The first 12 caches in this series help you build your
puzzle-solving skills. Each contains a lesson focusing on a
specific skill, examples of how to use that skill, an actual puzzle
to test that skill, and a cache to find as a reward. Study the
lesson, solve the puzzle, and you'll have the location of a
cache.
When you enter correct coordinates into the geochecker, a piece
of information will be revealed that is required for the final exam
(the 13th cache in the series).
Lesson 09: Visual Puzzles
Introduction
Visual puzzles are an interesting type of puzzle. They have all
the information right in front of you. You 'just' have to make
sense of what you see (or what you don't see!). For many people,
these puzzles are hit or miss, either you see it or you don't.
Visual puzzles often make use of images, but there are also those
that just use text.
Autostereograms
Patterns that are obvious are those autostereograms or
'random-dot-stereograms'. For those puzzles the method to solve
them is described in detail on many websites.
Spot the difference
This is a fun way to entertain kids and it shows up in many
books, newspapers and even on kids menu's. The object is to compare
two pictures and circle the things that are different between the
two pictures. It is relatively simple with cartoons, but it becomes
more difficult when photographs are used. Fortunately there are
techniques to help you spot the difference as explained here. Another possibility is to overlay the images in
a photo
editor, or try the Windows filmstrip viewer and constantly
switch between the two images.
Patterns
Many visual puzzles involve unravelling some pattern that is
hidden within the image or the text. Sometimes the pattern is
obvious right from the start, sometimes you have to do something to
make the pattern visible. Some general solving techniques for
visual puzzles are:
There are no coincidences
In a well crafted puzzle, there are no coincidences. Every piece
of text and every image is there to either support the puzzle or
provide clues on how to solve it. Many of the techniques that are
given in the Tactics lesson will be twice as important for visual
puzzles. Why is the cache named like that? Why is the name of the
hider changed to this? Why would this word be used on the page?
Where have I seen that image before? All these pieces of
information can lead you to the pattern that you need to find.
Think outside the box
Just because the cache page contains a large amount of text, it
might not be a cipher puzzle. There are a number of excellent
puzzles that use characters to hide a pattern. If, for instance,
the puzzle characters on the cache page are nicely formatted (such
as in a rectangle), there could be a pattern hidden. Keep in mind
though, that sometimes the pattern is formed by things that you
don't see, rather than what you do see.
Take a break
Sometimes it helps to put some distance between you and the
cache page. It allows you to focus more on the bigger picture. This
might trigger you to see the page in a different light. f that does
not work, then put even more distance between you and the cache
page by setting it aside for a few days.
Use the right tools
The saying "A workman is as good as his tools" holds for a lot
of problems. A good image editor. It should allow you to zoom in on
images, rotate them and perform simple operations. Look at the
lesson on Steganography for further hints and tips on
images.
Visual rebus
We know the rebus (Latin: "by things") as a kind of word puzzle
that uses pictures to represent words or parts of words. But did
you also know that there is a variant of the rebus that works
entirely with words? Some examples are given in the following
images. Can you guess what they represent?
If you like these puzzles, take a look at www.fun-with-words.com. Solving the rebus could
provide you with a sentence that will lead you to the
coordinates.
Practice Puzzles
There are many excellent visual puzzles in and around Calgary.
Below are just a few. I would especially like to recommend doing
the puzzles by Bullmoose_Rocks. He has many excellent puzzles
that will have you looking at and handling images. His puzzles are
always fun and usually have a nice twist at the end. Highly
recommended!
Puzzle 9: Find the differences
This is a classic type of visual puzzle which is enjoyed by many
kids every day. Surely a seasoned geocacher will have no trouble
figuring out the puzzle. You are looking for 29 differences
in total that make up the decimal parts of the coordinates (N51
08.ABC W114 13.DEF). Enjoy the images of our beautiful city.
A
B
C
D
E
F
