1.06 Calibration

Status

::FINAL::

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, (650) 395-8463, 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 cause of the malfunction is that Doctor When is bouncing around through time and space, appearing and reappearing at different points in the past, present, and future.

Thanks to you we're almost able to rescue the Doctor. 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
Food At Location: Safeway and a few restaurants a few blocks away

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)
• 255 Co-keypad design grids

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: There is one mandatory puzzle to hand out here, possibly followed by an optional puzzle. 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.

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 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.
• Some teams may then ask you for the optional puzzle (GC will tell them over the phone to do so); give it to them.

Site Close Down:

• Thank host
• Call GC to confirm you're leaving.

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 DVD containing the View-O-Scope recording of the different times that Dr. 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 Dr. When inserted in a (hopefully) funny way. The players' goal is to figure out where Dr. 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) Dr. 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 DVDs to deliver the puzzle, 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

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.