Recordings
Owner:
Nathan
Solution:
Melody
Partial Answers
Happy Birthday to You - that sounds like one of the songs
We Will Rock You - that sounds like one of the songs
YMCA - that sounds like one of the songs
GC Notes:
GC to update day-of-game.
Presentation:
* *
On site:
After entering the Snoqualmie tunnel from Hyak, they will proceed into the tunnel a short distance and find a display that is playing 3 familiar songs in a foreign language on loop (at full speed).
There will be a set of flash drives for each team to take one.
The words "to whom" will be written somewhere on the display in an ominous fashion.
Puzzle:
- A flash drive with the following three mp3 files on it which are snippets of the original songs, but played at a slower, easier to decipher speed.*
*
- A flash drive with the following three mp3 files on it which are snippets of the original songs, but played at a slower, easier to decipher speed.*
<<Song 1.mp3>>
<<Song 2 Verse 1.mp3>>
<<Song 3 Chorus 1.mp3>>
Walkthrough:
Hear the songs in the tunnel, possibly recognize them. Observe the tablecloth says "to whom".
Grab a flash drive and leave the tunnel to solve.
Play the songs on the flash drive.
Recognize that Song 1 is in the tune of "Happy Birthday"
- Give this info to the team if they don't have it.
Recognize that Song 2 is in the tune of "We Will Rock You" by Queen.
- Give this info to the team if they don't have it.
Recognize that Song 3 is in the tune of "Y.M.C.A" by the Village People
- Give this info to the team if they don't have it.
The essence of this puzzle is to realize that it is a phonetic substitution cipher. For instance all of the 'h' sounds turn into 'z' sounds and the 'ee' sound turns into 'ah'. Key included below.
The team will attempt to decipher Happy Birthday and realize that they don't have the key for the name in the song.
By mapping the necessary sounds from the second and third songs (the first verse of We Will Rock You and first chorus of Y.M.C.A.), they should be able to decipher the name in Happy Birthday to be "melody"
Key (not all sounds are needed or even included in the puzzle)
| Original Sound | Sample | Encoded Sound |
|---|---|---|
| b | boo | t |
| ch | chew | j |
| d | dew | g |
| dh | thee | h |
| f | foo | sh |
| g | goo | b |
| h | who | z |
| j | jaw | ch |
| k | coo | d |
| l | lieu | r |
| m | moo | n |
| n | new | m |
| ng | i**ng** | ng |
| p | paw | k |
| r | rue | l |
| s | sue | f |
| sh | shoe | v |
| t | too | p |
| th | oath | zh |
| v | vu | s |
| w | woo | y |
| y | you | w |
| z | zoo | th |
| zh | pleasure | dh |
| a | cake | o |
| e | week | ah |
| i | kite | oy |
| o | boat | i |
| oo | too | uh |
| ae | cat | ih |
| eh | bet | oo |
| ih | bit | ae |
| ah | bought | ou |
| uh | but | e |
| ow | out | a |
| oy | toy | ow |
| ou | book (kind of like getting punched) | eh |
Lyrical matching
| happy, birthday, to, you | z ih k ah _ t eh l zh g o _ p uh _ w uh | zihkah telzhgo puh wuh |
|---|---|---|
| happy, birthday, to, you | z ih k ah _ t eh l zh g o _ p uh _ w uh | zihkah telzhgo puh wuh |
| happy, birthday, dear, Melody | z ih k ah _ t eh l zh g o _ g ah l _ n oo r i g ah | zihkah telzhgo gall new-RYE-gah |
| happy, birthday, to, you | z ih k ah _ t eh l zh g o _ p uh _ w uh | zihkah telzhgo puh wuh |
| Buddy you're a boy | t e g ah _ w eh l _ e _ t ow | teegah well e tau |
|---|---|---|
| make a big noise | n o d _ e _ t ae b _ m ow th | node e tab mouth |
| playin' in the street | k r o w ah m _ ae m _ h eh _ f p l ah p | crow-ahm-aem heh f-plop |
| gonna be a big man some day | b eh m e _ t ah _ e _ t ae b _ n ih m _ f e n _ g o | beh-me tah e tab nihm feen go |
| you got mud on your face | w uh _ b ou p _ n e g _ ou m _ w eh l _ sh o f | whuh-boup neeg-oum well showf |
| you big disgrace | w uh _ t ae b _ g ae f b l o f | whuh-tab gaff blowf |
| kickin your can | d ae d ae m _ w eh l _ d ih m | dad aem well dim |
| all over the place, singin' | ou r _ i s eh l _ h e _ k r o f _ f ah ng ae m | ouhr i-sell he crofe, fahng-aem |
| we will, we will rock you | y ah _ y ae r _ y ah _ y ae r _ l ou d _ w uh | yaw yaer yaw yaer louhd whuh |
| we will, we will rock you | y ah _ y ae r _ y ah _ y ae r _ l ou d _ w uh | yaw yaer yaw yaer louhd whuh |
| It's fun to stay at the Y.M.C.A. | ae p f _ sh e m _ p uh _ f p o _ ih p _ h eh _ y oy _ oo n _ f ah _ o | |
|---|---|---|
| It's fun to stay at the Y.M.C.A. | ae p f _ sh e m _ p uh _ f p o _ ih p _ h eh _ y oy _ oo n _ f ah _ o | |
| They have everything for young men to enjoy | h oo _ z ih s _ oo s oo l ah zh ah m b _ sh i l _ w e m b _ n oo m _ p uh _ oo m ch ow | |
| You can hang out with all the boys | w uh _ d ih m _ z ih m b _ a p _ y ae zh _ ou r _ h eh _ t ow th | |
| It's fun to stay at the Y.M.C.A. | ae p f _ sh e m _ p uh _ f p o _ ih p _ h eh _ y oy _ oo n _ f ah _ o | |
| It's fun to stay at the Y.M.C.A. | ae p f _ sh e m _ p uh _ f p o _ ih p _ h eh _ y oy _ oo n _ f ah _ o | |
| You can get yourself clean, you can have a good meal | w uh _ d ih m _ b oo p _ w eh l f oo r sh _ d r ah m _ w uh _ d ih m _ z ih s _ e _ b eh g _ n ah r | |
| You can do whatever you feel | w uh _ d ih m _ g uh _ y e p oo s eh l _ w uh _ sh ah r |
Hinting:
The encoding is not a per-letter change, although that is what most teams appear to try first. The puzzle can be guessed from the consonants (m?l?d?), and that's ok. To demonstrate that it's not just letters, compare the 'M' in YMCA turns into a non-letter name ("oon") sound.
The encoding is not fully symmetric, some sounds are, but not all of them
Starting with consonants sounds might make guessing the rest of the answer easier
Data:
Put links to files on the Sharepoint and any other raw data.