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[Scribe]

Number String Analyses

[angadeon]

About the second joker "Persian".

CT showed us how the first one was solved, using the puzzle on the card and the answers to it as a means to hide his own little message. So, we need to do the same with Persian. I put together the full names since CT seems to like completeness.

*warning* If you have not solved "Persian", this will spoil it completely!!!

[rose]

number strings and shapes

[rose]

I should have added that I am going with the idea proposed in the wiki that the each of continents ends up solely in the control of one player and that the African, South American and Australian continents are all controlled by one player -so

Player 1 = South America, Africa and Australia

Player 2 = North America

Player 3 = Europe

Player 4 = Asia

This makes sense to me as that is a logical point to end the "game."

As my hypothesis is that the middle numbers are the "history" of each territory, showing which player controls them and is able to move through them at a given time, I am working back to the beginning number which shows the player that first held the territory at the beginning of the game. There must be a more efficient way to do this right now I am working with logical guesses, trial and error. I also think the .5 indicates that a player has moved out of the territory or that the territory is not occupied.

This should allow us to identify which territory each number string belongs with. And, that should get is somewhere closer to an answer, who knows maybe the pattern will make a giant X marking the spot on the Risk board.

[Scribe]

IMHO, the linking of Risk to the Numbers isn't conclusive (although I'm not trying to deter anyone from investigating further . My main reasons behind this are:

1. It just seems too .. complicated. "Keep it simple", said CT.
2. After the "five fingers" message, I'm tempted to split all the different puzzles up. I guess, though, that there could be some "lead on" between puzzles, e.g. the numbers identify a realm using some risk-style approach, while the risk battles then narrow it down to a particular region...

But, as with most things, I'll probably be proved wrong..

[rose]

I started not linking the numbers to Risk but a few things convinced me to try this:

1. The first card that has the numbers strings has the dice and the image of the risk army right next to the numbers.

2. The few cards that have risk pieces and dice seem to possibly be showing examples of Risk battles to get us on the right path. They don't seem to be leading anywhere, we can guess things about the number of armies involved in the battles but that is about it.

3.(a) The distribution of the final number in the string ( which I think represents which player holds that territory at the end) correlates perfectly with the number of Risk territories in a given continent.

(b) The distribution of the first number in the string (which I think represents which player starts begins the game with that territory) correlates perfectly with the number of Risk territories held by the four players at the beginning of a game.

(c) The total number of number strings on all the cards = the number of Risk territories. So that we have one number string per territory.

4. My hypothesis is the only one I can think of that explains the middle of the number strings, why they vary in length (some territories are more contested or traveled through than others) and why the numbers range from .5 and then 1, 2, 3 and 4 - the same as the number of the players.

EDIT TO ADD - I am now almost convinced that the .5 means an attack that was withdrawn by the attacker. If you look at the numbers as the history of the territory an attack that was withdrawn must be accounted for even though the player holding the territory doesn't change.

5. I don't think this is too complicated. It doesn't seem more complicated than a silver card to me. I think that looking at the strings as the "history" of the territories in the game simplifies things enormously. If only I knew how to program this to sort it out, I think it would be possible to get a computer to solve it.


I have resisted linking the numbers to Risk. I have looked at them pretty carefully and nothing else comes to mind.

Against my hypothesis:
1. It doesn't yet explain why the number strings are paired, I am thinking these may be adjoining territories.

2. No proof that these puzzles are linked.

I am definitely splitting up the different puzzles, the playing card symbols seem completely unrelated ( although the crossover of the joker with the card that had the five fingered plan on it is intriguing), as do the letters (the one that we solved), the shapes and the stones too. I think it is possible we are still not seeing some stuff from the cards.

[rose]

As time has elapsed since my last post, I didn't know whether I should edit it or post a new one.

Here is what I have so far:

1. I'm still good with the .5 relating to withdrawn attacks. I have checked all the numbers so far and it is working, also I have asked a number of expert Risk players (funny the people you get to make connections with after you have played ARGS and become acquainted with game designers.) and they can't come up with a better or alternative explanation of the .5 in the context of Risk.

2. It is fairly easy to identify the main territories of conflict, as those are the ones in a typical Risk game. These are the territories that connect the continents and it is necessary for certain players to control them at different points in the game to get the armies to move to their proper locations. It is also easy to see how the #1 player expanded once he captured Australia as that is a fairly routine Risk strategy.

3. If I can't get much farther with this, the Risk players at the local game shop store are willing to play this backwards so yay! Maybe we will have an answer before the group chat.

Also, my son is a great Risk player. We have had a great time working on this puzzle while taking boring train rides to visit a colleges. So even if I am completely wrong, this has still been one of the most fun ARG puzzles I've worked on solving.

[Scribe]

[rose]

Ah I mispoke - thanks Scribe. I meant the first card in numberical order that had the risk pieces and the numbers together. I also think the only way that series works as a battle is if the dice and pieces on card 040 represent the last battle.

I'm strictly focusing on the number strings to identify which territories they go with. I think there are more steps in solving this, but I think that is the first one to do.

I also am convinced that this is a puzzle to solve because of the way the continents are held at the end of the game. It is as if the puzzle is asking: What starting positions of the four players can result in this final configuration?

[????]

perhaps GPS?

[Datango]

[echidna]

Cross-posted so sorry if anyone's already read this but:

There seem to be numerous problems with the idea of these strings representing an entire game of Risk - how do we work out the starting positions, how do the Risk figures and dice relate, what information will the game give us anyway, etc? So what if, rather than showing the game being played, these numbers give us the initial layout of the board?

There are 42 territories in Risk and we have 42 number strings. We've already established that the first numbers in each string probably relate to Players 1, 2, 3 and 4. What if the middle section gives us the territory (admittedly I don't know how yet - still working on that) and the last number gives us the number of units in that territory?

If this works we would have the initial layout to start the game. We could then take the Risk figures and Dice rolls from cards #040, #058 and #060 as the first moves of the game. From this we might be able to deduce which specific territory is being fought over. Do any seasoned Risk players out there think there's any mileage in this idea?