Category: Treasure Hunts

Armchair or real-world treasure hunts, usually with a prize reward

Merlin Mystery Solution: Part 6

Merlin Mystery
alchemy symbol

Golden Merlin Symbol: GMer

Go to the Merlin Mystery Solution Index.

This is Part 6 of my solution to The Merlin Mystery by Jonathan Gunson and Marten Coombe.

This post provides the complete solution to the Cube mini-puzzle.

In part 3, we established the chain of objects that links the Cube to the Merlin symbol (“Mer”). Then, in part 5, we resolved the ambiguity between the Cone and Cube both linking to Mer. The Cube links specifically to the Gold and Silver Merlin symbols, “GMer” and “SMer”.

Once solved, the Cube puzzle is a major leap forward in finding the 75 different border squares which “spell out” the final solution.

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News and Updates for November

Board Games, Escape Rooms, News, Quick Puzzles, Real World

logo This is a monthly update of treasure hunt, game and puzzle tidbits.

Treasure Trails has produced a Halloween themed puzzle that’s free to try out. If you like it, their main business is selling walking and driving tours of hundreds of different places around the UK. The unique feature is that the tour includes clues for a treasure hunt or a murder mystery that you crack en route. Trails cost £6.99 if you want to print them off at home yourself. » Read more

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The Clock Without A Face

Armchair

clock without a face cover

The Clock Without A Face


The Clock Without a Face by Gus Twintig (a pseudonym for Scott Teplin, Mac Barnett and Eli Horowitz) is an unusual armchair treasure hunt book, though its peculiarities are also a source of annoyance if you want to solve it all from the comfort of your living room.

Immediately catching the eye with its strangely pentagonal shape, this chunky board book is stuffed with amusing, colourful pictures. Each page shows a different floor from a 13 storey apartment block. The building’s residents have their different quirks, from the hoarder with her piles of toasters and cupboards of nuclear missiles, to the mime with his minimalist black and white decor and a secret, grimy “speaking room”.
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Merlin Mystery Solution: Part 5

Merlin Mystery
Merlin Mystery cover

The Merlin Mystery

Go to the Merlin Mystery Solution Index.

This is Part 5 of my solution to The Merlin Mystery (“MM”) by Jonathan Gunson and Marten Coombe.

This post provides the complete solution to the Cone mini-puzzle.

In part 3, we established the chain of objects that links the Cone to the spitfires and the Merlin symbol (“Mer”). We also saw that there is an ambiguity since the Cube is also linked to Mer.

This part goes through the clues that explain the meaning of the spitfires and how this resolves the ambiguity between the Cone and Cube links to Mer.

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The Great Global Treasure Hunt on Google Earth

Armchair, Solutions
book cover

The Great Global Treasure Hunt

For a treasure hunt book with such a long title, the publisher provided a surprisingly short time to solve it. The Great Global Treasure Hunt on Google Earth by Tim Dedopulos was published in September 2011 and the competition to win €50,000 closed in March 2012.

There were nevertheless 77 correct entries received with the winner chosen at random.

After that, the publisher quickly lost interest. A series of videos were recorded by the author revealing clues to the solution on each page of the book, but only the first six were posted to YouTube. Perhaps the escalating obscurity of the solutions started to grate because, I’m sorry to say, this is a treasure hunt that infuriates rather than intrigues. Where did such a great idea go wrong?

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Merlin Mystery Solution: Part 4

Merlin Mystery
clock

Prague Astronomical Clock

Go to the Merlin Mystery Solution Index. This is Part 4 of my solution to The Merlin Mystery (“MM”) by Jonathan Gunson and Marten Coombe.

This post provides the complete solution to the Pyramid mini-puzzle.

In part 3, we established the chain of objects that links the Pyramid to the Nimue symbol (“Nim”). This part goes through the clues that in turn link the Nim symbol to the zodiac signs and the witch hats. These sets of symbols provide the first step to solving the puzzle.
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Maze: Finding The Path

Armchair, Solutions
Maze cover

Maze by Christopher Manson

Maze by Christopher Manson is, according to the cover, “The World’s Most Challenging Puzzle”. True to the claim, nobody correctly solved it during the two years between publication in October 1985 and the close of the competition in September 1987. The $10,000 prize money was instead split between several people who all got closest to the solution.

The puzzle has several parts. The first step is to find the shortest path in and out of the maze. Then there is a cryptic riddle to find at the centre of the maze. Finally, the solution to the riddle is solved by finding clues hidden along the shortest path.

This post takes a quick look at the book and provides the solution to finding the shortest path. You can also download an interactive map that keen Maze-solvers may find useful.

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Merlin Mystery Solution: Part 2

Merlin Mystery
Merlin Mystery cover

The Merlin Mystery

Go to the Merlin Mystery Solution Index.

This is Part 2 of my solution to The Merlin Mystery (“MM”) by Jonathan Gunson and Marten Coombe.

This post introduces all the important symbols used in the book and my shorthand notations for them.

MM is filled with symbols. An important step to solving the puzzle is to be able to recognise them and know which of several different categories they fall into.

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Masquerade by Kit Williams: The Solution

Kit Williams, Solutions
Artwork from Masquerade

Page 1 of Masquerade – Click for larger version

Masquerade is the quintessential armchair treasure hunt book: beautiful to look at and filled with many small, easy puzzles as well as one large one that is nigh impossible to solve.

This post goes through some of the little puzzles in the book (as much as can be covered in a single blog post). It also gradually reveals hints to how the main puzzle works, before giving away the full solution. Skip to the end if you want, or try to work it out for yourself once pointed in the right direction.

The clues start right on the title page: “To solve the hidden riddle, you must use your eyes, / And find the hare in every picture that may point you to the prize”.

Indeed, there is a hare hidden on every page, and hunting them down is the first bit of fun to be had in the book. But this clue has two deeper, double meanings: eyes are important, and the hares point, literally, to the answer.

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