Phase 4
Object Instructions
In order to successfully complete Phase 4, your team must construct a "Rube Goldberg"
machine.
Rules:
- Your machine must perform the following three (3) tasks:
- Ring a bell
- Open a book
- Light a candle
- The bell, book, and candle will be provided when you arrive at Hunt HQ with your
machine.
- The bell is a standard "ring for service" table bell. It is 6 cm tall, and
8.5 cm in diameter. There is a single, 7 mm diameter button top center, which needs to
be pressed once to ring the bell.
- The book is a hard-cover version of Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot by
Al Franken. The dust cover may or may not be removed, at your discretion. The book is
21.5 cm tall, 14.5 cm wide, and 2.3 cm thick.
- The candle is a white paraffin candle, a maximum of 10cm tall (shorter if already lit
by a previous machine,) and 1.8 cm in diameter.
- The three tasks may be performed in any order.
- No two of the three tasks may be performed simultaneously.
- A function is (roughly) defined as a step which can be described by "verb-a-noun".
Examples would include:
- knocks over a block
- pulls a string
- drops a marble into a track
- Your machine must consist of no less than 12 different functions, not including the
three tasks.
- The functions must be performed serially, one after another, with the effect of each
function being the cause of the next. There must be no "branching," that is, one function
can not be the cause of 2 separate functions, which then lead to 2 different tasks. You
may, however, have a function be the cause of 2 separate functions, which then "rejoin"
to be the cause of a single function. You also may have a function cause both a single
task and a function, which then leads on to other functions leading to a further task,
and so on.
- A task may be used as the cause of a function.
- The machine may be activated once, and from that point on, must function without
user intervention.
- If the machine fails to complete the three tasks, it may be reset, and/or adjusted
and run again, from the beginning, as many times as necessary.
- The machine must be brought to and executed in Hunt HQ. The machine must be run at least 3 times, and if it is not successful in completing the tasks,
it must at least, in the opinion of the judges, have a plausible change of
working at all.
- Extra hint(s) on Phase 4 puzzles may be given, if deserved (as judged by the hunt
organizers,) based on the following criteria:
- Complexity
- Ingenuity
- Aesthetics
- Entertainment Value
- Coolness
As such, the machine may be brought to Hunt HQ prior to obtaining the name of the entity
and the incantation.
- Decisions of the judge are final.