%&*#! stupid puzzles

%&*#!Stupid Puzzles!

A general look at puzzle tools, puzzle solving, and

puzzle creation.

By TripCyclone

WAIT!!!

Before you take extensive notes, this presentation (including links) will put posted on my blog this weekend at

http://tripcyclone.wordpress.com

What are Puzzles

Puzzles are just one method through which an Unknown cache can be placed.

Unknowns are the “catch-all” of cache types.

Types of Puzzles

• Visual• Codes/Ciphers• Newspaper• Trivia• Word-based• Number-based

• On-Site• Multimedia• Rube-Goldberg• QR Codes• Fried Okra

Nowhere near exhaustive, this is just a broad sample of the styles out there.

General Tips

1. Never ignore the 2. Identify what kind of 3. Take notes4. Look for clues5. PAF/E-mail6. Keep organized7. Take a breather

Never Ignore the

Are You A Woos?

Identify What Kind of

Sometimes, identifying WHAT the puzzle can be important both in:

• whether YOU want to attempt it• how you approach the puzzle

Take Notes

Groundspeak provides a nice Notes feature.

Only you can see these notes.

Look for Clues

• Name/Title

• Hidden by

• Hidden on

• Size, difficulty, and terrain

• Coordinates

• Cache description

• Images

• Additional waypoints

• The hint

• Inventory

• Logs

GBR Trail #94

PAF/E-mail

Phone-A-Friend to work together or get hints

E-mail the owner if you have questions

Keep Organized

Develop some method to keep track of the puzzles you have solved and the ones you are working on.

GSAKBookmark ListsOther Databases

We will come back to this one later.

Take a Breather

Sometimes, you just need a break. Step back and ignore the puzzle for a while if you get stuck.

Employ Notes and Organization to ensure your progress isn’t forgotten when you come back.

Practice, Practice, Bang Head, Practice

What about ways to practice puzzle solving?

Randomly choose a city and start solving.How Do I Solve…Geocaching Puzzle of the Day

Some Puzzle Tools

• Cipher Tools• Google• Wikipedia• Sudoku Solver – solves several variants• Puzzle – wikipedia page for puzzles; branches out

into many wikipedia entries about different puzzles

• National Puzzlers League – lots of info and some solvers

• Geocaching Puzzle Resources – my more detailed presentation on resources from last year

A Couple of Geocaching.com Resources

• GC25WQJ - A puzzle that walks you through common ways to hide information

• Puzzle Solving 101 – a series of caches built around how to solve puzzles.

• Lesson in Ciphers – a series of cipher caches built to teach about ciphers

• Puzzle Shortcuts Series – a series of caches that teach about solving puzzles. A “Cliff Notes” version

• Post by NiraD – NiraD regularly posts this info on the forums when people ask for puzzle help.

Creating Puzzles

Creating Puzzles can help in various ways:1. Helps you think outside the box2. Can teach you tools for solving3. Improve the “Spice of Life”

And above ALL ELSE:

YOU ARE NOT THE ONE WHO HAS TO

SOLVE IT!

Creation Tips

1. Pick a topic you are familiar with.2. Pick a style of puzzle you enjoy3. Go hide the cache and get the

coordinates4. Figure out how to make a puzzle

with the coordinates5. Submit your cache

Here are some ways to do quick encoding

N 39° 15.335 W 094° 38.180N XXXIX XV.CCCXXXVW XCIV XXXVIII.CLXXX

N CI AE.CCE W ID CH.AH0

15S N 4346415 E 358815