Morrison Game Factory

 My copy of PostCurious' new puzzle tale, The Morrison Game Factory, just arrived, and I'm super excited. I haven't even gotten it home yet and I've already started to dig into it. 

It's a bright and cheerful teal box and even before opening it I noticed there was an interesting pattern on the cover. The dice and little rocket tokens translate into a short, slightly worrying sentence:

... . .-.. .--.  -- . HELP ME

An opening letter, sent 'One Adventurer to Another,' tells us that someone found this box, pristine, on the conveyor belt of an abandoned game factory. It directs us to a folder titled 3428, which turns out to be the maintenance record of the machines at the Morrison Game Company, now defunct. The log lays out the story of a machine, 3428, that apparently achieves sentience. The singularity is now. Except that the maintenance guy, TY, didn't take kindly to the machine's new behavior, and kept resetting it, despite the damage to the 'machine learning process.' Jerk. 

The Detective Society - The Cursed Exhibition - Envelope 5

After last night’s stunning cliffhanger, we wrap up a day of touristing with another exciting chapter of… The Cursed Exhibition! Having napped, enjoyed an appropriate beverage, and ensured that our feline friends are cheerfully engaged with the envelope packaging, we dig in.

This envelope has a lot of components floating free. We have the standard square envelope and clue card; four photos; a letter from the police; a membership card to the Cult; a location fragment; an electric bill for “Ms. Cult”; a number of potential key ends; and an unmarked manilla envelope. 

The envelope contains a package, smuggled out of her cell. We get a letter from the detective, as well as a map, a security manual, and some colored overlays that may be related to the cell. She tells us she has a contact in the next cell over who will help her if she helps him figure out the correct key. The photos are of messages scrawled on furniture and walls in her cell. One of them suggests that we should look at triangles not circles, others suggest we should read all phrases backwards, so circles not triangles. There are both triangles and circles under the letters of a third message. A fourth questions the ability of the security chief to actually investigate potential members and says he doesn’t read weird letters or numbers. We also get the security manual for the cult. They include references to Indiana Jones and Home Alone - top notch security indeed. 

First, though, we need to sort out the key situation. We contact her ‘live’ via a ‘secure police channel’. We realize that the keys are tied to the electricity usages of the various rooms. We identify which room is their holding cell, and find the key that has the same electrical use pattern tied to its tines. Her neighbor is free! Using mirrors, we see that she’s in room 19 or 16. This is trickier, for while we can discard the key that got her neighbor out, the same pattern doesn’t seem to work for her own cell. 

When we look at hints, we realize we started in the wrong place. We were supposed to hack the computer using the ID card first. But we don’t have a pin yet. The portal requests a name and pin. We have the name, but the pin? Presumably on the walls. After a bit of poking, we get a message “Read Every Fifth Word” then apply it to another message, getting our hint to the pin. Once in, there is a helpful ‘cell finder’. Each cell has a map of the lock pins for the key. So much easier than our approach, which may not have actually been an intentional solve… With that in mind, we set her free, but she won’t leave without the blasted artefact. 

We assume that they would have moved the artefact from room 7, where it was last time, and there is no energy spike in that particular room at any time over the last few days. Still, we check with the detective. Then we read through some amusing chat groups, allowing us to rule out several of the electrical spikes. We learn that you are never more than 10 feet away from a spider, which is why I keep cats to protect me. We also find another location fragment, for use later. Based on the conversations, we know that it’s in the NW quadrant, and only one of those rooms had a power spike. We tell her to go there. We work her through the maze, having her drop into an unguarded room. Woot! 

There is, however, a keypad in our way. Thankfully she has a UV light with her to see the prints on the keys :) Which spell the name of the cult. Of course. We guide her to the room, and with the help of some mirrors (how does she block three lasers with two hands?) gets access to the artefact. Which of course triggers the security to move the booby traps, for a different way back. We begin. 

Once we get her out, with the artefact no less, she realizes we must destroy it (IT BELONGS IN A MUSEUM!). To destroy it, she needs another key, which we must piece together from various squiggles - coast lines and borders - and identify the key’s location. This is where having a geographer friend comes in VERY handy. Also, tracing paper. We identify the country and send a message off to the detective. And wait… And wait… There seems to be a glitch, and I did find the other artefact email in my spam. My friend’s account works, and we get a voice note from the detective, telling us we were correct, and that’s she’s on her way to get the final bits of the keys and artefact to end a centuries-long cycle of violence! 

VICTORY!

The Detective Society - The Cursed Exhibition - Envelope 4

 Following a longer than anticipated Envelope 3, we dive right into Envelope 4, following a message from the Detective that she was going to infiltrate the Children of Shakir Cult in London. Within envelope 4, we have: The beginning envelope; a note from the detective; a coroner’s report for one Kay Hiddleston; a book with the same emblem as the cult, labeled KH; a car park map; an as yet unknown map. 

The detective looped in her boss, and the local police don’t have the resources. The Detective is going to infiltrate the cult. She will pose as Kay Hiddleston, tragically killed in an accident a few days ago. We must provide the detective information regarding the regalia - what K would have worn to the conclave - and text it to her immediately. 

Based on the notebook, Kay is a level one member, which indicates she would wear:

• A pointy hat without band or star
• Grey cloak (at the dry cleaners)
• Red tunic

 Hopefully we don’t get the police officer killed… She is able to pick up the regalia from the dry cleaners with our help. We then have to help her find the entrance to the meeting space. She thinks the entrance might be in one of the car parks, but it’s not clear how we were supposed to get to the correct one. We guess based on where Eddie used to work - two of his former employers are here, as is his coffee shop. We are then supposed to help her find the place. We are STUMPED - UNTIL! My puzzling companion realizes the roundabouts in the parking lot map line up with the emblem on the back of the notebook, which highlights a specific square or parking space. There is a car in that space and we have a picture of the interior. This is where the odd numbering of the pages come in - they are the directions to moving the stick shift. That opens a secret passage to the Cult’s hideout. We direct the Detective around the hideout, making the appropriate greetings to other cultists on the way, based on the notebook. Also, the creators of this puzzle are apparently Warhammer nerds. Having made our way through conversations, and confirming the Cult has the artefact, we are faced with a new challenge: turning on the fuses.

This requires turning the fuses on based on a north-south alignment. Thankfully there are clues scattered throughout the conversation, allowing us to sort the order pretty easily. Less easy is getting the info to the detective, who doesn’t like my capitalization in texts. Old pre-AI tech, but still fun. Having turned the power back on, we try again to talk to some of the other members to try to find the secret room where the artefact is hidden. The first office we try does give us more clues as to the location - people really need better passwords. Then we need to look at some paintings, when I learn that the picture of Napoleon on a Horse is “Napoleon Crossing the Alps”. We eventually find the door to the secret room holding the artefact. However, we need a code. We email another account, and are linked to a website. The first passcode is provided in the notebook. The others potentially rely on a voice message broken up. Once we get those in order, we are presented with a combo lock. We listen carefully and identify the combination through a series of clicks. 

The final audio clip discusses the methods of the Children of Shakir ‘protecting’ the artefact by killing people. A game of ‘cat and mouse’ for hundreds of years. Apparently the artefact is back in their care, and they have plans to hold the police officer until they can move her to Manchester for an untimely demise. The artefact will be reunited with the ‘four keys’ for an ‘eternal legacy’. What could possibly go wrong? For now, we have successfully completed Envelope 4, despite my cats’ best efforts. Sleep 

The Detective Society - The Cursed Exhibition - Envelope 3

We begin night three without many leads as to what happened to the Artefact, and what has led to the death of the Archivist, the Curator, and now Eddie Moore. All we know, is that there is an unknown person in a trench-coat lurking about in the eaves. We begin! 

Tonight’s envelope has the standard start here square, a letter from the detective, a kraft paper envelope addressed to Mr. Eddie Moore, an envelope from the University of Greater Wellington, and a manila envelope labeled ‘Do Not Bend’. 

The starter asks for Mr. Moore’s motivation, to explain, eventually, the motive for his own untimely demise. Apparently the envelopes are from Eddie’s apartment, and the police have already cracked his laptop, and we are advised to contact her at our earliest convenience. No files from the computer, only a website link we think Eddie was trying to access. We are cautioned to ensure we have all the info before attempting the website ourselves. Its homepage is a very secret order vibe emblem with interconnected shapes and odd letters. 

We begin with the kraft envelope, addressed to Eddie at the museum. It is from one Scarlet Rob, who asks we WhatsApp her when we have our next clue. We need find the luggage label number of a trunk belonging to Birdie Shepperton, who died before docking in NY. She may have been an antiquities thief. We’re given two photos with numbers and a website. The website contains photos of a list of thefts from the time around Birdie’s travel from England to the U.S. We suspect, given her name, that at least four of the unknown perpetrator thefts can be attributed to her, as symbols of birds were left nearby. In order to identify her trunk number, we must figure out where she departed the UK. THANKFULLY my partner likes maps ;) We identify that some trunks stay on board, others are on and off at each stop. Based on what we were able to identify, her last theft was Oxford, and our options are (in order) Newcastle, Southampton, Liverpool, and Belfast before the crossing to New York. Based on distance, the closest port to her last theft was Southampton, at 65 miles from Oxford. That means that her trunk loaded at Southampton and stayed for the others. The only trunk that does that is 7927. That the ship left in May confirms why none of the thefts on the last page have her ‘signature’ - they were after her boarding the ship. 

A quick text of the luggage number to Scarlet confirms our investigation. She then sends us a list of unclaimed luggage, Birdie being dead at the point and unable to claim it - we need to identify the correct trunk using the ‘Unclaimed Luggage Rules’ on one of the images. But first, DINNER! 

The Detective Society - The Cursed Exhibition - Episode 2

The scene: the dining table

The weapons of choice: wine, olives, potato chips. Probably all covered in cat hair. 

We are ready to dive into tonight’s envelope! Perhaps we shall discover Claudia’s murderer, possibly that of the Curator, or what Eddy was *REALLY* doing that night, skulking around the museum. 

We Open the Envelope! This time, the envelope contains a letter from the police, a police evidence envelope, and the standard square ‘start here’ envelope. We are helping Police Officer D.S. Higgins with the investigation. Now we have video proof it WAS Eddy! Yes! Eddy is now in hiding, we have the contents of his locker, and we don’t know which address is currently his, nor do we know his current alias. 

The evidence folder contains a black wallet, made of ‘phizenbao’ leather. No money, a picture of an unknown woman with a date on the back - 20/08/02. There’s a hangman puzzle on the back. There’s also a betting slip, betting on Oscars in 2021 - we notice that Eddie’s aliases are also related to actors. There’s a code and site for a dating service. Also a members card for a coffee shop - Sir Frothalot (I like large lattes and I cannot lie). As well, his staff id card with medical information - no bees please. There’s also a tram map for the city of Manchester. 

His locker also contains information regarding accessing his dating profile - we’ll need to recover his account at some point. We may also need to log onto his Coffee website, which will need his address, as requested by the police officer. He boarded a tram post coffee purchase. Apparently he took a weird tram path, which we will have to map out. Going through his bio, we realize we need to identify the following:

• When did ‘Believe’ win the Eurovision - May 2008
• When Djokovic won his third Wimbledon title. - 12 July 2015

When we email his prior employers, they do ask for confirmation of when he left their employ. The hotel provides us with a list of potential names, including two with famous last names - Cruise and Cotillard. We hypothesize he may be alternating genders for the last name, then realize he’s stealing the first name of the male best actor for the oscars of the year he changed jobs, and then the female best actress’ last name. We test our theory:

• In 2015, when he joined the Myth museum, the winners were Eddie Murphy and Julianne Moore —> Eddie Moore
• In 2008, when he joined the Hotel, the winners were Daniel Day Lewis and Marion Cotillard, allowing us to narrow the list down to Daniel Cotillard.
• In 2003, it was too early so he went by the 2002 names, which were Halle Berry and Denzel Washington - Denzel Berry
• He started then at Smithsonian in 1999 as Roberto Paltrow, when the winners were Roberto Benigni and Gwyneth Paltrow.

So, we know his aliases, and this is supposed to take place in 2021 (?) which gives us Anthony McDormand as our likely name he’s going under now. 

We try the dating site. Using the photo reference, we figure out who he went out with, and start messaging. We then have to solve the hangman to figure out her favorite food. After chatting, she gives us Eddie’s then-address: 21 Nona Street. From there, we try to access his coffee account. 

First, turns out the address is real, and closest to Langworthy and Wiest tram stops. Looking at the coffee store, it’s not clear what the nearest one would be. However, my puzzling companion emailed the possible address to the police officer, who called the landlord there, and let us listen in. The message tells us Eddie moved out of Nona street a few years ago, ghosting the landlord. 

So that wouldn’t be the nearest coffee store for him. So, we have to use the Manchester Transport network and backsolve his path. OR, we can guess which stop is nearest to him based on which coffee shops are in Zone 1. There has to be a way to backsolve, but we’re getting testy. We should probably eat dinner. Turns out Princess Street is near St. Peter’s square as well. So, we get into his coffee account, which gives us another address for him, which we send to the detective. Sadly the current tenant doesn’t know where he is either, and we are apparently behind the trail of someone else looking for Mr. Moore. 

We need to find another address. I email his coffee shop, to no avail, but it does say that they are processing his new address in 7-19 business days. We tell the officer that the coffee shop has it - no luck. We realize we can still ask the prior employers, now that we know his alias at the time. The hotel does give us another address! We get to listen as the police break into his apartment! Oh no, he’s dead, and the artefact is missing! Another curse! But we won - without hints or crying, or too much cat hair. 

We tested the theory, realizing that you can solve all three addresses in any order, whichever the last one you send in is the murder scene. VICTORY!

The Detective Society - The Cursed Exhibition - Envelope 1

 As part of my recent Kickstarter backing of Murder on the Moon by The Detective Society, I also picked up their entire back catalog. I have a friend in town visiting who’ll tolerate my insanity, and contribute to it, so we are diving into the Cursed Exhibition Collection.

Envelope 1 opens to three envelops, and a clue card - which we are going to ignore hopefully not needing them. One of the envelopes is helpfully marked start your investigation here, the other two have City of Manchester Police on them. One is marked Evidence. We begin!

The start envelope includes a note to us, the National Museum of Legends and Mythology needs our help! There is a strange artefact - MISSING!! An archivist is dead! The curator needs our help! The police are useless so it is up to our brilliance to solve! 

After realizing this may have been a returned item with all the tape and some of the envelopes opened prior, we start with the larger envelope. There are a map/activity pack and STICKERS, two letters, and a padlocked envelope, as well as some evidence logs.  The stickers say to mark 8 of our most interesting sites on the map, but you know I’m going to use post its, and save the cool stickers for my journal. #I’manadultdamnit.

We are directed to a short video from the Curator, one Angus Phillips, who cares far more about the artefact than the murderer of Archivist Claudia Cobb. Different actor from those in the kids series, but well delivered. 

We then open the evidence-Thames item 03093. It contains an artefact cleaning cloth (which will become my glass cleaner post this game), a branded pencil, a slightly sticky measuring tape, and a series of evidence photos showing some of the items in situ. There is also a note from the police, detailing the chief officer’s. He said there was also a mug of water and a mobile phone. I now want to put EVERYTHING into a mug of water. Maybe not the mobile phone. 

With the papers for the artefact info, we have a letter from an antiquities expert, Jeremiah Picklesworth,  telling us that the artefact is CURSED! The Museum must be warned! He claims the artefact is responsible for the death of his wife, Belinda Picklesworth, and that he donated it to another museum which he claimed also had bad things happen to them. As my puzzling companion pointed out, the artefact clearly has a gender bias. 

We recreate the curator’s desk, with much amusement from the cats, using the evidence photos. Nothing is immediately illuminating. However, we do notice that one evidence photos is sticky, possibly from contact with the sticky tape measure. The mug of water is not visible in the evidence photos. We hypothesize that the approximately 40 inches created by the loop may be the size of the artefact. 

Having recreated the crime scene, we go back to the maps and stickers and such. We know we have the security logs and need to both find the code for the bag as well as interview the security guards. We carefully read the brochure. We then identify a couple of related websites. Using the website and info from the brochure, we catch all of the stickers (post its because they’re too cute). We then dig out my CLUE tokens to track movements from the evidence sheet.

20+ minutes later, we realize we’ve jumped the gun, and go back to the drawing board on her desk. And stare. And stare some more. And then give up and get hints. Then bang our heads at the solution, which is persnickety and requires some squinting. We then take a break for dinner. While banging our heads more.

The Detective Society - Family Adventures

 It’s been a bit of a crazy while, but I finally have the bandwidth to try out the three mini-adventures that came as part of The Detective Society’s Murder on the Moon Kickstarter. I’m actually not the first to play these individual copies. They’re labeled as ‘Family Adventures’ so I shared them with colleagues with kids to hopefully lessen some of the stress of this Administration’s attack on Democracy, Rule of Law, and General Decency. Yes. Capitalized. They’re important. And I could use some stress relief as well, so settling in with some Thai takeout and the puzzles with the window open to the breeze.

The Missing Potion

The first of the three adventures, the Missing Potion comes with cards of two sizes - slightly larger than index cards, and some the size of playing cards or Clue cards in a small envelope, with suspect body bits. Kind of like Guess who? One of the index cards tells me that we are off to help the Blink Workshop, and sends me to a video to watch. Super cute video with an actor very much into the making this exciting for kids role. I get slightly distracted by the tracery maple leaf (?) on the back wall. I already appreciate the energy, time to send Dr. Errol (presumably a nod to the Cryptex Hunt creator?) a message about his missing Invisibility Potion (clearly stolen by SeeMe labs). The link sends me to a chat room. First, I confirm that SeeMe Labs is probably behind the theft. Then I need to determine who at Blink Workshop helped. There are four suspects, one of whom I immediately suspect because she looks familiar from somewhere else. Another game? Amusingly, it turns out to be her - Sam Jenkins. I need to Google Image Search her later to figure out where she’s from. I figured out it’s her based on a series of helpful emails between her and “Rand Omman“ (Random Man) - the perfidious fiend stole her cat so of course she’s entirely justified in stealing the potion to get the cat back. 100% support her decision on this. 

From there we need to log in to her Blink account, but, oh no! We don’t know her password! Thankfully we have security footage and a hint about ‘any old shape’. Pictures from the security footage are on the index cards. The idea is that you color in the areas that are different between before and after shots. Thankfully it’s pretty obvious that the areas create a STAR. Wonder of wonders, that’s her password! We’re in! Following the clues to a grocery list with a helpfully laid out key - refer to the email dates and find specific line/word combinations. Was I not supposed to look at the emails before? Hmmm. Anyhow, the message we get reads: Tell Errol Look In Desk. Roger, on it! 

The desk leads us to a series of descriptors to put the suspect cards together. The cards were super slippery so washi came in handy. Build the three suspects and you get a message. Oh no! SeeMe Labs Has Built Your Machine! Also, the bearded guy’s code name is Eiffel Tower. He is French? Also, I thought it was a potion that was missing? 

Ok, it’s a “potion tracking machine”… For the next bit we need the last index card. Following the pattern of numbers and colors, we get values and letters for Voltage, Temperature, and Ph. And the mythical tracking code: 1NV1S1BL3. Yep, this puzzle speaks l33t. It’s also code name Big Ben. Lots of towers - subconscious phallic energy? lol. 

This leads us to another clue from Sam, a bunch of photos on her desk. They’ve taken her to the odd one out, I.e. the only one that’s not a pointy object - the Roman Colosseum. Oh look, the Prof is in Rome too, and the police are here to help! We’ve solved the case, and there’s a super cute audio vignette at the end. 

Time Travel Trouble

The second of the adventures is Time Travel Trouble. It’s the same format - robust index cards paired with ephemera. In this case, that includes a letter home, a coin, a playing card, a sticky note, and a copy of the Family Guide to Creepy Crawlies. In this case, we’ve been contacted by the National Museum of Legends and Mystery (would totally visit) and their Curator G. Wells (surely not a relative of HG?). Same as before, a QR code takes us to a video file. A very Dr. Who vibe, Baron Timesteal (yes, that’s their name) has stolen things from the museum using a special clock but likes to play games so left us clues. Again, super cute acting and overdoing it for the kids. Loving it. The puzzle proceeds with the same ‘chat room’ approach as the first - enter answers to get the next response. 

First puzzle - use the sticky note and the guide to creepy crawlies to access Baron Timesteal’s login page on ‘superhackers’. Don’t click on strange links, kids! Also, don’t write down your login and password on the back of a sticky note, Mr. #hackingislife. I feel like I’m watching Hackers from the 90s and the bad guy is about to pop up on his skateboard with some nonsense. The landing page is about that level of ridiculousness. Loving it. Now we’ve got to the bugs. To deactivate the virus attacking the museum, we need to poke the bugs in order of the number of legs they have, helpfully spelled out in the creepy crawly guide. Click on the 80s style graphics and get an alphanumeric cipher (also hinted at on the sticky). Oh no! Baron Timesteal has stolen The Heart of the Internet!! Whatever shall we do? (Other than giggling, of course). 

We are next sent to the Mayan exhibit, with the clue to follow the weapons and stop on the kings. The figures are in groups of 3x3 so guessing they’ll form letters. Bone Club. Woot. 

Next to the Monarchy exhibit. We’re pointed to the coats of arms on the wall and the playing card. The note suggests one of the kings is missing something - one of them is without his crown. The shield labels have selectively bolded letters, taking only the ones from the shields with crowns we get: Glory Diamond. Sounds like a name Baron Timesteal might use in his side hustle as a stripper. But we move on.

We are sent to the letter and the coin, the final pieces. The coin has a square hole in the middle with the cardinal directions on it. The letter from Francis Drake has squares on it the precise size of the hole in the coin, and there are letters/directions on the reverse. Putting the coin on the squares and taking the direction from the back points at a series of words: I stole the Gold Spade. Presumably from digging up the City of Gold? 

The curator is convinced the Baron works at the museum. We must look at the staff and see. Who could it be? Looks like we’ll be doing anagrams - several of the names look Timesteal-y. The best thing is, having identified him, the Curator’s response is “of course it’s [them]. [They’re] such an idiot…” Lol. Again, there is a super cute audio clip at the end. I love it. Oh! But we’re not done! When do these artifacts go? Once you’ve browsed the website and found the correct dates, input them into the clock and get more cute clips. Plus, and I should see if the other did this as well, you can get a certificate for solving it once you’ve gotten all four placed safely. Very cute. 

The Smashed Piñata 

This is the last of the three, and from the feedback from the families that did it, maybe the hardest? Will see. Hmmm. No introductory QR code piece. Will need to check with the families.