Da Vinci Code Quest
Sony Pictures and Google team-up to offer this Flash-based puzzle game comprised of a series of puzzles that together form the basis for a contest. Of course, the real purpose of the game is to promote the May release of the Da Vinci Code movie. The contest is open to legal residents of the US, the UK, and Australia.
The Da Vinci Code Quest features a variety of puzzles of increasing difficulty that incorporate themes, symbols and characters pulled directly from the movie. Immediately following the completion of each puzzle, the game presents a question for which the answer must come from knowledge about the movie. Some questions will require watching video highlights from the movie, a visit to the movie's official website, or even searching via Google.
The puzzles may be played as often as you wish, and there are several unique variations to each one. Wrong answers don't count against the player, nor does the time required to complete each of the puzzles.
The game requires registration for a Google personalized home page on which the game module will be installed and accessed from (see screenshot). There will be a total of 24 daily puzzles that must be solved, in any order, prior to 1:00PM EDT on May 11, 2006, which is the end of Phase 1 of the (US) contest.
The contest is described in the official rules as being "skill-based" and "time-based." The time-based portion of the game comes into play when the last of the daily puzzles becomes available. Upon successfully completing all 24 puzzles prior to the end of Phase 1, the player will be automatically directed to the Puzzle Completion Form where their Google ID is to be entered and submitted for a time stamp ("PUZZLE COMPLETION TIME"). The player will then be automatically directed to the Contest Entry Form, which must be correctly completed in-full and submitted for another time stamp ("CONTEST ENTRY TIME").
Only the first 10,000 participants who correctly solve all 24 puzzles AND submit a puzzle completion form AND a contest entry form will advance to the Final Phase of the contest.
Cheers to J.F. for suggesting this one. =)
Don't forget the grand prize: the trip to New York, Paris, Rome, and London, the Sony Vaio laptop, an 8.0 megapixel Sony digital camera, a portable GPS system, a DVD surround sound system and player, 4 Sony Walkman Core MP3 players, and a 40'' Sony LCD HDTV.
Basically, all Sony stuff. But I'm definitely trying it (even if I only get the other prize for the 10,000 finalists, a golden decoder thing inspired by the movie)
Oh man, I'm so digging this. I'm already finished with the first 7 puzzles. Though, even if I do make the top 10k, I probably won't win. It's time based, and I usually end up taking my sweet time on these things. I hope people don't cheat by using slowdown programs..
Good luck to all who play!
I've been playing this for a while. Good puzzles, and a nice variety. Too bad the actual contest isn't open to Canadians! Australia but not Canada?! Come on!
Am I the only one who's having trouble? The little "V" marker on the loading screen never makes it past the "Q" in "Quest" for me. It just stops and never resumes. I'm using XP and I've tried both Firefox and IE in both my limited user account and an administrator account. No dice.
I thought it might be a cute little starting puzzle, but I can't find anything...
Nezuji - you must have Flash Player 8 installed to play.
yay for Australia ;)
grrrr, the book/movie related question for the first puzzle has me stuck already. and i've read the book!
besides triangle and pyramid, i've tried the all-seeing eye, eye of horus, eye of providence...
i can't get the movie site to open either.
Divy - try
Blade
The movie site took a while to load for me, so it may be getting hammered with people playing the game. Be patient and it will load (if you have Flash Player 8 installed).
The symbol names can be found by visiting the respective character page under "characters" on the movie site
what's the last puzzle you can do as of today
i just finished the chess one is that it until tomorrow?
If there are any other puzzles to complete, you will see a blue button with the text: "Play next puzzle"
Otherwise, when you are all caught up with puzzles, the game module will indicate: "Check back daily for new puzzles"
ok i need a spoiler on the first puzzle
-_-
i got the game in seconds, but the white marked triangle on mullars eyes. WHAT is it?
i tried Pyramid, triangle
yeah, i found that answer on a spoiler site.
i feel tricked because the triangle was right over his eye, so i presumed it had to refer to that eye/pyramid thing. bah.
oh, wait, that was brown's other book, wasn't it? der.
i didn't even like the books, if you can believe it. lol
The greatest puzzle of all is WHO TOLD TOM HANKS THAT HAIRCUT LOOKED GOOD?
;)
I am running Flash 8. In fact, I had to install it again for IE (I don't normally use IE), so I know that that's not the problem. I also understand that the server may be a bit bogged down, but it keeps loading at a pretty consistent speed until it stops, and it keeps stopping around the same point, even after clearing the cache. And I mean stops. The browser window says it's done, and all network traffic ceases... I even left it as the only thing running for half an hour just to be sure, and there was still no progress, nor any network traffic (although I was still connected to the Internet). It's as if the game server is cutting me off early.
I don't know what the problem is, but I've tried everything I can think of without success, and no-one else here seems to be having this trouble. I'll just have to play it here at work and hope that a) The slow computers here don't hinder me, and b) The site doesn't get blocked.
Otherwise, the game seems OK.
Win a trip to Paris! ...and see just how little Dan Brown actually researched for this book, and instead just made it all up LOL
... I'm really fighting not to go off on just how bad of a writer Dan Brown really is.
I agree that Dan Brown's writing sucks, not to say worse, but the games are cute.
I'm using a spoiler site to get the answers to the questions since I'm not going to watch trailers or read the book again.
The Google calculator was useful for puzzle #7
I've been following this since day 2 and I have to say I'm REALLY stuck.
What is the andwer to the AA of the SB in the latest puzzle? I looked up the number and got the book but nothing I type in matches
Squeedo, I had no trouble once I got the question...
After you get down to just one dirt clod, just google in the resulting number (you may want to copy-paste) and you should see an amazon listing for a book as the first entry. Look at that book's title to get the answer to the question. Type out the answer (i.e. type seventeen, not 17).
Man, I'm stuck on puzzle #6! I can't seem to find out which city it is, and I have googled all over the place. Any help?
aaarrgh. I can't figure out the restoration puzzle #2. I don't understand the directions, and solved the first one on accident. Anyone who can, help please, even if it's only clarifying the directions. You're supposed to match pairs, but it often doesn't give that option.
Hey Popeman. Think the Big Apple. Or the City that Never Sleeps. That's help enough, I think.
Why does Dan Brown's writing suck? I found The Da Vinci Code thoroughly enjoying. I couldn't put it down and finished it very quickly. I'm not saying I believed every word written, but I can't wait for the movie!
i'm stuck on the questions on round three, i cant figure out the symbols that the guy is dusting off in the trailer, i put down one symbol already and it said only one of my answers is correct, help anyone?
weird...I can get the second restoration to load but not the first one.
Rulz-
I say Brown's writing is poor mainly because he writes as if it is a movie. For that reason, the movie probably will be pretty good, but in the novel, he repeatedly hides key information that the characters already know, just to keep up the "suspense" (which, by definition, is not suspense at all). In fact, he has to do literary acrobatics to avoid telling us things. True suspense is when we know these facts, but still can't figure out what's going to happen.
Then there's the fact that he did little to no research. He mixed the the geography of Paris; he confuses events in history that were in fact hundreds of years apart. This wouldn't be quite so bad if he didn't throw that disclaimer at the beginning of the book claiming these things were all accurate to the truth, when they are not.
I'm stuck on question #2 of day 10. Any ideas???
can anybody help on Day 10 Observation Challenge? it's all about sila's movie...can't seem to see where is sila's movie. thanks
Mayyor, I've noticed that whenever you have to search on this quest, all you need to do is
search for all of the bold terms. At that point, the information you need is the first (and seemingly only for videos) result.
Karla:
The last shot we see of Silas really is at an interesting angle,
good thing there isn't a man operating the camera, else he would drown.
I'll trust you now know what it is, but what sort of [what it is] is it?
If you haven't read the book or gleamed it from the video, Silas is quite religious.
That may be a little vague, but I don't like just telling people answers, and the prospect of a prize makes me even less willing to be clear...
woohhooo!!! thanks Tiralmo....got day 10 already..thanks for the tip.. i have to agree that telling answer would spoil the fun....somehow, tips would be acceptable. hehehh
I can't for the life of me get question three on today's challenge. Any hints?
I've tried answers I thought may be correct:
truth, faith, secret, etc... But I can't seem to get it...
Outlawed, try closing your eyes and playing Silas' movie.
I got 2 of 3 questions but can't get the last..
1. What is silas touching in the end?
holy water
2. What is broken in the end?
silence
3. What is the shape of the thing he pulls out of the ground?
NO IDEA!!!! HELP!!!
shizzo-
It is the name for an 8 sided object
Normally, I'm all up for spoilers, but please guys, this ones actually a running contest. Hinting is fine, but don't give the answer away.
Ooh, damn. This is the time of the year when I feel like I should move to the US.
Well, since I (and many others here) are not elligible for the contest, I don't mind the spoilers, really.
I'm stuck on the day 12 challenge. I even used google maps but I can't find the spot i'm suppossed to click on. Anyone find it?
nikki
try looking at the actual buildings - not the road
hope that helps
Nikki- I google mapped it, found out where it is...I know I'm clicking in the right place because I've been there..but the game is still telling me I'm wrong. I don't know, but it's quite frustrating.
Nikki, I got it
you have to click in the center of the cross that the building makes, not just anywhere on the building
im on day 12 and i cant figure out what city the picture is supposed to be. any hints?
I'm stuck on day 12 also.
I know I need to click the center, but what is the center?
I've tried everywhere. Any help?
Karina:
What do you know about the city?
Read the text carefully, answer that question and you should move onto the next step.
Here's a tip tree for anyone stuck on Day 12.
Starting the puzzle:
Obviously, put the jigsaw puzzle together.
For finding the city:
I honestly have no clue how you were supposed to find the city, so if anyone could tell me by e-mail, please do.
How I went about this was by going into Google Maps and manually looking for the picture shown. Here are some tips for finding it manually:
- Look at the landmarks that stand out. On the Google Maps satellite view, they look exactly the same. Find places with similar areas or structures, and roam about.
- Look at the picture, and get a feeling for where the area generally is. One hint could even narrow the areas down to a few countries.
Finding the hot-spot:
Before putting in the last piece of the puzzle, get a good vision of the map. When you put in the last piece, you'll see a difference from the map you just put together. If not, just look carefully, it stands out.
Also, thanks to all of you who are hinting, and not basically giving the answers away.
To get the name of the city, either unscramble the bolded words (but it might be pretty tricky) or read the text carefully, googling some of the words.
I was lucky with this one because I leave close to that city.
Hint:
It's in Europe, a famous and old art city.
im quite frustrated now. i'm pretty sure i know where i should be clicking for day 12, but i guess i dont know. i cant get the right spot.
i know everything else.
Stuck on day 5, chess. i always get the first two but the 3rd i never get, i've even tried all four choices.
Jo, if none of the four choices work, then that means that one (or more) of your answers to the previous questions are incorrect.
If you're talking about the work games try the answers
palindrome
Denon Wing
pangram
Hey! Just got around to this and caught myself up with all puzzles. Seems rather useless except for the parts that actually require Google's search engine (I HATED Day 14's question!)
Good luck!
I'm on Day 14 and I cannot for the life of me solve the Restoration Challenge. It's always been kind of luck and guesswork anyway. Any tips as to how to solve the restoration puzzles?
Does anyone know where there is a translator online for atbas to english?
For Day 14
Hey, Josh for day 14:
Can you honestly even THINK of any tribe that speaks Atbash?
Try this!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atbash
hey, whenever i try to do the latest puzzle, day 15 i think, the screen never comes up, it just loads then goes to black. anyone else havin this problem or is that just my computer?
I can't get past the Sila's video (Day 10 Observation Challenge) due to a search taht is required on Google Video. The network I am on has a fliter and it will not allow me to pull up the Google video clip. Can anyone give me a tip on this????
For Day 12, I've got the puzzle done, I've got the city, but I can't find the... location.
I know you're not supposed to give answers, but could someone give a hint as to where it is?
I've gotten every other puzzle, and this one is just driving me crazy.
does ne1 know what time the puzzle loads in australia, because i really want one of those cryptex thingies, and i will wake up at 3am for one. im owning this, i find them all easy, just a good google or wikipedia search and its over.
I'm finding these Da Vinci Code quest puzzles quite dull and repetitive. I especially hate the "watch the video" puzzles or "google it" puzzles which are really abundant. The picture hanging and symbols game are fun, the rest is mediocre at best.
I think this would be a much better Da Vinci Code-based Internet game entry:
http://www.randomhouse.com/doubleday/davinci/main.html
It is sorta puzzle-alternate reality game, based on the book, not the movie. It's now about two-three years old I think, but it is still fresh and its puzzles and the way it progresses are much more satisfying. Try it and see if you haven't already...
Day 17?????
Any hints?
Day: 17 hints
What letter is lower case tip.
what letter comes after E
One word the both you are on tip.
On the top of the challenge page just after the word Code and before the word on is the word you want
How much are the glasses on tip.
He has his glasses on 10-3 times
Don't click the spoiler button if you don't want to know.
Those geography "puzzles" are starting to get really annoying.
Really stuck on day 18. Got the map puzzle together. Found the four markers. Been typing in every place i can find north of the V&A, but all incorrect. So frustrating, seeing as i lived in london for 16 years! anyone got a spoiler?
Hahaha I was thinking the same thing about the geography puzzles, but there is a grand prize worth around $120,000 up for grabs. They cannot make it too easy.
Lovali,
On google maps, just start zooming in on the location. You'll want to be in hybrid mode to see both the picture and the street names. Eventually, you'll zoom in far enough so that a label will appear over the area. That label is the multi-word answer.
Bah! I'm stuck on day 19. I've googled everything I could think of. Any help?
Day 18 makes me crazy. I tried every place, I think. HELP!!!! I solved the puzzle and found the 4 blades but this stupid place i can't find.
Please help!
any tips on how to solve the restoration challenges? Im on Day 20 and so far Ive only been able to solve them by accident
oh man im not the only one stuck on 18.... help!
yes! Finally got it... Day 18 for you people is (those of you who live there are gonna wanna slap yourselves...)
IMPERIAL COLLEGE
What florentine business was not very highly regarded???????????? I don't know. who knows this. there were many businesses which weren't highly regarded!
HELP!
I'm stuck on restoration challenge from day 20 tried for hours please can someone help me!!! Please!
C'mon guys, use hints lightly. No more of "what comes after 5" or "it rhymes with dimperial gollege" kind of hints. It's coming down to the final three days, and I want a clean fight.
If you want to give hints, give hints. Don't give answers. The remaining puzzles are Chess, Observation, and then Geography, and they all rely on finding the answers. If anything, you shouldn't need hints. Google provides almost everything for you. Hints are obviously needed for the Geography, but then again, that's the final puzzle, and noting once more that this is a contest, please, refrain from any answer-giving hints.
Jay, if you could also moderate this area. I'm going to ask other blogs to do the same.
I'd like it if someone could help me with day 21. How many Christians are there?
help! please can someone help me get started
im new, only on day two, havent read the book so not gona win the prize but like the puzzles. i cant figure out how you get the answers for what the names of the symbols are on the spoilers pages. i can click on stuff to get the scrolly vinci thing, then the video clip, but how do you get the answer from that?
I've tried everything for day 21 and I'm still stuck. Any hints?
I'd like to reiterate what TorndaoTK said, about not giving answers. If you want to give hints, USE SPOILER TAGS. Don't give answers, just hints. I, as I'm sure all of you do, would love to win $100,000+, but if I do, it should be justly won.
Hey guys I dont want hints I want to move on...can someone help me? I have flash 8 and have gotten all puzzles done in one day except for the last symbol puzzle...it won't load! It stops midway in the loading screen and doesn't move! I know I'm not gonna win but it would be nice to be in the running! plus, the symbol puzzles are my fav besides the geographical...HELP!
Try clearing your cache, Brandi. If that doesn't work, wait a day, and see if it loads then.
I don't understand this.
On latest Restoration puzzle I clearly google (on google books) for the Leonardo's earliest work in that gallery and it gives me a nice little page from the book where it says its name is "baptism". Of course, it doesn't work when you type it in. Nice.
Leonardo's earliest work isnt baptism.
annunciation
Today was EASY!
sorry but am stuck on day 23 question: 0, 1, 4, 9, what is this classical sequence? i've googled and nothing is correct. not in this for prize, just for the fun, but hate to be stuck. thanks for any help.
Hey mary, the 4 numbers in question, 0 1 4 9 have all one thing in common.. they are all
Square
I hope that helps
Please guys, no spoilers for ONE DAY. Just one. Tomorrow is the final puzzle, and the people who received spoilers from any blogs don't deserve a cryptex. At all.
At least don't post the answers to the final one...
Excuse my language, but- GEN!!! We all clearly don't want answers, just hints. What you gave is an answer.
However, I think that none of us should post answers/hints tomorrow. I'm fine with posts saying "Yay!! I finally did it!" but no answers. I'll figure it out on my own, and hopefully, so will you. And even more hopefully, one of us will win a trip to some of the coolest cities in the world. (and a bunch of other sony stuff.)
So- Good luck to everyone, hopefully by 12:01 (or a minute after the puzzle comes out) we will all be gloating.
Unfortunately enough for me.. I have school, and I can't skip. I can only get to a computer roughly 10 minutes after the puzzle launches, leaving anyone that isn't in school a huge opening to school the puzzle.
If I don't make the top 10K, I'm gonna be disappointed, because I did a lot of research before the final phase. I even read the book. ;-;
can someone help me with day 20????? Please!
What florentine business was not very highly regarded??
Please help me. HINTS; ANSWERS;........ i take everything!
Um, for those who do want it spoiled for them, a bunch of us in the ARG community are banding together in an irc chat, at #unfiction on irc.chat-solutions.org and you're all welcome as gamers and such. If you're not IRC literate, look it up (really, it's so useful), or just stalk the forum thread here
This sux. Only five minutes into the last puzzle and it says that the contest is already closed. Anyone notice that google asking you to type in a code in order to make sure a live user was at the computer? I wonder if they were afraid of people refreshing too often to get to the puzzle first.
YAY!!!!!!! I finally passed it!! Now I hope I made the first 10,000!
So. I'm not sure if I filled out the contest entry form...the puzzle completion form...or both? It just said I was registered. Anybody have the same thing happen?
YES I FINALLY FINISHED IT, well that was fun...
my comp wouldnt load the puzzle completeion page...i finished at 2:25pm....when it said my progress has been saved i thought i was done...i clicked the OK button but nothing happened so i went bak 2 the main page and just submitted the contest completeion form....im pissed i just wasted a whole month with these puzzles...they were fun to do but still.
I had school, so I just finished.
Is my google username the same as my e-mail address?
Yay!!! I'm finally done!!!
And I have finals in school tomorrow:(
BUT I'M DONE!!!!
How do you know if you are one of 10,000?
i finished this evening (wednesday) at @ 9:00 pm and was able to complete my application for prizes. am i to understand that the codex prizes will be awarded to the first 10,000 who complete to puzzles? or will they be awarded at random among all finishers?
Ok, like i said before i finished the puzzle five minute after its release and it said the contest was already closed. Now I tried to reregister for shits and giggles around sevenish and it accepted my entry. What gives?? So just because they didn't have the system working right away I might not get a chance to be one of the 10,000 since i thought it was over? I guess I shouldn't care too much.
Made it last night. The Restoration thing was by far the hardest to solve imho. Took hell long to get that last one. :S
Thank you for posting this up! Thanks for letting me know about this game! I am one of the 10,000 semifinalists! I am going to be in the second round. Thank you! Thank you! Thank You!
Chris, you can't be a semifinalist. They haven't sent the emails to the 10,000 finalists and aren't until 5/15.
I recieved an e-mail saying "This email is to confirm that you have completed all 24 puzzles within the quest and successfully registered for a chance to participate in the final challenge. Well done!" and "We will be contacting the 10,000 finalists on Monday 5/15 via email regarding their cryptex shipment. Within that email the 10,000 finalists will also receive instructions on how to participate in the final challenge." And so on...
So you might think you're a semifinalist as I hope I am, but no one knows yet.
yeah your right. I had to reread that. :) My fault. Thanks ellie.
Hey, I got my cryptex today. :) I doubt I'm smart enough to win the final challenge, though.
Oh, well.
nice.. i got my cryptex in the mail today.. and no lying.. i had no idea how i was gonna get the damn thing open.. swear as i'm sittin here.. i was reading the website about the contest playin wit it in my hands and the damn thing opened up.. lmao.. only prob. is.. i know the code.. just have no idea what it means.. so i can't even hint to what it might be.. because i have no idea what it is.. if any one else gets a cryptex let me know.. lmao.. oh n jay luv the site.. i dont kno what i'd do at work w/o it.. lmao
Has anyone heard anything about the semifinals?
Seriously? Well, if I don't make the top 10K, you can e-mail me your Google ID (not password, I don't think it requires that) and any info I need, and I'll do it for you if you don't want to.
Yups got my crtypex today as well. Good Luck Drink. :)
I got my cryptex today! I felt like an idiot. I was trying to figure out how to open the thing when a co-worker flipped the box it came in over. On the bottomof the box it said "Cryptex Code:...". I think there are four possibilities for you to get. At any rate I felt pretty dumb. Good luck. Thanks for posting this on here Jay!
For you finalist....Do you think there is more than one way of doing you know what? I found out one way....but I am curious if there is another way....
If you look at how the cryptex works inside, you'll see that only the last three letters of the "code" really matter. I suppose from the 676 possibilities they chose codes that make sense for the story.
Hi all,
I got the email that I was a finalist on Monday, but no cryptex yet! Anyone else have the same thing happen?
I'm going crazy waiting!!!
So I finished the final challenge - more than 50% of my total time was spent on the stupid restoration puzzle.
it said that the Da Vinci Code Quest on google has ended :(
can any one tell me what to do at the mona lisa painting with the encrypted message
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