In the annals of Illuminated history, perhaps no conflict has been fiercer than the one between the Society of Logic and Cryptic Knowledge and the Observers of Random Discord. Thrust unknowingly and unwittingly into a pivotal moment in this battle, a team of oblivious puzzle solvers began an unlikely journey...
Although The Game has been run for a long time in various locations around the country (most notably at Stanford University and at Microsoft), the intern specific version of The Game is relatively recent. The first Intern Game, Mythos, was run in 1999 by a group of four interns who didn't quite understand what they were getting themselves into and was completed by only a single "team", a group comprised of the most stalwart members of the original teams.
After a short hiatus, The Game was brought back and rechristened as the Microsoft Intern Game (MSIG for short) in the summer of 2002 by two of the original four. The Illumine Game was the fourth Game of the modern era and followed a theme of Illuminated conspiracies and events.Illumine ran over the weekend of July 23-24, 2005, and sent thirteen teams of interns through a battle between the Society of Logic and Cryptic Knowledge and the Observers of Random Discord for the fate of an Orbital Mind Control Laser. Though as usual, reading a step by step recap really can't compare to the experience of participating, we do hope that this recap will prove useful for those of you wondering what The Game is all about and perhaps thinking of joining us for next year.
Begin your journey from the beginning, or start from a point of your choosing, using the navigation bar below.
Note: One of the strengths of the Game puzzle style is interactivity. Sadly, this means that, for a number of puzzles, it is difficult or impossible to provide it in a format you may solve from this website. Where possible the answer page describes the solve process participating teams followed, for these interactive puzzles.