Zoltar

Owner

Butters

Presentation

Teams enter a room containing a box containing a fortune-telling puppet. Upon getting closer, teams realize the puppet is a person. They are given a note explaining that Zoltar can predict things that will happen if people walk into rooms in order.

Here is what the note tells teams:

This house that once stood on this property has a tragic history. At a number of social gatherings, fatal or puzzling accidents have been known to occur. This has happened enough times that there seems to be a clear connection, but we haven`t been able to identify what that pattern is. At a recent party, a guest claimed the mystery had something to do with the movements of people in the house. She asked the fortune telling machine what would happen if a series of people entered the ballroom, and the machine predicted a death would occur. Later that evening, the machine was tragically proven correct. In later visits, the machine has shown an eerie accuracy in predicting such events – but for some reason it only answers questions about what will happen when people enter rooms of the house. We believe the identity of the killer is tied to this house and these patterns somehow – can you help discover it? Zoltar cannot give you this name directly, but if you can discover the secret of the house and tell it to Zoltar, then perhaps…

Results of some previous parties:

• In order, Darlene, Edgar, Albert, Tessa, and Harold entered the Ballroom: a dead body was found

• In order, Edgar, Darlene, Albert, Tessa, and Harold entered the Ballroom: No incident that evening.

• Frank went to the Ballroom and Brian went to the Study. Frederick sat down in the Lounge, and Jaycee walked into the Kitchen. Suddenly, the stove went up in flames.

• Matthew entered the Corner office. Heath went into the Wine cellar. Reed sat down in the Lounge. Raffaello went to the Study, and Beckett went to the Dining Room in search of some snacks. Shortly after, the theft of a priceless painting on the wall was noticed.

Zoltar only accepts sequences written on the proper input sheets. The ticket attendant can help you with that - for 30 tickets, you can buy a set of 5 answer submission sheets (ask for a "Zoltar Answer Sheet".

Walkthrough

Teams are given the following set of examples:

• In order, Darlene, Edgar, Albert, Tessa, and Harold entered the Ballroom: a dead body was found

  • Darlene (1) = D, Edgar (1) = E, Albert (1) = A, Tessa (1) = T, Harold (1) = H

• In order, Edgar, Darlene, Albert, Tessa, and Harold entered the Ballroom: No incident that evening.

  • Edgar (1) = E, Darlene (1) = D, Albert (1) = A, Tessa (1) = T, Harold (1) = H

• Frank went to the Ballroom and Brian went to the Study. Frederick sat down in the Lounge, and Jaycee walked into the Kitchen. Suddenly, the stove went up in flames.

  • Frank (1) = F, Brian (3) = I, Frederick (2) = R, Jaycee (6) = E

• Matthew entered the Corner office. Heath went into the Wine cellar. Reed sat down in the Lounge. Raffaello went to the Study, and Beckett went to the Dining Room in search of some snacks. Shortly after, the theft of a priceless painting on the wall was noticed.

  • Matthew (4) = T, Heath (5) = H, Reed (2) = E, Raffaello (3) = F, Beckett (7) = T

Teams can use the provided examples (in particular the first example which is an acrostic for DEATH) to realize that the rooms index into the provided names by a unique number. Teams use their own examples to craft words and validate their own assumption. If the set of people and rooms they pass to Zoltar spells a word, Zoltar makes a story around that word. Otherwise Zoltar says that nothing happens.

Other rules:

• If they try to use a non-existent room: "There's no such room"

• If they try to use an absurd name (AAAA, etc.): "Zoltar knows many names, but that is surely not among them"

• If you can't read their handwriting: "The future is as clouded as this writing"

• If they go out of bounds on a name (not enough characters to index): "Nothing happens"

• If they don't spell a valid word: "Nothing happens"

• Teams can't just send everyone to the Ballroom – other than reproducing the example, teams will be told that "after the death, the guests aren't willing to all enter that room any more"

• If they do make a valid word: Invent a prophecy around that word

Teams eventually decode the following set of room indices:

If teams order these numerically and index into the room name by the number, they get the word BOUNCER. If they submit this to Spiderdog, they're asked to communicate that to Zoltar somehow. If teams find a set of names to spell the word BOUNCER to Zoltar, Zoltar gives them a card with the final answer.