(Super late, but better super late than super never, right?)
For 2014, I decided to take a different approach. Since we had recently done several escape room games, I thought it would be fun to have some small puzzles to solve. The setup was much more simple than last year's, with a red tool box from the garage and a cheap dial combination padlock from my high school locker making up the bulk of the materials. I came up with a couple of friend-appropriate console gaming and UX themed puzzles, printed them out, and taped them in semi-hidden spots around the tool box to recreate the puzzle-hunting experience. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of the un-solved box, so the text will have to do:
In the card:
Put it all together for the combination of 30 right, 1 left, 33 right, and the lock opens!
I tried to keep the whole affair much more simple than last year, and it went well. I could have improved on having better presentation, since the tool box was a last minute find. On the plus side, the puzzles were easy enough to be solved quickly, but not trivial enough to require no thought at all, and the giftee had fun, so I'd say it was a success overall.
For 2014, I decided to take a different approach. Since we had recently done several escape room games, I thought it would be fun to have some small puzzles to solve. The setup was much more simple than last year's, with a red tool box from the garage and a cheap dial combination padlock from my high school locker making up the bulk of the materials. I came up with a couple of friend-appropriate console gaming and UX themed puzzles, printed them out, and taped them in semi-hidden spots around the tool box to recreate the puzzle-hunting experience. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of the un-solved box, so the text will have to do:
In the card:
Merry Christmas! Since you missed all of the times we did Escape From The Mysterious Room, Escape From The Bank Vault, Escape From The Moon Base, Escape From The Time Travel Lab, and Escape From The Auction House, I thought I would give you a small taste of the action with your secret santa present. Of course, this will be much easier than the real thing, but I want you to actually be able to open your gift.On the bottom of the tool box:
Sticking out from under the lid:The combination for the lock is:XYR ZL XXR
There are X lines in a hamburger menu icon
On the back of the lock:
P: 2 3 4X: 0 360 Z
Put it all together for the combination of 30 right, 1 left, 33 right, and the lock opens!
I tried to keep the whole affair much more simple than last year, and it went well. I could have improved on having better presentation, since the tool box was a last minute find. On the plus side, the puzzles were easy enough to be solved quickly, but not trivial enough to require no thought at all, and the giftee had fun, so I'd say it was a success overall.
