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.
Today’s Citizenship Test celebrates and expresses the inventiveness of the British People - you great innovators-at-home, you curious minds, you drawing-room pioneers!
Since time immemorial, man has been fascinated with his ability to contrive new mechanisms and devices with which to ease his daily life. These inventions are often discovered not by the scientist in his laboratory, or by the engineer in his workshop, but by the lawyer, the banker, the diplomat, all exploring the material world in their leisure hours. In their name, we put to you the following challenge:
Whether at work or at home, in the office or in the parlour, you will construct, using the materials and resources at your disposal, a demonstration of your inventiveness. A chain-reaction of mechanical principles, illustrated with house-hold objects. A domino-run of books and boots, chess-pieces and china. A grand, improvised machine. Produce videographic evidence of your creation in motion, and bring it to our attention on Twitter at @WiredUK, with the designation #invention.
For inspiration in your task, we provide the following two examples, one of the lowest quality, and one of the highest. Take heed, Candidates, be inspired, and create!
I am, as ever, your supervisor and faithful servant, Charlton Rice-Laurie
Distance
It is natural for a true Briton to wish to serve his Sovereign however he can, whether that be with his mind, his strength, or his courage. Is that not the stirring we feel when we hear the rousing notes of Jerusalem or Land of Hope and Glory? And, should it be necessary, is it not every Briton’s honour to lay down his life for his country?
There are countless examples of such brave self-sacrifice throughout our Empire’s proud history, but special mention will be given here to famed explorer and pioneer James Cook.
Nathaniel Dance’s Iconic Portrait of Captain Cook
His discoveries were the pride of the Empire, but he died and was buried far from his native soil, and far from his King. We would like you to find out exactly how far apart their burial monuments are, as a tribute to a great patriot and his Sovereign. Round your answer to the nearest 100 miles and send it via twitter to @WiredUK with the designation #distance
Postscript It has been brought to my attention that this question may be ambiguous. For clarity: We are asking about the ruling monarch at the time of Captain Cook’s death
On the live testing period
My dearest candidates - I hope this past weekend has provided you with an opportunity to rest your weary brains and restore your spirits to their fullest, as today sees the commencement of our live testing period.
Between today and next Friday the 19th of June, we will be providing you with new tasks in your quest to become joint citizens of the United Kingdom and His Majesty’s British Empire. Tasks will be published to this site in the morning of each day, and submissions for these challenges will be accepted until the 7th of July.
In some cases, however, the tasks will take place under time constraints - either undertakings which require some simultaneous actions to be taken by a number of candidates, or tests with a timed component. With these tasks, sufficient warning will be given before any timed or live actions are required. You are advised to follow the @WiredUK twitter feed in order to remain fully informed of such situations.
And now; on to our first task!
Harmony
Across the globe, His Majesty’s Empire is considered synonymous with great technological innovations; Analytic Engines, Autogyros, the emerging science of Reprophonics - all have changed our world for the better. But an oft-overlooked group has done just as much for the strength of our mighty Empire: its philosophers.
Without Bertrand Russell’s revolutionary A Vindication of Mechanical Sentience, which brought the idea of Analytic Intelligence to public notice and acceptance, it might not have been possible for His Majesty King George VI to take power. Without John Stuart Mill’s views on liberty and society, Britain might not have evolved into the free, fair culture we enjoy today. And without Emerson’s Nature, and the deep respect for our planet which it planted in the heart of British society, we might have sacrificed the well-being of our mother Earth for the sake of our industry. Instead, we live in careful balance with our planet, ensuring our technological advances never outstrip the ability of the Earth to support them. It is this harmonious relationship which we celebrate with today’s Citizenship Test.
Instructions
All across the Empire, we are surrounded by examples of Man’s Progress integrated seamlessly with Nature’s Bounty. It is your task, today, to provide photographic evidence of such a relationship in your society. We wish to receive single photographs containing as many of the following elements as possible:
Water
Fire
Plant Life
Electricity
Mechanical Contrivance
Evidence of Man’s Creativity
The strength of your grade will reflect the number of elements contained within your photograph, and its inventiveness. Please send links to your submissions via Twitter to @WiredUK, marked with the identifier #harmony.
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.
