My nephew recently turned 5, and as it’s his first “big” birthday, I wanted to do something special for him. So, I created a secret society dedicated to ferreting out hidden knowledge, and invited him to join.
My longtime friend and business partner, Blair Erickson was kind enough to help me with the creative, and suggested that the society be set in the Pacific Ocean. And so, the “Puzzle Keepers of Palau” was born.
I first sent him a letter, inviting him to join the society and including an official membership card:
Then, about a week later, I sent him another letter, along with some documents and a locked box.
The letter directed him to an online puzzle, posted on the official PKP site and password-protected. The puzzle simulated a marble box with four sides. Three of the four sides had an image, and four letter dials. When the correct word is entered, a slot opens, revealing a gear. Clicking on the gear collects it. The fourth side has slots to place the three gears in, and once that is done, a three-digit code is revealed.
The three digit code was set to the combination I used for the luggage lock on the box I mailed him which, once opened, revealed a bunch of fun toys and plastic gold coins.
The puzzle was created using Haxe, which I’m really starting to love. I had hoped to deploy it to iOS, as my nephew also received an ipad for his bday but time got a bit tight for that, so I fell back to a publishing as Flash. If you’d like to try your own hand at the puzzle, I’ve posted it here.
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