WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD
PURSUIT WALKTHROUGH
PURSUIT took place on Governor's Island and West Brooklyn and consisted of 5 puzzles and 8 locations (1 per stage, 4 for stage 2 in order for teams to see the whole island)
Teams found QR codes, magnetized, stickers or a canister at all locations. At the final destination, a treasure chest was hidden under an aquarium rock. Hiding a physical object in NYC is HARD, so QRs and the treasure chest were well hidden.
STAGE 1
The Stage 1 puzzle was two pages: one page to get teams started on their potentially long journey to Governor’s Island, and a second page to solve on the way that would help identify where on the island the QR code was. For page one, most teams correctly identified the outline of Governors Island. The dollar bill was a nod to the purchase of Governor’s Island which was sold to NYC for $1. The “nutten” in the title of the puzzle was a reference to the original name of the island which was called Paggank (nut island) by the Lenape Native Americans and later Nutten by the Dutch who settled there.
The second page had trivia about some of the other islands belonging to NYC. The correct answers had underlines in various colors. Anagramming each color showed two street names: Andes and Kimmel and SKYLINE for where to look. At the intersection, there was a sign featuring the changing skyline, on the back of that sign was the QR for the next stage.
STAGE 1 LOCATION
STAGE 2
Stage 2 showcased the Teletubbies trapped in different spots. The Morse code as rain was supposed to help you understand how to solve: STARS ARE QRS meant that you were looking for 4 QR codes, one for each Teletubby. Wikipedia was a clue to google "Wikipedia Teletubby" + the number on their belly. This would have sent your right to Teletubby Episode Wiki, where each number represented an episode: Spray Paint Mural, Herding Sheep, Sliding Down and Up The Hill. These are references to spots around the island where four QR codes were hidden. Most teams didn't need to even look up the Teletubby episode numbers and just made educated guessed on the position/activity of the Teletubbies and used the other clues to find the QR codes on site. Once you determined the locations, the images helped to reference where exactly the QR codes were hidden: a canister in the tree, on the Coke vending machine, the railing of a fence, and on an electrical box below "Martin".
Fun fact about this puzzle was that it had to be altered the MORNING OF because there was unexpected construction on the island since the last time I was there.
When the QR at the Sheep was hidden, the sheep were right next to that tree. I later learned they moved to mow some fresh grass.
STAGE 2 LOCATION
STAGE 3
Stage 3 slowed down the pace and was intended to give teams a break from running around in the heat. Each QR code opened up a different page of an art galley, featuring paintings in odd patterns. Teams read the subtle clues to “see” and determined that the paintings were braille dots and spelled YEAR. Now they knew the numbers they were trying to populate were years — but which years? After failed attempts with years they were painted, teams did research and found that all of these paintings were once stolen. When the numbers still didn’t look good and teams reread the titles of the pages carefully they found the word “find” was a nod to the fact that these paintings were not only stolen but they were all found. Using the years they were found and AZ126 them, MAGNET RODMAN was the solve. A quick google of "RODMAN GOVERNORS ISLAND" led you to Rodman 15 Cannons, located in Fort Jay. On the only Rodman cannon on the island that had the word “Rodman” on it, a magnet was well hidden under the cannon.
Many teams got to "MAGNETRODMAN" and couldn't decipher what that meant. My favorite theory of the day was that it was "ROD MAN" a reference to Benjamin Franklin and the fact that was unbeknownst to me that his nephew designed Castle Williams ? How neat. Unfortunately, that was not the solve.
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STAGE 3 LOCATION
STAGE 4
Stage 4 was my personal favorite puzzle of the hunt: showcasing a desk and a whole bunch of phones. I threw in a new cipher for you to try: pigpen. This gave nothing but a red herring, but was good practice for ciphers in the future ;). The flip phone up top was a text message cipher for HELLO? HELLO?. The phones in the drawer at the bottom had flags of countries on them. Once the countries were identified, teams looked up the country code for each respective country and were left with 10 digits. What numbers have ten digits? Phone numbers! In true Gen Z fashion, and probably due to the text message cipher on the flip phone, many teams texted "Hello? Hello?" to the phone number they found. Giving it a go, teams made the leap to give it a call and were met with a voicemail from the Golden Pigeon Hotline where Abraham Lincoln instructed teams to leave Governor's Island and head to Brooklyn to meet the most famous man in America and his dear friend who he couldn't have raised the flag without. After googling, Henry Beecher Ward's state right next to Borough Hall was the next QR location. Henry Beecher Ward was at his time, the most famous man in America (and his biography is named that!) and gave the speech at the raising of the flag after the Civil War. Give the phone a call to hear the voicemail -- it's still set up! Once on site, teams quickly found the last QR code on the bottom of a lamp post next to the statue.
Fun fact: I chose this location because I was sitting here one day and saw a TON of pigeons. One of them was a brownish-gold color. HELLO GOLDEN PIGEON!!! i also love Abraham Lincoln.
STAGE 4 LOCATION
STAGE 5
Stage 5 was solved REALLY quickly. I was surprised at how daring and quick teams were to get out their pens and start drawing on a map!
This puzzle had many plane tickets with flights in the United States. The gates had both letters "A" or "B" and numbers. Most teams realized that the numbers were under 26, so they were a simple AZ126 cipher. This solved to "once on site, find fake rock, basketwillows." This isn't helpful is you don't know where the site was! The As and Bs were Bacon Cipher, which none of the teams to my knowledge recognized. If you had solved this, it would've said "DRAW MAP", a way to know for sure that you need to get out a pen and start connecting the dots. Teams drew on maps to realize they quickly resembled numbers
The link to the national historic database was a dead giveaway of how to use the connect the dots you just found. When inputting the numbers, it revealed the final location was the Old Stone House in Brooklyn, a quick train, bike or car ride away from Borough Hall.
The winning team found that many of the plants in the park were labeled with blue signs, so they knew to search for the Basketwillows sign. Once they found it, they discovered an aquarium rock with the blue treasure chest underneath and claimed their prize.
After the chest was found, many teams showed up to finish the hunt and chat at the park within the next few hours. It was so great to meet you all and hear about your day and what you loved and what made you go crazy. More to come :)
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STAGE 5 LOCATION
