FAQ

Overview

This is an unofficial Perplex City FAQ. The official one can be found on the Perplex City site and is a little sparse at the time of writing. With this being a player-created "living document," we home we can address some common questions as they arise.

The Cards

Purchasing Cards

I have to purchase cards? That sucks. I should be able to play for free!

No, no you do not have to purchase cards. It has been said in several places (including this article and this presentation) that the cards are optional. You can participate with or without the cards, it just may require a little more work without them. If you do purchase cards, you help finance the game. Unlike ilovebees or The Beast, both of which had Microsoft, and Art of the Heist, which had Audi, Perplex City is not backed by big company marketing dollars.

That being said, the cards are quite fun and entertaining. They give you good insight into the Perplex City universe. You can amaze your friends by knowing the answers. And the more you buy, the more fun stuff the people running the ARG can do!

The Playing Card Symbols

Some of my cards have what looks like playing card symbols hidden on them. What's that all about?

These symbols only appear on prime-numbered cards. Given cards numbered from 1-256, that gives us 54 cards on which the playing card symbols appear. This would cover the 52 cards in a normal deck plus two jokers.

They are certainly for one thing, and probably for another as well. MarkB on Unfiction noted that if you put the cards in order, the corner "quarter-letters" form a message.

Secondly, it is unconfirmed, but assumed, that the order of the playing card symbols may be important to Card 243: Shuffled because it makes use of a Solitaire cipher.

Because these symbols only appear on prime numbered cards, there may also be some unknown connection with Card 238: Riemann, since it has no obvious answer. At this time, there is nothing conclusive and this is just pure speculation and hope.

The Quarter-Letters

Some of my cards have these watermark-type things in the corners that look like they might be letters. What do they say?

See above: The Playing Card Symbols. There is a connection.

Card 215: Harmony

I can't quite seem to get the right answer for this card.

According to some reports, there is a printing error on this card and the arrows are incorrect.