Hints

These are Hints for parts of the game. The game story is not explained here, but rather, just the ‘puzzle elements’ that you might get stuck on and need to solve.

You can click on a puzzle, and will be given the first step to solving it. Click again to get the next step. If you keep clicking it will give you the full answer. It’s probably best to use these pages to CHECK your answers, rather than give anything away, unless you are really stuck.

Remember puzzles are often like magic tricks, and once you know how they are done they lose a lot of their fun. Remember how annoying it is when you are a bit stuck on a puzzle, get frustrated, then click to see the answer, and immediately think “Oh! I could have got that! But now I’ve seen the answer!”

It’s probably much better if you are stuck to just take some time away from it, try another puzzle, come back to it later, ask someone else, etc. Once you have spoiled something for yourself, it’s spoiled forever! So be careful!

That being said, here follows everything you need to work through the game.

Some puzzles are pretty simple, some are complex. Some are very quick to solve, some will take a while. They tend to get more complex as the levels go up, as the Platinum level puzzles are able to utilise all the previous items in all the previous levels. So be especially careful about spoiling these for yourself, since they are denser and longer, but you won’t get as many to burn through! But all puzzles, like magic tricks, are pretty simple and uninteresting if you just look at the answer. It’s all about how you get there, and you can even end up having a lot of fun going down the wrong route. So think twice before reading ahead, and don’t ruin things for yourself!

SILVER LEVEL

Letter starting “Due to the recent leaks…”
This is a particularly challenging puzzle, so don’t worry if you struggle with it, but it unlocks a big secret. The letter explains that you are looking for something in the newspaper put in by ‘Howard’, and you’re trying to find a keyword. There is a wordsearch in the newspaper submitted by ‘Howard Valmer’.
You can find the words ‘CAESAR, SHIFT, VERTICAL, SYMMETRY, CENTRE, LINE, MIRROR, SAME, IMAGE’
These words might clue you to start looking at a ‘Caesar Shift’, and experimenting with a ‘Vertical Line of Symmetry’ or ‘Mirror Image’.
Imagine a line of symmetry down the vertical centre of the word search. Write down the letters in the mirrored position of each word. So the mirror letters of ‘CAESAR’ are ‘YFPYZI’. The mirror letters of ‘VERTICAL’ are ‘BZDRZQRG’. The mirror letters of ‘SAME’ are WTOR’, etc.
Apply a Caesar Shift to these letters. You could work by hand, or use an online tool. You might not get any full words as a result, but some shifts appear to produce something that looks like broken up English words. Try to pay attention to how many letters of the alphabet you have to shift in order to produce your answer.
For example, the letters that mirrored the word ‘VERTICAL’ (BZDRZQRG) can be Shifted by 1 to produce the answer ‘CAESARSH’. This contains the word ‘Caesar’ and so is probably significant. Try applying other small shifts to the other answers, and putting them together.
One set of letters needs to be shifted by 1. Another set by 2. Another set by 3, etc. Then put them in order of how far you have shifted them.
You will be left with the phrase ‘CAESARSHIFTSECONDTOLASTROWBYTWELVEFORYOURFINALANSWER’
If you shift the second to last row of the word search by 12, you will get the answer ‘DECLASSIFIED’. Use this as a Vigenere Cipher Keyword to decode the line in Jink’s letter.
This final text reads “In mean time we are distributing a new Atmos for new members in the form of a movie poster”. Now you just need to know what an ‘Atmos’ is…

The ‘Icy Odyssey’ Poster
First, try to solve the Letter Starting ‘Due to the recent leaks…’ It’s a very difficult one, but has a cool payoff, so there is no shame in needing hints for it.
Also, read through the ‘Modern Magick’ pamphlet, and keep an open mind.
Have you found out what an ‘Atmos’ is?
If you have solved the Jinks Letter referenced above, you will know that the Poster is an Atmos, used to distribute code to new members.
Put the poster in the freezer!
The cipher text that appears in the signature box matches the text from the box in the bottom left of the poster ‘WHEN CONVENTIONAL JINKS QUALITY IS MET PLEASE FIND THIS REALIZED IN THE SIGNATURE BOX’. The sentence is a pangram (contains all letters of the alphabet) and so when combined with the cipher text can be used as the Rosetta Stone to decode any similar text.

DIARY

Entry ‘23^rdFeb’
Diary entry references a zoetrope model. You might guess that the ‘Animator’s Mouth Movement Reference’ will also be useful. Read the Zoetrope kit instructions closely (both sides of the sheet). It describes how the characters are shown speaking two lines of text, and how those lines of text are broken down into individual mouth shapes for the animators to draw.
Write out which number mouths should be used for the sentences quoted. Be careful, some mouths look very similar to others. Compare this to the actual image used on the zoetrope. You’ll find that there are some differences. Pick out the different numbers and see what you can do with them.
You can find the sentence “We index any errors in animation into the sentence” written in the instructions for the zoetrope. Index the errors into that sentence, and it will spell out an answer.

Entry ‘4^th March’
None of the Cities mentioned are actually in the Countries the man claims they are. So what is their relationship?
The man needs a globe, rather than a flat map, to find what he needs to know. What might be easier to work out on a globe than on a flat map?
Look up ‘Antipodes’
The Antipode of Christchurch New Zealand would be in ‘Spain’, which is your answer.

Entry ‘28^th Feb’
You need to use the Map of the Heavens, and compare it to the cartoon ‘Journey to the Moon’.
The constellations names are listed on the bottom of the poster. You need to match the names to the constellations. They group together in thematic ways. Some are simple connected groups like names of Kings, others are word games, and so on.
Once you have the names of the constellations, watch the cartoon, and work out the order in which they appear. Take not of the number of extra stars surrounding them.
Index the extra stars into the names of the constellations. You will be left with a series of clues, similar to the star groupings.
The clues all point to the letter ‘X’, which is your answer

Entry ‘Dear Diary, Monday Morning…’
A hand of cards is shown. Try thinking about the names of the cards, and the numbers shown.
Index the number on the cards into the names of the suits. Ace counts as 1.
You’ll get the answer ‘TENCHIPS’, which is your answer

Entry ‘Tues 25^th Feb’
Entry says you need to look at the section on summoning stones, in the Modern Magick pamphlet.
The flavour text says you are looking for a missing stone. The stones shown are described below the image. The missing stone is also thought to be something to do with entombment or burial. You could try using the descriptions of the stones like crossword clues.
All the answers you are looking for are 6 letter words. This corresponds to the hexagonal shape of the stones. The words share a rough magickal theme.
The words you need are LERAJE, SILENT, PAGANS, ATHAME, DEVOUT, SERMON. See what you can do with them.
If you write these words around the stones, starting at the carved groove in each stone, and writing one letter on each edge, a pattern will emerge.
The letters at the edges of the stones all match each other. We might assume that a stone that fits in the middle of these six will follow the same rule.
A stone that fit in the middle would spelling ‘INHUME’, which is your answer

Entry ‘Sat 18^th April’
These are all Biblical characters, but don’t fit this family tree. What else might connect them?
A little research might tell you that they are all among the longest living character in the Bible, so their ages might be relevant. Perhaps find a list of the ages of the longest living characters in the Bible.
The ages of the characters add together to total the characters above them in the tree. Work out how old the missing character needs to be, and find a Biblical character who lived to that age.
The answer is ‘ABRAHAM’

Entry ‘Dear Diary, I start thus Diary…’
The entry references a letter from Elwood Cole, featuring a chess problem. A hint is given at the end ‘I will give you a clue, when I see you!’
The chess board on the sheet doesn’t make much sense. The board is not oriented correctly, and the pieces all seem to be bunched together in the middle of the board. Perhaps you are looking for some other sort of code?
The first letter of each paragraph spells ‘BAUDOT’ – does this mean anything to you?
The chess board spells out a word in Baudot code.
The answer is ‘Tomorrow’

Entry ‘Fri 6^th March’
The seating plan is laid out a bit like a chess board. Try to match each person to a chess piece.
There are two rival groups described, we could take them as Black and White. On one side we have Higgins, Edwards, and Watts described as low level Acolytes. On the other side, Brown is described similarly. We could assume these are Pawns. Chambers is described as ‘the most important piece’ of our side, which we might assume is the King. Campbell is described similarly for the other side.
MacDonald, Hansen, and Rogers can be identified from their references in the sports page of the newspaper.
MacDonald is a Bishop, Hansen and Rogers are Knights.
Hewitt is the owner of the enamel pin, which features a castle on it. This also solves Stewart for the other side.
We are left with a chess problem, which we need to solve in two moves.
‘EDWARDS’ ends up sitting to the left of Hewitt, which is your answer

Entry ‘Won’t note date down today…’
The illustration shows flags with times of day on them. Are there any codes involving time, or flags, that you can think of?
Try drawing out the times as they would appear on a clock face
Use the clock face times as flag semaphore
Answer is ‘ELITE’

Entry ‘Fri 22^nd May’
The entry clues that perhaps you should remove or isolate the ‘lead letters’
Take the first letter of each word and see what it spells
This gives the letters: PLUCKCENTRALL ETTERSGETEXPRESS
Take the central letter of every word here, to get a synonym for express, ‘UTTER’, which is your answer

Entry ‘Mon 6^th April’
You are looking for ‘something like land’, and have the illustrations to work with. Do they look like anything you recognise?
Take a look at the Europe Map
The illustrations are outlines of countries. Take a look at the numbers next to the illustrations.
The first number gives the order, the second is how far you should index into the names of the countries.
You get the answer ‘DIRT’

Entry ‘Dear Diary, For the first time…’
The entry references a poem. The poem has a few odd features – a number at the beginning of every line, and also, the final word in each line seems off and doesn’t rhyme.
Try substituting the final word in each sentence for a synonym. The number at the beginning of the line clues the length of the word. The words should form loose rhyming couplets.
You should get the words ‘Effect, Expect, Flowered, Third, Tenacity, Humanity, Cynicism, Hedonism’
The poem talks about taking ‘First from the first… second from the second, and third from the third’. What could this mean?
Take the first letter from the first word, second from the second… You get the answer ‘EXORCISM’, which is your answer.

Entry ‘Dear Diary, Went to the Grand National…’
This entry references an envelope with a colourful lining
As referenced, even though it’s empty, you should still find answers within
The lining of the envelope forms a magic stereoscopic image. If you stare at it and adjust the focus of your eyes, a 3D image will form
The image is of an Axe, and the word AXE, which is your answer

Entry ‘Dear Diary, Elwood popped ‘round…’
This entry references an animation cel. It also references the Sunday Newspaper. Can you make anything of the two?
The background of the animation cel features a poem which references a few items from the scene – The Helmet, the Sword, the Bottle, the Banner, the Shield, and the Crown. Can you find any other references to these items?
Check through the newspaper.
If you find an item in the newspaper that matches any of the items in the cel, try overlaying the cel on them. You should see a word highlighted in one of the other listen items.
Find all the items, (there are five – the list has six items as the crown is used to frame a word but not used to find another word) – and you should get a clue
You get ‘ANSWER IS OPPOSITE OF DAY’. So your answer is ‘NIGHT’

Entry ‘Fri 10^th of April’
Take a look at the three title cards. You might start with the roman numerals at the bottom.
Index the roman numerals into the alphabet to get words
The cards read ‘CAESAR WAS EXILED’. This clues some Caesar shift encoding. Is there anything on the cards that could have been Caesar Shifted?
The actors are playing characters whose names are Caesar Shifts of their real names. Perhaps see how much each actor/character combo has shifted through the alphabet?
Remember, you can loop around. A shift from ‘T’ to ‘B’ goes ‘T,U,V,W,X,Y,Z,A,B’ and so is 8 places.
Index the number of shifts for each actor/character combo into the alphabet. If you also put the title cards in order so as to read ‘CAESAR WAS EXILED’ you get the answer…
‘O,U,T,C,A,S,T’ So you answer is ‘OUTCAST’

Entry ‘Tue 14^th of April’
The sketch for the gardens references the ‘King Louis’ style. There is also an article in the paper about the French Revolution, and an odd calendar that was used in those days.
Some research will show you that the French tried to install a decimal calendar, called the French Republican Calendar, and that each weekday on the calendar was named after a different flower or tree. This garden must correspond to important dates in French History as they might appear on the French Revolutionary Calendar
Each bed also features an odd object in gold. What could these reference? The notes pointing to each bed feature two different flowers or plants, and therefore reference two dates. What could this mean? Births and Deaths?
The images reference the nicknames of different French Kings, all of them named ‘Louis’. The flowers correspond to their birth and death days on the French Revolutionary Calendar. The kings are Louis XI (Louis the Spider), Louis the VIII (Louis the Lion), Louis the IX (Louis the Saint) Louis X (Louis the Quarreller), Louis XV (Louis the Beloved), and Louis XVI (Sometimes mockingly called Louis the Baker, and Marie-Antoinette The Baker’s Wife)
The missing date is the birthday of Louis VIII, which is September 5^th. You just need to find which flower is represented on the French Republican Calendar for that day.
The answer is ‘MARIGOLDS’

Entry ‘Fri 27^th March’
These are simple direction. You just need a map to work from, and to know where to start.
A suitable map can be found on an advert in the newspaper
The location of the casino can be found on the casino chip
Just follow the directions, and you will find yourself at the ‘Dog and Gun’ pub. So ‘DOGANDGUN’ is your answer. Simple.

Entry ‘Fri 15^th May’
The large maze etching isn’t much of a maze at all. It seems like there are multiple ways through it, none of which are particularly challenging. What else could be going on?
The maze is 26 squares wide. What could you do with that information?
Assign a letter of the alphabet to each ‘column’ of the maze. Try walking through the maze using only one type of doorway/archway. Does it spell anything out?
Walk through only the wide doorways with columns (the one that begins at ‘S’). What does it spell?
It spells ‘STARSTHENMOONS’
Try doing the same thing but walking through the star doorways then the moon doorways
It spells ‘DEMONBEFOREAIM’
The demon before ‘Aim’ in the list at the end of the Modern Magick pamphlet is ‘IPOS’, which is your answer

Entry ‘Fri 3^rd April’
Assemble the ‘Mayan Mishap’ model theatre. Take note of the hieroglyphs around the edge.
Watch the Mayan Mishap cartoon. In order to decode a completely alien language, you probably need to find a ‘Rosetta Stone’; the same piece of text written in both languages.
The map in the cartoon features towns. You can find the same town names written on a sign. Use this to decode the writing.
The writing around the model theatre reads ‘WHATS IN WILSONS HAND’, giving you the answer…
‘ARROW’, your final answer

Entry ‘Dear Diary, Got to my desk…’
This is a relatively simple puzzle that looks far more difficult than it is. You might be best to try to simply draw out the stars, trace them, or otherwise try to visualise them, and see what pattern you can make out.
The stars are simply capital cities on a map of Africa.
The circled city is ‘NAIROBI’, which is your answer

Entry, ‘Wed 8^th April’
This embroidered patch matches with the ‘Mayan Mishap’ cartoon.
First, you need to work out the Mayan alphabet used. You can do this by noticing that the road sign written in Mayan text points to villages written in English text on the map.
The enamel patch matches up with the large rolling wheel in the cartoon.
Notice the patch has some arrows which point outwards, and some that point inwards.
Line up the patch with the wheel in the cartoon. The arrows will point to glyphs that spell out ‘ANSWER IS R’. So ‘R’ is your answer.

Entry ‘Sunday 24^th may’
Complete the edge matching puzzle. It needs to be formed into a 3×3 square, so that each edge corresponds correctly the one next to it.
It can be quite challenging. If you need help, try starting with ‘the panel featuring a well’ in the centre of the 3×3 square, and build around that.
Once you have them in the correct order, notice that the copyright information in the corner of teach square is missing one letter. Read out the missing letters in order.
You get ‘STREAMING’, which is your answer

Entry ‘Wed 22^nd of April’
Your attention should be drawn to things being inserted into the ‘Hell’s Teeth’ cartoon that perhaps shouldn’t be there.
If you watch through the cartoon very carefully, pausing at relevant moments, you can find some animals hidden in the cartoon, with letters that flash up beside them. You will need to pause the video carefully to catch them.
Some are obvious, but some are hidden away. There are six animals, and six letters. Now you need to work out which order to put them in. Unfortunately these six letters can be arranged a few ways. You will have to work out an order.
What do the animals have in common?
They are all featured on the Chinese zodiac. But you will need more information than that.
The Chinese zodiac also features elements.
You also need to factor in the background. i.e. a WATER rooster, a FIRE rat, a WOOD rat, depending on the scene they were hidden in.
In the right order, you get ‘LISTEN’, which is your answer.

Entry ‘18^th of March’
Find the names of the trainers in the newspaper, and take note of their horses. The hoses all have two word names, and a word can be inserted between the two words to form two separate words. The Trainer names also clue this.
NIGHT (MARE) NOSTRUM, WILD (CARROT) CAKE, ATLANTIC (COD) PIECE, MEDICAL (DOCTOR) LIVINGSTONE, RAT (RACE) COURSE. What can you do with these extra words? Remember, you were asked ‘which animal is missing?’
Put the words together in a row
MARECARROTCODDOCTORRACE is a near palindrome. It is just missing the final three letters…
‘RAM’, which is your answer

Letter dated ‘Sat Feb 1^st’
To decode, you should first work on the letter that begins ‘Due to the recent leaks…’ and the crossword in the Newspaper. This will eventually lead to decoding this type of writing.

Letter dated ‘28^th May’
To decode, you should first work on the letter that begins ‘Due to the recent leaks…’ and the crossword in the Newspaper. This will eventually lead to decoding this type of writing.
Once you have decoded the writing, it should read…
‘Remember your ACOLYTE’S INITIATION WORD?’
And is signed ‘THE FIRST, SECOND, SIXTH, FOURTH, EIGHTH AND NINTH’
Take these letters out of Bertram’s initiation word to find Bardsley’s nickname.
Bertram’s initiation word is the final answer you get from working out all the diary entries.

Bertram’s initiation word
Bertram’s initiation word is the final answer you get from working out all the diary entries.
Basically, you need to take every answer from the diary, and put them in order as best you can. The first letter of every answer will spell something out. Order by date. Entries which you can’t order by date you’ll need to fit in between where you think they fit best. Even then some may need a slight shift up or down one or two. This is to prevent guessing before all the answers are in.
Revealing this is a big spoiler, as it utilises the answer of every single diary entry puzzle.
Are you sure you want to see? The next line gives the answer…
TWIXTSEEREANDANDROMALIUS
So the initiation word is the Demon between SEERE and ANDROMALIUS in the list at the back of the Modern Magick booklet, which is DANTALION

Working out Bertram’s pseudonym
First, you need to work out how Bardsley signs his letter dated ‘28^th May’. To do this, you need to decode the letter starting ‘Due to the recent leaks…’. This is one of the final pieces of the puzzle, so don’t spoil it for yourself by clicking ahead unless you are sure you’re at this stage.
The ‘Icy Odyssey’ poster is key to deciphering the code Bardsley uses.
The letter from ‘28^th’ May’ is signed by Bardsley, in code, as ‘THE FIRST, SECOND, SIXTH, FOURTH, EIGHTH AND NINTH’. Take those letters from Bertram’s initiation word.
The answer you will get will be ‘DALTON’, which is your final answer.

What do I do with Bertram’s pseudonym?
Use his pseudonym as the key to decode the string in the FINAL ANSWER CODE box. It is a Vigenere cipher. If you get something back that makes sense, and have nothing else to solve, you can open the final envelope and complete the game!

GOLD LEVEL

The gold level necessitates the solving of all previous puzzles, plus these following ones

Snakes and Ladders
Read the instructions on the game board. Also notice that some of the squares on the board feature the wrong number.
You need to calculate how far off the incorrect numbers are from the numbers that should feature on that square. For example, if a square should have ‘52’ on it, but it has ‘64’ on it, then it has ‘12’ too many.
Replace these numbers with letters, where 1=A, 2=B, etc.
Now follow the course from the first square to the last, going up ladders and down snakes, and making sure to travel in the appropriate direction for each line.
You should pass the letters ‘BLUE DASHES YELLOW DOTS’. This might clue you to use morse code.
The flavour text references safety glasses, and a good right eye.
Look at the puzzle through just the right eye of the 3D glasses. Best to do it under good lighting.
The cyan squares should look very light, the red squares should look dark. The purple and magenta squares should both look blue, and the yellow and green squares should both look yellow. You can then read this off as morse code. Blues are dashes, yellows are dots, light squares are spaces, dark squares indicate spaces between words.
You will get ‘TOFINDTHEANSWERSIMPLYLOOKATTHECOLOUROFYOURLEFTEYELENS’
Squares appear as REDS through the right eye, so the answer is REDS or RED

Fortune Teller
The fortune teller is not too difficult, just construct the toy and follow the instructions on how to use, making sure to take note of orientation, and which way opens first.
The code you need is hidden on the final page of the magazine
Take note of the colour of the squares around the edge, and then the following numbers of grey squares. Take the first letter of each answer you get from the fortune teller.
Answer is ‘UNDERTAKER’

Something fitting for the Vampire Gang
Find all the character names in the wordsearch.
Read off all the letters that haven’t been used.
They read ‘GROUPS BY EARS THEN FANGS THEN CAPES THEN BOWTIES THEN WINGS’
Group the characters by those particular shared attributes. Look at all the characters with large ears, and then how their names are circled. Does it look like anything?
Each group should spell out a letter.
The letters are ‘BLOOD’, which is the answer

An Ad in the Occult Quarterly
A letter from Jink’s secretary references an ad he has been trying to include in the occult quarterly, which they have consistently misprinted. She sais the ‘initial t’ needs to be crossed, but is also adamant that she doesn’t mean the first t.
Cross the uncrossed ‘t’ in ‘initial’
Take note of the remaining letters that need dots and lines to finish them. Write them out.
This is morse code.
It spells YEAST, which is your final answer.

An Apparition among the Jinks Characters
Look on the ‘Have you met them all?’ page of the kids magazine. At the bottom there are characters with dots under them. What could you do with the numbers and names?
Index the numbers into their names to get the answer ‘USEACTORNAMES’. So you need to perform the same operation, but using the actor names. Now find the names of the actors!
The backbone of this is a large elaborate logic puzzle to work out the star’s wages. You will need to reference the letter from Jink’s secretary, and also the memos from Lynne O’Neil, Gordon Baldwin, and Ralph Cash
If you have never solved a logic puzzle like this before, you should research way to do so. There is a method that involves drawing out a series of grids and filling in the information you need which makes the whole thing easier.
Once you have worked out who plays who, look back at the magazine. Index the letters again, and you should be left with a word.
The word is ‘HALLUCINATION’, your final answer

3D prints
The prints feature a border with small sketches. Can you link them to the image somehow?
The small sketches correspond to things in the image when paired up. i.e. DOG, and HOUSE link to make a DOGHOUSE.
Draw a line between the object in the image, and the objects in the border. How could this shape be helpful?
It’s a semaphore. Use it to give a letter.
Put the objects in alphabetical order, then read off the semaphore
The answer is ‘OCULAR’

A Letter in the Letters Pages
Take a look at the puzzle pages in the children’s magazine. All the puzzles will need to be used in order to reach the solution.
Start with ‘last week’s crossword’. Read the entries, starting with ‘1’, and taking note of the small arrows by the numbers
It reads ‘ROTATE BLANK CROSS WORD GRID NINETY DEGREES CLOCK WISE AND OVERLAY ON WORD SEARCH’
You should notice that the crossword grid is the same size (i.e. number of squares) as the cross word grid on the opposite page. Imagine the blank crossword grid overlaid on the word search. This isolates certain strings of letters. You could walk through the crossword like a maze, reading off words. But which is the correct way?
Follow the instructions for ‘A Simple Maze’, it will give you the route you need to move through the crossword/word-search overlay
The answer is R,R,L,L,F,L,R,L,R,R,L,L. Follow this route through the crossword/word-search overlay
This reads off as ‘JUSTTAKETHEFOURTEETHLETTEROFTHISCHAINASYOURANSWER’
The answer is ‘U’

The spirit of the jigsaw
Complete the jigsaw. It rather a tricky one.
Compare to the picture on the cover of the box. Some items are missing.
How could you order the missing items?
Order them in alphabetical order. There is one thing beginning with A, one with B, one with C, etc
Join them up to spell a word
The word is ‘SOUL’, your answer

A way into a newspaper story
You will need to look at the ‘Hells Teeth’ cartoon, and also the article in the Occult Quarterly on the ‘Christchurch Manuscript’.
The newspaper article says that a few words have been translated. These are featured in the image above the article. The words are given in English in the article. You need to work out which cipher word corresponds to which English word. Study the length of the words.
You might notice that the cipher words are much shorter than the English words. In fact, they are half the length. This might mean that each cipher ‘letter’ represents two English language letters.
Start with the longest word, ‘Subversive’. There is only one word of this length (10), and only one cipher word of length (5). Start from here.
You can work out what the other words must be, and thereby work out what all the cipher letters represent.
Now simply watch the cartoon. The same type of cipher lettering comes up near the end, around a pentagram. Read this off for your answer…
‘ENTRANCE’ is the answer

Letter ‘Thursday 2^nd April’
Solve all the above Gold level puzzles, and you will get the name of the Hotel Bardsley is staying at.
Apply the name of the hotel as a vigenere cipher to the encoded string on the bottom of the letter.
Make sure you have solved all previous Gold puzzles before this, as this is the culmination of all of them. So don’t click ahead unless you are sure. The answers should give you the meta-answer (the Hotel Name)…
RUBY HOUSE. Apply this to the string (no space) in order to get…
‘JOIN CRESTS TO FIND MERMAID’. Now how to find the City with this information?

Finding the city Bardsley is in
Solve all previous puzzles referenced on the ‘2^nd April’ letter first. You will need to have decoded the string on the bottom of the letter dated ‘Thursday 2^nd April’. Once you have gone that, you should have the answer (make sure not to click ahead too fast, big spoiler if you haven’t solved the above)…
‘JOIN CRESTS TO FIND MERMAID’. Now how to find the City with this information?
Go through the Occult quarterly, taking note of the article on Ley Lines.
There are city crests printed throughout the paper, which correspond to major European cities. Locate them all on the Europe Map.
Join them on the Europe Map in the way that is described in the Ley Lines article. They will tend to cross over one major city. To check your answer, why not take a look to see what this city’s crest is?
The final answer is…
‘WARSAW’

Checking your final answers on ‘Hotel Bardsley is staying in’ and ‘City he is staying in’
Check the words by using them as a key for a Vigenere cipher.
If you have the correct answers, you should get back an English language word telling you that your answer is right. If you get something back that makes sense, and have nothing else to solve (i.e. Bardsley’s Pseudonym), you can open the final envelope and complete the game!

PLATINUM LEVEL

The Platinum level necessitates the solving of all previous puzzles, plus these following ones

Stereoscope
The stereoscope corresponds to the images in the children’s magazine.
If you are having trouble viewing the images in focus, try moving the viewer very slightly closer or further from your eyes – everyone has a different perfect viewing distance. Also, it may be easier to see the images properly from one side of the reel than the other, so you could try it both ways.
The puzzle is simply a ‘spot the difference’ type puzzle, where each image is missing something.
ROBO RUCKUS is missing a ROBOT
THE CASTAWAY is missing a DRUM
WITCHING HOUR is missing an AXE
SAILOR’S LIFE is missing an ANCHOR
SECRET LAB is missing an EYE or EYEBALL
JUST DESERTS is missing a CACTUS
ON THE LAMB is missing a VASE
Put them in the order they appear on the reel. The answer will spell…
‘CADAVER’, which is your final answer

Haunted Castle Playset
First, assemble the model house. Take note of any interesting decorations. Also take note of anything that could be read like a code or cipher.
Read the flags that line the outside of the castle. Take note of the colour, and how many pips or lines appear on each flag. What could you do with this information?
The flag colours correspond to the colours of paintings within the house. Look at the direction the sitters of the portraits are pointing. Perhaps write these down next to the list of flag colours and pips/lines?
Start at the green gemstone on the floor or the house, and move around the house following the directions you have noted down. i.e ‘(BLACK, 3, UP)’, ‘(ORANGE, 6, RIGHT)’. You should end up at the final red gemstone upstairs.
Some squares on the floor are partly outlined. Some have coins on them. What does this remind you of?
The floor tiles are a pigpen cipher.
Follow the route through the house, noting down the pigpen cipher
This gives the answer ‘GREENRORANGEBPINKDREDCBLACKA’, which can be read as ‘GREEN R, ORANGE B, PINK D, RED C, BLACK A’
Read the flags again (or write these letters down next to the flag colours as you have written them) and you should get your answer…
‘ABRACADABRA’, the magic word, which is your answer

Pirate Board game
You should not that the Pirate Board game is written by a Howard Valmer. Where have you seen this name before?
The game instructions also feature images of semaphore flags, with an emphasis on LEFT and RIGHT flags.
Howard Valmer also wrote the word search in the Illustrated Times of London Newspaper. It is the same size as the game board. So we have semaphore flags which can represent letters, flags divided into left and right, a word search full of letters which is the same size as the game board, and instructions listing movements on the game board as ‘left’ and ‘right’ along with numbers of squares moved. So put it all together.
You need to label each square of the board with a ‘LEFT’ or ‘RIGHT’ arrow, according to flag semaphore, corresponding to the letters used in the word search. You could write directly on the board, or copy it out onto a sheet of squared paper. Perhaps used blue arrows for ‘Left’, and red arrows for ‘RIGHT’.
Once you have a board covered in arrows, use the counters to play through the game as described. You will find that at the end of each round your pieces will either end up shipwrecked, or sitting on one of the islands. Take note of the position at the end of each round. Do these shapes remind you of anything?
The shapes are Braille. Read off the Braille to get an answer…
‘LEFTWESTRIGHTSOUTH’, which gives the answer…
‘B’ in semaphore. Which is your answer

Tarot Card
Start with the back of the card. The design features rosettes giving the names of some of the objects features on the obverse. Around the rosettes is a design, can you crack it?
It’s simply morse code. Solving it gives the answers…
Swords – PIGPEN, Coins – BRAILLE, Cloth – NAUTICAL, Candles – BINARY, Man – SEMAPHORE
Now read the obverse of the card, cracking the codes as described. Read them in the clockwise order they appear on the back of the card.
Swords give the pigpen ‘A’
Coins spell out ‘N’
The cloth on the table is a nautical flag for the letter ‘G’
The candles (where extinguished is 0 and lit is 1) give the binary for ‘E’, (or 5, as E is the 5^th letter)
The man is standing in the semaphore position for ‘L’
So ‘ANGEL’ is your final answer

Defaced Photographs
The photographs are defaces with three different types of arrows. One featuring crosses, one with squares, one with triangles. Can you find these anywhere else?
These same arrows flash up for a few frames around the names of cast and crew in the titles of each of the cartoons.
Can you find any other references to these Jinks staff members?
These employees are all listed in the Illustrated Times of London, but the names are not exactly the same. What could that tell us about the arrows?
The arrows indicate transformations to the names. Find the original names in the article, and then see how they have been transformed when highlighted by the arrows. Each type of arrow represents a different transformation.
Triangle arrows seem to take off the first and last letters of a name
Cross arrows seem to flip a name backwards
Square arrows seem to use the first and last 2 letters of a name
Now look at the photos again. Match the photographs to those in the paper, find the words or names being defaced, and then apply the appropriate transformations to the words.
On the back of one of the photographs you are given the equation ‘(1-2)+3=missing part of chain’.
(LEVER-EVER)+INK=LINK. So ‘LINK’ is your final answer.

Small envelope with card giving direction
This card needs to be decoded and forms part of a larger puzzle. Check out the following hints for ‘Letter dated ‘Tue 21^st April’’ for how to use this card.

Letter ‘Tue 21^st April’
Solve all the puzzles listed. These puzzles tend to be more dense and complex than those in other parts of the game. If you take the first letter of each word, you should get a keyword. Don’t click ahead unless you have solved all the puzzles referenced on the sheet. The keyword is…
‘CABAL’. You are prompted to apply this keyword to something given out to people by Bardsley. Look for an odd envelope with a small card in it featuring the same logo that Bardsley uses on his letterheads.
Apply the keyword ‘CABAL’ to the text on the card. It should now read…
‘I BEGIN AT THE SITE OF THE SOYGA OBELISK’. The reverse of the card features instructions on where to walk. All you need to do now is find out the site of the Soyga Obelisk!
The Soyga Obelisk is referenced in the newspaper as being an ancient site, which might be able to be tracked down using geometry, and might exist along ‘ancient channels of energy’. This is a similar idea to the Ley Lines mentioned elsewhere in the paper. You thus need to find some important ancient sites from which to work.
The paper features a few references to ancient burial sites. One is that High Hat casino in London is built on one. We can find the location of the High Hat by reading it from the Casino Chip we have at hand.
The other locations can be found by studying the article on automatic writing. The page of automatic writing featured shows hand drawn maps, and in mirror-writing lists these as pre-roman burial sites. Locate them all on the Map of London, along with the Casino.
Draw lines between the four sites. This must be the site of the Soyga Obelisk. They will cross at a certain point. Begin following the directions from the back of the small card, starting from this point.
The route will draw out an arrow. Where does it point?
The directions tell you to ‘remove the shape’ to get your answer. The letter also clues the password as something to give ‘the fellow at the door, or at least to the fellows as they pass through customs’
The arrow points at ‘PORTMAN SQUARE’. Remove the shape (SQUARE) to get ‘PORTMAN’, Bardsley’s password, and your final answer.

Checking your FINAL ANSWER CODE for ‘His Password’
Check the password by using it as a key for a Vigenere cipher on the text in the ‘FINAL ANSWER CODE’ box.
If you have the correct answer, you should get back an English language word telling you that your answer is right. If you get something back that makes sense, and have nothing else to solve (i.e. Bardsley’s Pseudonym, Hotel he is staying at, City he is in), you can open the final envelope and complete the game!

Simulacra Games

SILVER LEVEL

DIARY

GOLD LEVEL

PLATINUM LEVEL