Parcel Letter

A letter tucked into the Parcels delivered to people who solved the 22.04.05 Update email.

Content

THE PERPLEX CITY ACADEMY

Dear Friend,                      28th April 2005

Thank you for your patience; our Cube retrieval project
has been a mammoth undertaking and we are grateful for 
your loyalty and support. You were one of the first people 
on Earth to answer my plea for help and, on behalf of the 
citizens of Perplex City and our agents on Earth, Mind 
Candy, I offer you our collective thanks.

For the last 15 months I have been planning a puzzle game
that, I hope, will lead you to the Receda Cube. Preparations 
are not yet complete, but they are now sufficiently advanced
that I can give you this exclusive preview. Six prototype 
puzzle cards are included in this parcel. You are one of the 
first 333 people on Earth to see these cards; they will soon 
be available from sources across your world. Hundreds of 
different cards will be issued, creating a complex puzzle game.

It may strike some as perverse to create a game in such a 
grave situation as this. For us in Perplex City and in the 
Academy, the logic is clear. We have observed your culture 
and witnessed how fast information can spread in the right 
circumstances. We want as many people to be looking for the 
Cube as possible; we want the news of our quest to spread 
rapidly by word of mouth. A game, in your world and in ours, 
gets people talking.

Through the cards, and the growing number of our websites we 
will make accessible to you, you will have a window into our 
world. You will learn about the people and places of Perplex 
City and, most importantly, our way of thinking. We have 
investigated the theft very thoroughly and have been unable to 
solve the mystery. We hope that you will be able to make links 
and propose solutions that we might have overlooked. It is also 
our firm belief that the greatest problems are solved by new 
thinking, by lateral thinking; the kind of thinking that is 
engendered by a game or puzzle. Puzzles are a central part of 
our culture and society. We hope that this game will be a trigger 
for the people of Earth to enjoy and respect them as much as we do. 
Intelligence and puzzle-solving skills are to be applauded, not 
hidden away.

As a further incentive and to encourage the largest possible number
 of participants, our agents on Earth,   Mind    Candy,  are  able
  to  offer a   reward  of  PCL2,000,000  which is approximately 
equivalent to £100,000, $200,000, 150,000 or ~20,000,000 to the 
person who finds the Cube. Mind Candy will also be arranging the 
distribution and marketing of these cards across your world. They will 
be selling the cards for PCL5O, £2.50 or $5.00 for each pack of six. 
There is yet more I have planned, but this must all wait for now.

My friend, the Cube is an irreplaceable part of our history; it 
vital for us to retrieve it, and for this we need your help. This is 
only the beginning of the journey we will make together. May we find 
success waiting for us at the end.


Sente Kiteway 

Perplex City Academy, One Taversen Square, The Old Town, Perplex City

Puzzles

The letter contained withing the parcel contained at the bottom a small clue.

At the very bottom was a number followed by an equals sign and then a letter or a number.

The codes at the bottom of the letter seem to be unique. Though until all 333 are known we are unable to confirm what it says.

So far the codes and their owners that are known are:

BigBadDaryman:          1=I
Daffy889:               5=N
dtrains:                7=W
Stormalong:             9=I
bagsbee:               10=M
rowlock:               11=E
Russell_k:             12=T
boac:                  15=E
cassandra:             18=A
erekose:               19=L
SilentAvenger:         22=E
Sep7imus:              23=L
strifey:               26=A
cortana:               27=T
kidzdoc:               29=O
BC:                    30=N
firefox:               31=O
yanka:                 32=F 
spaceXplorer:          35=E
chippy:                40=T
vibration13:           41=9
Rob_Riv:               48=T
Reason:                55=L
[Unknown]:             57=T
lotusflower:           62=E
angelesque:            64=P
step:                  78=H
mysteryjones:          87=N
Listacorta:            88=A
Lysithea:              90=S
Sparkles:              91=T
zaeil:                 92=O
Mason:                 95=S
StevenapeX:            99=L
Muffin:               100=O
mafalda_quino:        102=A
number9dream:         109=O
brat-sampson:         114=U
ellipses:             118=R
theMoo:               123=A
Porka25:              126=O
MikeyJ:               127=U
Scott1234:            128=N
hakab2060:            129=G
Ebay Auction:         130=E
thrush:               132=E
DogsHead:             135=S
z0z0:                 136=T
uptownishnyc:         139=E
fuegomanchego:        142=O
Hamoir:               144=D
hikey:                145=O
Xara:                 147=J
Buceph:               150=E
Belga:                151=M
sober:                152=Y
SpaceBass:            158=O
samlang:              160=F
RobPal:               170=S
Flidget_Jerome:       176=G
chrome_halo:          177=A
Nerfball:             178=M
Kastanok:             179=E
<blank>:              185=R
KillSwitch:           187=E
Enigmaster:           188=L
D4N:                  189=E
Davermouse:           193=R
impossibledave:       194=K
gjindancer:           195=E
Xanatos:              198=Y
MagicGingerHippy:     199=C
redpanda:             202=E
LouMac:               203=T
Catherwood-offline:   204=T
Mozzie:               205=E
filmguy1013:          208=E
seannyob:             209=S
Duluoz:               215=O
CreativeEmbassy:      219=É
^BonoVox^:            220=P
madam o'brien:        222=R
aab_123:              226=A
l.cpl. boudreaux:     229=E
cskane4life:          230=T
Spankit:              232=U
KSG:                  233=R
DubbaJ                235=C
WaCKo1138:            236=A
cjr22:                242=N
Der_loki:             251=R
Snowball:             252=G
karlosuk:             255=S
Falken:               256=T
Catfurnace:           259=K
[Unknown]:            262=L
Riffy:                263=M
earlgray:             266=D
Solaris:              269=T
fimacmo:              272=K
dopefiend:            273=K
JebJoya:              275=B
Lazarus:              283=D
maxim:                287=P
Salkunh:              289=N
James Lyon:           294=N
tanner:               296=U
Openfly:              300=S
Swanneh:              304=C
sequoya:              307=V
AdamF:                310=T
arieh:                312=Y
jerryt:               316=Y
sonofajoiner:         317=O
InspJJ:               321=A
bocahedron:           326=E
othuum:               328=E
MrShifty:             329=W
Wishi-san:            332=R

Current text for this is as follows. Line breaks are every 40 characters.

To generate this text automatically from the list above, see parcel_letter.py

Note: This script appears to be munging the character É at position 219 into an À or à (corrected below). -SpaceBass

I___N_W_IMET__E__AL__EL__AT_ONOF__E____T
9______T______L_T____E_______________H__
_______A_STO__S___LO_A______O____U___R__
__A__OUNGE_E__ST__E__O_DO_J__EMY_____O_F
_________S_____GAME_____R_ELE___RKE__YC_
_ETTE__ES_____O___ÉP_R___A__ET_UR__A____
_N________RG__ST__K__LM__D__T__KK_B_____
__D___P_N____N_U___S___C__V__T_Y___YO___
A____E_EW__R_

There is also some basic analysis of the known letter weightings at parcel_letter_analysis.py

If you want to try to search for a word or phrase in the known text try find_it.php - Nogwater.

Solve

Cooperative teamwork permitted us to propose a tentative solve for the letter:

It is now time to reveal the location of the first
9 places that will stock perplexcity cards.
These will be at stores, and located throughout earth.

- Play Lounge, Beak Street LONDON
- Jeremyville Oxford Street, SYDNEY
- Games of Berkeley, BERKELEY
- Civette, rue St Honoré, PARIS
- _A__ET_UR__A_BERLIN <-??? 
- Leksakborgen, STOCKHOLM
- Videothek Kobenhavngade, COPENHAGEN
- Luckys, VANCOUVER
- Toy Tokyo, 2nd Avenue, NEW YORK 

Images

Parcel Letter