Three-in-a-Row - Solution
Written by Edgar Chen, Ivan Wang, Rachel Wei, and teammates
Artwork by Rachel Wei and Ivan Wang
Answer: TOY CHEST
This is a meta puzzle that uses the answers to the intro round.
We are presented with a giant map that allows us to repeatedly zoom in to sectors of a 3x3 grid. The art style and the letters hidden in both the southern trampoline and the northwestern sign (Xavier's Knoll, Calgary Drive) reference xkcd, a popular webcomic. Specifically, the title and the mention of "games," playing "optimally," and "XOXOXO" in the flavortext refer to one particular comic: Tic-Tac-Toe.
Clued by the mention of directions and the compass in the corner of the map, we can see that each answer contains three cardinal directions:
| Puzzle | Answer | Directions |
|---|---|---|
| Exceptions to the Rule | MNEMONICLIE | NE, N, E |
| Pictionary | GAMEOFCATANDMOUSE | E, N, SE |
| Icebreaker | WARMFRONTS | W, N, S |
| 20/20 Vision | UNIVERSO | N, E, S |
| Blog | SOFTWAREBUGATTI | S, W, E |
| Island Metric | MUSEUMOFMODERNART | SE, E, N |
| Storytime | RIPVANWINKLE | NW, N, E |
| Now I Know My 🐝🐝🐝s | SWASHBUCKLER | SW, S, E |
It turns out that the directions in each answer represent a set of moves by player X in a game of Tic-Tac-Toe (this is clued by the names of the grandparents, Xyla and Xiaoming). Looking carefully, we should notice that "MAP FOR OUR FRIENDS" exactly overlays on top of "MAP FOR O" in the xkcd comic! This hints that we should execute the moves on the map and find the optimal moves for player O. By following the xkcd comic, we will see that the fourth move is always the winning move, and encircles a letter in each sector.
See full-sized image
In reading order (from left to right, top to bottom), we can extract the answer, which is also the present promised by Matt & Emma's grandparents: our very own TOY CHEST.
| Puzzle | Answer | Directions | Winning Direction | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Storytime | RIPVANWINKLE | NW, N, E | SW | T |
| 20/20 Vision | UNIVERSO | N, E, S | SW | O |
| Exceptions to the Rule | MNEMONICLIE | NE, N, E | SE | Y |
| Icebreaker | WARMFRONTS | W, N, S | SE | C |
| Pictionary | GAMEOFCATANDMOUSE | E, N, SE | SW | H |
| Now I Know My 🐝🐝🐝s | SWASHBUCKLER | SW, S, E | NW | E |
| Blog | SOFTWAREBUGATTI | S, W, E | NE | S |
| Island Metric | MUSEUMOFMODERNART | SE, E, N | SW | T |
Author's Notes
This puzzle started as a sort of tic-tac-toe and “Where’s Waldo” crossover, where each puzzle answer would contribute a single direction and be shaped either as an X or an O (e.g. DONUT would be a move by O in the North sector of the grid). Playing out a single game of tic-tac-toe using all the puzzle answers would then lead solvers to a single location on the grid, extracting out to a single image. We landed on our current version because it became difficult to find answers that were both unambiguously shaped like either an X or an O and also only ever used one of the cardinal directions. Our current version is more like a cross between tic-tac-toe and the kind of hidden objects ‘puzzles’ seen in children’s magazines, where you’re meant to find many hidden objects.
The zooming interface was meant to provide an easier and more interesting way of navigating a large image than having to download it and manually overlay a grid. Because it automatically sectioned the image into a 3 by 3 grid, it also served as a subtle clue towards tic-tac-toe. We hope that the amount of shell wasn't too overwhelming and made it fun to solve, especially for new puzzlers!