The San Francisco Connection: Difference between revisions

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{{Season1}}
[[Image:Sanfran large.jpg]]
[[Image:Sanfran large.jpg]]


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*In most literal terms, this is a new link which is to connect [[Perplex City]] to Earth;  specifically, the link will connect to San Francisco, California, USA.
*In most literal terms, this is a new link which is to connect [[Perplex City]] to Earth;  specifically, the link will connect to San Francisco, California, USA.
*In a more pragmatic sense, this will be a live event in San Francisco, and will be similar to the [[London PCAG event]].
*In a more pragmatic sense, this will be a live event in San Francisco, and will be similar to the [[London PCAG event]].
*The event will take place August 12th, 2006.
*The event took place August 12th, 2006.
*The event was to be a time of celebration for people on both worlds, historically establishing broader relations between Earth and Perplex City.
*The purpose of the link was to expand bandwidth of the link, effectively doubling capacity, while also providing redundancy for security purposes.
 
*A short time before the event, [[Von]] started telling us about himself on his new temporary blog, at 1UP: http://von.1up.com
**He gave us a set of riddles, each one giving a single letter, which cassandra determined to be the jumbled up movie title: '''DIRTY HARRY'''
 
*For other information available pre-event, see: [[SFCon:pre-event]]
 
 
==The Blackout==
Observed on http://www.boingboing.net/ was the following advertisement:
 
[[Image:SF 125x125.gif]]
 
Seems pretty nice.  However, as animated gifs go, this one's no laughing matter.  For less than one second, this cel is seen:
 
[[Image:SF-braille.jpg]]
 
It is braille, and reads: '''Say goodbye to Perplex City.'''
 
The meaning went undetermined, until 10-AUG-06, when all Perplex City related websites were shutdown, and replaced with the following:
 
[[Image:say goodbye.jpg]]
 
It suddenly became deadly apparent what had happened.  [[The Third Power]] had hijacked the link between our two worlds.  Careful inspection showed all third power websites (including those on [[the Receda Trail]]) remained up and active.  [[Mind Candy]] immediately went into a state of urgency.  What had been planned as a time of celebration was suddenly a dark moment of panic and emergency.  An emergency website was established with information to distribute to all cube hunters who were going to be helping establish the connection.


*For information available pre-event, see: [[SFCon:pre-event]]


==Website Information==
==Website Information==
*http://emergency.perplexcity.com/
*http://emergency.perplexcity.com/
**became available after a mass mailing/plea on Friday.
**Became available after a mass mailing/plea on Friday.


*http://emergency.perplexcity.com/main/main.php
*http://emergency.perplexcity.com/main/main.php
Line 19: Line 45:


==Meetups==
==Meetups==
As a game, Perplex City has but one rule: Any occassion with more than 2 cube hunters must involve alcohol.  In this vein, a number of meet-ups and organized gathering of masses have been planned, both pre- and post- event.  As follows:
As a game, Perplex City has but one rule: '''''Any occassion with more than two cube hunters must involve alcohol.''''' With this is mind, a number of meet-ups and organized gathering of masses were planned, both pre- and post- event.  As follows:


*A clearinghouse of event coordination is [http://forums.unfiction.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=16241 at the unForums.]
*A clearinghouse of event coordination is [http://forums.unfiction.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=16241 at the unForums.]


*[[Mind Candy]] is having a "post-event thingie down near the Palace."
*[[Mind Candy]] arranged a post-event social near the Palace.
** From [http://perplexcity.com/liveevents/index.qbuild the event page]:  
** From [http://perplexcity.com/liveevents/index.qbuild the event page]:  
<blockquote>Q: Will there be any social activities afterwards?<br />
<blockquote>Q: Will there be any social activities afterwards?<br />
Line 29: Line 55:


*'''Endgame''' - [http://www.google.com/maps?hl=en&lr=&safe=off&client=firefox-a&q=endgame&near=Oakland,+CA&cid=0,0,8043359466123259478&ie=UTF8&ll=37.80203,-122.275054&spn=0.019565,0.024934&om=1 map] - [http://www.endgameoakland.com/ link]
*'''Endgame''' - [http://www.google.com/maps?hl=en&lr=&safe=off&client=firefox-a&q=endgame&near=Oakland,+CA&cid=0,0,8043359466123259478&ie=UTF8&ll=37.80203,-122.275054&spn=0.019565,0.024934&om=1 map] - [http://www.endgameoakland.com/ link]
**Sunday, August 13th, 10-5
**Gatherings were organized on Friday, pre-event, and on Sunday, Post-event
**Right around the corner from the 12th Street/City Center BART station (red/yellow lines).
**Located right around the corner from the 12th Street/City Center BART station (red/yellow lines).




[[Image:SF 125x125.gif|right]]
[[Image:SF 125x125.gif|right]]
==On the Ground==
After a debriefing, puzzle sheets were assigned to all teams of players.  They consisted of between 3 and 6 puzzles per page.  Sample questions might be on the order of:


==What is Known==
:Puzzle 481
 
:Which Western Asian monarch is immortalised somewhere near the Main Library?
===On the Ground===
As per usual with live events, reports from the scene are slow to come in.  Here's what we know:
 
====Running around the city====
Many of the players ran off to all points in the city, to sove sundry puzzles and riddles.


====Meanwhile, back at the ranch...====
:Puzzle 59300
Back at home-base, a large multi-page maze was presented. 
:Movie time: Dirty Harry, 23.53. What kind of shark?


====Another topic should it be needed right away====
A number of questions are known to have involved watching a movie.  Often the movie was Dirty Harry, as suggested by [[Von]]'s pre-game hint.  See [http://forums.unfiction.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=266920 the unforum page of collected puzzle sheets] for more questions.
====Another topic should it be needed right away====


===On-Line===
[[Image:Sfcon-header.jpg]]


====In IRC====
===Running around the city===
"To aid your progress, it would be wise to collaborate with your fellow helpers. In order to do this, you should join the chat room called #pxcsflive on irc.chat-solutions.org. If you don't have an IRC program, you can connect online here by typing "pxcsflive" into the channel box."
Many of the players ran off to all points in the city, to solve sundry puzzles and riddles, such the one sampled above.


That is largely in-game.  Meta and spec can take place in #pxcsflivespec also on irc.chat-solutions.org.
===Meanwhile, back at the ranch...===
Back at home-base, a number of people had settled in for a few puzzles.
*A very large multi-page maze had been presented.
*A set of questions about movies (particularly Dirty Harry) were given, which required people to watch the movie and answer specific questions about exact scenes.
*An RFID tag game was presented.  Reportedly, this did not work quite according to plan, but the concept sounds exceptionally cool.
*Other puzzles which required pen & paper were given, which set people to working in teams, churning out answers.


====Hits====
===Video===
The page http://emergency.perplexcity.com/main/main.php appears to require a large number of unique website hits before the rest of the site will go active.
[[User:BrianEnigma|BrianEnigma]] posted two videos of the event in progress:


===="Hints"====
*[http://perplexcitywiki.com/w/images/link_back-crowd_exits.mov Sente's debriefing at the conclusion of the day, phone calls, and everyone exiting quickly]
Once the page went active, we were given, on-line, a number of qestions and related hint numbers.  Questions were in the fForm of:
*[http://perplexcitywiki.com/w/images/PXC_SF_Connection.mov A nicely made shaky-cam from after the phone call, discovering the helicopters]


*674303 - Real life web slinger entangles Manhattan with what?
==On-Line==
*676817 - When is Scarlett Kiteway's birthday? (ddmm)
[[Image:Sfcon-header.jpg]]
*688743 - How many millions did ROgers Communications Inc pay for a comma?
*696045 - Golden Rotation: XNBB LHWCMZ JSVMB RMBB?


Answers were to be typed in on the same page (/clues.html)
===In IRC===
 
"To aid your progress, it would be wise to collaborate with your fellow helpers. In order to do this, you should join the chat room called #pxcsflive on irc.chat-solutions.org. If you don't have an IRC program, you can connect online here by typing "pxcsflive" into the channel box."
====solved questions====
Set 1
17203 If zero was a wind which way would it blow through Rome?
 
29296 What evil demon achieved a Torino Scale of 4?
 
29923 Conet. 1, 6. First five.
 
41933 On this day in 1990 a skeleton of a T-rex was discovered in South Dakota, what was it nicknamed?
 
42862 ADFGX^2. Gridapedia. FXFFX GDFXFF AAAXX XGDDD ADXFD
 
56053 What do you get if you add up the cards on the front of a Perplex City CDU?
 
65471 If you wrote all of the numbers from 300 to 400 on a piece of paper, how many times would you have written the number 3?
 
82994 Wired predicted that 2006 would see self-cleaning *what* in every home?
 
99582 What is the next number in the sequence? 1, 11, 21, 1211, 111221 ...
 
103591 What is the full real name of C10H10's namesake?
 
123827 What London frequency is Resonant?
 
124330 What city has an unusual propensity for unclaimed lottery wins?
 
127398 How tall (in cm) is the recently released human-sized toy of the Japanese anime hero Gundam?
 
197497 Whose best selling book suggested X32VEFEZZHPG was a Dad?
 
211509 Perplexing postcard in Parisian Landmark by Mr Hayes and include what? (Drop the quote marks.)
 
247512 Everyone knows Alice and Bob, but who is Matilda? Solved
 
285821 51.568221,0.008304 - Who's commemorated here? (Surname only, please.) Solved
 
298128 Title: 0749934069
 
300971 At what hotel did the ICDISS hold an apparently non-existent conference? (Just the name, eg: Karma, not Karma Hotel)
 
303909 How many years has it been since the official introduction of the 2-day weekend in the USA?
 
325352 What was the nationality of the man who died this Tuesday attempting to open a rocket-propelled grenade with a sledgehammer?
 
329206 What place-name links London, Sydney, Chicago and Boston?
 
352711 Green yellow purple red blue yellow blue red purple green... what three colours come next? (Enter like: red orange silver)
 
368017 What comes next? Dial it in: France, Britain, Brazil, ???
 
371557 What shape is carved into TS Andy's headboard?
 
372452 October 11, 1968. July 16, 1969. April 11, 1970. Final date? (Enter ddmmyyyy, eg: 22031942 for 22nd March 1942)
 
404874 SQUARESQUARESQUARESQUARE. The one about the quick brown fox. The one with the blowzy night-frumps. YN UP BE OT PX IV IL EC. Skip the queue, as usual.
 
442697 Which Perplex City figure possibly possesses a travelling audio technician?
 
482974 October 11, 1968. July 16, 1969. April 11, 1970. Final date? (Enter ddmmyyyy, eg: 22031942 for 22nd March 1942)
 
508949 Justin Gignac sells items that come signed and individually numbered... what's the number used on the example on his website?
 
520452 An enigmatic auction. Find the seller who's name is based on a bizzare piece of Harry Potter merchandise and find the keyword...
 
524968 What are the next two letters in this series: A E F H I K L M ?
 
549414 Go home, Behind The Music, in what year must you save the last human family on Earth from the evil Robotrons?
 
558003 Who had flu on the night of the Perplex City Academy Ball? Solved
 
573054 What do you get if you add up all the numbers in Golddigger by Kanye West?
 
589182 How many km^2 is the cauldron of #FFFF00 B0000YHJMS? (Just put the number, eg: 2341)
 
590542 Sheena, Judy, and whO?
 
674303 Real life web slinger entangles Manhattan with what?
 
676817 When is Scarlett Kiteway's birthday? (ddmm) Solved
 
688743 How many millions did ROgers Communications Inc pay for a comma?
 
696045 Golden Rotation: XNBB LHWCMZ JSVMB RMBB?
 
728589 What was Tommy's prisoner ID in Shawshank? Solved
732239 What do you get if you cross [snip]ulfo[/snip] with spoons?
 
733692 Have the last word, carry a Scrabble Dictionary. (The massive hardback one, of course!)
 
742161 If it's not new, it's not - americas, 4776449, what animal? (Singular, not plural.)
 
774834 Head for the kind of site that might flash on and off really quickly. Track down the piratical chap knwon as 45448482, with the usual suffix. Find 210054219. What's the 7-letter word for this phenomenon?
 
777812 The Internet is definitely not a series of these
 
785807 According to the 38.032679,-78.505597, who is the centre of 34.099297,-118.324814?
 
813147 Who was the first Perplex City Academy Master? Solved
 
813749 In what year was Wikipedia started?
 
822740 How much bling is there when you cross an MTV show with the opposite to a musical Guy?
 
859760 Not broken, but missed... Red Dress. 40.759448,-73.979466. 07/08/08. Say what?
 
875556 Not sabotaged, but missed... 51.510772,-0.113769. 08/08/08. Which way?
 
882939 What was the first ever line of a tasty petroleum-based comic? (Punctuate exactly.)
 
891300 SQUARESQUARESQUARESQUARE. The one about the quick brown fox. The one with the blowzy night-frumps. YN UP BE OT PX IV IL EC. Skip the queue, as usual.
 
894184 How many km^2 is the cauldron of #FFFF00 B0000YHJMS? (Just put the number, eg: 2341)
 
916079 Not a whorl nor a shawl but close to both... You got bokojifogufre?
 
929601 What comes next - bondai, UFMacavity, majcher, izuzu27, ???
 
958363 What's next?
happy solving and hunting 
But they're all quadrilaterals!
the launch i take it?
Once I get my last couple silvers, I'm holding a large contest to give all my spares away.
???
 
992276 What city has an unusual propensity for unclaimed lottery wins?
 
995195 How many millions did ROgers Communications Inc pay for a comma?
 
999436 Need a sharp young thing to keep the SF datalink ticking over smoothly. Find the job ad (check them all, OK?) and you'll find the keyword...
 
 
Set 2
6189 How much did the gravitational pull of the earth change in % near Sumatra on 26/12/2004? (Just put a number, eg, 1.5) Solved
 
21951 Bright! Beautiful! Colour! Or, hi 4775155 - what animal?(Singular, not plural.) Solved
 
27112 What was Tommy's prisoner ID in Shawshank? Solved
 
38850 What microwaveable meal makes the perfect disgusie for depressed lupines? Solved
 
44551 What Perplexian links Schrödinger with actions and Fermat with his words? (Full name!)
 
74088 What item mysteriously appears at 8 'o' clock at Pievepelago, Lago Santo, in their circular life??
 
76684 Don't Ask MC, Ask MF! @ 7921, SC describes the mood as... Solved
96462 According to the 38.032679,-78.505597, who is the centre of 34.099297,-118.324814?
 
132776 Which Dire Straits record was used to kill zombies in Shaun of the Dead? Solved
 
149716 What UK comedy TV series stars Dylan Moran as a frequently drunk bookstore owner? Solved
 
160468 Which Dire Straits record was used to kill zombies in Shaun of the Dead?
 
175196 AOL created what never-ending month? Solved
 
205938 What UK comedy TV series stars Dylan Moran as a frequently drunk bookstore owner?
 
207218 What was the first stop motion film?
 
231740 In April 1990, scientists managed to manipulate individual atoms to spell out a company's name. Go to that company's website and find a podcast to tell us that online games apparently make you more what?
 
233565 You're the constant now, E! Bottom row. Last four digits.
 
263043 What starsign is Scarlett? Solved
 
280442 What do you get if you add up all the numbers in Golddigger by Kanye West?
 
339977 Who designed the classic movie poster for Blade Runner?
 
342671 Everyone knows Alice and Bob, but who is Matilda?
 
351261 What puzzlecard has received the following wrong answers: Kurt, Caine, yes, shout loudly in a noisy crowd?(Give the three digit code)
 
366680 Which 1938 film featured an all-dwarf cast?
 
383688 Conet. 2, 30. First five.
 
408982 What's the one word title of an advert inspired by a Pulitzer-prize winning cartoonist?
 
505146 Head for the kind of site that might flash on and off really quickly. Track down the piratical chap knwon as 45448482, with the usual suffix. Find 210054219. What's the 7-letter word for this phenomenon?
 
513667 What animal is associated with applause, a sandwich filling, a TLD and a term of encouragement for the Biffy?
 
514568 Always believe in it + Groucho Marx was suspicious of places that would let him be one. Dopplegangers in all but dimension wear jerseys in prison with what number on?
 
515810 What bar did Bernardo Holyoke own in Perplex City?
 
519112 Turn this sentence into Slammatocious cyberslang: I was surfing the net with my web browser researching universities when a corporate fellow opened a chatline with me. I thought he was just a person trying to make money, after my disposable income, but he just wanted to send an mean and angry message. So that sucked! (Make sure you keep the punctuation the same!)
 
524565 What links Q0906+6930 and Christian eschatology?
 
526672 Battered by violent winds + Besieged by foul weather = ???
 
534482 Who is the lead researcher on a recent study in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health that claims staying single may shorten your life span?


545349 Card #017 - what regiment? (Just put the number, e.g: 17, not 17th)
That was largely an in-game channel.  Meta and spec was intended to take place in #pxcsflivespec also on irc.chat-solutions.org.  The intention of these channels were to have a semi-coordinated effort at utilizing existing, centralized resources.  Some people complained at the lack of moderation, however the fact is it simply took all participants some time to adjust to the order of the day.


552211 Via Modern Mechanix - In the 50's you could apparently turn baths into radio receivers. With what house number does the story end?  
===Hits===
The page http://emergency.perplexcity.com/main/main.php required a large number (250?) of unique website hits before another batch of 'clues' will go active.  Seven sets of clues were revealed; and eventually only UNSOLVED clues were shown.


554836 Blinking implicitly: Lisa, Matt, John, Bob, Holly, ???
To rapidly generate a greater number of hits to the page, users posted journal entries, blog posts, and (probably most usefully) Diggs and other meta-news locales.  By the end of the game, roughly 1,700 unique hits had been generated.


567225 What's the Kiwi equivalent of Anytown?
===Clues===
Once the page went active, we were given, on-line, a number of qestions and numbers.  Questions were in the fForm of:


573059 Douglas Adams doesn't make jokes in...
:674303 - Real life web slinger entangles Manhattan with what?
:676817 - When is Scarlett Kiteway's birthday? (ddmm)
:688743 - How many millions did ROgers Communications Inc pay for a comma?


579133 How many colours are in the main triangle at MyMassivemonumentasbuiltbynubiansmesopotamiansandgeorgians.gov?
Clues were given, and answers were to be typed in on the same page (http://emergency.perplexcity.com/main/clues.html)


597613 Which font is being turned into a film?
===Unsolved questions===
Early on (though not early enough, probably), we on IRC adopted a page to keep track of what clues were left:


600125 Primarily 21379333977, but what are the next five digits
:'''[[The_San_Francisco_Connection:_Unsolved_Questions]]'''


622113 How many years has it been since the official introduction of the 2-day weekend in the USA?
As anyone solved any question, they were to be REMOVED it from the list.


638936 Which puzzlecard has recieved the following wrong answers: Volcano, EAVADVGTZYCK, man smoking a joint? (Give the three digit code)
Then, as we were approaching completion on this list, with just 90% left, the source page changed to a list of remaining clues.


642748 How many colours are in the main triangle at MyMassivemonumentasbuiltbynubiansmesopotamiansandgeorgians.gov?
===Results===
When a correct answer is submitted for the first time, the message given is:
:'''Congratulations! The answer you entered was correct.'''
:Your contribution has been added to the group's progress. Keep at it, you are important in reactivating the link.


643289 Lost my numbers: x - + - +
When a correct answer is submitted the second time onward, the following is given:
:'''Congratulations! The answer you entered was correct.'''
:Someone else has managed to solve this before you, but keep going and you should get a first solve soon.


660847 And from what postcode did he escape?
When any incorrect answer is given, this is the result:
:'''Sorry, your answer was incorrect.'''
:Please try again, the connection won't open without you!


662075 Which was the middle/nick name of the drummer who died in a bizarre gardening accident?
== Endgame ==
[[Image:100percent.jpg]]


663120 In what month in Perplex City is the Puzzle Designers Summit?
At the end of the day's events, the link was restored (just in the nick of time, too!), and all Perplex City pages began working properly.


684396 What puzzlecard has received the following wrong answers: Kurt, Caine, yes, shout loudly in a noisy crowd?(Give the three digit code) Solved
A video of the link being re-established was shown: http://emergency.perplexcity.com/main/announcement.mov (With a copy [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbX3jHkd_0E mirrored on youtube]).


764408 Don't Ask MC, Ask MF! @ 7921, SC describes the mood as...  
And a [http://emergency.perplexcity.com/main/summary.html Summary] page was posted.


782866 Mmhmm these links taste good! VENDETTA/ABHORRENT/EXTREMIS
===Sente's Message to us on Earth===
{| border="0" cellpadding="10" width="70%" style="border: 2px solid #ddddff; background: #f3f3ff"
|
People of Earth: Hello.


821105 In your grizzly get up / polar attire / black costume / etc, what base would you get married in?
My name is [[Sente Kiteway]], and I'm the Master of the [[Perplex City Academy]]. Congratulations on your achievement in establishing the data link. Once again, your intelligence and sharpness has surpassed all expectations. Well done.


859847 What comes next - Velleity, Deliquesce, Volacious, ???
As you may have noticed, the link between our worlds has been disrupted for the past few days. This was immediately a cause of grave concern. But our fears have deepened since discovering the cause of the interference.


861821 Conet. 1, 6. First five.  
Two days ago, an energy surge occurred here in Perplex City, blacking out many city blocks. When power was restored, we found that the surge had briefly created a wormhole, originating here and terminating somewhere in North America.


863983 What's the biggest grossing film in the US that never went on wide release?
That surge of power broke the original data link between us. We have no idea who caused it, but in the absence of a culprit, we can only assume that their intentions are hostile.


877216 Where is the original CSI series set?
The game has changed. From this point on, I advise you all to stay alert. There is a new player on the board.


884170 Which minor god in Greek mythology is credited with discovering cheese? Solved
[Interference begins, the signal deteriorating to nothing throughout the next paragraph]


908806 Missing digits? 2?1?4?4?4?4?4?5?0?5?3?1? (Just enter them as a number string.)
I will endeavour to keep you up to date with developments and discoveries here. For your part, I hope you will redouble your efforts to find the Cube. I sense that time is running short, but I continue to have every confidence in your abilities...
|}


912629 What is Simon Peter Gruber's phone number in Die Hard 3? Solved


926382 What is the full real name of C10H10's namesake?
'''The game has changed. The hunt for the Cube is now a race. Be vigilant, and be quick.'''


956687 Conet. 3, 6. Second group of five.


959315 Which film production company's logo features a boy jumping into a lake?
===Everyone's Phone Rings, and Helicopters Make an Impression===
As this transmission was playing in San Francisco, everyone's phones started to ring, and everyone was rushed outside.  At that moment, a [[Third Power]] agent called the mobile phones of the Cube Hunters and gave them a warning.  Stay away from the Cube, or else.


965311 0670875597. 1-1-1 + 64-7-14 / 193-19-1 = ???
To emphasize the seriousness of the threat, the agent (and his accomplices) swooped over the crowd of Cube Hunters in a pair of helicopters.


977346 This clock ticks backwards and forwards, 17, 14, 9... ??
The phone messages have been recorded, and are listenable here:


995762 A book like http://www.vmi.edu/archives/Civil_War/painting.html and V = Energy so X = ??
*http://emergency.perplexcity.com/main/phonemessage1.mp3 - 1st phone message
*http://emergency.perplexcity.com/main/phonemessage2.mp3 - 2nd phone message
It is not known who is doing the speaking.  The accent and voice is very unfamiliar.


997668 What was the nationality of the man who died this Tuesday attempting to open a rocket-propelled grenade with a sledgehammer? Solved


User Geist on the unforums started a completed list of solves clues here:
==Fallout==
:http://forums.unfiction.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=266268#266268
*After the Blackout of 10-AUG-06, [[Sente Kiteway]] and the [[Academy]] as a whole were accused of mis-using resources, maligning the city, and wreaking havoc on the citizenry.
Send him private messages either on IRC, or uF here:
*This caused Kiteway to pen an explanation of points, which explicitly mention, among other things, [[The Third Power]].
:http://forums.unfiction.com/forums/privmsg.php?mode=post&u=306
*Read the explanation: http://pxcacademy.com/office3.html
*This explanation was met with a reaction by [[City Council]] member [[Nathan Earlywine]], who is always willing to take a cheap shot, which essentially pins blame directly back on Kiteway. [http://www.perplexcitysentinel.com/archives/2006/08/academy_issues.html]


====Another topic should it be needed right away====
====Another topic should it be needed right away====


==References==
==References==
*'''The Perplex City Sentinel'''
*'''The Perplex City Sentinel'''
**news in brief, 22-JUN-06 "Academy Mum on New Link"
**news in brief, 22-JUN-06 "Academy Mum on New Link"
**article, 13-JUL-06 "[[Iona Rodie|Iona]] Interviews... [[Mind Candy|Adrian Hon]]" ([http://www.perplexcitysentinel.com/archives/2006/07/iona_interviews_17.html link])
**article, 13-JUL-06 "[[Iona Rodie|Iona]] Interviews... [[Mind Candy|Adrian Hon]]" {{WaybackS1|www.perplexcitysentinel.com/archives/2006/07/iona_interviews_17.html}}
**article, 14-AUG-06 "[[SFCon|City Loses Power, Data Connection to Earth Lost for 2 Days]]" {{WaybackS1|www.perplexcitysentinel.com/archives/2006/08/city_loses_powe.html}}
**article, 21-AUG-06 "[[Academy]] Secrecy Harms City, [[Council]] Must Intervene Now" {{WaybackS1|www.perplexcitysentinel.com/archives/2006/08/academy_irrespo.html}}
**article, 28-AUG-06 "[[Academy]] Issues Denial of Involvement with [[The San Francisco Connection|Portal, Blackout]]" {{WaybackS1|www.perplexcitysentinel.com/archives/2006/08/academy_issues.html}}

Latest revision as of 19:44, 14 May 2007

PERPLEX CITY, SEASON ONE
The search for the Receda Cube on Earth


Sanfran large.jpg

Shortcut
SFCon


General

  • In most literal terms, this is a new link which is to connect Perplex City to Earth; specifically, the link will connect to San Francisco, California, USA.
  • In a more pragmatic sense, this will be a live event in San Francisco, and will be similar to the London PCAG event.
  • The event took place August 12th, 2006.
  • The event was to be a time of celebration for people on both worlds, historically establishing broader relations between Earth and Perplex City.
  • The purpose of the link was to expand bandwidth of the link, effectively doubling capacity, while also providing redundancy for security purposes.
  • A short time before the event, Von started telling us about himself on his new temporary blog, at 1UP: http://von.1up.com
    • He gave us a set of riddles, each one giving a single letter, which cassandra determined to be the jumbled up movie title: DIRTY HARRY


The Blackout

Observed on http://www.boingboing.net/ was the following advertisement:

SF 125x125.gif

Seems pretty nice. However, as animated gifs go, this one's no laughing matter. For less than one second, this cel is seen:

SF-braille.jpg

It is braille, and reads: Say goodbye to Perplex City.

The meaning went undetermined, until 10-AUG-06, when all Perplex City related websites were shutdown, and replaced with the following:

Say goodbye.jpg

It suddenly became deadly apparent what had happened. The Third Power had hijacked the link between our two worlds. Careful inspection showed all third power websites (including those on the Receda Trail) remained up and active. Mind Candy immediately went into a state of urgency. What had been planned as a time of celebration was suddenly a dark moment of panic and emergency. An emergency website was established with information to distribute to all cube hunters who were going to be helping establish the connection.


Website Information


Meetups

As a game, Perplex City has but one rule: Any occassion with more than two cube hunters must involve alcohol. With this is mind, a number of meet-ups and organized gathering of masses were planned, both pre- and post- event. As follows:

Q: Will there be any social activities afterwards?
A: We are currently considering organising something afterwards. We're well aware that players will want to get a drink or meet up somewhere, and so at the closing presentation we will at least let all players know about possible places to go.

  • Endgame - map - link
    • Gatherings were organized on Friday, pre-event, and on Sunday, Post-event
    • Located right around the corner from the 12th Street/City Center BART station (red/yellow lines).


SF 125x125.gif

On the Ground

After a debriefing, puzzle sheets were assigned to all teams of players. They consisted of between 3 and 6 puzzles per page. Sample questions might be on the order of:

Puzzle 481
Which Western Asian monarch is immortalised somewhere near the Main Library?
Puzzle 59300
Movie time: Dirty Harry, 23.53. What kind of shark?

A number of questions are known to have involved watching a movie. Often the movie was Dirty Harry, as suggested by Von's pre-game hint. See the unforum page of collected puzzle sheets for more questions.


Running around the city

Many of the players ran off to all points in the city, to solve sundry puzzles and riddles, such the one sampled above.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

Back at home-base, a number of people had settled in for a few puzzles.

  • A very large multi-page maze had been presented.
  • A set of questions about movies (particularly Dirty Harry) were given, which required people to watch the movie and answer specific questions about exact scenes.
  • An RFID tag game was presented. Reportedly, this did not work quite according to plan, but the concept sounds exceptionally cool.
  • Other puzzles which required pen & paper were given, which set people to working in teams, churning out answers.

Video

BrianEnigma posted two videos of the event in progress:

On-Line

Sfcon-header.jpg

In IRC

"To aid your progress, it would be wise to collaborate with your fellow helpers. In order to do this, you should join the chat room called #pxcsflive on irc.chat-solutions.org. If you don't have an IRC program, you can connect online here by typing "pxcsflive" into the channel box."

That was largely an in-game channel. Meta and spec was intended to take place in #pxcsflivespec also on irc.chat-solutions.org. The intention of these channels were to have a semi-coordinated effort at utilizing existing, centralized resources. Some people complained at the lack of moderation, however the fact is it simply took all participants some time to adjust to the order of the day.

Hits

The page http://emergency.perplexcity.com/main/main.php required a large number (250?) of unique website hits before another batch of 'clues' will go active. Seven sets of clues were revealed; and eventually only UNSOLVED clues were shown.

To rapidly generate a greater number of hits to the page, users posted journal entries, blog posts, and (probably most usefully) Diggs and other meta-news locales. By the end of the game, roughly 1,700 unique hits had been generated.

Clues

Once the page went active, we were given, on-line, a number of qestions and numbers. Questions were in the fForm of:

674303 - Real life web slinger entangles Manhattan with what?
676817 - When is Scarlett Kiteway's birthday? (ddmm)
688743 - How many millions did ROgers Communications Inc pay for a comma?

Clues were given, and answers were to be typed in on the same page (http://emergency.perplexcity.com/main/clues.html)

Unsolved questions

Early on (though not early enough, probably), we on IRC adopted a page to keep track of what clues were left:

The_San_Francisco_Connection:_Unsolved_Questions

As anyone solved any question, they were to be REMOVED it from the list.

Then, as we were approaching completion on this list, with just 90% left, the source page changed to a list of remaining clues.

Results

When a correct answer is submitted for the first time, the message given is:

Congratulations! The answer you entered was correct.
Your contribution has been added to the group's progress. Keep at it, you are important in reactivating the link.

When a correct answer is submitted the second time onward, the following is given:

Congratulations! The answer you entered was correct.
Someone else has managed to solve this before you, but keep going and you should get a first solve soon.

When any incorrect answer is given, this is the result:

Sorry, your answer was incorrect.
Please try again, the connection won't open without you!

Endgame

100percent.jpg

At the end of the day's events, the link was restored (just in the nick of time, too!), and all Perplex City pages began working properly.

A video of the link being re-established was shown: http://emergency.perplexcity.com/main/announcement.mov (With a copy mirrored on youtube).

And a Summary page was posted.

Sente's Message to us on Earth

People of Earth: Hello.

My name is Sente Kiteway, and I'm the Master of the Perplex City Academy. Congratulations on your achievement in establishing the data link. Once again, your intelligence and sharpness has surpassed all expectations. Well done.

As you may have noticed, the link between our worlds has been disrupted for the past few days. This was immediately a cause of grave concern. But our fears have deepened since discovering the cause of the interference.

Two days ago, an energy surge occurred here in Perplex City, blacking out many city blocks. When power was restored, we found that the surge had briefly created a wormhole, originating here and terminating somewhere in North America.

That surge of power broke the original data link between us. We have no idea who caused it, but in the absence of a culprit, we can only assume that their intentions are hostile.

The game has changed. From this point on, I advise you all to stay alert. There is a new player on the board.

[Interference begins, the signal deteriorating to nothing throughout the next paragraph]

I will endeavour to keep you up to date with developments and discoveries here. For your part, I hope you will redouble your efforts to find the Cube. I sense that time is running short, but I continue to have every confidence in your abilities...


The game has changed. The hunt for the Cube is now a race. Be vigilant, and be quick.


Everyone's Phone Rings, and Helicopters Make an Impression

As this transmission was playing in San Francisco, everyone's phones started to ring, and everyone was rushed outside. At that moment, a Third Power agent called the mobile phones of the Cube Hunters and gave them a warning. Stay away from the Cube, or else.

To emphasize the seriousness of the threat, the agent (and his accomplices) swooped over the crowd of Cube Hunters in a pair of helicopters.

The phone messages have been recorded, and are listenable here:

It is not known who is doing the speaking. The accent and voice is very unfamiliar.


Fallout

  • After the Blackout of 10-AUG-06, Sente Kiteway and the Academy as a whole were accused of mis-using resources, maligning the city, and wreaking havoc on the citizenry.
  • This caused Kiteway to pen an explanation of points, which explicitly mention, among other things, The Third Power.
  • Read the explanation: http://pxcacademy.com/office3.html
  • This explanation was met with a reaction by City Council member Nathan Earlywine, who is always willing to take a cheap shot, which essentially pins blame directly back on Kiteway. [1]


References

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