S
stephencoffman
Guest
Here is my "take" on the locations. First consider the author. The man is not dumb. He is very smart. Now consider the rules. If you read the rules, anyone finding a token by accident may not get the jewels so they could be found by accident.
Now "reverse engineer" the puzzle applying the clues that you know. Where could you put the tokens so that they would not easily be found by accident, yet you could give clues in one chapter that will direct the reader to the exact spot.
For example, say you have hidden a token in at a football field. Now it would be easy to hide the name of the football field in the story (ie every forth letter of every forth word would give the name of the football field). But a football field is a large area to find a token that is not very big (does anyone know the size of a token? Is it bigger than a silver dollar?
Now how would you give the location of the token in the football field? Say you have attached it to the bottom of a seat in the stands. When was the last time you look or felt underneath a seat? Wouldn't that be in a public place, outside, above eye level, you wouldn't have to open anything, it would not be easily found, you could find it crossing a field, etc.
Say you decoded Chapter 1 and came up with:
UOFH-D-bb-ll5
Would that give you enough to locate a token hidden underneath seat 115 in row bb, in section D at the University of Houston's football field?
Are there 12 public football fields within a day's drive of every place in the Continental USA?
Could a token remain hidden underneath that seat for a couple of years?
In 1982, I placed a brand new shiny penny on a edge above the telephone in one of the most popular restaurant in town. Every time I would go to the restaurant, I would check on the penny. It stayed there until 2003 when they remodeled the place.
It was always in view and since it was by the entry, hundreds of thousands of people passed by. No one bothered it.
So, where would you put the tokens? Then work out your puzzle and see how you would hide the clues.
By the way, remember the prior Treasure (where the golden horse was hidden in a public place)?
Do you REALLY believe it was buried in the ground? If you still have the book, consider this:
What if the golden horse was in a US Mail box which had a combination lock instead of a key. Could the author have easily hidden clues that would allow the reader to go directly to mailbox and open it?
Consider: 77205-0651 10 4 8
A nine digit zipcode gives the exact mailbox!
Is there ANY public place safer than a US Mailbox? As long as the rent is paid, the post office will not remove anything from it. So if you want to hide something, put it in a mailbox. But remember that this treasure is outdoors!
Now see what you can come up with!
BTW, 77205-0651 is my mailbox and they did change it to keys instead of combinations. Also you can mail something to a mailbox just using the 9 digit zipcode.
As for the author's name "Stadther" it is an unusual name. Check the Social Security death database.
Consider the author's history. Where has he lived? And where does he live now? It is all in his bio page. A person usually writes about what they know.
Consider his background. Computer programmer = numbers! Binary numbers no less! 01000001 = A
Consider latitude and longitude with enough digits will give you the EXACT place on earth.
As for the numbers on the page where the fairy is pointing to the numbers:
6 5 14 4 13 7 8 2 3 15 9 10 1 12 11
How many letters are those (hint: 15). A code requires a KEY. The simplest KEY is the alphabeth a=1 b=2 c=3 etc.
Did you notice that his name (Michael Stadther) also has 15 letters!
Just some thoughts!
Stephen Coffman
Now "reverse engineer" the puzzle applying the clues that you know. Where could you put the tokens so that they would not easily be found by accident, yet you could give clues in one chapter that will direct the reader to the exact spot.
For example, say you have hidden a token in at a football field. Now it would be easy to hide the name of the football field in the story (ie every forth letter of every forth word would give the name of the football field). But a football field is a large area to find a token that is not very big (does anyone know the size of a token? Is it bigger than a silver dollar?
Now how would you give the location of the token in the football field? Say you have attached it to the bottom of a seat in the stands. When was the last time you look or felt underneath a seat? Wouldn't that be in a public place, outside, above eye level, you wouldn't have to open anything, it would not be easily found, you could find it crossing a field, etc.
Say you decoded Chapter 1 and came up with:
UOFH-D-bb-ll5
Would that give you enough to locate a token hidden underneath seat 115 in row bb, in section D at the University of Houston's football field?
Are there 12 public football fields within a day's drive of every place in the Continental USA?
Could a token remain hidden underneath that seat for a couple of years?
In 1982, I placed a brand new shiny penny on a edge above the telephone in one of the most popular restaurant in town. Every time I would go to the restaurant, I would check on the penny. It stayed there until 2003 when they remodeled the place.
It was always in view and since it was by the entry, hundreds of thousands of people passed by. No one bothered it.
So, where would you put the tokens? Then work out your puzzle and see how you would hide the clues.
By the way, remember the prior Treasure (where the golden horse was hidden in a public place)?
Do you REALLY believe it was buried in the ground? If you still have the book, consider this:
What if the golden horse was in a US Mail box which had a combination lock instead of a key. Could the author have easily hidden clues that would allow the reader to go directly to mailbox and open it?
Consider: 77205-0651 10 4 8
A nine digit zipcode gives the exact mailbox!
Is there ANY public place safer than a US Mailbox? As long as the rent is paid, the post office will not remove anything from it. So if you want to hide something, put it in a mailbox. But remember that this treasure is outdoors!
Now see what you can come up with!
BTW, 77205-0651 is my mailbox and they did change it to keys instead of combinations. Also you can mail something to a mailbox just using the 9 digit zipcode.
As for the author's name "Stadther" it is an unusual name. Check the Social Security death database.
Consider the author's history. Where has he lived? And where does he live now? It is all in his bio page. A person usually writes about what they know.
Consider his background. Computer programmer = numbers! Binary numbers no less! 01000001 = A
Consider latitude and longitude with enough digits will give you the EXACT place on earth.
As for the numbers on the page where the fairy is pointing to the numbers:
6 5 14 4 13 7 8 2 3 15 9 10 1 12 11
How many letters are those (hint: 15). A code requires a KEY. The simplest KEY is the alphabeth a=1 b=2 c=3 etc.
Did you notice that his name (Michael Stadther) also has 15 letters!
Just some thoughts!
Stephen Coffman
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