Group Photo

Here's the group photo at the end of The Game. Thanks to everyone for playing!

Game Statistics

For the teams who made it to the finish, we've uploaded a spreadsheet with the individual clue timings and the overall standings, after factoring in the penalties. (We've also included Royal Flush, who had to abandon the Game on the last clue after their team driver was urgently recalled to work, on account of the fact that they really ought to have completed the Game. Moreover, it was such a heartbreak for GC to see one of the frontrunners drop out so late.) You can find the spreadsheet here. Once again, congratulations to the teams who finished, and especially to those who completed all 16 clues!

Clue 1 - Crap, where is Dryden? (leading to Civilian War Memorial)

Clue 1 was issued to teams in 2 parts. The actual clue merely tells agents that their task, after eliminating Fisher, is to look for Dryden, and that all the information needed has already been provided. The "meat" of the clue is contained in the Casino Guide which had earlier been distributed to teams as part of their mission kit. In particular, the passage on the game of Craps, on page 12 of the guide, has the word "Dryden" scribbled in the top corner as a signpost.

The passage on Craps is an acrostic that was adapted from wikipedia (as were all the other passages). Reading down the first letter of each line gives the message "considerthefirstletterofthefourthwords", while reading down the first letter of the fourth word of each line gives the answer to the clue, "civilianwarmemorialfrontsidebeachroad". The clue was hidden on the main podium of the memorial, in some bushes in the corner closest to St Andrew's Cathedral.

GC initially rated this clue easy. However, given that it was the first clue, many teams had not "gotten into GC's minds" yet, and as such an inordinate number of hints was given out. As the Game progressed, teams would have gotten a better feel for how answers are embedded into clues. For this particular clue, some teams guessed Fisher Street and another even wanted to search in the National Library for all poems written by John Dryden!

Ideas for the next Game

GC is currently tossing around ideas for the next Game. Let us know what you think the ideal tempo should be and what you think the format for the next Game should be like!

Meta-Clue

The meta-clue, which was worth a 2 hour time bonus, was given out in the form of a file reference tagged to all 16 clues. The 16 file references were:

/54.73.20.68.63.44/, 20.68.63.44/68.73, 63.44/68.73.69.65
/68.73.69.65.68.65/, 69.65.68.65/65.77, 68.65/65.77.73.20
/65.77.73.20.20.61/, 73.20.20.61/20.6F, 20.61/20.6F.20.42
/20.6F.20.42.69.64/, 20.42.69.64/70.72, 69.64/70.72.22.69
/70.72.22.69.73.2E/, 22.69.73.2E/61.64, 73.2E/61.64.54.74
/61.64.54.74.20.22/

Essentially, the file references can be arranged into a 6x6 matrix of 2 digit numbers (highlighted red, above), where the /s identify the position of the line breaks. Rather than advancing row-by-row, each successive file reference advances by 1/3 of a line. This ensures that even if there was a need to skip clues during the Game, teams would still be able to piece together the entire matrix (provided no 3 consecutive clues are skipped and the first 2 and last 2 clues are not skipped).

Having constructed the 6x6 matrix, the 2nd column of the 4th row and the last column of the next row should be dead give-aways that the numbers encoded in this matrix are hexadecimal. (Coincidentally, there are also exactly 16 clues in the Game.) The penultimate step is figuring out that these numbers reference into the ASCII table, which gives the following matrix of characters:

Ts hcD
hsiehe
ews  a
 o Bid
pr"is.
adTt "

Reading from top-to-bottom and left-to-right, we get The password is "The Bitch is Dead." As an after-note, 2 features of the meta-clue make it near impossible to solve prematurely: the non-decimal E and F appear only after clue #8, and by having the matrix read from top to bottom, the message only begins to make sense after the 5th line is completed. 2 teams, including the eventual winner of the Game successfully deciphered this clue.

Feedback on The Casino Royale Game

Just a general thread for people to give comments on anything under the sun to do with The Casino Royale Game. Some points to start of: # of phone lines, # of teams, clues which were compromised (such as clue #5 - Clarke Quay), entry fee, timing and duration of the Game, theme...