Search for Bourne—Day 9
July 26th, 2007
Yay! Caught a shot of Bourne with my Waterloo Station camera yesterday. Did anyone get a shot of him with a camera placed at a different location?
Now on the the complete spoiler for today’s puzzle in the Ultimate Search for Bourne.
We’re instructed to contact Simon Ross again using yesterday’s contact information. In the instant messenger, we use handle CRUYFF74 and passphrase don’t silence the truth.
Simon tells us: “Taking the day off to visit these places I found on a Google Groups. If you can’t reach me on my mobile, I’m most likely on the Bakerloo Line on the Tube.” The Google Groups phrase is a hot link to a specific “Sightseeing in London” group, obviously created for the game. You can find it here: http://groups.google.com/group/sightseeing-in-london?hl=en.
Poking around at the site reveals two discussions about sites in London—including Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, the Tower of London, and Saint Paul’s Cathedral—as well as a map that helpfully outlines the brown Bakerloo Line Ross referred to in his IM. Of the sites mentioned in the Sightseeing in London thread, only the London Eye stands out as a landmark anywhere near the Bakerloo Line.
So submit London Eye in the communications panel and the challenge is solved.
As for placing the cameras, I’ve decided to leave my first camera at Waterloo Station. Sure, it seems silly to put it in the same place, but other clues in the Google Group make detailed mention of it. For the second, well, why not go with the London Eye? If I get two shots of Bourne before tomorrow, I’ll be happy. If I get only one, I’ll be left wondering which nabbed him. And if I get none, well, then I really won’t know where to look for clues.
In the end, I found today’s challenge significantly more fun that the last few. Sure, it’s still easy, but there were other possible clues and red herrings at the web site. In the end, only the London Eye made sense, but you actually really do have to look to multiple resources to work this one out.
Go, Simon Ross! Now you’re acting like a spy!
(Incidentally, what happens if you put in the wrong answer? Would it be possible to sledgehammer your way through the puzzle by just entering site after site till you got a hit? Or are you penalized for mistakes?)
Entry Filed under: Search for Bourne, Advertising, Online
4 Comments Add your own
1. Fabrice | July 26th, 2007 at 7:05 am
i have entry a wrong answer and there is no incidence but i’m don’t sure of this.
2. Alec Bings | July 26th, 2007 at 8:04 am
I see! Thanks for the information.
I imagine if the game gave you only one chance, well, that would torpedo the fun, so I’m not surprised there’s no penalty for a wrong answer.
For a real simulation of the genre, of course, there’d need to be more penalty for failure. And timed challenges. Since this is really an advertisement, they can’t be too harsh.
3. Mark | July 26th, 2007 at 9:35 am
I’ve put in a wrong answer and then when it came to placing the camera’s the google map didn’t show up. I think it also has to do with time. It took me to long to get the right answer and the map didn’t show up.
4. Alec Bings | July 26th, 2007 at 10:01 am
Hey Mark. Thanks for the information.
I should mention that my wife has had some trouble getting the map to work even when she nails the answer on her first try. I’ve had no trouble with Firefox on a PC, but with IE on a PC and Firefox on a Mac, we’ve had some issues.
And unfortunately, it appears to be impossible to get the map to work for a puzzle once it’s failed.
But—and this is important—she has had a significantly better hit rate than I have even on days when she couldn’t place any cameras. I wonder if, in the absence of camera placements, the game assumes you placed them right. That’d be silly but . . .
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