+WattsThat Posted November 24, 2015 Share Posted November 24, 2015 So, my wife and I want to start trying to find some of the more difficult caches, but neither of us have ever seen puzzles like these before. Honestly we don't even know where to start. Here are a couple examples of our confoundery: http://coord.info/GC1HCQX What the heck? Am I supposed to find names for the symbols or something? The story doesn't even make sense. And why is there a huge block of symbols after the first string? http://coord.info/GC51Q1H Okay obviously this one's messed up because someone accidentally typed a long string of gibberish letters in a row and tried to cover it up with a photo of Einstein. http://coord.info/GC220TW All I see is a nifty story and a picture of a chessboard. Is there a clue or something somewhere? Have I lost my marbles? http://coord.info/GC5T8X3 AM I TAKING CRAZY PILLS?! Any direction would be greatly appreciated to alleviate our bafflement. Sincerely, Mr. WattsThat? Quote Link to comment
+niraD Posted November 24, 2015 Share Posted November 24, 2015 According to section 2-D of the geocaching.com terms of use, "You agree not to: [...] xxiii. Publish on our websites the solutions, hints, spoilers, or any hidden coordinates for any geocache without consent from the geocache owner.” However, here are some general puzzle tips (based in part on a puzzle-solving class event presented by The Rat a while ago): Identify the theme. Check the cache title, the hint, the HTML source, the graphics (including names/URLs), any links (including URLs), whatever is at the posted coordinates, etc. If you can figure out the theme, then you should look for numbering systems that are associated with that theme (zip codes, athletes’ jersey numbers, episode numbers, product codes, etc.). Around here, coordinates will have 15 digits, and will look like "N 37° xx.xxx W 122° xx.xxx". So when I'm solving a nearby puzzle, I look for a group of 15 things, and then I look for ways to get the digits 37xxxxx122xxxxx from them. In general, I look for ways to get the number 37 (or the digits 3 and 7) from something near the beginning of the puzzle, and the number 122 (or the digits 1, 2, and 2) from something near the middle of the puzzle. (Of course, you'll need to adjust this for the coordinates near you.) Other useful resources include: Puzzle Solving 101 Series (bookmark list) Calgary Puzzle Solving 101 (bookmark list) Puzzle Shortcuts Series (bookmark list) Solving Puzzle Caches (online article) How Do I Solve All These $@! Puzzle Caches? (tutorial-style puzzle cache) Puzzle FUNdamentals (archived event cache) and the Puzzle FUNdamentals resources on the GeocacheAlaska! education page The GBA's Puzzle Cache FAQ (for puzzle designers, but useful for understanding how puzzle caches work) LANAKI's Classical Cryptography Course How to Puzzle Cache (book) Quote Link to comment
+WattsThat Posted November 24, 2015 Author Share Posted November 24, 2015 Well, this is exactly what we were looking for. Y'all have thought of everything. Thanks! Quote Link to comment
+Touchstone Posted November 24, 2015 Share Posted November 24, 2015 It's not nitaD's first rodeo on the subject Quote Link to comment
Pup Patrol Posted November 24, 2015 Share Posted November 24, 2015 So, my wife and I want to start trying to find some of the more difficult caches, but neither of us have ever seen puzzles like these before. Honestly we don't even know where to start. The ones I looked at have high difficulty ratings. They are meant to be tough puzzles. Have you tried contacting the cache owner(s) and asking for help or another hint? B. Quote Link to comment
+noncentric Posted November 24, 2015 Share Posted November 24, 2015 So, my wife and I want to start trying to find some of the more difficult caches, but neither of us have ever seen puzzles like these before. Honestly we don't even know where to start. The ones I looked at have high difficulty ratings. They are meant to be tough puzzles. Agreed, the puzzles posted by the OP have difficulty ratings of 4 and 5. Since the OP hasn't logged any mystery/puzzle caches yet, then it would be advisable to start with lower difficulty puzzles first. Solving some puzzles with lower difficulty ratings might make it easier to spot the solving method of the more difficult puzzles. Quote Link to comment
+GrateBear Posted November 25, 2015 Share Posted November 25, 2015 Don't feel bad. I've solved a few that were semi-difficult, but for the most part just scratch my head and wonder what I'm supposed to solve. And, despite all the help links, I'm still lost. So, I skip them and move along Quote Link to comment
+Path Pacer Posted November 25, 2015 Share Posted November 25, 2015 Puzzles aren't my thing either. Sometimes I can see where to go, but mostly I just go "huh?" Quote Link to comment
+WattsThat Posted November 27, 2015 Author Share Posted November 27, 2015 Huge thanks to ePeterso2 for the Puzzle Solving 101 series - we worked through the first 5 sections and have already figured out how to solve a few puzzles near us. Very well written! Quote Link to comment
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