Puzzle Guide

Below are instructions for solving each puzzle in the game. We suggest running the game first with friends or colleagues to become familiar with the game and your role as game host. 

Puzzle: Algorithms

Goal

Identify which influencer from a list is targeting a specific user.
 

Mechanics 

Players draw lines between profile photos and that user’s interests based on a list.  Once all listed interest lines have been added to the map, exactly four lines will cross the profile photo of the target user in the center of the map, and players must find the one username from the list that are targeting users with those four interests.

Average time

10 minutes
 

Hints/ Guidance

• If players have correctly drawn their connecting lines but aren’t sure what to do next, you may ask them how they think they can figure out what the interests of the extra person on the page are.
  
  

Answer

→ Correct passcode: @VitalityGreen

Puzzle: Exercise Plan

Goal

Help a friend make a schedule for a new exercise plan.

Mechanics 

Players must follow a set of strict rules to help a friend make a schedule for their new exercise plans: a person must exercise 7 total times on the schedule, once per color block; a player must exercise one time each day and one time per time slot (i.e., once per row and once per column in the grid); and no two exercise times can be adjacent to one another on the completed schedule (including diagonally).  Once players have completed the schedule, they can use it to find 7 letters on a 7x7 grid (one letter per column, reading left to right in the grid).  

Average time

10 minutes

Hints/Guidance

• Players should use a pencil (and have an eraser) for this puzzle! It’s best to give players time to try to figure out the mechanics of the puzzle as they go, but for groups that really get stuck or struggle to get started, it’s ok to point out some of the mechanics for them, for example:

• Even if a player cannot determine where an exercise time is, they can eliminate impossible spots, which can then reveal the correct time by process of elimination.

• Players sometimes miss (or forget) the rule that two spots cannot be diagonally adjacent.

• The orange block is the easiest one to start with, since it must be a time, and all of the squares in the same row, same column, and all around it can be eliminated, based on the schedule rules

• Since the purple block is only in a single column of the grid, the two squares above it and one square below it cannot be a time

• Similarly, the green block is only two squares in a row, which means none of the other squares in that row can be a time, but also the two squares above the green block and the two squares below the green block cannot be correct, since they are all diagonally or directly adjacent to both of the green blocks

• The time for the pink region must be somewhere in the top row, since no other color blocks appear in that row and each row must have one exercise time in it.  This means all of the pink squares that are below the top row can be eliminated.

Answer

→ Correct passcode: ROUTINE

Puzzle: Influencers

Goal

Help a friend make a schedule for a new exercise plan.

Mechanics 

Players must decode a cipher that uses items that appear in screenshots of influencers’ social media posts.  One letter from text in the screenshot will be touching the item in that post, and that letter will be used in place of the drawing of that item in the encoded message.  For example, the first icon in the cipher is a rope, and the letter E appears on top of the rope in the social media post, so the first letter in the password is E, and so on.

Average time

15 minutes

Hints/Guidance

It’s best to give players time to brainstorm how the clues fit together, and how to find which letter to use from each social media post, but if players cannot get started or are getting frustrated, you may ask them if they’ve seen the items on the clue card anywhere else in the room (and remind them that there are clues around the room if they’ve completely ignored the pictures).  A more direct clue for the next part (and only a last resort) might be to suggest that they look specifically at the items in each image, rather than the image/text as a whole.

Answer

→ Correct passcode: EXCESSIVE

Folder #1 Passcodes

Goal

To “unlock” access to folder #2.

Mechanics 

Players compile all three passwords from the previous puzzle to submit to the game host. Game host will check whether the passcodes are correct or not. If correct, hand them the second folder that includes the next puzzle!

Average time

1 minute

Hints/Guidance

• If any of the passcodes are incorrect, point out which puzzle/passcode the players need to re-solve in order to proceed.
  
  

→ Correct passcodes: @VitalityGreen, ROUTINE, EXCESSIVE

Puzzle: Rabbit Fur Color

Goal

Figure out which color comes next in a sequence, unlocking the final folder.

Mechanics 

Players scan a QR code to access an online clue, which shows three sets of ovals, whose colors are following a pattern.  Players must deduce what color the final oval would be if following the set pattern.  The first color in each set is created by mixing the second and third colors of each set together.

When a player says the word “BLUE” to you, give them the final puzzle packet (the set of materials that include the cat tiles).

Average time

10 minutes

Hints/Guidance

• If players struggle to see the pattern, urge them to look at each set of ovals separately (1, 2, and 3; and then 4, 5, and 6) to figure out what color #9 would be.

• If players have trouble accessing the QR link, have it ready on your laptop as a backup

• Page to access puzzle: https://lokisloop.org/algorabbits

• Printout version if no internet access:  Print "algorabbits_backupNL.pdf" file in  Second Packet folder.
  
  

Answer

→ Correct passcode: BLUE

Puzzle: Napping Cats

Goal

Try to make sense of what happened to Robin, while taking care of their cats.

Mechanics 

To solve this puzzle, players rearrange tiles with cats on them to create whole matching cats at all inside tile edges.  Once the correct tiles have been placed in the correct spots, the arrows on the tiles pointing to the outside edge of the tile grid will point to the letters spelling RABBIT HOLE (reading clockwise starting from the top-left of the grid).  This phrase is used to fill in the answer to the question on the final answer sheet (“What is a way to describe Robin’s experience online?”). 

When a team hands in the final answer card with the correct final password, give them a copy of the congratulations message page and record the time.

Average time

5 minutes

Hints/Guidance

• Two starting cat tiles have been placed for the players.  If players get stuck, you can urge them to find all of the tiles that would work with one of the starting tiles and try to determine if they have anything in common.  Pieces will start to fall into place from there.
  
  

Answer

→ Correct passcode: RABBIT HOLE