Exit the Game Advent Calendar 2024 Day 15: The Missing Hollywood Star

[@thamesandkosmosgamesuk]

I thought this was one of the easiest riddles so its really interesting to find people looking at other lights as the 'brightest light' to look into!

[@ms_hansel]

I'd been wondering what that big spotlight was doing there on the cover! My daughter had also spotted the string light making a 3. Still, it took us a moment to put those together. Definitely a clever puzzle!

[@mritty115]

this was the first puzzle we had to read the full solution. Given a full hour, I don't think my wife and I would have thought to shine a light *through* the box like that. Wow.

[@drgareth]

I was lucky to spot that tangle of lights forming a 3, and also I had the advantage of having solved numerous puzzles in the past that also involved shining a light through a piece of paper (or holding it up to the light). :) I had expected the cardboard to be too thick for this to work here, though, so I must admit I was surprised!

[@keithgibbins7061]

I spent 20 minutes on this one, i pointed my torch on the front of the box but didn't point it under the lid. This was such a clever puzzle.

[@drgareth]

Oh, that was so unlucky! :)

[@chrisedinburgh5051]

That was a good one today, I wouldn't have guessed it that easily though I think, I would have got distracted by the light chain looking like a 3 and then hentet for other ones all around the calendar first

[@drgareth]

I was all ready to start looking everywhere on the calendar, and was surprised when I found all three numbers in once place! I think I was a bit lucky to stumble upon that right away. :)

[@erict.517]

Good camera work to show the numbers. I was convinced that the word "glow" was hinting at phosphorescent paint on the box somewhere. Spent at least 10 min in a dark bathroom looking for glowing

[@drgareth]

Yes, that's what I thought too - I didn't explain it at all clearly (if at all!) but that was why I was feeling inside the room, since I thought the wording had hinted at something glowing. It referred to a dark room, which was confusing really since that isn't necessary to solve it.

[@petterilander1885]

Beautiful solve! I shone my light everywhere, and only after reading the first part of the clue did I up my game and finally shone it from the inside out through the light. And found the numbers. So today I did use the Help Book, even if it only prompted me to keep doing what I was doing… I give it a 9/10 challenge grade… You did well!

[@drgareth]

I think I was lucky in that I happened to spot that tangle of the lights forming a 3 - I don't know how long it would have taken me otherwise! :) It is VERY sneaky!

[@dougascott]

The word “flashlight” needed to be in bold for this one, because my first thought was “Oh, don’t actually need the flashlight yet, they would’ve made it clear if I did.” So, I struggled with it for I don’t know how long until finally just looking up the answer. 🙁

[@drgareth]

Yes, I don't really understand why it was so circumspect about it. It's not as if the clue card didn't then refer to lights.

[@SongoftheLute]

I loved this little puzzle

[@drgareth]

It's fun, isn't it? I love the fact they've embedded it into a prominent part of the cover image - of all places!

[@MarinaMSinger]

Thanks for the video! I even shone my iPhone light behind it but didn’t work out the numbers 🤦‍♀️

[@drgareth]

Yes, you have to get the angle and distance right otherwise you'll see at best a blur. I was lucky I spotted that tangle of lights that looked like a 3, and I was actually expecting to have to find three /separate/ places on the calendar with hidden numbers!

[@colinashman7380]

Brilliant!

[@ChemioCat]

Nice, but I really, really would have started with the riddle card, such a perfect circle there, drives me nuts to see it! lol Not the solution, but maybe it could have an Easter egg in it? Have you tried it?

[@drgareth]

Ah, I see what you mean! If you tried it then you'd see M1, which is what you can see is on the back of it when I first take it out of the room. So actually that's perhaps misleading since it could lead you astray. But, that aside, I also had the advantage of handling the card so I knew it was the same weight and texture as all the other cards so I didn't think there was an extra layer within the card. Great idea though!

[@drgareth]

I've just tried it - nothing hidden there! You can just see the back of the card.

[@DevilboyScooby]

Was today based on any particular movie? It's the first one I've not understood the reference, if there was one to begin with.

[@ChemioCat]

Hmm, seeing how they are hiding the lady's face behind the spotlight in the room, I'd guess this is a room to create mystery before the solution... so probably not a reference here, or at least, not a reference we are supposed to get (yet).

[@liannenijmeijer9437]

The room before this was the costume department so I just guessed this was the light department

[@Tahgtahv]

Is your book orange or red? Or do you have multiple copies and there's some sort of sleight of hand on the filming?

[@drgareth]

It's red, but I'm using 4 separate webcams and they are not white-balanced - which means they interpret colours differently. It really annoys me, but I have found that the wide top-down camera I'm using (an expensive Dell 4K camera) switches to half frame-rate when I manually adjust the settings on it. I have absolutely no idea why, and perhaps if I install the Dell-specific control utility it will be better but I've been nervous about changing anything while I'm recording these videos. Previously I have sometimes white-balanced the other cameras, but this one refuses to play ball! It is clearly made on the assumption that it is filming a face, and it doesn't behave too well when filming top-down on my desk (and in particular with anything even vaguely face-like in colour - such as a red book). I'm also using it cropped-in because otherwise I need to have it too close to the desk. It's quite an arrangement I have to allow these cameras to all be active and yet not filming one another! And in fact, I had to install an additional USB PCI-E card in my PC to support having four cameras all at 4K connected (although annoyingly the lower desk camera I have will only film in HD at 30fps, so I don't use its 4K capabilities since if I halve the frame rate it looks awful).

[@mrgrinch835134]

This one annoyed me, the light front centre is brighter. This one is bigger but not brighter. Spent an age shining lights all over 😂

[@drgareth]

But is it bigger either? It's just closer to the viewer, surely? I do see what you mean, though!