The Puzzle Design Process

The Solution

The pages hide UTM GPS coordinates: 18T E 586811 N 4514656. I broke this into three distinct parts (18T, the zone; E 586811, the longitude; N 4514656, the latitude), and made a page for each component. Each page is solved the same way. The letter is the page’s file name. The numbers are the word count for each paragraph on the page, linked together (i.e., on the page E.html, the paragraphs have 58, 68, and 11 words).

The coordinates are to a spot in Central Park in New York City -- in the area known as the Ramble, to be specific. From there, the searcher has more work to do. A clever researcher (or someone very familiar with the park) would eventually find a famous Alice in Wonderland statue. There are several clues to this location hidden in the story itself, as well:

It is much to the east and a bit south of the GPS site;
it is an actual statue of a girl and a rabbit, along with a convenient mushroom;
directly to the south, there is a well-known pond;
any self-respecting game player will jump all over a potential Alice in Wonderland reference, anyhow.

I would affix a small key to the underside of the smallest mushroom with spirit gum.

The Original Plan

My initial thought was to use the GPS coordinates of a park in London. There would be an additional riddle, along these general lines:

No moon, no sun, no star
Look northward (and not far!)
A light no eyes can see
Will show the way to thee

This would indicate going to the GPS spot on a dark night, facing north, and shining a UV light in that direction. A well-chosen site would have a clearly visible gazebo, wall, or crypt located nearby, and excellent protection from weather. The UV light would reveal a large arrow pointing UP written in an invisible ink. The arrow points to a chink in the wall/ventilation duct/top of a ledge, where of course the key or prize is concealed.

I abandoned this idea because I do not have the familiarity with public spaces in London to choose a site and construct the puzzle accordingly. I still think it is a sound idea, if I only had an accomplice.

The Remaining Problems

There are at least a few issues with my puzzle that I would want to resolve in a live production environment.

First, the GPS site is probably too far away from the actual key. I unfortunately do not have a GPS device accessible to me right now, or I would have chosen a closer site myself; and those were the closest coordinates I could readily find.

Next, this might be a poorly-chosen hiding spot for a live puzzle, because children do play on the statue. I’d want to observe the spot for a day or two, just to see how little kids interact with it. Other alternatives might be to say in the story that the key flew into the water, and choose a GPS spot actually in that boat pond to the south; or there’s always the buried treasure idea (though I doubt Central Park authorities would condone searchers digging up the park).

Finally, I did brazenly steal my White Rabbit. It would be unquestionably better to obtain all proper copyrights and permissions.

The Deadline

I am submitting this puzzle significantly earlier than the deadline, for very specific reasons. The nature of this type of writing involves significant pressure and a solid requirement to produce work on demand (and sometimes in an emergency!) I could probably craft a more polished piece in an entire week. However, I feel that work executed on a much shorter timeframe is a better demonstration of what working with me would be like. With that in mind, note that, excluding some minor typo fixes, this was all designed and implemented in less than 24 hours.

The Writing

The ARG genre has primarily fixated on a near-future/cyberpunk theme. This is only natural, given the technology used to construct the puzzles. I have some personal reservations about whether that kind of game could attract a mainstream audience, though, so I went out on a limb and did something a lot different.

I wanted a very accessible vehicle that still gave room for a playful, lyrical language. In this instance, I tried to capture the mood of a Masquerade, or the inevitable Alice in Wonderland. The structure of the puzzle itself did require a disciplined approach to the writing, though, and this was as much a work of engineering as a story.

From time to time, I do experiment with other writing styles and voices. Other examples of my writing are available on my blog, or by request.