It's been many years since the 2-Tone Game, but when I catch sight of a checkerboard in the corner of my eye, I can't help but size things up for puzzle potential. E.g. this mural this morning. What'...
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This picture shows the landward exterior wall of the Stephan C. Leonoudakis Ferry Terminal; this picture does not show pay phones. There used to be pay phones on that wall; they were still there a...
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Urban Morphology is Everywhere, even the Ferry Terminal
At the Stephan Leonoudakis Golden Gate Ferry Terminal the other day, I noticed that one of the two pay phones had gone away. That's not surprising; nowadays, pay phones tend to go away. But I'd based...
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2Tone, OpenID
The 2-Tone Game web site has players "log in" so it can keep track of them. E.g., This player has solved these puzzles, has those puzzles open, and hasn't even seen those other puzzles over there. In...
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Urban Morphology is Everywhere, even San Francisco's Union Square Neighborhood
A lamp post is gone. That's not surprising—it was surrounded by construction for the new subway line. But that post was special, a "landmark" for a photo walk puzzle in the 2-Tone Game. That co...
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I updated the downloadable 2-Tone Game source code. More recent versions of the App Engine SDK weren't compatible with this four-year-old (five-year-old? something like that) code. I just wanted to u...
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This isn't Even my Final Form
In last week's SnoutCast, DeeAnn mused on the recent "save the date" announcement for the Octothorpean Order Opening Day (November 16!): "It's going to be very interesting to see it in its—I ...
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It's a good thing I didn't know about @ClassicBowling's lovely checkerboard motif a few years back, or I'd probably be trying to maintain a somehow-snuck-in 2-tone bowling puzzle today. That decorati...
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While I was off observing a REDACTED playtest, Dave Schweisguth was finishing off the 2-Tone Game. He even figured out the UI by which winners can send a taunting message to Game Control (a feat even...
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Someone finished the 2-Tone Game yesterday. It doesn't happen often. Nowadays, most of the activity is folks showing up, playing the example puzzle, then giving up when they see the first "real" puzz...
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Like @TheUriah says, "If you want to destroy part of the urban landscape, base a game on it." Yesterday, on my way back home from the Fendels', I changed trains at the Embarcadero. I checked up on t...
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Post about Post-Post Situation
Part of a 2-Tone Game puzzle used to be something like, "Look south-by-southwest for an easily recognizable post; on the sidewalk beneath it is a quote; the letters on the corners of the quote form a...
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Before watching the CNY parade, I kibbitzed a bit at the CNYTH. And before that, I swung by the Ferry Building to check on a 2-Tone Game puzzle, make sure its environmental data was still there. But ...
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A team that started on the 2-Tone game a couple of years ago is making some impressive progress tonight. Oh man, and they just figured out that they're looking for something in the dark in the Sunset...
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Someone solved the 2-Tone Game meta yesterday, ~6 months since the previous time someone solved it. Hmm, just a few days after I mailed the Real Escape Game info-line to say "You should play this gam...
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Puzzle Hunts are Everywhere, even the new Online Journalism
Sweet article by Sara Faith Alterman in the Bold Italic with awesome illustrations by juan leguizamon about the local puzzle hunt scene. No wonder a bunch of people suddenly showed up at the 2-Tone G...
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Jotting Notes on Larry Hosken GC Summit 2011 Presentation: 2-Tone Game as an Overnight Game, Sorta
It's Larry Hosken talking about time and the 2-Tone Game. My goodness, what a handsome and debonair speaker. They should have this guy back every year. And how cool is it that he was wearing a "Hec...
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Some Dude named Danny asked on the BANG mailing list: has anyone played the 2-Tone Game lately? Anyone sure it's still working? After all, it's based on stuff in San Francisco, and is bound to corrod...
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puzzlehuntcalendar.com makes a difference
A few people have been playing the 2-Tone Game this past weekend—referred by puzzlehuntcalendar.com. I checked the IP addresses of three of the players; they were from the East Bay, Spain, and ...
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2-Tone Game: What do you want to know?
Suppose I gave a short talk on the 2-Tone Game at the upcoming GC Summit. What would you want to hear about? Yeah, I wrote designer's notes, but those are hard to slog through. Yeah, the Snoutcast fo...
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If you recently guessed SCOUT VAILLANCOURT FOUNTAIN in the 2-Tone Game, try entering SCOUT again. I tried to clarify the wording a bit. If you didn't guess SCOUT VAILLANCOURT FOUNTAIN, then carry on...
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Non-San Franciscans: You Too Can Play the 2-Tone Game
If you're not in SF and still want to play the 2-Tone Game: go ahead. If you're trying to solve a puzzle and you think "this is gonna be impossible because I'm not physically there", then use the an...
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Was Rich Bragg's record for longest http://2tonegame.org/ puzzle solve five months? Because I just noticed that another person took seven months on a puzzle. ...
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Two more Snippets of Online Answer-System Hindsight
I wrote that answer system for the 2-Tone Game, modified it for Ghost Patrol Bang, and hope to work on similar systems for future hunts. Jotting a couple of notes here on things I wish I'd done diff...
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longest gap between solves?
Someone, I'm not sure who, finished the 2 Tone Game today and used its built-in taunting system to ask: yay, finally got the last one, so do i win the prize for longest gap between solves? More t...
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Puzzle Hunts are Everywhere: 2-Tone Game GC Notes
If you've played through the 2-Tone Game and emerged, thinking Wow, that was strange; I wonder how it turned out that way?—you're in luck. At long last, some rambly essays about how the game c...
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Puzzle Hunts are Everywhere, and yet you can be in the wrong place
Yesterday after work, I stood on a painted rectangle of sidewalk for about 45 minutes. I did this for what turned out to be no good reason. I thought that somebody was going to call me on a payphone...
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Puzzle Hunts are Everywhere, Even Places that are Gone
This is another spoiler-free (I think) post about the 2-Tone Game. Things change. Cities are things. Therefore, cities change. Last weekend, I was in the neighborhood of a puzzle site, a puzzle f...
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2-Tone Game: Pacing
Yar wrote some email talking about the 2-Tone Game. One of my answers got pretty long. I guess eventually it should find its way into a game write-up. But it won't if I lose it in my old mail queu...
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