3.10 Detention and Dance

Status

::FINAL::

Location

Name And Address: "Paine Memorial High School" -- actually Highlands Rec. Center, 1851 Lexington Ave. San Mateo, CA 94402

This puzzle uses three sites at this location: the entrance (where all teams arrive), a sectioned-off section of the Gym, and an area outside the Student Journalism Office.

GC PoC: Erik & Melissa

Parking: Outside, parking lot (no teams park there)

Type

Mandatory Puzzle

Plot Setup

• Players have just fixed Prof. Chronus's time machine and are returning to Peach Frontier Laboratories to see her re-materialize.
• But upon returning to the lab they found it is once again Trenchwood Institute and they realized they are right back at the beginning of the Act I timeline
• The Doctor's time machine demonstration has once again gone awry.
• The visitors have instantly solved three key technical problems for fixing the time machine: unscrambling the core dump, designing a new co-keypad #34, and hacking the password to the supercomputer
• The Doctor realized the players are in an infinite time loop...which reminded him of strange poem in his high school yearbook...which he didn't understand at the time...but the players decoded to reveal instructions on how to break the loop.
• The players have been sent through the repaired time machine back to Paine Memorial High School in 1986 and so that they can do the newspaper-altering mission
• The time machine has created some sort of disguise field around the players so that they blend in to the era they are visiting

Props

Entrance

• Checkoff list of teams

Gym

• List of teams
• Door sign
• Painter's tape
• Chair
• Tape player with Time Warp tape
• Wall sign, "PASS WITH HARD WORK"
• 16 or 17 Copies of SAT practice test
• 32 or 34 blank SAT answer sheets
• 1 copy of SAT answer key
• 16 or 17 notes sending teams to dance class

Outside

• Boom box
• mix CD of 80's music
• "Buffy's Awesome Dance List" - 16 sheets

Plot Point to Convey

This puzzle and activity is an obstacle to the first step of their mission. The players should have a feeling like they are caught 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 so they can complete the first step of their mission.

Open Time Period

10:15 AM Sunday - 12:30 PM Sunday.

Staff Instructions

Entrance

Your Role: You are a student hall monitor at Paine Memorial High School.

What To Wear:

What Your Character Knows: Due to the disguise field that the time machine projects around the players, they appear to you to be students. You know nothing of Trenchwood Institute or time travel.

Puzzles At This Site:

Where To Get Materials:

Handout Instructions: No handouts. When a team arrives at the school, tell them

“Hey - it's Saturday! If you're here on Saturday, that means you're supposed to be in detention!”

To you, the players look like 1980's high school students. Feel free to ad-lib some comments to that effect (referring to their spiked hair or bangs, leg warmers or pegged jeans). Don't listen to any objections that they're not high school students: you're taking them to Detention no matter what (or else they'll have to leave campus entirely).

Escort the teams quickly to the right door to the gym (marked with a sign saying “DETENTION”). Open the door and announce, “More troublemakers!” Check off the team on your list. Then hurry back to the front of the school to pick up the next team. Repeat until all teams have been sent to detention.

Other Instructions:

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

Gym

Your Role: You are the bane of every high school student's existence: the evil test proctor. Like the one in "Breakfast Club," but with the charm of the principal in "Back To The Future.".

What To Wear:

What Your Character Knows: Due to the disguise field that the time machine projects around the players, they appear to you to be students. You know nothing of Trenchwood Institute or time travel.

Puzzles At This Site:

Where To Get Materials:

Setup Instructions:

• Have a list of teams so that you can check when they’ve all arrived.
• Have a sign on the door saying “DETENTION”.
• Have a chair to sit in and a tape player.
• Have copies of the SAT practice tests.
• Have copies of the SAT answer sheets.
• Have the SAT answer key.
• Have a tape player and tape with the Time Warp on it.
• Have 16 notes to teams telling them to send one person to dance class.

Handout Instructions: When teams arrive, say to them:

You little hooligans! You're mine now. I can keep you in detention all day if I want to, so you'd better behave and hope I change my mind.

Now: the state of California says I have to make this an "educational opportunity," but I wouldn't waste a teacher's valuable time on you young punks! So I had our janitor Tiresias make up some "busy work" for you. It's SAT practice - even though you slackers don't look like anything close to college material. Now get to work!”

Give each team one copy of the SAT practice test, and 3 copies of the SAT answer sheet.

5 minutes after a team arrives, poke your head out the door (as if talking to someone), then go to the team and hand them a Note, saying something like:

“Turns out it's a lucky day for one of you. Buffy, the head cheerleader, needs an extra person to help fill out the group in her dance class. Of course, I'd bet that all of you have two left feet. In my day, I could really cut a rug, but y'all don't look fit to kiss Gene Kelly's shoes! Anyway, Buffy needs one person, so decide who it is and get going."

Give the team the Note.

When the player comes back from dance class, say:

“Flunked out that quick, huh? Get back to work!”

Answers: When the players finish and want to go outside, follow them. They should perform the Time Warp dance as a team - you should dance with them, and use the tape player to play the Time Warp if possible! When they’re done, say:

“Oh, that was wonderful! I love the Rocky Horror Show! I guess you're good kids after all - you can leave detention early.”

Hints: Teams can’t call for hints, since they’re in 1986. If they want help on individual SAT answers, they can ask you. You should ask them to perform a dance of your choice - The Robot, YMCA, disco, and The Twist are examples. The number of answers they get for doing a dance is up to you; we advise that you start out giving out one or two answers per dance, and for slower teams give up to 5 answers (or even more) per dance. Ideally, all teams should finish this puzzle by 12:30. Once they have the answers to the SAT questions, they get the first message by using pairs of answers as 2-digit base 5 (with answers A=0, B=1, C=2, D=3, E=4), and then making the resulting number into a letter. To hint this, point out that the answer sheet seems to highlight pairs of answers. If they’re still not getting it, point out that question 79 is very odd - in fact, it doesn't have a specific answer: if x=44, what base is x in? It could be any base greater than 4! Of course, this is a clue that x - corresponding to the 24th letter - is 44 in base 5.

The SAT test gives the answer DANCELETTERSCAESARSHIFTSIXPERFORMOUTSIDE.

The players need to take the letter of each dance (as given on Buffy's Dance List) performed by their teammate who learned the dance sequence (in Dance Class) and apply a 6-letter Caesar shift. The resulting message says GROUPTIMEWARP, so the team should go outside with you and perform the Time Warp dance. They should have the song on the mix tape from Act 2, and they can use your tape player to learn the dance (which provides verbal instructions in the lyrics). Answers: The final answer is for the teams to perform the Time Warp for you (outside, so the other teams can’t see it). If they’ve brought a tape with the Time Warp on it, they can use your tape player to play the music while they dance!

Site Close Down: Once last team leaves,

• Clean up
• Open up partition to rest of gym so that the science fair can use the full gym
• Pack up all materials and return to GC HQ

Other Instructions:

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

Outside

Your Role: You are Buffy, head cheerleader...and alpha female...at Paine Memorial High School (or her assistant)

What To Wear:

What Your Character Knows: Due to the disguise field that the time machine projects around the players, they appear to you to be students. You know nothing of Trenchwood Institute or time travel.

Puzzles At This Site:

Where To Get Materials:

Handout Instructions: When players arrive, say “Welcome to dance class!” Buffy will lead the dance instruction. Your job is to operate the tape player, and ensure safety. Make sure players stay on flat ground (not sand). Make sure there are no loose objects where players are dancing. Make sure players are dancing “under control.” Also, make sure players are actually dancing - not just writing down what Buffy does or says. If a player is merely watching and taking notes, tell them:

“This is dance class! You have to dance!”

It’s fine if they take notes while they’re dancing.

When players leave the class, hand them a copy of Buffy’s Awesome Dance List and tell them:

“Make sure to show your friends what you’ve learned!”

If any players are very hesitant to dance, suggest to them that they go back and have one of their friends come to dance class in their place.

Site Close Down: Once last dance student has left

• Clean up
• Return materials to GC HQ

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 mostly 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 DANCELETTERSCAESARSHIFTSIXPERFORMOUTSIDE.

- Meanwhile, the dancer learns a dance routine containing the following dances, in order: In & Out Arm Wave, Sprinkler, Moonwalk, (walk like an) Egyptian; Twist; Robot; Flashdance; Shopping Cart; Hokey Pokey; Thriller; Chicken Dance; Sprinkler; Twist.

- Doing a 6-letter Caesar shift on the letter of each dance from Buffy's Dance List (ALIOJNCGYQULJ) gives "GROUPTIMEWARP".

- 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

Ask teams what they have done, probing details if necessary (often this will get a team unstuck by themselves).

- 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 question 79 is very strange.

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

- 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