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.