The big Easter Egg

I explained it at the awards ceremony, but here's a breakdown of the epic level hidden treasure we put in the manifest that would have garnered first pick off the prize table were it solved.

Step 1)

Scrap of paper in the manifest packet that said "#95 #8@gmail.com"

There was an everbright battery in the window of old greyhound station at SW Water ave and Sheridan (anwer to #95) and the year of the penny was 2004 (answer to #8), which gives everbright2004@gmail.com

Step 2a)

Scrap of paper given out at breakfast that said "The answer to manifest item b) will get you into the speakeasy"

Figure out that this meant the password to the gmail addy

Step 2b)

Bonus manifest given out at Quizzy at noon was itemized by letter. Item b) was a rubbing of the plate directly above AUTO SPKR. at the Whitmarsh Building on SW Park between Morrison and Alder, which was STANDPIPE, which was the password.

Step 3)

The only message in the inbox of everbright 2004 was as follows

Congratulations! You've cracked the code to get you to the next level!

Now on to serious business. Your next task, should you choose to accept it, is a story problem. What, Damian made me do Sudoku last year and I hate that stupid crap.

A 50 gallon keg has 2 taps, one for true pints and the other for standard 2 quart pitchers, and each tap has a different flow rate. It takes 4 seconds to get a new glass before each pint pour and 10 seconds to get a new pitcher before each pitcher pour. If, including these delays, 1.6667 pints get poured for every pitcher and the keg takes 47 minutes, 3.53 seconds to empty, what is the pour time, in seconds, to fill each of the respective containers?

Add these two numbers to give you a manifest item #. The answer to that manifest item will be very useful.

I know math is scary, but this problem is actually only algebra 2 difficulty, so if it's over your head ask any nerd 2nd level or higher to help you, they're generally very friendly.

If this email gets deleted or in any way tampered with, the puzzle it's related to will be cancelled and nobody will get the prize for it, including you, so don't be a jerk.

This message will self-destruct in 5 seconds

The answer was 20s to fill a pint, 30s to fill a pitcher, pointing you to item 50) how many mL in a pint? You could do more math or just get a beer. 473mL is printed on just about every 16oz can there is.

Step 4)

Blog post "Scuttlebutt" at 5:22am

Word on the street is that the prisoner is locked to a Mercury newspaper box on Belmont but if you free him without unlocking the lock (e.g. sawing it off) you will set off the alarms and he will be killed.

There was a luggage lock on the Mercury box in front of the launromat up the street from The Vern that had a combination of 473. That was the prize you were looking for but if it came back tampered with or broken then it didn't count.

Funny, when you're the one who made it up it almost sounds too easy, but by the groaning of the crowd last night, and the fact that it sounds like only 2 people got anywhere close to even getting the email open, I'm guessing it was a bit much. Ah, well, always next year...