Treasure Hunters Challenge: Week 8

The eighth and final challenge is upon us, and Laird gives us the final instruction with this introduction via phone: “Today we travel to the mouth of the St. Sebastian river, just South of Cape Canaveral. A hurricane struck this area in 1715, leaving 11 Spanish galleons, and their treasure, at its bottom. Only a few of these ships have ever been recovered. Your challenge is to find a gold doubloon from these wrecks. The water is deep and your bottom time is limited, so proceed wisely.”

Update: The server was a bit overwhelmed last night, so comments were disabled. It looks like things are lighter now, so I’ve turned them back on, things are picking up again and all seems to be holding up well for the moment. Hopefully everything will keep running this time. Keep your fingers crossed.

Update: The official online contest is now closed to entry submissions. Good luck to everyone who entered before the deadline! Maybe someone from here will make it to the final 10 (or even win it all). That would be sweet. If you do, be sure and let me know.

This challenge starts on the deck of a boat, but it’s not a small boat. In fact, it looks to be the gunmetal gray of a warship, but more than likely it’s a research vessel of some kind. Since you’re supposed to find treasure on the bottom, then you’ve got to find a way to get in the water first. What are you waiting for? Get going! Time s a-wasting, and who knows what comes after this.

• Click on the hatch to open it.
• Click on the open hatch to enter the bridge.
• Click on the right console.
• Click on the right lever to activate the buttons.
• Click on the second button to sound the horn.
• Click Go Back to back away from the console.
• Click Go Back to return to the deck.
• Click on the tool box to open it.
• Click on the flashlight to pick it up and again to store it in your backpack.
• Click on the ladder to enter the crew quarters.
• Click on the lockers to approach them.
• Click on the center locker to open it.
• Click on the bag to pick it up and click again to store it in your backpack.
• Click on the goggles to pick them up and click again to store them in your backpack.
• Click Go Back to move away from the lockers.
• Click Go Back to return to the deck of the ship.
• Click the edge of the ship to jump overboard and begin your dive. You’ll need to confirm the message about leaving your pack.
• There are three items on the ocean floor – a wallet, a boot and a doubloon.
• Just swim over them to pick them up, but make sure you return to the surface to get a breath now and again when your oxygen is running low.
• If you don’t, you’ll find yourself back on the deck and you’ll have to try again, less anything you picked up along the way.
• If the bottom of the water is black, you forgot the flashlight. Go back and get it.
• Even if you pick things up, return to the deck, then go back in and run out of breath, you’ll lose what you’re carrying. Keep that in mind.
• Once you’re back on the deck, you’ll find the bird returns to kick your backpack into the water. Jump back in and get it.
• At this point, it appears you’ll want to be using Internet Explorer. Firefox doesn’t seem to work right. Perhaps if you clear your cache it will. If you get out of the water and you have the regular backpack, you’re out of luck. You should have the net instead, and when you jump in to get your pack the laptop and cell phone should have seaweed on them.
• Once they do, you’ll need replacements. Click the door to re-enter the bridge.
• Click on the right console.
• Click on the left lever to activate the left console.
• Click Go Back to back away from the console.
• Click on the left console.
• You’ll need to enter a department to charge your purchase.
• The answer is in the wallet you found on the ocean bottom. You did rifle through the contents, didn’t you?
• In case you didn’t, the department is emergency support. It was on Laird’s business card, tucked in the right side. Enter this in the field provided and confirm your purchase.
• Click Go Back to return to the deck.
• A helicopter arrives with your replacement equipment.
• Click the crate to grab it, then again to replace your backpack.
• Search for your new treasure – the Spanish Doubloon – to find out where it may have originated. That’s your next destination.
• You may want to make sure you use the in-game laptop. When I used it, the first result turns up an image that looks just like the one I found in the ocean. When I tried to recreate the result outside of the game, I couldn’t do it. In any case, the source was likely Mexico City. That’s where you want to go.
• Click near the flashlight to start the final puzzle, which is a lot easier than it looks.
• You just need to rotate the outer edge of the image to make it all line up.
• You’re done!

That’s it for this week, and this is the end of the official challenges.

• Once you place the final piece of the puzzle where it goes on the game table, the fireplace opens to reveal a secret passage. Click it to enter, watch Laird present a short clip introducing the final challenge, and prepare to solve the final puzzle. You’ll need a printer (with paper).
• If you can’t get the fireplace to open, try Internet Explorer 7 or Firefox. I had problems with IE 6 (actually, my wife did). When she tried my computer, it worked fine. Unfortunately, Firefox had problems with the backpack, as mentioned previously, so IE 7 may be the best bet for this challenge.
• Print out the document (you can print from a PDF or JPG), fold exactly as instructed, cut where instructed through the compass and you’ll end up with a five-pointed star.
• As you are told by Laird, the final clue is contained within this star (that you just cut out).
• The symbols you’ll want to enter are sun, door, hands, apron, trowel.
• Line the cryptex up exactly using these symbols as the code.
• There are two doors. If yours doesn’t work, try the other one.
• The position of the wheels on the cryptex is important. The starting point of the wheels when the puzzle begins is further “down” than they need to be at the end in order to solve the puzzle. Move them “up” to make it work and open the box.
• And yes, the code is within the cutout piece of the final clue. I’ve done it several times now. Here is a screenshot that is pretty close to what you’ll need. It’s not exact, because when it is exact, the box opens. But it’s really close.
• Use these nine clues to submit your guess on the game board.

What’s next? Your guess is as good as mine. Check back for updates. I’ll provide them as I get them.

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.