McGuffin Ho! Trickledown: Interrupting the Flow

A few of us hopped out of the van at Justin Herman Plaza. As we approached Vallaincourt Fountain, we could just see a toolbox up on one of the viewing platforms. So we went up there. There was a toolbox shackled to the railing, locked closed. Uh-oh, did any of us know how to pick locks? Oh wait, there was a phone number for us to call. Wesley called it: soon we had the combination, soon we had extracted a puzzle from the box.

Back at the van, Wesley chuckled: he knew Google phone numbers. Thus he knew that we'd called a Google Mountain View Headquarters phone number just then. Thus, he'd figured out that the Burninators were using the Googleplex as their Game Control Headquarters.

This was funny, but it was also a problem. Rather, it pointed out a logistical problem, which Alexandra was alert enough to spot. Our van rental was only good for another few hours. We'd been guessing that we were almost done, that the game would end in San Francisco. But assuming a typical density of puzzles, we were probably still a few puzzles away from Mountain View.

Maybe Game Control was just going to skip us to Mountain View as soon as we solved this puzzle? How late would they let the game run?

Game Control called us up to tell us that when we solved this puzzle, we should go to the named location--and then call in. The next puzzle site had been compromised somehow.

We looked at the puzzle. It was a set of cards. Each card was one rung of a word ladder puzzle. There were many cards. It looked like fun. What were the penalties for returning a rental van late?

Alexandra called up game control for advice: She told game control our situation: our van was going to turn into a pumpkin soon. Without giving us too much information, could they advise us on whether we would finish soon and close to San Francisco (the van return), or not-so-soon and far away?

Game control said that we should pack up that puzzle to solve later. There were three puzzles left in the game... well, we wouldn't get to see all three of them. We should skip ahead to the De Anza college parking lot and check out that puzzle. Maybe we'd solve it, maybe we wouldn't. But we should at least see it.

Next: Inflatable Mastermind

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