30 replies to this topic

[Mister Phes]

Some of the participants of the Talking Skull promotion mentioned they would like to share how they discovered the Prize Codes and Magic Words, so here is a thread for that exact purpose.

How did you make your discoveries?

[Lorentzen]

I had absolutely no idea what I was doing... I tried to guess, but the only thing I ever came close with was "keys"

I really didn't understand how the game worked.

Can someone enlighten me?

[the last chronicler]

I managed to solve one, except it was the first one (# 15) which must of been solved weeks before me. Though the 1883 clue was interesting, but I managed to get stuck at "Young Youths" at which point the skull told me "That's an important magazine!"


Was this information useful anywhere else? Also, how does one get into the cave?

[Fugazi]

the last chronicler, on 27 January 2011 - 09:49 PM, said:

Also, how does one get into the cave?

I think the final answer may have got something to do with a Mont Vaea tomb, but there was a mysterious number missing to complete the puzzle. I'm sure Rick could tell us more!

[Rick]

There was a '+' and a '=' sign on the teaser posters, so I decided to add up all 'the numbers the skull cares about', which gives 10644

[Duke]

Did any of the answers have anything at all to do with Robert Louis Stevenson and Treasure Island or was that just one enormous red herring?

[Fugazi]

Rick, on 27 January 2011 - 10:09 PM, said:

There was a '+' and a '=' sign on the teaser posters, so I decided to add up all 'the numbers the skull cares about', which gives 10644

Ha that's terrific! I figured out that I had to add numbers, but not which ones! I kept adding up 1850+1894 and such...

Duke, on 27 January 2011 - 10:18 PM, said:

Did any of the answers have anything at all to do with Robert Louis Stevenson and Treasure Island or was that just one enormous red herring?

Well yes, the Grand Prize answer was about the place where Robert Louis Stevenson was buried.

Oh and now that I have been told the final answer, I couldn't help but have a look inside the treasure cave! The prizes for the Seven Seas contest are simply amazingly fabulous!!

Edited by Fugazi, 27 January 2011 - 10:44 PM.

[Hive]

Rick, on 27 January 2011 - 10:09 PM, said:

There was a '+' and a '=' sign on the teaser posters, so I decided to add up all 'the numbers the skull cares about', which gives 10644

Was that it? Damn... I tried writing them all combined, but didn't think about adding them. Doh! I got to the tomb part on the first or second day of my hunt, but never managed to crack that missing number.  

Good thinking though.  

I think I guessed abour 8 of the codes in total, though only one of them was unclaimed when I got it: #17 for the magnets. It was quite lucky, actually... I was hunting for the above mentioned number and was trying ANYTHING... I tried SO MANY numbers... and decided in the spur of the moment to try the set number of the magnet set, which then proved to be the solution for that particular puzzle.

But what about the damn pop quiz, then? What was that for...?

[Duke]

I got as far as Mount Vaea as and put that in but it didn't actually give a prize.. The only ones I managed were not treasure island related.

Am I missing something with seeing the seven seas prize haul? Just tried 10644 as a skull answer and it doesnt respond?

[Mister Phes]

Rick, on 27 January 2011 - 10:09 PM, said:

There was a '+' and a '=' sign on the teaser posters, so I decided to add up all 'the numbers the skull cares about', which gives 10644

You were clever to figure that out, otherwise you would need to find the Pop Quiz and the Find-a-Word to get a direct hint.

[Fugazi]

Hmm... Did the geographical coordinates of Port-au-Prince, the Great Blue Hole reef, Tortuga and the Sahara have anything to do with anything??

[Mister Phes]

Yes, yes, yes and no.

But you needed to dig deeper than that.

[Rick]

The Pop Quiz can be reached by knowing that the pattern of the streets in Port au Prince (one of the set of coordinates on the teaser images) or Puerto Principe in Spanish had the shape of an amphitheatre.

I got these answers, but didn't know what else to do with them (I understand it wasn't necessary to solve Prize #1).

1: Queen (?): What a great band!
2: Seagull: Them annoyin buzzards! They try to fly off with me fish!
3: Murray: Murray the talking skull? He's my third cousin.
4: Appendix: Of all the body parts, I wish I had an appendix!
5: King Philip IV: That's scoundrel! I sent word to he to stop sending conquistadors but he refused. We've had a falling out.
6: Avocado: I depise those! Don't throw any through my nose hole!
7: (No idea)
8: Capybara: World's largest rodent! I tried to train one as a pet once. Didn't work...
9: God: Well I am a god of sorts.

Fugazi, on 28 January 2011 - 02:43 PM, said:

Hmm... Did the geographical coordinates of Port-au-Prince, the Great Blue Hole reef, Tortuga and the Sahara have anything to do with anything??

Great Blue Hole: Belize Barrier Reef
La Tortuga Island: Amerigo Vespucci

And then there's Concord, the original name of Blackbeard's Queen Anne's Revenge (although I was too late for that one).

[Tazmaniac]

ok those two guys in the top corner of one of the posters were the Blackheart cousins from the lego comic.

Islands was easy if you just repeated what the skull said , Typed tropical island.
the skull gave some alternate names for them one of which was a code word archipelago

Santa Maria ...I'm sure you all got that one.

barrel= rum barrel=apple barrle =oranges/kiwi fruit= latin name= Actinidia deliciosa= healthy

and my favorite bruni d entrecasteaux his island is named "Bruny Island" and his channel  "d'entrecasteaux channel" there's a reef too but thats another story.

that's all I can remmember off the top of my head

[manuelexar]

One Was LeChuck and i figured that out seeing a monkey and an island At first  I wrote guybrush Threepwood and the skull asked clarification so I thinked about him...but it was too late...

Edited by manuelexar, 28 January 2011 - 04:55 PM.

[Hive]

Rick, on 28 January 2011 - 02:53 PM, said:

I got these answers, but didn't know what else to do with them (I understand it wasn't necessary to solve Prize #1).

1: Queen (?): What a great band!
2: Seagull: Them annoyin buzzards! They try to fly off with me fish!
3: Murray: Murray the talking skull? He's my third cousin.
4: Appendix: Of all the body parts, I wish I had an appendix!
5: King Philip IV: That's scoundrel! I sent word to he to stop sending conquistadors but he refused. We've had a falling out.
6: Avocado: I depise those! Don't throw any through my nose hole!
7: (No idea)
8: Capybara: World's largest rodent! I tried to train one as a pet once. Didn't work...
9: God: Well I am a god of sorts.

Close, but not quite there...

#1 was one of the last ones I got, but when I think about it should have been one of the first... where do the pirates live? The Caribbean. What is the most Caribbean artist who ever lived? Yes, Bob Marley... Bob Marley is his favourite artist.
#2 I thought for a while that seagull was the answer as well, and the fact that one of the teaser images had one supported it. But I eventually found out that he really hates Spongebob Squarepants as well, so I believe the seagull may just have been a ruse or a hint to something else. Though his response to both is pretty much the same "annoys me greatly".
#3 Indeed, Murray from the Monkey Island games (to those unaware).
#4 I had a really really hard time finding this one, but eventually got there after just typing all internal organs I could think of (and google). I like the irony in the skull wanting the most useless of all organs.
#5 Another tricky one. I got it from typing in random king names. When I typed "Philip", he asked me which one... and then I just started from Philip I and went upwards.
#6 This one took me way too long considering that one of the teasers had avocados in it... doh.
#7 This one's Capybara, not #8. For a while I thought the answer was just "jungle rodent" untill a fellow treasure hunter told me it was a specific animal. Never heard of this bugger before though.
#8 He says he plans on marrying a Goddess some day, but I'm unsure whether it's a specific one he means... I tried typing in a HUGE amount of known and lesser known Goddesses, but to no avail.
#9 I believe he said 'diety', not 'God'... but yeah.

[Rick]

Hive, on 28 January 2011 - 05:54 PM, said:

#1 was one of the last ones I got, but when I think about it should have been one of the first... where do the pirates live? The Caribbean. What is the most Caribbean artist who ever lived? Yes, Bob Marley... Bob Marley is his favourite artist.

Of course. The answer to Queen didn't seem that enthusiastic anyway. Hence my question mark.

Quote

#2 I thought for a while that seagull was the answer as well, and the fact that one of the teaser images had one supported it. But I eventually found out that he really hates Spongebob Squarepants as well, so I believe the seagull may just have been a ruse or a hint to something else. Though his response to both is pretty much the same "annoys me greatly".

Both start with 'S', so if it's about beginning letters it doesn't matter.

Quote

#7 This one's Capybara, not #8.

Sorry, mixed them up.

[Skalldyr]

Hive, on 27 January 2011 - 10:51 PM, said:

I got to the tomb part on the first or second day of my hunt, but never managed to crack that missing number.

Same here! I just figured it out at the first day and just didn't get the number....Argggg

[Tazmaniac]

just remembered another,
the large clam shell from the poster...."tell me more about shellfish"
following the prompts from the skull you'll end up at conchologist
the study of shells.

[Skalldyr]

What was the '15 men on dead mans chest' thing about? Anyone solved it?

[Tazmaniac]

correct me if I'm wrong but that's one of many clues for prize #1.
from the book "Treasure Island" first printed in  "Our Young folks" magazine written by Robert Louis Stevenson, who was buried ontop of Mount Vaea. But that's not the code word I hear you say, and your right there's more, so you think grave? no tomb is a much better word for it..... but still no love from skully. this is the point that you needed to be "Rick" and add all those numbers together then with all parts in order you can access the cave.
there were numerous other clues leading to this but you get the idea.
Well done "Rick" I would never have added those numbers together.

[Skalldyr]

TazManiac, on 28 January 2011 - 11:17 PM, said:

correct me if I'm wrong but that's one of many clues for prize #1.
from the book "Treasure Island" first printed in  "Our Young folks" magazine written by Robert Louis Stevenson, who was buried ontop of Mount Vaea. But that's not the code word I hear you say, and your right there's more, so you think grave? no tomb is a much better word for it..... but still no love from skully. this is the point that you needed to be "Rick" and add all those numbers together then with all parts in order you can access the cave.
there were numerous other clues leading to this but you get the idea.
Well done "Rick" I would never have added those numbers together.

Ahh, well I got the Mount Vaea Tomb too, just the first day, but the numbers where tricky!

[Mister Phes]

Skalldyr, on 28 January 2011 - 11:20 PM, said:

Ahh, well I got the Mount Vaea Tomb too, just the first day, but the numbers where tricky!

There needed to be numbers otherwise it would have been solved too quickly.

So...

Who figured out the Mystery Prize Code?  You needed three components to get this one.

[Emperor Claudius Rome]

Man, I sucked at this game. I laughed at some of the insults the Skull said, but I got frustrated when it lead to a never ending loop, or it just ended. I couldn't figure out anything, and when I did, the prize was already claimed. It really depressed me, as I shared all my knowledge of Pirates and Explorers with it, and in the end, I got nowhere.

[Mr. Gray]

In order to get "Healthy" I mentioned something about Scurvy, then he mentioned fruits to prevent scurvy (oranges), and he said kiwis were better, so I said kiwis, after that the question was something along the lines of "What do the Chinese call them?" after I found that, the Skull asked "What do scientists call them" and I mentioned the genus and species name of the kiwifruit. And thus, I got Healthy.