Enigma Four - Cache as Cache Can.

Last week when the Enigma class figured out that they needed to acquire a specific book from the library - which is adjacent to where we meet - it was a mad, disorganized dash and a surprising degree of milling about before they found it.  So, I guess that's an area we have to work on.

This week was a geocache hunt.

This was actually difficult to set up.  GPS readings are problematic inside a barn like school with a ceiling full of metal and cables.  And the extent to which I can wander about engaged in dubious looking activity is limited!

But I'm pretty good at work arounds, so clues were deployed in outdoor settings.....with only a vague sense of how long they would need to solve the entire puzzle.

The starting question, the answer to which opens the lock was:

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _  ________

Go.

 

It turns out that a couple of the kids had a passing familiarity with geocaching.  Even to the extent of knowing the lingo a bit.  When you approach the coordinates of a geocache you are supposed to look for a "beacon", some feature that tells you that you have arrived.  One kid swerved off on our trek to investigate a utility pole that had a label from Beacon Engineering on it.

Regards swerving off track I tried it a few times, purposely wandering in the direction opposite where the GPS device was leading the kids.  After the first time they stopped falling for it.

One cache was called BARK BARK.  I was hoping they'd fall for a dog reference.  Instead they noticed this almost immediately.

I did stump them for a while with a clue hidden inside a pine cone.  But eventually they had the complete set of scrabble tiles and were ready to work the five letter combination that gets 'em snacks.  Note the flip side of BARK BARK.

While we were walking in from outside I asked them for theories on how to get the code.  Several thought of anagrams, which was the correct answer.  One team nailed the five letter word just by playing with the tiles, the other team used an anagram generator to get the harder eight letter word, which was actually irrelevant.

In our peregrinations we ran into one of the assistant principals who was enchanted by the idea.  She will for sure be in the "staff challenge" version that I'll have the kids cook up.

I'm not liking the staff's chances.