Computer Games
by Nathan Fung, with coding by Corey Plover
ANSWER: ROOT DIRECTORY
This puzzle directs solvers to various Athena clusters around campus. At each location, the solver receives an instruction that clues a word in the room and an image that can be filled in to allow extraction of a highlighted letter. The error message received at each location then directs solvers on to various other Athena clusters.
The collected information is:
| Location | Word | Letter | Error message locations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2-032 | MONGER | M | 66-080 |
| 2-225 | NATIONAL | T | 38-370, 37-318, 37-332, 37-318, 56-129 |
| 4-167 | FAN | N | 37-332 |
| 11-112 | CAUTION | O | 38-370, W20-575, 2-225, 2-225, 2-225 |
| 12-182 | SIGNMARK | S | 2-225, 38-370, 37-318 |
| 37-318 | AUTHORIZED | A | 12-182, 4-167, W20-575, 2-032 |
| 37-332 | DATACENTER | D | 12-182, 11-112, 37-332, 11-112, 11-112 |
| 38-370 | WARNING | W | 11-112, 11-112, 56-129 |
| 56-129 | WHITEBOARD | H | 66-080, 66-080 |
| 66-080 | EMERGENCY | E | W20-575, 37-332, 2-225, 12-182, All done! |
| W20-575 | ROLUPO | R | 37-332, 66-080, 66-080 |
The error message locations determine in order which locations (and letters) follow the current location (and letter) in the final message. So for example, the error message for 11-112 implies that the letter O is followed the first time by W (38-370), the second time by R (W20-575), and the remaining three times by T (2-225).
Doing this starting from 37-318, spells out the phrase AS TWO WORDS, WHERE DOT AND DOT DOT ARE THE SAME, which clues the answer ROOT DIRECTORY.