Treasure Hunters Challenge: Week 6

The sixth challenge starts in the game room, with no clue how to start. There isn’t even a clue on the phone. You can see the table containing the pieces in the foreground, along with the globe, fireplace and other pieces. But what’s next?

This is actually one of the better challenges (in my mind, anyway) because of the complete lack of clues. It makes things so much more fun since there isn’t any idea how you should get started. So what do you do to get going?

Up first is what you should do to get started. Where can you click in the room? After clicking all around the game room, there is really only one part of the background that is clickable, and that is the globe, so it must be where you start.

After clicking on the globe (and you can actually click anywhere on the stand, it doesn’t have to be on the “round” part, you will finally get a message from Laird on your phone, but it’s a brief one.

Your clue this week resides at 38° North, -119° West. That’s it. I guess that means it is time to get started on this week’s challenge, since there isn’t much to work with!

• Click the globe and rotate it, then watch the numbers to line up to the appropriate place.
• Go to 38°N by 119°W (thanks Emily!). You’re looking for California.
• The location is actually a ghost town called Bodie, California.
• Click the open door on the left to enter the saloon.
• Click the player piano.
• Click the scroll directly above the “window” in the center of the piano to start it playing. Rumor has it that the song is called To Anacreon In Heaven (thanks to those who mentioned it). Let the song play all the way through.
• When the song completes, the picture will slide open to reveal nine bags of silver. One is diluted by sand, and you need to determine which. Click the silver to store it in your backpack.
• Click Go Back.
• Click Leave Saloon.
• Click the door opening to the right to enter the store.
• Click the wagon wheel behind the counter, then click it again to store it in your backpack.
• Click the scale to bring it into focus.
• You now have two “moves” to figure out which bag of silver has been diluted.
• Method 1: Put three bags on each side of the scale and click Weigh Bags. Ideally, one side will be lighter than the other. Remove the heavier side and place those bags next to the bags that remain on the table. Set one of the bags from the lighter side on the table, separate from the others (so you can tell them apart). Split the remaining two bags (on the scale) and click Weigh Bags again. If the bags on the scale are even, the bag on the table contains the sand. If one side is lighter, that bag contains the sand.
• Method 2: If the six bags on the scale are even, remove them from the scale and put them aside. Split the three bags on the counter so that one bag is on one side and one bag is on the other and the third bag is separate from the other six. Proceed as in Method 1.
• Method 3: Put four bags on each side and click Weigh Bags. Ideally, they will be even. If so, the remaining bag has the sand. If you catch a break and find the sand on the first move, this is a good method. Otherwise, you’ll have to guess at which of the four bags on the lighter side contains the sand. One of the first two methods may be better, unless you’re very lucky.
• Thanks to jtcqs (and others) for their help in clarifying the weighing process. If you feel you’ve been left out, let me know and I’ll add your name to the list.
• In any case, once you’ve found the bag with sand, the register opens to reveal a piece of parchment.
• Click the drawer to view it and click again to store it in your backpack, but not before reading it (you’ll need it to know where you should go).
• Click Leave Store.
• Click between the two buildings.
• Do it again (it takes two clicks to get through).
• Click on the wagon.
• Click on your backpack.
• Click on the wagon wheel.
• Click again to select it and place it on the wagon.
• Click on the wagon to climb aboard. But where would you go?
• This is where the parchment from the store comes in handy. If you read the note, it told you about Lotta’s Fountain.
• Lotta’s Fountain is in San Francisco, so enter San Francisco as your destination. Strangely, you can’t seem to enter San Francisco, California (at least, I couldn’t). It really works, just make sure you spell it right.
• Once at the fountain, click your backpack.
• Click the silver to select it.
• Click it again to place it in the jar.
• Now you have to play a game. Click It Will Cost You.
• My first bag when I was writing this up started under the right cup and ended in the center. I think I had another one that ended in the left. I have also had one end in the right. You’ll have to keep an eye on it. I know you’ve got enough silver to play two rounds. I don’t know if you have enough for three. If you run out, you may have to click the Restart Challenge button.
• The game piece is not a duplicate, even though it looks a bit like one of the others. If you put them right next to each other, you’ll see that they aren’t the exact same. If you played right after the episode aired, however, the pieces were duplicates. Check again and you should be set (thanks Jen, for the clarification on that one).
• You’re done!

That’s it for this week. Check back for next week’s challenge summary.

Looking for other challenges? Check out the Treasure Hunters Challenge entry. If you want to discuss the overall game theory, discuss it there please, and leave this for challenge-specific information.