CISRA Puzzle Competition 2007 - Solutions

This is the archive of the 2007 Puzzle Competition. Please visit the current competition site for information about the latest Puzzle Competition.

D.2 Adventure

Intuitive leap: Following the path indicated by the numbers spells out the answer graphically.

The numbers are translated to directions by mapping the numeric keypad on a keyboard to compass points. Mappings like this were frequently used in early computer adventure games which involved exploring dungeons, such as Rogue and NetHack. The leftover numbers are 5 and 0, which map to up and down in this puzzle.

 7    8    9
 NW   N   NE
  \   |   /
   \  |  /
    \ | /            5 up
 4   \|/   6         |
 W----*----E         |
     /|\             |
    / | \            0 down
   /  |  \
  /   |   \
 SW   S   SE
 1    2    3

Following the directions and filling in each visited location produces six "maps", each on a different level.

Level 1  Level 2  Level 3  Level 4  Level 5  Level 6

 #...#    #####    #...#    ###..    .###.    ###..
 .#.#.    #....    ##..#    #..#.    #...#    #..#.
 ..#..    #####    #.#.#    #...#    #...#    ###..
 ..#..    #....    #..##    #..#.    #...#    #.#..
 ..#..    #####    #...#    ###..    .###.    #..#.

The top-left square of the first level is the starting point. The first move is '0', which takes you down to level 2. The next moves are '6666', which draws the top bar of the E. When all of the directions are followed, each level of the map spells out a letter of the solution. It's possible to read the result forwards or backwards, to give "yendor" or "rodney". "Rodney" is not correct, but "Yendor" is the name of an amulet which must be retrieved in order to win several early computer adventure games. So the solution is YENDOR.