The Challenger Dispatch is your source for all news and information about WIRED UK's Enigma Challenge.
The Enigma Challenge is a series of puzzles, tasks and games designed to test your ingenuity, brainpower and creativity.
From June 7-19th we'll have daily game updates, so make sure you follow @WiredUK and check here regularly. The Challenge ends on July 7th, with the top 10% of players eligible to win a brand new, shiny 32GB 3G iPad.
How To Play
Find a task. They're in the Wired UK Magazine July issue, on this site, and via @WiredUK.
Complete the task. Solve a puzzle. Make a video. Whatever it is, get it done.
Tweet your answer. Each task has a unique #hashtag. Tweet this hashtag, along with your answer to @WiredUK. The instructions for each task will specify what form your answer should take. You can also use our quick-submission boxes on this site for each task.
Earn points. We track your points via Twitter on our live leaderboard. Be the first player to solve a puzzle, or submit one of the best entries to a task to earn extra points.
Play in teams. To create a team to play with your friends, just add any hashtag - like #london or #teamblue - to your answers.
You Are Cordially Reminded that, upon Saturday the 12th of June, our Great Nation will unite to celebrate Tea Day, in recognition of the anniversary of that great event, LORD SHACKLETON’s conquering of the Southern Pole, and his now-famous tea party there with the bested AMUNDSEN. In respect of his courageous achievement, this next fortnight will be given over to the taking of Extraordinary Tea by the British Public. Whether you choose the back of an autogyro, the roof of your home, or the belly of a whale as your venue, take your tea in an extraordinary fashion - and remember LORD SHACKLETON!
Links to photographic or videographic evidence of your accomplishments will find our attention at @WiredUK with the hashtag #LXT.
This notice was originally printed in WIRED UK’s July Issue
At first glance, the “Kinaesthetically Integrated Messenger” from I.B.M might seem complex and intimidating, with its gesture-based controls and locus-dependent syntax. However, once one understands the root of the system is its modular lexicon and begins to apply its principles to the comprehension and composition of K.I.M transmissions, mastery is not far distant.
To illustrate K.I.M’s unique language, we will use one of the shortcuts we presented in our magazine feature on the device; to discover the location of an acquaintance, the following shortcut is used:
Grasp your hat-brim with your right hand, and your right wrist with your left, before uttering the name of <X>, the companion you wish to locate.
This action breaks down into the following individual gestures:
“Where?” - Take your hat brim in your right hand.
“You” / Second Person - Grasp your right wrist with your left hand.
The vocal component of the message allows the second person command to be linked to a specific personage.
By combining these two gestures and the vocal component into a single gesture, you instruct the K.I.M to parse them as a single command, rather than a phrase to be communicated on your open channel.
In a similar manner, combining individual gestures allows you to merge their meanings, providing the facility for modification and an endless variety of communications using a few basic items of vocabulary.
We have provided below a beginner’s lexicon, as recommended by International Babbage Machines.
Nouns and Persons
I / We / 1st Person: Raise right hand to tie-knot
You / 2nd Person: Grasp right wrist with left hand
He / She / They / 3rd Person: Grasp left wrist with right hand
“Noun”: To indicate a specific noun which does not have its own gesture, remove your hat with your left hand; while still holding it in this hand, perform a mime to indicate the noun you wish to convey.
Some Basic Verbs
Being: Take left hand in right hand, hold at chest height
Going: Bow at the waist
Wanting: Touch chin with right hand
Hoping: Place your right hand on your heart
Giving: Hold both arms before you, parallel to one another, with the palms open to the sky
Taking: Cross arms across chest, so each hand touches opposite shoulder
Modifiers and Miscellaneous Concepts
Negative: To convey the negative or opposite of another gesture, cross your legs, right over left, while performing the other gesture
Good: Draw a line across your chest, from left to right, with your right hand
Bad: Draw a line across your chest, from right to left, with your left hand
Past: Look down
Future: Look up
Near: Turn head to the left
Far: Turn head to the right
Hubris / Pride: Raise both arms above your head
Where?: Take hat-brim in right hand
Help: Clench your left hand twice into a fist
By combining these gestures, it will be possible to convey a wide variety of sentiments and messages through your K.I.M interface. For a wider lexicon, please consult Kinaesthetically Integrated Communication: Vocabulary, Grammar, Syntax by Professor Christopher Jarvis of International Babbage Machines.
To practice your new-found understanding, please view the video above; it contains three messages being conveyed through the K.I.M. All three messages are quotations from the same popular film. Decode the messages, find the common factor, and send the name of the film to @WiredUK , designated #KIM.
These instructions follow on from the tips presented in WIRED UK’s July Issue.
