Exit the Game Advent Calendar 2024 Day 16: The Missing Hollywood Star

[@MaaikeMin]

A butterfly from the Alice in Wonderland scene is visible where the cat is playing with the goo, connecting those scenes :) I thought this was a clever puzzle!

[@dougascott]

I completely missed the butterfly! Fortunately, it was possible to figure out the sequence without it!

[@drgareth]

Ah, I missed that too - thank you for commenting!

[@ms_hansel]

We were so curious to see how you got on with this one! We went through three or four different approaches and it was fun to see you go through almost the exact same ideas. We got such a kick out of your numbering, renumbering, lettering, and then re-renumbering of the doors! So relatable!! Loved the journey with this puzzle and loved that we got to go through it a second time with you.

[@retrogiftsuk4812]

The "dots" in the ceiling corners are security cameras (hence the images in the security office screens)

[@drgareth]

Interesting! Do they correspond with the rooms on the lid? If so, that's a neat detail.

[@mritty115]

The full story as I saw it: Starts in room 16, where the sprinklers/rain got the cat all wet and drenched.. Ran to room 4, dripped water into a puddle, and found a ball of yarn Carried a string from that yarn into room 8, where it was surrounded by butterflies Followed one of the blue butterflies to room 3, where it stepped in Slimer's slime. Trekked slime through room 10, where it took *one* of the two fish off the plate (you can see the remaining fish is on the side of the plate, as though there used to be two there) Had the fish in its mouth in room 5 Dropped the fish bones in room 6 and took a nap. :-) Definitely one of the most involved puzzles so far!

[@drgareth]

I think you're spot on there, but it took me a LONG time to (mostly) bring that together in my mind! :)

[@dougascott]

I found this one fun and really satisfying. I’d been wondering when the cat was going to become relevant! 😄

[@nicoles7126]

Exactly!

[@drgareth]

Yes, me too! :) And ironically I had thought "the cat's so obvious... whatever puzzle it's in will be too easy"... HA!

[@ChemioCat]

Day 10, where we can see the fish on the table, there's the cat tail on the bottom right of the door. This made me think it's probably a good idea to keep notes of these things when playing... It's going to be a loong process when the riddle for the flap letters or the one about the weird things on the ceiling corners appear! lol (btw, some of those things had colour, like a light sign maybe?)

[@drgareth]

I think you're right, but probably I would still feel compelled to film and look at them all for the relevant video anyway. :)

[@nicoles7126]

I was glad we got this one. We had to take hints the last two days I think. 😂 And I've had a rough day. I needed a win! I was soooo glad the kitty I've been watching came into play! And my time watching Big Brother where they have to put pictures in the right chronological order based on context clues really paid off! 😂 😂

[@drgareth]

Well done on your win! And interesting - I haven't watched (UK) Big Brother since I think series 4. Which was a long time ago...

[@nicoles7126]

@drgareth I've watched BB since part way through season one. The chronological puzzles have only been in more recent years.

[@larsg.2492]

Good job, you really worked hard for that solve.

[@drgareth]

I did, didn't I!? :) If you miss the rain (and the tail on door 10) it is a lot more confusing than it otherwise should be! :)

[@harebearowl8778]

As a cat owner, this was one of my quickest solves - I wonder if living with one helped me see the order of its story more intuitively 😂

[@drgareth]

Haha - that's brilliant! Maybe it did! :)

[@chrisedinburgh5051]

That was a good long one.... I would have gotten most of it, but think I would have got stuck on when the string was in the timeline, I didn't think much about the rain bit being a clue... keep it up 😊

[@mritty115]

The clue card from today specifically said "the rain has made it disappear". That's how we were to know the cat's next stop was where the puddle of water was. :-)

[@chrisedinburgh5051]

@mritty115 I did catch that i simply didn't catch it as being a clue to the order of the cats journey 🤣

[@drgareth]

Oh interesting - I did not catch that at all, because primarily I kept thinking that higher doors (later in MY time with the calendar) meant later in time in the cat story. Which wasn't true at all. In fact, it confused me because I assumed it was the explanation for why there was no goo after the day with the goo feet. :)

[@DevilboyScooby]

Today felt only a couple of beats away from red string and a murder board ! 😆 Really fun puzzle. Since they appeared in the Alien day I'm just assuming the cat is Jones, whether or not it's meant to be!

[@drgareth]

Ah, I see what you mean! :) Yes, it certainly made its way around the calendar.

[@keithgibbins7061]

My daughter helped me with this one, we did figure out we were following the cats story but it took a while to actually work the sequence out(thank goodness my daughter was helping me😊).

[@drgareth]

Well done to your daughter! I could have done with additional help too, clearly. :)

[@petterilander1885]

Good one! I went through pretty much the same steps you did, but I really liked the journey! I like these puzzles the best, where the right way is in no way evident, but once you start finding it everything makes more and more sense! I’d say this goes in the top 3 of this year’s puzzles so far!

[@drgareth]

Yes, that's an interesting point. So long as you get there in the end, puzzles that 'evolve' as you think about them can be realllllly satisfying.

[@nordh1980]

Only problem I had with this was that "stop 2" I feel like is the third one. The first stop should not be the starting point. Like if you get on a bus and take the first stop, you don't get off at the same place you started. But since I couldn't find an eighth cat I figured it had to mean second spot rather than stop.

[@drgareth]

Yes, I agree. It was lucky the numbering was forced by the rest of the puzzle or otherwise I agree it would be ambiguous.

[@liannenijmeijer9437]

On the door of room 10 you could also see the tail of the cat

[@drgareth]

Oh, I COMPLETELY missed that! Ha - well that settles my last confusion, which was that without the cat being present the timeline on this was a bit arbitrary.

[@DevilboyScooby]

How significant a difference is the cognitive level of 6, 7 and 8 year olds when it comes to word searches and their vocabulary? I wouldn't know where to begin, creating targeted puzzles.

[@drgareth]

It's significant. Although of course not all children reach the same stage at the same time, there is a big difference between the language abilities of a child when they are 6 and those same abilities two years later, particularly in terms of their vocabulary. In terms of where to begin, there are published lists of core vocabulary that form part of the curriculum in many counties - including here in the UK. And then, ability aside, there are certain topics (across English, maths, science, history, geography and so on) that children learn about at certain ages as part of the curriculum. Plus, of course, cultural references that are age appropriate. In these books the puzzles also get more complex too, so for example the first couple of puzzles in the 6-year old book only have words reading left to right horizontally. I do also have a book, 'Vocabulary Wordsearches for Clever Kids', that is aimed at 8 to 12 year olds and is designed to teach a wide range of synonyms for common words (in a fun way!).

[@DevilboyScooby]

​​@@drgareth makes total sense, thanks. Had no idea we had vocabulary lists in the UK, that's clearly a memory of primary school I've repressed 😂

[@drgareth]

You can find them in the National Curriculum key stage documents.