Here is a potential test that I wrote up:
<!— @page { margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } —>TEST game design
TRACK ONE
Puzzle one (Standard word puzzle, on paper or online, etc):
You are in a Cathedral
There are doors leading to caves 5, 3, and 9.
Cast your gaze upwards to the eye.
See how easy it is to count the spokes?
A number so beautiful and even,
Follow it outside,
Where the stone can speak back to you.
This should send the players to the stone benches outside of building 16, where the acoustics create an echo effect. Once there, there will be another clue, printed on paper, perhaps taped to a miniature lawn gnome.
41 20 63 6f 64 65 20 74 6f 20 65 6e 74 65 72 20 62 75 74 20 6e 6f 6e 65 20 74 6f 20 6c 65 61 76 65 0d 0a 79 6f 75 20 6b 6e 6f 77 20 79 6f 75 20 61 72 65 20 6e 6f 74 20 61 6c 6f 6e 65 0d 0a 74 68 65 20 70 72 69 6e 74 65 72 73 20 77 68 69 6e 65 20 61 6e 64 20 74 68 65 20 63 6c 69 63 6b 69 6e 67 20 6b 65 79 73 0d 0a 79 6f 75 72 20 47 4e 4f 4d 45 20 61 77 61 79 20 66 72 6f 6d 20 47 4e 4f 4d 45
It reads, in HEX,
“A code to enter but none to leave
you know you are not alone
the printers whine and the clicking keys
your GNOME away from GNOME”
A quick translation and google search should send students to the 5th floor of the Student Center to the athena cluster. The first part of the object will be here, inside a small gnome within sight of the door. There will also be the next clue.
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F=G(m1m2/r2)
ONCE I DROPPED MY OFFSPRING ON A MAN’S HEAD
REST IN MY SHADOW,
FIND THE FRUIT OF YOUR EFFORTS
This should, if MIT students still remember how to use Google, lead them to the Isaac Newton apple tree in the President’s garden. There, they will find the final piece of the puzzle.
Track Two
First Puzzle:
This puzzle is given much like the first puzzle of track one. It is printed on either paper or online.
Once I was the only,
But still I am the first,
The SENIOR place to live in hell,
I’ll never be the worst
Come into my yard today,
So we can have some fun,
Try not to get so TIREd, man
Before your time is done.
This should direct players to the Senior House courtyard, particularly the tire swing, in which they will find another clue.
Beneath the BEL tower,
In a DECADE’s cove,
These treasure chests spit sheets of green,
But not coins of gold.
Halfway down 47.2 rods,
Across from the BUSH,
Put your card in the slot
And give it a push
This should lead players to the ATM machines in Lobby 10. There will be the second piece of the device, an apple, and a sheet that says this:
Ring a bell?
Maybe I could inspire some epiphany,
If I fell on your head,
When you were sitting in a GARDEN.
At least, that’s what happened when I did it to that NEWTON guy.
Why don’t you come visit me?
This should lead players to the President’s garden and the Isaac Newton tree.
The beneficial thing about this is that we could send both of the first puzzles to players, setting them on both tracks, or give a mix to the first players. We would need them to sign up for something, to be “let in on it”.
Or, if this is just a test, we could give the players a mix of the clues.
If we find that people aren’t following the clues in the right order (or can’t solve one),
we could make sure the proper clues are dropped somewhere along the way for them.
