GC35AAR NoVAGO Puzzle Workshop (Event Cache) in Virginia, United States created by two000miler

This cache has been archived.

two000miler: If someone has not logged this one yet, feel free. Otherwise, I will see you all at the next one.

GC35AAR ▼

A cache by two000miler Message this owner

Hidden : Thursday, December 1, 2011

Difficulty:

Terrain:

Size: Size: not chosen (not chosen)

Join now to view geocache location details. It's free!

Watch

How Geocaching Works

Related Web Page

Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions in our disclaimer.

Geocache Description:

A general workshop/class to help you work on caching puzzles. Don't get snowed in this winter and not have anything to do (like figure out some puzzles).

What: NoVAGO Puzzle Cache Workshop

When: Thursday, December 1, 2011

Time: 6:30PM - 9:00PM

Location:You are going to have to figure it out. This is about puzzles. We need a puzzle.

Specifically Where: Room 1 (one)

The location of this event is totally bogus. Although the coordinates are in the general vicinity of the event, they will put you into the middle of a swimming pool. Going there may not be a well thought out idea at this time of year.

You will have to figure out the puzzle (all of which is below) in order to locate the event.

Puzzle caches. You either love them or avoid them like the plague. For those of you in the latter group and the those of you in the former who would like to hone your skills, this may be the event for you.

This event will be a reprise of the NoVAGO Puzzle workshops of '09 and in May of this year. The major change is that I promise to shut up a lot earlier so we can actually work on puzzles rather than listening to me drone on.

What we will attempt to do is to look at puzzle type caches and some of the techniques that may be useful in solving them. What we will find is that with a few tricks, some puzzles are a lot easier that they appear on first blush. We will learn about red herrings, obfuscation and a whole lot of other things. And we will also come to the conclusion that some puzzles are just hard.

The format of this event will be as interactive as possible. Like last time we will have a series of puzzles that while their coordinates may be as bogus as the coordinates of this event, they are good learning tools. We will urge you to form into working groups so everyone can learn from each other and we can use individual strengths to their best advantage.

Feel free to bring along some real-life puzzles that may be bothering you. I cannot guarantee they will get solved, but based on what you should be learning, it can't hurt. There could easily be someone attending who can give you some help.

Oh yes, the location. It is probably time we got to that one.

Take the last digit of your age. Use that to pick out the specific puzzle below. If your digit is not on the list, use the first digit instead. If you have three digits in your age, pick a puzzle at random.

1. The United State Government has how many branches? If you had paid attention in high school, you would know the answer is three. Call this number N. Find out the Nth president of the United States. A nickel works well. Use the web site above to find the information you need.

2. The factors of the decimal portion of the N/S coordinate are 2 and 463 (Hint: just multiply them). The factors of the decimal portion of the E/W coordinate are 11, 2, 2, and 2 (Hint: that works out to 11 and 8).

3. From the Beltway, take Exit 50 East. Turn right at the second light. Turn immediately right onto the service road (or the frontage road if you are from the midwest). At the stop sign, turn left. Find a legal parking spot.

4. Go to GC3106N. After you sign the log on that cache, let your geo-senses kick in.

5. From the posted GZ, go west about 50 feet then north about a hundred yards along the paved path. The event will be on your left.

6. The number you are looking for is 7415. The road goes from Sacramento, CA to Ocean City, MD. Does the number "L" mean anything to you?

If you plan to attend, please indicate in the logs section. I need to bring paper copies of things and want to have enough for everyone. I will bring soft copies of everything if you would prefer that format, but nothing will specifically require a system. I will try to have pdf, doc, and ods formats so most folks should be covered.

There is free WiFi available if you need it. I will bring some of my homegrown tools that people might find useful. Any other self-developed tools you want to share with the group would be appreciated.

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Uvagf ba guvf bar fubhyq abg or arprffnel. Gur chmmyr vf, nsgre nyy, bayl n 1. Rirelguvat lbh arrq vf ba gur pnpur cntr.

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)