Warning: the “Just for Fun” section of this document contains spoilers for some of the puzzles!
Thanks so much to everyone who played HIVE: The Race to Save Time! 140 of you successfully solved the final round, and in doing so, helped Isabel send Diego back in time to change the future! (To find out what happens next – which we guarantee isn’t what you expect – be sure to read the book HIVE: Madders of Time, Book One by DL Orton)
Despite the fact that we didn’t have a leaderboard (so as not to encourage skipping/playing on easy mode), we do want to give a shout-out to the first ten(ish) finishers, all of whom played on Hard mode:
ddlatham and teamajk (both finishing in 2h23m), keresh (2h38m), purplecow (2h47m), Sophia Alone (2h53m), ElyseTheCat (3h28m), DragonEngineer97 (3h57m), and then several solvers who finished in 4h7m (Kelli, shelby, Alyssa) and 4h8m (birb, a, Chris, orie).
Overall, 369 players registered for HIVE, with 244 completing Round 1, 190 completing Round 2, and 140 completing Round 3 during the game period.
For those who like stats, here are some stats:
We love it when folks get the right answers to our puzzles, but sometimes the wrong answers can be just as (or even more) fun!
Several of you discovered an alternate meaning for the “for… oh, for” clue in HITCHHIKER’S, with 8 guesses of DEWEY, 6 guesses of LIBRARY, and multiple guesses of things like “SPECIAL TOPICS IN LANGUAGE,” “SPECIAL TOPICS,” “CARD CATALOG,” “LANGUAGE,” and the like (404 is the Dewey Decimal code for Special Topics in Language). Six people knew the book well enough to guess FORTY-TWO as the Ultimate Answer, and there was also a large helping of book-related guesses, including MARVIN, FORD PREFECT, DON’T PANIC, VOGON, BABEL FISH, and ENCYCLOPEDIA GALACTICA.
The Round 3 metapuzzle answer clearly left some of you scratching your heads as to why it was “CURSE SOIL, ED AGAIN” or “CURSE SO I LED A GAIN” (both popular submission spacings). In retrospect, we probably should have put an enumeration of (6 5 5) to clarify that it was intended to be “CURSES! OILED AGAIN!” (a much more logical sentiment for someone covered in grease). Another incorrect guess at spacing (and one letter) for the answer to CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE resulted in someone believing the clue was “A NEWER LONG E.D.” and guessing “VIAGRA.”
We received practically every well-known Elvis song title (including CAN’T HELP FALLING IN LOVE, HOUND DOG, and DON’T BE CRUEL) as well as nearly every song on the Ocean’s Eleven soundtrack (including GRITTY SHAKER and 16 guesses of CLAIR DE LUNE) as guesses to THINGS TO DO IN MEMPHIS WHEN YOU’RE DEAD, plus dozens of guesses of ELVIS and ELVIS PRESLEY.
Responses for “Could anyone be better?” than Waldo at leading America included UMA THURMAN, Arrested Development’s BUSTER BLUTH, German cartographer MARTIN WALDSEEMULLER, BEN-HUR, THURGOOD MARSHALL, GENERAL MACARTHUR, and (Derek) JEETER, among others.
Some of you know your breeds of dogs, with many white and/or fluffy varieties getting suggested for A WRINGING ENDORSEMENT’s “That’s no mop: it’s a _____!” including ENGLISH SHEEPDOG, BICHON FRISE, SAMOYED, PORTUGUESE WATER DOG, SHIH TZU and especially PULI. Other players may have been less familiar with what certain breeds (or, perhaps, mops) look like, as DOBERMAN, GOLDEN RETRIEVER, BULLDOG, AIREDALE, and even HAIRLESS were all suggested.
Lastly, we didn’t notice when constructing BE KIND REWIND that the letters in the answer clue could almost anagram into FIELD NOTES, and could actually anagram into STONEYFIELD, but some of you figured it out, guessing those answers and also STONEYFIELD YOGURT and just YOGURT.
Project Lead: John Bromels
Puzzle Design: John Bromels
Puzzle Writers: John Bromels and Alina Khankin
UX Design and Implementation: Myra Ramdenbourg
Backend Development: Cloud Fortress LLC
If Waldo Led America Artist: Eamon Hill
Playtesting: Mike "Auggie" Augustine, Henry Bromels, Rebecca Bromels, and Kelli Lang, among others!
Sweepstakes Sponsor: DL Orton
Sweepstakes Administrator: Otherworldly Adventures, LLC