Roadkill Buffet and the Tax Puzzle

Teams were strongly encouraged to go see "Roadkill Buffet" on Saturday. Teams were given the Tax Puzzle (solution, from team "Excuse Me, Is Thouis There?"), and they should have spotted a puzzle based on the actors' nametags. The tax puzzle was used in the final runaround, and the nametag puzzle was a component of it.

Roadkill Buffet themselves, feeling troublesome, made up their own fake puzzle, and they've given us the details.

The Endgame

In order to start the endgame, teams had to get all eight hotel answers and procure a "Get Out of Jailbait Free" card. Once those steps were done, they were given a final puzzle (solution) which incorporated the board puzzles and the tax puzzle.

The race for the coin was quite harrowing in the early hours on Sunday, providing one of the closest endings in recent history. Here's how everything played out:

Chronology

1:08 am

ACME gets its eighth hotel, and is told that they are stuck in jail.

1:20 am

ACME comes to headquarters and tries to get out of jail using a "Get Out of Jail Free" card and fifty dollar bills from their own Monopoly set. "Yeah, we see these counterfeit pieces all the time," we tell them, and they return to their base to try again.

1:35 am

ACME calls to say they believe they earned a "Get Out of Jail Free" card in puzzle 3-4 (solution), using the completed path around the board as a rationale. We refuse this hand-waving argument: "We'll believe it when we see it," we tell them.

2:00 am

ACME goes to BE NOISY at the Cashier's Office, but nothing happens.

2:26 am

Ycnamancy gets its seventh hotel.

2:50 am

Ycnamancy gets its eighth hotel, and is told that they are stuck in jail.

2:55 am

ACME calls again, confirming that they earned a "Get Out of Jail Free" card in puzzle 3-4.

3:00 am

Ycnamancy, without calling first, comes to headquarters with their Monopoly money and "Get Out of Jail Free" card. After a severe tongue-lashing, demanding that they call before coming over, they're given the same sort of message dismissing their counterfeit items.

3:03 am

Barnum and Baker Circus, kicked out of their dorm due to a fire alarm, swing by the headquarters to say "hi", also without calling. Frazzled, we post guards in the hallway so that nobody scares us by knocking on the door again.

3:05 am

Excuse Me, Is Thouis There? gets its seventh hotel.

3:10 am

ACME finds the magic phrase in puzzle 3-4, comes to headquarters, and is given their final runaround puzzle.

3:29 am

Thouis gets its eighth hotel, and is told that they are stuck in jail.

3:43 am

Thouis also gets the "We'll believe it when we see it" response when the call to explain that they got out of jail with puzzle 3-4.

3:58 am

Thouis visits HQ, hoping that we'll believe them when we see BOOTY. A squad of five men and women shake their booties, but we sadly have to turn them away.

4:08 am

Thouis calls again about their reasoning around puzzle 3-4.

4:09 am

Ycnamancy calls to tell us that they'll BE NOISY to get out of jail. Confused, they explain the secret metapuzzle to us. ACME's earlier actions become clearer.

4:11 am

Thouis finds the magic phrase in puzzle 3-4, comes to headquarters, and is given their final runaround puzzle.

4:50 am

Ycnamancy finds the magic phrase in puzzle 3-4, comes to headquarters, and is given their final runaround puzzle.

4:52 am

ACME begins their runaround.

5:09 am

Thouis begins their runaround.

5:16 am

ACME marches on beneath our headquarters' windows; we cheer them on.

5:29 am

ACME finds the coin! Ycnamancy and FP, based nearby the final location, hear their cheers.

The Coin

The coin was on the roof of a building in the Atomic Courtyard. Here's what it looked like: front and back.