Ascii art is about using keyboard characters to make pictures. Lesson One: Basics.
In the old days computers could not display or print text using proportional fonts, such as you see here. Look at this: ..i..w.. The horizontal space taken by an i or a full stop are less than the space taken by a w, and the space taken is roughly proportional to the width of the character. Old computers used monospaced fonts, where the i, w and dot each take up the same amount of horizontal space: ..i..w..
With a monospaced font you can easily line characters up vertically and, with the help of some of the line characters on the keyboard, you can start simple line drawings. Check out my email signature:
Monospaced font Proportional font
@ @
/\ /\
_&* /=_ _&* /=_
(_) \(_) (_) \(_)
One should look more like a cyclist than the other. Yet both images have the same characters and the same number of spaces separating those characters.
Here are some from the internet. Try a search for "ascii art".
. . ,,,
|\_|\ (0 0)
| a_a\ ---ooO-(_)-Ooo---
| | "]
____| '-\___
/.----.___.-'\ __
// _ \ .-/ \-.
// .-. (~v~) /| ( \__/ )
|'| /\: .-- / \ /`-./;;\.-`\
// |-/ \_/____/\/~| \ _.\;;/._ /
|/ \ | []_|_|_] \ | ( / \ )
| \ | \ |___ _\ ]_} '-\__/-'.-,
| | '-' / '.' | , \\ (-. )
| | / /|: | |\_ ||/.-`
| | | / |: /\ \'.\_ |;`
| | / / | / \ '--,\|| ,
| | | / / | \ `;| _/|
\ | |/\/ |/|/\ \ // _/.'/
\|\ |\| | | / /\/\__\ jgs //_/,--'
\ \| | / | |__ ||'-`
snd / | |____)
|_/
Your job is to take the text below and redisplay it in a monospaced font to reveal the cache coordinates. The easiest way would be to copy and paste it into a document then try it with different fonts. One or more of your fonts should work nicely.
The coordinates above are for a park known as the Railway Land. The coordinates below, of the cache itself, are 1.5km down the no-longer-present Palmerston-Foxton rail line. It takes you to some more railway land. BYOP.
Cache coordinates:
____ ___ ___ _ ____ __ ___ ___ ____
/ __) / o |_ / \ (_) (__ \ / | / o \ / o |_ | __)
\__ \ ___ /__ _|( O ) / __/ | | \__ )/__ _| |__ \
(@) (____/ ('v') |_| \___/ |____) (___)O (___/ |_| (____/
| ____ / )_) _____ ____ _ ____ ____ ____ _____ _____
\|(@)( __) |/"" (__ / | __) (_) (__ ) | __) (__ ) (__ / (__ /(\_/)
| | ) __) | | / / |__ \ (__ ( |__ \ (__ ( / / / / (°.°)
\\|\|/(____) (___) /_/ (____/ (____) (____/O (____) /_/ /_/ c(")(")
Good luck! Once you have passed this paper, I recommend the advanced course: Ascii Art Lesson 2.