Black Letter Game
Jul. 23rd, 2012 07:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rhuLast December, I signed up for a puzzle experience called the Black Letter Game, run pseudonymously by "Roman Debellatio". It promised to be an artifact-based puzzle hunt, and sounded interesting, so I decided to take a chance and pay $52 for a subscription.
Really, I think what made me do it was I didn't want to be the only one of my friends to miss out on something really cool.
When the first artifact came in March, my family and I spent a few days teasing apart its hidden messages. It was fun, it was cool. We had fun, even if I think one of the puzzles was broken.
In April, the second artifact came. By that point, I was a bit overwhelmed with getting ready for Passover, and Heather was in the thick of grad school. I opened it, got a little way into each of the puzzles, but never completed any of them. I've received the emails with links to hints, and never clicked on them. And now I can't really bring myself to go back to that artifact.
And the artifacts kept coming. But because this game is timed based on when you open the packages, and since I assume they comprise a continuous narrative, I haven't opened any of them yet. I keep hoping to find the time to try solving an artifact in a week --- but life isn't cooperating. I should admit defeat and simply open them up and solve them as time permits.
The other day I got a "thank you for playing" email. How sad; it's ended, and I'm still only partway through the second episode. (Which reminds me, I also need to watch the last two episodes of the second series of Sherlock.) For all I know, the other puzzles are going to be great once I get to do them. But I'm not going to get the full experience out of them at this point, and that's disappointing.
The most painful thing is that because I spent the money on this, I depleted my puzzle-entertainment budget. I should have saved my money for things like Qaqaq's extravaganza. But it's too late now.
Really, I think what made me do it was I didn't want to be the only one of my friends to miss out on something really cool.
When the first artifact came in March, my family and I spent a few days teasing apart its hidden messages. It was fun, it was cool. We had fun, even if I think one of the puzzles was broken.
In April, the second artifact came. By that point, I was a bit overwhelmed with getting ready for Passover, and Heather was in the thick of grad school. I opened it, got a little way into each of the puzzles, but never completed any of them. I've received the emails with links to hints, and never clicked on them. And now I can't really bring myself to go back to that artifact.
And the artifacts kept coming. But because this game is timed based on when you open the packages, and since I assume they comprise a continuous narrative, I haven't opened any of them yet. I keep hoping to find the time to try solving an artifact in a week --- but life isn't cooperating. I should admit defeat and simply open them up and solve them as time permits.
The other day I got a "thank you for playing" email. How sad; it's ended, and I'm still only partway through the second episode. (Which reminds me, I also need to watch the last two episodes of the second series of Sherlock.) For all I know, the other puzzles are going to be great once I get to do them. But I'm not going to get the full experience out of them at this point, and that's disappointing.
The most painful thing is that because I spent the money on this, I depleted my puzzle-entertainment budget. I should have saved my money for things like Qaqaq's extravaganza. But it's too late now.
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(no subject)
Date: 2012-07-23 11:52 pm (UTC)Yes. Yes, you do.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-07-24 02:22 am (UTC)My team finished the last artifact earlier this evening. We had fun with it, but it turned out to not be something for "you and your family" to casually solve, unless they are all whiz puzzle solvers.