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        riddles >> general problem-solving / chatting / whatever >> The Pentagonal Room
        
(Message started by: daemonturk on May 19th, 2008, 8:40am)
Title: The Pentagonal Room
Post by daemonturk on May 19th, 2008, 8:40am
Try this riddle game:

http://www.mathsyear2000.org/explorer/pentagonal-room/index.html

It stumped me for ages >:(

;D
Title: Re: The Pentagonal Room
Post by Sir Col on May 20th, 2008, 9:18am
I've found all but the last crystal. Is the Su Doku paper supposed to be blank?
Title: Re: The Pentagonal Room
Post by daemonturk on May 20th, 2008, 9:22am
Yes.
Title: Re: The Pentagonal Room
Post by towr on May 20th, 2008, 9:32am
Hmm, I've only managed to find the dodecahedron and tetrahedron so far.
Any clues? (Like what to do with that power-cord)
Title: Re: The Pentagonal Room
Post by Sir Col on May 20th, 2008, 9:37am
If you've operated the computer then the power cord has been used.
There are four crystals: the pyramid puzzle on the door, the clipboard sequence puzzle on the wall, the sliding puzzle on the blinds, and, I'm guessing, a Su Doku one in the bookcase.

I cannot figure out how the Su Doku one works!?!
Title: Re: The Pentagonal Room
Post by daemonturk on May 20th, 2008, 9:39am
All items must be attained, and a number must be deduced from the 5 rooms (hence a 5 digit code to escape from the key-pad door).

The items themselves don't need to ever be clicked (I think). The power-cord was used automatically when you turned the computer on. So you don't have to worry about wasting time figuring how to use the items. Try to analyse the room as an overview.

Also repeating the game many times may stir up some ideas.

Good luck  :)
Title: Re: The Pentagonal Room
Post by daemonturk on May 20th, 2008, 9:41am
Has anyone tried decoding the titles of the books?  :P

(on the bookshelf)
Title: Re: The Pentagonal Room
Post by towr on May 20th, 2008, 9:45am

on 05/20/08 at 09:39:27, daemonturk wrote:
The items themselves don't need to ever be clicked (I think).
You ne4ed to click the notebook to get the missing page from the clipboard on the wall.

That pyramid puzzle makes absolutely no sense to me.. meh..
Title: Re: The Pentagonal Room
Post by daemonturk on May 20th, 2008, 9:49am
Oh I forgot about that.

The pyramid puzzle involves addition...
Title: Re: The Pentagonal Room
Post by Sir Col on May 20th, 2008, 9:50am
You must be looking too deeply into the pyramid puzzle, towr. You can click on the blank squares and enter numbers. I'll just "add" one more clue... a little algebra will show you that the top square is independent of the bottom two middle squares, although you have to enter something.
Title: Re: The Pentagonal Room
Post by Sir Col on May 20th, 2008, 9:51am
@daemonturk: Can you give me a clue on the Su Doku?
Title: Re: The Pentagonal Room
Post by daemonturk on May 20th, 2008, 10:08am
Use magnifier if you can't see it properly. (The small Sudoku) Then solve it. Start looking for patterns with the numbers and the rooms/items/books.
Title: Re: The Pentagonal Room
Post by Sir Col on May 20th, 2008, 10:39am
I didn't realise you can right click a flash item and zoom in.

The Su Doku has more than one solution. But regardless of the solution the grey square always has the same value. I just don't see the significance of it.  :'(
Title: Re: The Pentagonal Room
Post by Leonid Broukhis on May 21st, 2008, 12:44am
After I've found out what digit should be in the gray square, what do I do with it? When I click on the sudoku item, it shows the blank page and attempts to contact the web site - probably to generate a random game, but to no avail.
Title: Re: The Pentagonal Room
Post by Leonid Broukhis on May 21st, 2008, 1:07am

on 05/20/08 at 09:49:17, daemonturk wrote:
Oh I forgot about that.

The pyramid puzzle involves addition...


This hint was not helping until I got to a machine with proper fonts and realized that there could be more than one-digit numbers.  
Title: Re: The Pentagonal Room
Post by Lonie on May 25th, 2008, 7:39am
Is there a fourth crystal relating to the sudoku? If so how do you submit sudoku answer?
Title: Re: The Pentagonal Room
Post by Sir Col on May 25th, 2008, 3:01pm
That has been our question: what do you do with the Su Doku puzzle (and the value we've deduced in the grey square)? There has to be a fourth crystal because the computer screen has four rows with three corresponding to three crystals already found. However, I've given up on it as there seems to be little else to do with the wretched blank Su Doku game.
Title: Re: The Pentagonal Room
Post by Lonie on May 26th, 2008, 3:17am
Daemonturk said: All items must be attained, and a number must be deduced from the 5 rooms (hence a 5 digit code to escape from the key-pad door).

I'm thinking maybe each puzzle on each wall produces a one digit number as it's solution - giving five one-digit numbers for the five digit keycode. If so, the one-digit number which should appear in the grey square of the sudoku may be all that's needed from this puzzle. Maybe we're wrong in assuming that solving the sudoku produces another crystal. Also - the three crystals so far are three of the five platonic solids - might be a clue there.
Title: Re: The Pentagonal Room
Post by Sir Col on May 26th, 2008, 6:01am
Just to put you guys out of your misery for the moment, the game has serious bugs.

Use the following URL:
http://www.mathsyear2000.org/explorer/pentagonal-room/assets/PentagonalRoom33.swf

This will download the game directly into your browser, rather than embedding it in the webpage, and from this you will be able to play the Su Doku game. However, one of two things have happened so far. If you solve the game before you've got the other crystals then it gives you the dodecahedron, which you win from the blinds game, so you cannot complete the whole game. If you solve the Su Doku last then the status bar suggests it is trying to connect again, but it doesn't go any further and you get no crystal.

Also DO NOT solve the Su Doku yourself as it has more than one solution and it only accepts the answer it expects. Use the "Solution" link at the bottom of the game and copy their solution. This makes it tedious and unchallengingly disappointing to solve this part of the game; more of a memory test.

Another bug I've noticed is that if you solve the pyramid game and click away from it before the crystal is awarded then you cannot get rid of the crystal from the screen; it keep popping up.

I've contacted them, but so far they've not replied. I'll let you know when/if they get back to me. In the meantime you may want to try it yourself as it could be a maximum number of connections issue and I've just tried at the wrong times.
Title: Re: The Pentagonal Room
Post by Cmm on May 29th, 2008, 7:17am
I've found a blog at pentagonalroom.blogspot.com with all the steps except the keypad and possible last crystal. Quite useful in solving the pyramid and notepad puzzle. Unfor. there's no more posts or comments.
Title: Re: The Pentagonal Room
Post by daemonturk on May 29th, 2008, 7:24am
Nice researching. It's the closest to a walkthrough that i have ever seen. However it only states the obvious, (how does he know its a blue cube?)
Title: Re: The Pentagonal Room
Post by Sir Col on May 29th, 2008, 8:31am
Did you guys not read the other posts? The game cannot be completed due to a bug in the Su Doku game. I've tried contacting them three times now and still had no reply. It could be that the staff take holidays like schools in England, in which case they won't be back until next Monday.

I've posted a comment on that blog which summaries the bugs.

(My comment):
It seems that the game cannot be completed due to serious bugs. I suspect that you need to complete the Su Doku game to get the final crystal, then enter the V(ertices), E(dges), F(aces) on the computer for each of the polyhedra crystals you've found to obtain the key code to esacpe.

However, you cannot play the Su Doku game if the plugin is embedded in the normal webpage; you just get a blank white square when you click on it. But you can play it if you follow this link, which loads the plugin directly into your browser: http://www.mathsyear2000.org/explorer/pentagonal-room/assets/PentagonalRoom33.swf. It is a real, random Su Doku puzzle that you have to solve. But there are three bugs...

Bug 1: The game has more than one solution and it only accepts one particular solution.
Bug 2: If you complete the game before getting the dodecahedron from the blinds then the game will reward you with the dodecahedron crystal, only it does not add it to your inventory. Doing the blinds puzzle after this will reward you with it though.
Bug 3: If you complete the game after you've collected the dodecahedron from the blinds then you get no reward for solving the Su Doku; it just turns into a blank square.

I've tried contacting the website three times but they haven't replied.
Title: Re: The Pentagonal Room
Post by Cmm on May 31st, 2008, 6:04pm
They've got some new posts on the pentagonal room blog. It's got the blue cube.
Title: Re: The Pentagonal Room
Post by daemonturk on Jun 1st, 2008, 2:24am
A person I know who HAS solved it, said the banana and apples may be important. When you place the cursor over them it changes doesn't it?
Title: Re: The Pentagonal Room
Post by Sir Col on Jun 2nd, 2008, 3:02pm
I found this forum discussing the puzzle:
http://217.174.252.57/JForum-2.1.6/posts/list/1466.page

It seems that they have reached the same conclusion: the game is so horribly bugged that it cannot be solved. I would also say that I am very doubtful that anyone who claims to have solved it is telling the truth.
Title: Re: The Pentagonal Room
Post by towr on Jun 3rd, 2008, 12:28am
Well, there's a video of on youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IDxBMue2n0) of someone that cracked it..
I can't seem to make his solution work for me though.
Title: Re: The Pentagonal Room
Post by Roy on Jun 3rd, 2008, 12:47am
you can see there was some program above the window that was doing something.
Title: Re: The Pentagonal Room
Post by towr on Jun 3rd, 2008, 1:24am
Yeah well, I did say he cracked it.  ::)
Title: Re: The Pentagonal Room
Post by Roy on Jun 3rd, 2008, 3:38am
Of course, i've been looking for what app he used, it's conjunctional with Safari, but that's all i can get.
Title: Re: The Pentagonal Room
Post by daemonturk on Jun 3rd, 2008, 9:11am
Sir Col,

There is a character named 'Crezzle' part of the forums you found. He claims there are two people who have solved the puzzle completely. I know for sure who one of them are, a very competent individual.

It is not impossible, just painfully difficult.

He has quoted two quotes, (I may ask him for more clues tomorrow):

1. 'You are looking past the obvious'

2. 'Maybe the bananas and apples have got to do with something'

3. 'I solved it strategically, I played the game six times' (Could this infer the ordering of attaining the crystals?)

I know they aren't very helpful but they are true.

I've made a list of some insignificant details which may prove important:

1. The ceiling colour changes slightly as you move around the room.

2. You can zoom in to solve the dreaded 'grey square'

Sadly, this is all I have contributed to the pentagonal world.

Good Morning.
Title: Re: The Pentagonal Room
Post by Sir Col on Jun 3rd, 2008, 11:25am
Update...

I contacted Brightlemon yesterday evening and had a very helpful reply this morning from the director; he also assured me that my email was the first he had received. Unfortunately they were commissioned to produce the game by Counton.org three years ago. However, the site was passed over to NCETM (http://www.ncetm.org.uk) two years and they have decided not to fund it any longer. This would explain why my several attempts to contact counton/mathsyears2000 have received no replies.

Anyway, upon Brightlemon's advice I have just sent an email to NCETM and I'll let you know what they have to say...


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