1 copy of SAT answer key
- 1 copy of current events quiz answer sheet
- 10 bathroom passes
Outside
- Boom box
- "Buffy's Awesome Dance List" mix tape
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.
Open Time Period
When?
Staff Instructions
Your Role: Lab Assistant.
Handout Instructions: Do something.
Site Close Down: Clean up.
Other Instructions:
- Stay in character.
- Except ... if a team says "time out," break character and help them.
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
