Don't you hate puzzles where half of the puzzle is figuring out
what the puzzle is? Well, this cache is not like that.
Solving the Puzzle
The puzzle is a simple online
game of MasterMind. You find a 6-digit number.
You'll need to give it your geocaching user name, but no
password is required.
For each move, the game will tell you:
- How many digits are correct and in the correct spots.
- How many digits are correct but in the incorrect spot.
Each number in the guess is only used one time. So if you guess
111222 and the correct answer is 122333, you will have one digit
that is correct and in the correct spot, and two that are correct
but in the wrong spots.
But! There is a twist. You can only make a certain number
of moves each day. The first day, you get 10 moves. Each day after
that, you get 5 more moves. Your available moves will build up if
you don't use them all. If you want to be FTF, you'll have to think
about your moves pretty hard before you make them!
Logging the cache
When you have solved the online puzzle, you will be given the
cache coordinates and a token, a string of printable
characters. Save this token!
Once you've found the cache and signed the log, you can log the
find online, just like a regular cache, but with one important
addition: you must include your token in your online log!
The token is proof that you actually solved the online puzzle.
Verifying finds
The token is actually a very simple thing: it is an encrypted
string that consists of your geocaching.com user name and the
number of guesses you made in solving the puzzle. You can verify
anyone's token by entering it here to decrypt it. That means everyone can see that
the token you entered in your log is a valid one.
If you log the cache without a token, I won't delete it, but
everyone will know you cheated!
Example
I solved the puzzle and received this token:
q3JRwDM7jm4fUCyCywBb6rei8CdVxEKs
Putting this token into the token
decryptor, I get this:
Decrypted token = 12 fizzymagic
This means that I solved the puzzle in 12 guesses.
Try it yourself! You can check any token from any log to verify
that the finder solved the puzzle.
Have fun!