Puzzle caches

[+maristua]

When there is no hint in the cache description on what the type of puzzle is called. How do you search the internet for help on solving the puzzle?

[+StarBrand]

Figuring out the type or kind of puzzle is often "the puzzle" in and of itself.

 

Experience helps. Asking the owner for a subtle hint is always an option.

 

Running the description text through internet searches sometimes helps.

 

Look for information in the HTML code on the page. look for white text on the page.

Lookup exif information and how to use it (pictures).

 

Look for anything that remotely looks like coordinate pairs.

[+maristua]

Thank you for the reply. I tend to run in to trouble (not understanding how to solve the puzzle) when I can't find any help in the HTML code and the exif information gives me nothing.

[+niraD]

A while back, The Rat offered a puzzle-solving class as an event cache. His slides are available here:

http://thegba.net/resources/general_information.php

 

Among the tips he offered:

 

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, area codes, telephone keypads, episode numbers, 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)

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)

[+maristua]

Thank you for great tips

I will try to use them and hopefully I will be able to solve more puzzles

[+Bhob]

a few more observations

 

check the number of stars in the difficulty rating

typically, this will tell you how hard the puzzle is

(a nice hider will have a line in the description that says something like

"the puzzle is three stars, but the physical hide is a 1.5")

fewer stars, and you should not have to go too far afield to solve it

lots of stars, and you may be in for a headache

 

be aware that hiders know most of the rules, too

for example, "look for 15 digits"

and "the high-order digits should be the same as in the given coordinates"

just to be tricky some hiders will use UTM or DDD MM SS.S

others will stick to the usual DDD MM.MMM, but only provide the last five digits of each coordinate

 

don't forget to look for a website link

(near the top of the geocache page, on the left)

and sometimes valuable information is provided in a gallery picture

 

much of the fun of puzzles is that some of them are unique

never seen before, and probably not to be seen ever again

 

you can often get a nudge from a prior finder

and sometimes reading all of the prior logs a time or three will get you going in the right direction

 

and it never hurts to team up with other players

different points of view are often quite valuable

 

have fun !

[+maristua]

Thank you

[+Harry Dolphin]

And, sometimes, we work hard to make them more difficult than that!

[+popokiiti]

And, sometimes, we work hard to make them more difficult than that!

Aha! Now I know why I rarely solve a puzzle...it's down the hard work of you and others .....

 

 

 

 

 

...not because I'm dumb....or stupid...or TATSP!

[+kunarion]

How do you search the internet for help on solving the puzzle?

I'll sometimes focus on an unusual part of the puzzle (some weird word or code bit) and google it. Like if I see “115, 73, 24, 807”, I'll do a search, and let's say it comes up “Beale Cipher”, the part that was decoded. Then I can try a few things.

 

Some Unknown Caches will require more pieces before you can begin solving it (such as finding a particular Travel Bug or doing an entirely different cache), and you only find out when you find the missing parts. It's possible that you don't have enough info yet.

 

If you need help, send a message to the Cache Owner, but don't be upset if they won't supply hints. Many puzzles are super-easy, and as mentioned, the “puzzle” is figuring out what the puzzle is. I'll often put a puzzle away, come back sometime later, waiting for that “Aha!” moment. Some are still at the bottom of my pile after 2 years, awaiting inspiration...

[+maristua]

Thanks for the reply

It's not easy searching for words when you only have an image to go after

[+geodarts]

Thanks for the reply

It's not easy searching for words when you only have an image to go after

 

Sometimes images can embed words,numbers, or files. Sometimes they can contain important types of data, sometimes they hide what is in the source page of a cache, sometimes they lead to puzzles within a puzzle, sometimes the image itself points to what you have to do when you get to the cache location, sometimes even the dimensions of an image can be important.

 

To me puzzles often seem like work. So if I do not get an idea right away, I will let it sit for awhile and look at it again when I get around to it. And if it seems that I will need an enigma code decrypter, or would take me more time to solve than I would be willing to spend looking for a cache, I might ignore it altogether. But if I really want to find the cache for one reason or the other, and hit a wall after a wall, then most cache owners have been gracious about providing a nudge, or sometimes two or three nudges.

[+maristua]

Thank you for the reply

[+Harry Dolphin]

And, sometimes, we work hard to make them more difficult than that!

Aha! Now I know why I rarely solve a puzzle...it's down the hard work of you and others .....

 

 

 

 

 

...not because I'm dumb....or stupid...or TATSP!

 

Oh. I have a number of very easy mystery caches too. But challenging the mystery solvers is fun too!

 

OP, if you do not see the puzzle, then searching the Internet will probably not help. Sometimes, the puzzle is finding the puzzle. Hee hee hee.

[+Michaelcycle]

Thanks for the reply

It's not easy searching for words when you only have an image to go after

 

You might want to look up "steganography" It is another method of hiding data

[+maristua]

Thanks for all your replies

[+northernpenguin]

Thanks for the reply

It's not easy searching for words when you only have an image to go after

 

You might want to look up "steganography" It is another method of hiding data

 

Also lookup EXIF as that's a popular place to hide things, or the ever popular GIF with multiple colour values that look the same (open it in paint and try using the paint bucket in a few spots)

[+Ike 13]

I start out with puzzles I know how to solve instantly; solving may take time, but if I cannot figure out how to solve in 5 minutes I put it away. I research different ciphers, and find different sites. (PurpleHell, rumkin are two) I research different types of steganography. The Puzzle 101 series is a great way to get started even if you don't want to solve the puzzles you can read up on different types. Each puzzle I solve gives me ideas on others and new ones to create. Getting into someone elses hea and thought process is the most difficult thing on lots of puzzles.

[+niraD]

Image-based puzzles can be very challenging, just because there are so many ways to use images in a puzzle. A picture of a pineapple might represent the digit 9 because there are 9 letters in the word "pineapple". Or it might represent the digit 6 because the letter P is the 16th letter of the alphabet. Or it might be an animated GIF that will display a pineapple for 99 seconds, then display an image of the coordinates for 1 second, and then display an image of a pineapple again. Or it might reveal an image of the coordinates if you filter out the red and green layers, and maximize the contrast in the blue layer. Or it might have the coordinates in the EXIF metadata. Or the dimensions (in pixels) of the image might be part of the coordinates. Or the pattern on the pineapple can hide the coordinates, encoded in Morse code, or braille, or some other way. Or the picture can be a red herring and the puzzle is elsewhere. Or... so many other possibilities.

[+maristua]

Thank you for many great ideas

[+debandrobin]

Image-based puzzles can be very challenging, just because there are so many ways to use images in a puzzle. A picture of a pineapple might represent the digit 9 because there are 9 letters in the word "pineapple". Or it might represent the digit 6 because the letter P is the 16th letter of the alphabet. Or it might be an animated GIF that will display a pineapple for 99 seconds, then display an image of the coordinates for 1 second, and then display an image of a pineapple again. Or it might reveal an image of the coordinates if you filter out the red and green layers, and maximize the contrast in the blue layer. Or it might have the coordinates in the EXIF metadata. Or the dimensions (in pixels) of the image might be part of the coordinates. Or the pattern on the pineapple can hide the coordinates, encoded in Morse code, or braille, or some other way. Or the picture can be a red herring and the puzzle is elsewhere. Or... so many other possibilities.

 

How do you do some of this?

[+niraD]

How do you do some of this?

Well, a lot of it is just a matter of studying the images to find a pattern, or to find something odd that stands out, and then exploring anything interesting to see if it produces reasonable coordinates. Some of the links in my first post to this thread may help. But for the examples I listed:

 

A picture of a pineapple might represent the digit 9 because there are 9 letters in the word "pineapple". Or it might represent the digit 6 because the letter P is the 16th letter of the alphabet.

Both of these would appear as one of a set of images. It's just a matter of figuring out the correct way to get numbers from the images. Read the cache description carefully, including the name of the cache and the name of the cache owner as listed in the cache description. (The name listed in the cache description doesn't have to match the username of the actual cache owner.) This is also a case where it can be helpful to look for ways to get the right numbers from something near the beginning of the puzzle. Around here, coordinates will look like "N 37° xx.xxx W 122° xx.xxx", so I'd 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.)

 

Or it might be an animated GIF that will display a pineapple for 99 seconds, then display an image of the coordinates for 1 second, and then display an image of a pineapple again.[...] Or it might have the coordinates in the EXIF metadata. Or the dimensions (in pixels) of the image might be part of the coordinates.

I might notice this when examining the images. When I select (right click) -> View Image Info, I would see the URL of the image, the file type, metadata, etc. An image that is an animated GIF deserves extra attention. An image with information in the metadata deserves extra attention. And if image dimensions start to give me the digits 37xxxxx122xxxxx, then that's interesting too.

 

Or it might reveal an image of the coordinates if you filter out the red and green layers, and maximize the contrast in the blue layer.

This would be hard. I probably wouldn't try manipulating the image in The Gimp (my image software) unless I had run out of other options, or there was a hint about it somewhere in the cache description. Or unless I could tell that there was something hidden in the image, but just couldn't make out what it is without manipulating the image.

 

Or the pattern on the pineapple can hide the coordinates, encoded in Morse code, or braille, or some other way.

This is just a matter of studying the image itself carefully, and noticing odd patterns of dots/dashes/symbols hidden in the image.

 

Or the picture can be a red herring and the puzzle is elsewhere.

I'm not sure what to say about avoiding red herrings. I've followed a lot of them, and I still get caught by them.

[+debandrobin]

Thanks for the quick reply. Image manipulation is new to me. I'm going to find the puzzle caches with images that are messing with my head and look at them in a new way.

 

What is metadata and how is it useful? I've tried the right click -> view image info and it lists the url as being at geocaching.com. I'm not sure how to use that information.

 

I appreciate your patience teaching me about this. It really is fascinating.

 

Deb

[+Bear and Ragged]

Photographic metadata: http://www.photometadata.org/META-Resources-Metadata-History

 

http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/exifsoftware/EXIF_IPTC_XMP_Software_Metadata_Readers_Editors_Extraction_Tools.htm

 

In a nutshell:

Photographers can record things like the name of the photographer, caption -whose who left to right, where/when it was taken, etc, and camera info-make/shutter speed/aperture etc, in 'metadata' which can be read by image manipulating software (Photoshop/Gimp/Graphic Converter etc.,) Some parts are written by the camera's software other parts can be added/deleted by the photographer, or others with the software.

Edited February 20, 2011 by Bear and Ragged

[+debandrobin]

Thank you Bear and Ragged. Who knew this was all there. Thanks again.