Recently Ms.CallaLily created several new mystery caches with puzzles based on the card game “SET”. Never having played the game, I was baffled by these puzzles initially, until I had the chance to do some research and learn the exact logic of how sets are determined. Along the way, I also discovered several interesting mathematical papers which were based on the game of “SET”. Apparently the game caused quite a stir in the Mathematical community when it was first introduced.
Soon thereafter I sent a message to Ms.CallaLily telling her that I thought she had come up with a very fresh and interesting idea to create challenging puzzles. Although the game uses deceptively simple picture cards, it is not always easy to pick out all of the sets in each group of cards.
Since I liked the concept so much, she asked me to help spread the “SET” puzzles to the East Side as well. So below is a shameless copy of Ms.CallaLily’s puzzle cache pages, with some adjustments for my particular hiding spot.
The deck of cards in the game of "SET" consists of 81 unique cards that vary from each other in their features.
There are 4 features and 3 possibilities for each feature on every card.
- Number of shapes: 1, 2, or 3
- Shape: ovals, diamonds, or squiggles
- Color: red, purple, or green
- Shading: solid, open, or shaded
Each possible combination of features appears only ONCE in the deck of cards.
To play the game, certain combinations of three cards make up a set. For each feature (number, shape, color, shading), the three cards in a set must have each feature either all the same OR all different.
To solve this puzzle, you must identify the 6 unique "sets" among the following cards. Make note of the features of the cards in each set. (Each card can possibly be used in more than one set.)
Once all 6 sets have been identified, count the features that are found among each of the cards in all six sets to solve for the coordinates where this geocache can be found.
Please read these instructions carefully!
Use the following formula: N 41° 42.ABC W 081° 16.DEF
A= Number of times the cards featuring open shapes are used minus the number of times the cards featuring solid shapes are used
B= Number of times the cards featuring three shaded shapes are used
C= Number of times the cards featuring shaded shapes are used minus the number of times the cards featuring red solid shapes are used
D= Number of times the cards featuring oval shapes are used
E= Number of times the cards featuring red shapes are used minus the number of times the cards featuring green shapes are used
F= Number of times the cards featuring squiggle shapes are used minus the number of times the cards featuring diamond shapes are used
Please bring a pen or other writing implement with you to sign the log.