Doubles Council Office Tour [Won by Team Berkeley]

Level 51

the orchestra plays the prettiest themes
is a Site Content Manageris a Community Contributoris a Top Tiering Contributoris a Contributor to Smogonis a Top Smogon Media Contributoris a Team Rater Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnusis a Past SCL Champion
Approved by kamikaze

Quick links: Tour Discord Server | Rules | Team Progress | SOLUTIONS

Hey there! In celebration of the 5th anniversary of Smogon Doubles, aka Doubles, aka DOU, we're taking some very lucky users on a tour of the Doubles Council's office space! Unbeknownst to many users, the Doubles Council has a small office space rented out in an upscale portion of the Philippines, since Memoric can't afford to go over to the US that often. Every now and then we all meet up there to have a discussion about the state of the metagame, which somehow always turns into a discussion concerning everyone's waifus (mine is the best, though). Anyway, we're almost here! I'll be your host for today! how exciting!

Oh, silly me. Before I forget, I'm required to pass you this fire escape plan. You probably won't need it, though I'm told that the Philippines is pretty fire-prone? Never seen one in this office, though. You can probably just come back to it later after we're done with the tour.

>> Take a look at the fire escape plan.



Here's the office garden, which isn't really a garden, ya know? It's pretty nice, and the best part is that it's shared by everyone else who uses the office space too! So we don't even have to water it ourselves. talkingtree spends a lot of time here whenever he's around—maybe he feels better around others of his kind, eh? Feel free to take a look around!

>> Take a closer look at the plant pots.



Here are our office tables! ...well, actually, we only really have the one table, because it would cost a little much to get more. It doesn't really matter, anyway, because no one really needs a table to sit at except when they're writing one of those super long OPs like in the Suspect Tests or something. Sometimes shaian sits here to write one of his excellent shitposts, too! I think he left some printouts in the drawer or something. Sam might also sleep here sometimes, I dunno. He sleeps anywhere and everywhere, really. Oh, and miltankmilk sits here sometimes and answers calls for us! Er, I mean, he used to, until our phone line got cut because we forgot to pay the phone bill. Woops.

Anyway, feel free to check it out, uh, although there's probably not much to check out, since it's just the one table.

>> Peek at the computer screen.
>> Check out the drawers.



And here's the meeting room! This is also a common area, so we don't really have to pay for it. I think we just had to rent out the one desk in order to use the meeting room. The seats are pretty dang comfy over here. And they're red, too! We spend most of our time here, discussing which Pokemon to suspect next.

We do other fun stuff here, though! Like, the other day, we were watching some weird anime on the TV. Boku no Nano or Boku no Femto or something like that, I forget. Sometimes, we even have teambuilding sessions on the whiteboard! Stax always has the best ideas for those, he's as much a fan of GeoPass as myself as it seems. Although, kamikaze made me remove those teams a little earlier today because we had some super secret spreads on there. uh, I hope he recorded them before I erased them! —but yeah, the room is now safe for your perusal, heh.

>> Check out the glass whiteboard.
>> Look at what's on the table.

Well, that's all for now, I guess! There's not much to our office, since we only have one desk rented in this place. I didn't even know they sold office spaces in such small packages. Well, feel free to hang around the office a little more before you leave, it's not like there's anything super top-secret in here. Except maybe those shitposts.

Oh, and if anyone asks, you've seen the fire escape plan! Have a safe trip!

Oh yeah, the fire escape plan. You rummage around and find it in your back pocket.

>> Take a look at the fire escape plan.

What a strange visit! You exit the building, and no one at all questions you about the rather odd-looking fire escape plan, or whether you've read it at all. Grabbing a feedback form on the way out, you begin to write.

"This place could use some..."
 
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Level 51

the orchestra plays the prettiest themes
is a Site Content Manageris a Community Contributoris a Top Tiering Contributoris a Contributor to Smogonis a Top Smogon Media Contributoris a Team Rater Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnusis a Past SCL Champion
A Collection Of Plant Pots
Intrigued for some odd reason, you head over to check the plant pots, only to discover a number of similar-looking plants neatly potted in a number of identical brown plant pots. Nothing out of the ordinary, really. What at first intrigued you now escapes you... until you happen to look down and see a piece of paper with some rather odd-looking descriptions on it. Curious, you pick it up.
  • The user lets some strange water through a hole in a pipe. This attack never misses.
  • The user loses their balance on the floor two to five times in a row.
  • Using a feline as a shield, the user protects itself and its allies from damaging moves.
  • The user attacks the target with a two-wheeled vehicle. This may also make the target flinch.
  • The user attacks the target with flying pieces of frozen water. This attack never misses.
  • The user takes a big mouthful of pastry. If the target is holding a pastry, the user eats it and gains its effect.
  • The user has its photo taken. This also lowers the target's Speed stat.
  • The user eats a lot of food. This leaves the target paralyzed.
  • The user challenges the target to perform a task in the dark. This may also lower the target's accuracy.
  • The user takes a good bath. One turn after this move is used, the user's or its replacement's HP is restored by half the user's max HP.
  • The user throws a fish at the target through a wormhole. This also hits a target using a move such as Protect or Detect.
  • The user heads out to sea for five to eight turns.
Huh! Wonder what that could mean. Anyway, you'd better get a move on.

>> Back to the tour.
 
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Level 51

the orchestra plays the prettiest themes
is a Site Content Manageris a Community Contributoris a Top Tiering Contributoris a Contributor to Smogonis a Top Smogon Media Contributoris a Team Rater Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnusis a Past SCL Champion
A Rather Plain Computer Screen
You take a closer look at the computer screen. Discord is open with a number of messages in view.

Oh, it looks like I left my Discord account logged in and someone posted some messages from it. Huh! I didn't think anyone else was in the office today, so that's a little shocking. That's alright though, I'll just delete those messages like I always do! Though hopefully marilli doesn't log them this time :I



>> Back to the tour.
 
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Level 51

the orchestra plays the prettiest themes
is a Site Content Manageris a Community Contributoris a Top Tiering Contributoris a Contributor to Smogonis a Top Smogon Media Contributoris a Team Rater Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnusis a Past SCL Champion
Two Mysteriously Closed Drawers
You open the top drawer, in breathtaking expectation of either a masterful shitpost or some top-secret documents concerning the future direction of Doubles... but there's just a piece of paper with a bunch of weird descriptions on it.

First word of a move which copies stats (5) // Glass Animals song named after a genus of insects (6) // Strait in Scotland, separating the Inner and Outer Hebrides (5) // The swelling of soft tissues due to the accumulation of excess water (6) // One who herds livestock (6) // "Holla'" for this unit of currency? (5) // Movie where woman is knifed by motel owner (6) // Slightly drunk (5) // Aggressively masculine (5) // Short, half-suppressed laugh (6)

What's that? Probably a brainteaser someone left in there or something? I wouldn't mind that if I were you. All the top-secret documents are kept in the bottom drawer, sorry. And so are the ones regarding DOU's future direction.

You try the bottom drawer. It's locked.

Heh, knew you'd try that. Sorry. shaian likes to keep his shitposts secret until he unveils them, I guess. Sometimes I wish I knew what goes through that mind of his.

>> Back to the tour.
 
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Level 51

the orchestra plays the prettiest themes
is a Site Content Manageris a Community Contributoris a Top Tiering Contributoris a Contributor to Smogonis a Top Smogon Media Contributoris a Team Rater Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnusis a Past SCL Champion
Scribblings on a Whiteboard
The whiteboard itself is a pretty standard affair, a glass surface with hints of mist and condensation on it. Surprisingly, there's a diagram of some sort on the whiteboard, along with some less interesting scribbles, despite Level 51's claim of cleaning it. It looks a little complicated, though.



Oh hey! That's a cool diagram, though it wasn't there just now. I guess someone drew it on in between the time I cleaned the board and when I left the office to meet you. Shared space and all, I guess.

He looks at it for a while.

Huh, I don't have the foggiest. I've always had a weakness for puzzles, but this just doesn't seem to be my type. Sorry about that. See if you can figure it out, though.

>> Back to the tour.
 
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Level 51

the orchestra plays the prettiest themes
is a Site Content Manageris a Community Contributoris a Top Tiering Contributoris a Contributor to Smogonis a Top Smogon Media Contributoris a Team Rater Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnusis a Past SCL Champion
The Top of a Meeting Room Table
Someone's left a working paper of some sort over here. It's titled "On the Procurement and Uses of Crimson Clupea". How odd! You flip through it to figure out what it's on about, but it's filled with technical jargon and indecipherable technobabble. A quick search of the rest of the table reveals titles like "A Beginner's Guide to Archery" and "Puzzle Hunts for Dummies".

Oh, those aren't ours, except the archery one, I think. Seems MajorBowman's really trying to live up to his name, or something. But like I said, shared space and all. Sorry to get your hopes up, haha.

>> Back to the tour.
 
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Level 51

the orchestra plays the prettiest themes
is a Site Content Manageris a Community Contributoris a Top Tiering Contributoris a Contributor to Smogonis a Top Smogon Media Contributoris a Team Rater Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnusis a Past SCL Champion
A Fire Escape Plan
You check out the fire escape plan you're holding on to. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to make much sense. Perhaps you should check it out after you've looked around some more, to give you an idea of what's going on around here. Until then, hopefully the building doesn't burn down.

The fire escape plan reads:


Dear all,

The new directions for escape in case of an emergency are listed below. You may notice some overlap with the previous directions, which are attached beneath for your reference. You may wish to compare the two plans to learn from the similarities.
  • Blue section: From E1, face the central pillar (marked in black) and turn right. Reach the end of the corridor and turn left, move all the way to the end and turn left again. Move to E8 and exit.
  • Purple section: From G5, face the small pillar nearest to you and move towards it. Move one measure at a time in a snakelike manner, into F6, F7, E7, E6, D6, D7, C7, C6, B6, B5, C5, and C4 in that order. Exit at C4.
  • Yellow section: From F8, face the central pillar and then turn right. Reach the end of the corridor and turn left, move all the way to the end and turn left again. Turn left again once you reach F1 and move one measure forward, then turn right and move one measure into E2. Use the exit at E2.
  • Green section: From G3, move away from the nearby pillar and then move diagonally into F5. Turn to face the central pillar and then turn right and move two measures forward, then turn left and move another two measures. Turn right and move to D2, C2, C3, B3, and B4 in that order to avoid the traffic from the Purple section. Exit at B4.


Fig 1: Old fire escape plan

Yeah, told you it was weird. I hope this place doesn't burn down while we're inside. It's fine if it burns down while we're not inside, though, since we get our money back.

>> Back to the tour.
 
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Level 51

the orchestra plays the prettiest themes
is a Site Content Manageris a Community Contributoris a Top Tiering Contributoris a Contributor to Smogonis a Top Smogon Media Contributoris a Team Rater Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnusis a Past SCL Champion
Rules
  • The posts above, when properly interpreted and solved, yield one final answer, which comes in the form of a phrase. Send it in to win!
  • Specifically, it's possible to extract four answers from four puzzles in the above posts. These four answers can be put into the metapuzzle, also in the above posts, as inputs, and used to extract the final answer. You'll know you have the correct answer for sure when you get it.
    • Please ping me in your channel in the Office Tour Discord Server to ascertain each of the four puzzle answers, though it should be obvious when you get them.
    • Each team is limited to 30 wrong guesses in total, so don't guess blindly!
  • Each team gets 4 hints: for each hint, you can ask me a yes/no question regarding a puzzle, and as long as it doesn't relate too directly to the final answer or the mechanism of the puzzle, I'll answer (truthfully). Teams which were in the first three to solve either teaser puzzle get an additional hint.
  • The winning team / player only will receive rewards based on how fast the puzzle is solved; see the table below for details.
  • You can still sign up! Just post your team name and team members in the thread. (Of course, you'll be at a time disadvantage compared to the other teams.)
Prizes
  • Puzzle solved within 48 hours:
    • Team name in PS! roomintro
    • "Office Tourist" Discord role for each team member
    • Custom title for each team member
    • Avatar control over Level 51 for two weeks*
    • Custom title control over Level 51 for two weeks*
    • Avatar control over kamikaze for one week*
  • Puzzle solved within 96 hours:
    • Team name in PS! roomintro
    • "Office Tourist" Discord role for each team member
    • Custom title for each team member
    • Avatar control over Level 51 for one week*
  • Puzzle solved within 168 hours:
    • Team name in PS! roomintro
    • "Office Tourist" Discord role for each team member
    • Custom title for each team member
  • Puzzle solved after 168 hours:
    • Team name in PS! roomintro
    • "Office Tourist" Discord role for each team member

    * no NSFW content.
In addition, the second- and third-placed teams will win the "Office Tourist" Discord role for each team member too!
 
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Level 51

the orchestra plays the prettiest themes
is a Site Content Manageris a Community Contributoris a Top Tiering Contributoris a Contributor to Smogonis a Top Smogon Media Contributoris a Team Rater Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnusis a Past SCL Champion
The office is now open to all visitors! Welcome all:

Team Megumin Best Girl: qsns, Elise, Kaori
Team Two Ms and a Tree: Mizuhime, talkingtree, MajorBowman (+1 hint from Teaser bonus)
Team yuki nagato is best girl: marilli, shaian, miltankmilk (+1 hint from Teaser bonus)
Team Berkeley: Psynergy, nvakna, kamikaze
Team Some Crappy Yoda Pun: Paraplegic, GenOne, Yoda2798
Team Mishi Society: Mishimono, Demantoid, Z strats
Team "The Hottest In Competitive Competitions" a.k.a Team ㄒ卄丨匚匚: BlueSkiddo, Yellow Paint, thebagman
Team Mega Tar best girl: AuraRayquaza, DaAwesomeDude1, Nido-Rus
Team watchog is thicc: Watchog, cyanize
Team gay: finally, Checkmater, Hashtag (+1 hint from Teaser bonus)
Team mtar is whack: Frania, Arcticblast, Heliodor
Team Alolan Bass Eaters: Caasi, Toxigen, zikam
Team disgusting fat sweaty weebs: Rwby, Taskr, LordST
Team One M and That's It: Memoric
Team Pineapple on Pizza: cant say, Solerme, NOVED
Level 51 Appreciation Team: DragonWhale, Jhon, chemcoop
cult of qsns: deoxys speed, Colbrushie
Team report my teammates: Play on Birds
Team random af: N01syBoy, 3017, yuruuu
Team forever alone: Flamestar

Please join the Office Tour Discord Server if you have not already. I look forward to guiding everyone around the office!
 
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Imo level 51 did a really good job on this.

Edit: Also crap i totally forgot about this tour kms, i got this one guy from rp to join me but couldnt find another should just went as a 2 ppl thing sorry to the rp dude u know who u are.

Edit: i sign up for this tour with Noire team name is no kuda
 
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kamikaze

The King Of Games
is a Top Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Senior Staff Member Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnus
Please dont solve in 24 hours

[9:53 AM] Level 51: do you regret letting me host this yet
[9:53 AM] kamikaze: :thinking:
[9:53 AM] kamikaze: no
[9:53 AM] Level 51: phew
[9:54 AM] kamikaze: of course not
[9:54 AM] Level 51: thats encouraging to hear :smile:
[9:54 AM] kamikaze: :greed~3:
[9:55 AM] kamikaze: if you gave control of my avatar though
[9:55 AM] kamikaze: well then....
[9:55 AM] kamikaze: :wakemeup:
[9:56 AM] Level 51: lmfao
[9:58 AM] kamikaze: you know what
[9:58 AM] kamikaze: im a man
[9:58 AM] kamikaze: if they solve it in 24 hours
[9:58 AM] kamikaze: they can have control of my avatar for 1 week
[9:58 AM] Level 51: o
[9:59 AM] kamikaze: this is most certainly not a way to motivate nvakna to win it for us
[9:59 AM] kamikaze: not at all
[9:59 AM] Level 51: lmao
 

Level 51

the orchestra plays the prettiest themes
is a Site Content Manageris a Community Contributoris a Top Tiering Contributoris a Contributor to Smogonis a Top Smogon Media Contributoris a Team Rater Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnusis a Past SCL Champion
Team Berkeley has completed the hunt in 40 hours and 20 minutes! They will take the following prizes:

- Team name in PS! roomintro
- "Office Tourist" Discord role for each team member
- Custom title for each team member
- Avatar control over Level 51 for two weeks
- Custom title control over Level 51 for two weeks
- Avatar control over kamikaze for one week

Congratulations to kamikaze, nvakna and Psynergy!

You can still win the consolation prizes by finishing the puzzle second or third! Don't give up! In addition, the Doubles Council Office will remain open until 9 Dec at 2pm UTC, so you can solve the puzzles spoiler-free until then, when the full solutions will be posted!
 

Idyll

xD
is a Tutoris an official Team Rateris a Community Contributoris a Top Tiering Contributoris a Top Contributoris a Smogon Media Contributoris a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Top Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnus
RBTT Champion
Day 3 and I'm still stuck at the office / my house garden. I've been observing the plants here for quite a while now, though it's not really taking me anywhere. Though, one of the plants does seem awfully different from the rest; can't say really.

 

kamikaze

The King Of Games
is a Top Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Senior Staff Member Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnus
GOD DAMN IT HELP ME

[8:57 PM] nvakna: I can’t for the life of me, copy an image on mobile discord so I will pin it
[8:57 PM] kamikaze: oh
[8:57 PM] kamikaze: thats it?
[8:58 PM] kamikaze: the quality is low
[8:58 PM] kamikaze: i can see the pixels
[9:02 PM] nvakna: I’ll try to find a better one
[9:04 PM] nvakna: Also, it’s ok I only see blocked messages and so do most other people
[10:11 PM] nvakna: is that high enough res


[10:11 PM] kamikaze: LOL
[10:11 PM] kamikaze: PLS
[10:11 PM] kamikaze: NO
[10:11 PM] kamikaze: DONT DO THIS TO ME
[10:11 PM] Level 51: LOL
[10:12 PM] kamikaze: GOD
[10:12 PM] Level 51: nvak have you found mine yet
[10:12 PM] kamikaze: WHY DID I SAY ANYTHING
 
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Level 51

the orchestra plays the prettiest themes
is a Site Content Manageris a Community Contributoris a Top Tiering Contributoris a Contributor to Smogonis a Top Smogon Media Contributoris a Team Rater Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnusis a Past SCL Champion
The hunt has been completed! Congratulations to Team Berkeley, comprising Psynergy, nvakna, and kamikaze, for solving the hunt in 40 hours and 20 minutes. They've claimed their rewards, including the avatar changes to kamikaze's and my postbits which you can probably see over to the left. Shoutouts also to Team Two Ms and a Tree for completing the hunt too, with a final time of 113:25!

For those of you who didn't quite manage to figure out all the solutions (or who might even have been completely lost), here's the solutions to each of the puzzles so you can see how close you were to the actual answers!

A Collection Of Plant Pots
As hinted by the user's need to get a "move" on, this puzzle showed what appeared to be a list of moves, but with rather odd move descriptions. Upon closer inspection, each of the moves has an effect listed which corresponds to an actual effect from within the games, though the first half of the move description (the flavour half) is altered. But how are they altered? In fact, each describes a move which is one letter off a real move. The moves are shown in the table below; reading off the new letter in each altered move name spells out KICKING GRASS, a thematic phrase for a puzzle set in a garden!


Design notes: I originally thought this would be a pretty difficult puzzle since I basically didn't expect anyone to hit upon the idea of changing one letter in the move names. As such, CAT BLOCK was deliberately made pretty obvious to help guide players along this track, especially since Mat Block's original description is unique as well. It turned out that MAGICAL LEAK was the most difficult answer to get, and in retrospect I probably could've made a pun about Inside Scoop, but I liked how this puzzle turned out overall.

A Rather Plain Computer Screen
This puzzle presented players with a set of Discord emotes, so the most obvious first step was to identify them. The real puzzle here lay in trying to find similarities between the names of the emotes in each row—if a player does so, they'll notice that the emotes in each row share a common bigram, as shown in the table below. Writing out the bigrams spells out STOLE MY THUNDER, revealing an electric theme for this puzzle set on a computer screen.


Design notes: I wanted to make two of the puzzles in the hunt more visual, as opposed to my usual style of very wordy puzzles (like Plant Pots and the Drawers). I struck upon the idea of using Discord emotes and making players find the name of the emotes from just the pictures alone, and for the extraction I fell back on my typical style of pulling bigrams. However, since the step of finding common bigrams might not stick out for most, I tried to make it a little more obvious with the :cool: and :drool: to start off the second row. In the end, though, it was somewhat a "either you see it or you don't" kind of puzzle, which is definitely undesirable and which I'll be working on in the future.

Two Mysteriously Closed Drawers
The phrases presented are simple, literal crossword clues, where the definition is answered by a word with the same number of letters as the number in the bracket (e.g. Short, half-suppressed laugh (6) = TITTER, a word with 6 letters). The solutions to the clues can then be paired up, with each word not containing 'PSY' paired with a word which does. The pairings are as shown below, arranged in the order of the words containing 'PSY':
  • PSYCH / MINCH
  • PSYLLA / DOLLA
  • DROPSY / DROVER
  • PSYCHO / MACHO
  • TIPSY / TITTER
For each pairing, reading the letters in the second word which replace the 'PSY' in the first word spells out MIN/DO/VER/MA/TTER, or MIND OVER MATTER. This puzzle was Psychic-themed, hinted at most obviously by PSY being the key trigram in the puzzle, but also by smaller hints like the user being told to "not mind" the "brainteaser".

Design notes: This was far and away the easiest puzzle in my opinion. Many of the clues gave unambiguous answers, most notably the pairs PSYLLA/DOLLA and PSYCH/MINCH, and I was hoping people would notice the similarities between the words and catch on fairly quickly. Indeed, it turned out to be the most solved question, and was solved by every team which solved at least one puzzle. I was very pleased with how neatly this puzzle worked out, especially given how few commonly-known words contain the trigram 'PSY'. What I wasn't pleased about was how poorly I conveyed the Psychic theme of the puzzle compared to the other three puzzles, but I guess I tried.

Scribblings on a Whiteboard
The 2s and ½s written on the whiteboard evoke type matchups, in addition to the tour guide's assertion that they have a "weakness" for puzzles, though this one isn't their "type". Indeed, if users note that there are 18 circles on the whiteboard, they can fill them in with the 18 types uniquely and unambiguously. The arrangement is shown below:


After this, index the number in each circle into the name of each type (in other words, take the n-th letter of each type, depending on the number in the circle). Reading clockwise around the circle from the top-left corner, the indexed letters spell out A MIST OPPORTUNITY, which is pretty thematic for a puzzle I didn't have "the foggiest" about!

Design notes: This was the first puzzle I wrote for this hunt, and it was meant to be a relatively straightforward logic puzzle. Somehow, it turned out to be the most difficult, probably due to the ambiguity which came with the numbers within the circles. I know at least one team originally interpreted these as identifiers, thinking that there were only 5 different types or Pokemon interacting with each other, but this approach pretty quickly lead to a dead end. More troubling was probably the accidental circuit theme that I inadvertently inserted while trying to fill the borders of the whiteboard with funny scribbles (the circuit diagram at the top in addition to the Doubles Circuit planning at the bottom). I think I had a good idea for this puzzle, but it probably wasn't so well executed.

The Top of a Meeting Room Table
This was a red herring and didn't mean anything. Hopefully everyone figured this out from the reference to crimson clupea!

A Fire Escape Plan (Metapuzzle)
Before the metapuzzle is attempted, teams might notice that they have four answers corresponding to the four terrains: KICKING GRASS for Grassy Terrain, STOLE MY THUNDER for Electric Terrain, MIND OVER MATTER for Psychic Terrain, and perhaps most obviously, A MIST OPPORTUNITY for Misty Terrain. This knowledge would presumably come in useful in the metapuzzle, and indeed a preliminary glance at the directions could yield the fact that each colored sector corresponds to a Tapu or its terrain: Purple to Lele's Psychic Terrain, Green to Bulu's Grassy Terrain, Electric to Koko (and its Electric Terrain) and Blue to Fini itself. (This was a design misstep, perhaps: the last sector should probably have been Pink to keep the emphasis on terrains.)

Anyway, the first step of the metapuzzle is to create a diagram of the new fire escape plan. If we assume the building plan is unchanged since the old fire escape plan, we can determine the paths for each of the sectors. There are two main takeaways from this exercise: firstly, none of the paths overlap, and secondly, each path is the same length as the number of letters in the corresponding puzzle answer. Accordingly, we can write each answer along its corresponding route, as shown below (left).


As the puzzle hints by asking the reader to compare the new plan to the old plan, as well as to check for the overlap, we can literally superimpose the old plan (above, middle) on top of the new plan; the letters which remain are the ones which are the same in both plans, and read off the grid (above, right) they spell out SURGE PROTECTION. Given how the format's been shaped by the Tapus, maybe we could do with a little extra help against their Surges, huh? ;)

Design notes: Building metas has never been my strong point, but I didn't want to cop out completely with "four unrelated answers fit into a grid and spell out something", so I designed the hunt around the thematic topic of the four terrains. I was pretty happy with how this puzzle turned out—even though it was rather simple, I think it did pose some sort of challenge to the two teams which played through it, so I'm happy with that.

A big thank you to everyone who participated in the hunt and solved, or tried to solve, the puzzles! Any feedback from anyone who participated would be greatly appreciated; you can PM me on Smogon or Discord or post in this thread with any thoughts at all you had about the hunt, even if they don't follow the format below (the questions below are just starting points if you didn't have any feedback to give)!
  • Would you participate again?
  • Puzzle Quality / Quantity: Was the hunt too short / too long? Were there too few puzzles / too many? Were the puzzles too hard / too easy?
  • Hint system: Were the yes/no hints a good design for a hint system? Would more open-ended, but prepackaged (and not tailored) hints be more useful?
  • the Discord server: Was it fun / helpful / even necessary?
  • advertising / run-up to the actual event: thoughts on teasers? (also, I'll make it more clear that it'll be an actual puzzle hunt next time!)
Thank you for visiting the Doubles Council Office! See you soon!
 

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