1.06 Calibration
Contents
- 1 Order
- 2 Status
- 3 Location
- 4 Type
- 5 How To Give To Teams
- 6 Plot Setup
- 7 Props
- 8 Plot Point to Convey
- 9 Short Description
- 10 Open Time Period
- 11 Staff Instructions
- 12 Detailed Description
- 13 Puzzle Answer
- 14 Puzzle Solution
- 15 Budget
- 16 Credits
- 17 Manager
- 18 Hints
- 19 Response to Correct Answer
- 20 To Do
- 21 Other Notes
Order
1.06
Status
::MOCKUP-READY::
Location
Status: Long Now Foundation (posing as a time-oriented research laboratory), Fort Mason Center, Building A, San Francisco, CA
GC PoC: Allen, (650) 395-8463, lab@trenchwood.com
Site PoC: Danielle Engleman
Parking: Some free spots just outside of parking attendant's booth, pay parking inside lot
Bathroom: Yes
Food: Many nearby establishments on Haight Street (1/4 block away), but nothing at the site
Notes: Done deal; agreed to by Danielle Engleman at 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 has been bouncing around through time and space, appearing and reappearing at different points in the past. 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 Longnow 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 calibrate the time machine by predicting the next time Doctor When will bounce to 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 Bathrooms At Location: Yes Food At Location: Safeway and a few restaurants a few blocks away
Plot Setup
Prof. Chronos nearly has the machine working properly with the new co-keypads, the password, etc. But it still needs to be "calibrated." The View-O-Scope has recorded the different times and places the Doctor has bounced to. (Players are seeing where the Doctor has been while they were doing the previous puzzles - it's not supposed to be "live".)
Props
- 16 copies of Trenchwood Industries CDs, which contain the Calibration puzzle (1 per team, with 0 spares)
- Hint sheets for Calibration (how many copies???)
- 16 copies of Feynman Diagrams puzzle (1 per team, with 0 spares)
- Hint sheet for Feynman Diagrams (how many copies???)
- Lab coat (should already have from previous location) -- WEAR THIS
- Long Now name badge and lanyard (should already have lanyard from previous location) -- WEAR THIS
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, 1:30 PM - 3:30 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.)
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 remote access to the View-O-Scope log. Just run the program on this disk and enter access code 991858.
Then hand out the disk.
Only give out Feynman Diagrams if a team asks for it by name (GC will instruct them to do so).
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. 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.
If sending them to optional puzzle:
- Great! We'll get to work recalibrating the time machine.
- In the meantime, please go to back to the Long Now lab assistant and ask for [name of puzzle]. When you're done call the Institute and speak with any lab assistant.
If sending team to next mandatory puzzle (Send Me Back)
- Great! We'll get to work recalibrating the time machine. Then I'll refocus the Temporal View-O-Scope to 13.8 billion years ago and we'll see what the Doctor is up to.
- Hold it...I just remembered that I can't give you access to the Temporal View-O-Scope live feed where you're at.
- However, there is excellent access to temporal fault lines quite nearby you at the park outside the Letterman Digital Arts Center in the Presidio near the statue of Eadweard Muybridge. Head on over and by the time you get there I'll have it set up so you can watch us retrieve the Doctor to 2012!
[yes, this phone script should probably be with the Send Me Back puzzle, but it will be easier for the phone staff to put it here.]
SUPPLEMENTAL EMAIL
- Research Project Title: View The Doctor At Big Bang
- Objective: Go to location where the signal is strong enough to watch Doctor When at the Big Bang through the View-O-Scope Computer Remote Access Program
- Location: Statue of Eadweard Muybridge within the park containing the Letterman Digital Arts Center Recycled Water Pond, San Francisco; the park is bounded by Gorgas Ave., Lyon Street, Letterman Drive, and Oreilly Ave.; statue is just north of the Starbucks in Building C; probably best to go to intersection of Gorgas and Oreilly
- Upon Completion: Speak with the lab assistant onsite
- Parking: Best parking is free lot whose entrance is on Oreilly just south of Gorgas; street parking on Gorgas, too; do not use the parking spaces underneath the buildings.
- Bathrooms At Location: In the nearby Starbucks
- Food At Location: Nearby Starbucks and other restaurants in the Presidio
To Do
Ben and Ellen are editing. Dan will make Javascript for distribution DVDs Make copies of DVDs.