Hint/logic sheet for Threediopolis, by Andrew Schultz Knowing how the game works is part of the puzzle to start. The game tells you that you are in 444, and yet, nothing shows til you walk around. Using the hint from Ed's paper, perhaps the easiest way to reason things is to notice three locations nearby at 355. Going there directly thus has a 1/2 chance of showing anything. If you go there all six ways, you can get an idea if what us going on. The first thing you can figure out is how addresses work. Going east adds 1, and going west subtracts 1. Similarly, north means +10 and south means -10. Up means +100 and down means -100. The walkthrough below is for the alphabetized version of Ed's notes. The game's much harder if it's not. The game is easier if you visit his office for a bit of extra help, because you get an even better organized list. Ubjrire, gur xrl gb gur tnzr vf abgvat guvf. Gur qrfpevcgvba bs rnpu cynpr gb ivfvg pyhrf n jbeq znqr hc bs bayl gur fvk qverpgvbany yrggref, qrafhj, gung lbh arrq gb gnxr va beqre gb trg gb fbzrbar'f ubhfr. Ohg gurer ner rnfgre rttf, gbb. Lbh znl hapbire n fpernz, 3 r'f, ng 474. Gurer ner rnfgre rttf yvxr guvf nobhg gur tnzr gung znl uryc, gbb. Va gur pnfr bs 355, gung tvirf qra, raq naq Arq. (Use rot13.com to translate, or scroll down.) Also, you have four sort-of-free hints from early on which can be used to crack puzzles that may be unfair. I hope they are helpful. I advise you to wait til later to use them. However, if you just want to see the answers, you can search for SPOILERS. The description of each place to visit clues a word made up of only the six directional letters, densuw, that you need to take in order to get to someone's house. But there are easter eggs, too. You may uncover a scream, 3 e's, at 474. There are easter eggs like this about the game that may help, too. In the case of 355, that gives den, end and Ned. ====TERMINOLOGY==== We say a word garbles if it has too many consonants. We say it slurs with too many vowels. We say it is unalphabetical or out of order if it won't fit the order of the hint sheet . ====REGULAR MODE WALKTHROUGH==== ====SUPER NEAR==== 355, 344, 344, 445, 355, 436, 434, 544 I mentioned looking at 355 above, so here is what turns up. You can UNDO the second 355 if you want. So that gives two solutions. DEN, 344, 344, 445, END, 436, 434, 544 The 436 then has to be EES, which can only be SEE. Even if you don't do anything there, you know that. DEN, 344, 344, 445, END, SEE, 434, 544 Now the other words need to start with an S or W. The 434 in fact can only be SDU/SNS/SWE -- which give 15 possibilities to check. SEW seems to make the most sense. DEN, 344, 344, 445, END, SEE, SEW, 544 That leaves 544, which must have a U in it, but UDU doesn't make anything, and neither does UWE/WEU/WUE. USN, however, gives SUN. DEN, 344, 344, 445, END, SEE, SEW, SUN The remaining words must start with D or E. However, some aren't fully words. EDU is a bit tricky since DUE is a word, but hopefully people know the online abbreviation...DUE also gives a hint. The possibilities otherwise for 445 are EEW, ENS (doesn't fit) or, more plausibly, EUD, but none work. 344 then must have a D and UD/EW/NS. EDW or anything after that is out, so D** is left. DEW should be pretty clear. DNS is the other one, which is a relatively common acronym, hopefully. ====FRIENDS LIST==== 346, (English name) 335, (Scottish-Canadian name) 455, 355, (female) 535, near pal 444, far pal 356, pal 434 Dee is pretty clear as she must have those letters. It is a matter of picking off the orders. Similarly for Des, with the English name clue. Ned coincides with a den and the end, so if you don't find him, you'll find something else. He's also forced/reduced to a few choices. Sue similarly has a fixed string for her coordinates. DEE, DES, ???? 455, NED, SUE, 444, 356, ??? 434 -- this may be a leap, but farther away means more steps. The third must have an E and N. N is unlikely for a first letter. D means DUEN and there are words but no name. E (NNS) doesn't work. E (NUD) doesn't quite. E (NEW) gives Ewen. The end guy is a bit trickier. He must be SNS, SUD, or SWE. He also must be further in the alphabet than Sue. That leaves SWE or UDS/USD or WSE/WES. DEE, DES, EWEN, NED, SUE, 444, 356, WES Your friend at the origin is a bit trickier still. He is a sector further away two of (UD)(NS)(EW). While Dudu Awat was Israel's national soccer/football team's goalie, I hope the name I have is less obscure. Plus he is in the wrong place in the alphabet. If you want, you can also eliminate UDNS and UDEW pretty quickly, and also WEWE or NSNS go nowhere. That leaves NSEW. He must start with S or W, so that cuts things down a bit, and if he starts with S, it must go W next. Swen. The final one is tricky. Maybe revisit it once you know a bit more of the logic. There are two E's and two (UD)(NS)(EW). They must start with a S or W. If they start with S, then they need a W to be in back of Swen, and that means another E. They also need an S. So SWEEEN and while Swenee is a possible last name, it doesn't work. Try a W to start and then an E needs to be next (WD won't work) and that leaves a forced EEND. Wendee. DEE, DES, EWEN, NED, SUE, SWEN, WENDEE, WES. ====NEAR==== 433, 334, 435, 444, 554, 345, 444, 534, 424, 525, 514 SUSS seems to be the easiest since the letters are fixed. It doesn't tell us a lot, but it does tell us there are no starting W's. You may also be able to guess about a starting letter based on a place's position. The root beer and/or cream soda requires two S's at least and a NS (no consonants) or EW (SEWS/etc.) or UD. Those carbonated drinks both have SUDS. This puts Linux in a spot between SUDS and SUSS, but it can be figured--it must have SU** and has EUSS, making it SUSE. 433, 334, 435, 444, 554, 345, 444, 534, SUDS, SUSE, SUSS A 554 address is next. It has a U and N. Again, you have three possible combinations: UD, EW and NS. UD means it starts with D or N, which runs combinations out quickly. EW leaves E(NWU) or N(EWU) which is not much, and thus NS leaves NUNS. This allows you to figure out a bit more. NUS* leaves nothing as does NW**, so the other things start with S. 433, 334, 435, 444, NUNS, 345, 444, 534, SUDS, SUSE, SUSS Let's look at the first term. If it has an N, it must be NSSD. That doesn't work. If it has E-W, it is DEWD, promising but no dice. It can't start with E (consonant clog) or W, and D-W/D-D is clog again. So, USDD but it starts with D. D(S/D) is clog, so DUSD/DUDS. Duds. 433, DUDS, 435, 444, NUNS, 345, 444, 534, SUDS, SUSE, SUSS I think you should be able to guess the information, which is at the center. It must start with E or N, and E(WSN) clogs and E(WUD) leads nowhere as does EEWW. NSNS can't work so N(SUD)/NSEW are left, and it's NEWS. The 433 at the start must start with D. D (ESU) and the Latin mass cues DEUS. DEUS, DUDS, 435, NEWS, NUNS, 345, 444, 534, SUDS, SUSE, SUSS If the final word at the beginning begins with N, it must be NESS. But there is not. So it begins with E. It also ends in S. Along with E/W N/S U/D. You can probably find a farm animal with one of these and since plurality is clued, E--S = E (NS/EW/UD) leaves few possibilities. EWES. DEUS, DUDS, EWES, NEWS, NUNS, 345, 444, 534, SUDS, SUSE, SUSS This pretty much makes everything else start with S. The first item then has DNE in some order. SEND. The smokeless tobacco is an odd one but must be S(U??) and again UD dies on inspection as does WE since we'd need SE to start. That leaves SUNS, which has already sort of been done, and SNUS. I wasn't sure about putting this one in, but I like Bogus Social Commentary. DEUS, DUDS, EWES, NEWS, NUNS, SEND, 444, SNUS, SUDS, SUSE, SUSS Hmm. The last one--well, SE or SN, clearly. SE leaves necessary NW, while SN leaves UD--won't work--or EW--and while Snew could be a word, it isn't. SEWN is the word. Though you may also find it later. ** DEUS, DUDS, EWES, NEWS, NUNS, SEND, SEWN, SNUS, SUDS, SUSE, SUSS ====KINDA FAR==== 236, 335, 445, 445, 326, 335, 436, 454, 335 236 is DDEES by force. It's probably too early to start with S, and you can also rule out EE***, ES*, and ED (EDS) quickly. That leaves D, E, and the only word is DEEDS. 326 is similar. DEESS. It's plural, so ****S. Again, you can be aggressive getting rid of vowels, and also noticing D***S leads to nothing. E***S doesn't go anywhere, either, so S---S becomes SEEDS. DEEDS, 335, 445, 445, SEEDS, 335, 436, 454, 335 You may notice that there are 2 incidences of handmade clothes--and you may figure where the other one is from the first word. SEWED is it, and so... DEEDS, 335, 445, 445, SEEDS, SEWED, 436, 454, 335 436 is a good one--if it starts with U, DSEE is remaining and that runs out of gas. If it starts with W, EENS is remaining and has no possibilities. So, S---- (2 e's and E/W or N/S or U/D) -- the 2 e's can go, and SENSE is a word but not tangible. So, SEEDU and if you go through everything, SD can't work, SE has nothing, and SUEDE does. DEEDS, 335, 445, 445, SEEDS, SEWED, SUEDE, 454, 335 335-last must have D S E. If it has U to start, UDDES makes nothing. If it has W to start, WDSEE is possible. With S to start, it needs a U or W--SW forces SWEDE, which is a word, but we'll get that later. SUDDE gives nothing. So WDSEE but it's also plural--W(DEE)S is weeds. This helps us a lot with 454. It's between SUEDE and WEEDS. But if it is SU then it has NND--garbage. WE would have to have N and (NS) clogs, (UD) and (WE) just don't give anything. Still, this is a difficult one. U (DN) (NS) clogs. U (DN) (UD) can't start with U, UN-DUD maybe should be a word but isn't, and thus U (DN) (EW) is left. I hope at this point the clue tips off what it should be, but placing the E is also possible: UE--- and U---E clog, and U-E-- can be shown to fail. U--E- has six possibilities left. This is an example where hopefully the clue can help you avoid brute force. Also, you may gain a clue from an establishment a block farther away. The answer is UNWED. So we have DEEDS, 335, 445, 445, SEEDS, SEWED, SUEDE, UNWED, WEEDS The middle is tricky. Perhaps process of elimination works. What if we start with N? Then (ES+DU/NS/EW) but we need a vowel, so NESSN/NESEW/NESUD can all be rejected. That leaves NU + (SED ) = NUDES. I will bail here and say that most people can figure the first 445 on seeing NUDES--it is close enough, as DUNES. It's a bit tricky if you start with E as the first letter due to the two possible pairs, but with D, you need a U and an E and (NS|UD|EW). DUUDE slurs, and DUEEW also slurs. DUENS can, however become DUNES. Now let's go to the 335. SED (UD) (NW) (DS) must start with D, so D (ES) (UD) (NS) (EW) -- but we have a plural! D (E, UD/NS/EW) S The NS clogs, and (EEW) is nothing, su D (EDU) S = Dudes. ** DEEDS, DUDES, DUNES, NUDES, SEEDS, SEWED, SUEDE, UNWED, WEEDS ====FAR==== The first of these should not be a puzzle. That means nothing starts with D. However, the rest is potentially tricky. Again, I'll say I bet you can guess the second, too, since they're just a list of things you can lump together. ED DUNN, SENSES, 345, 556, 545, 145, 514 The scandinavian vacation--well, it starts with S, and what is a scandinavian country? I think this is guessable. ED DUNN, SENSES, SWEDEN, 556, 545, 145, 514 The new bride and groom stuff is a good place to look next, because if you go up, you need to go down. Thus the word is UDDDED or some equally improbable combination thereof. But the W gives a clue as well! It must be WDDDEE. You can't lump too many consonants together, so WE and then not WEEDDD but WED -- 3 choices. WEDDED. ED DUNN, SENSES, SWEDEN, 556, 545, WEDDED, 514 The administrators of the anti-athletic club must have 3 S's and a U at least. The W forces an E. W (ESSSU) becomes WUSSES. ED DUNN, SENSES, SWEDEN, 556, 545, WEDDED, WUSSES The last two are tricky. Invisible may provide a hint to the prefix, or it may not. If you managed to stumble across the Visible Institute, you will know what to do here. However, it's pretty clear each name starts with U. U (EENNS/EENEW/EENUD) -- the too-many-e's can be disposed of first. You can also see that UE is a bad way to start--UNUDEE or UDENUE and such lead nowhere. This is a bit of hand-waving, but while Undue gets close, there are clues directing the player to UEENNS...and the UE start is goofy, and US (EENN) gives nothing, too. That means UN is left. Nice prefix to EENS or SEEN. ED DUNN, SENSES, SWEDEN, UNSEEN, 545, WEDDED, WUSSES UE are the only two allowable characters in the last bit. But U (NSW) is how the last word starts, and UW is not a good way to start a word. That leaves US + NE + (UD or NS or EW). Searching through those jumbles is a mess, and the NOT may be a clue anyway. ?? UN---- (SE + NS/UD/EW) SENS is a mess, SEEW is too watery, but UNUSED--there we go. ED DUNN, SENSES, SWEDEN, UNSEEN, UNUSED, WEDDED, WUSSES ====REAL FAR==== This is a good place to use the scope. It also requires a shift from the purely logical reasoning. You've seen clothes before--DUDS--and so you may be able to guess that NEW DUDS is all that is left. That leaves something easier for the hot dog hut. It must end with an S, giving it forced letters of NEEE as well. So what are the directions you re-traverse? UDNEEES means NE- is not doable (alphabet) and NU(DEEE)S isn't practiceable. U (NDEEE)S doesn't quite make sense, or lead to anything remotely edible. NSNEEES means the word starts with S or it's ahead of NEW DUDS. S (ENENE) S doesn't bring up anything. WNEEEES leaves WEENEES. NEWDUDS, WEENEES ====EXTRA FAR==== Grinding logic again may be painful. The final clothes shop also accepts DUDS. But you've seen the adjective before--USED. So, USED DUDS. USEDDUDS ====SEMI-EASY MODE WALKTHROUGH==== Okay, maybe it is not so easy. But if you figure END, DEN and NED, you can go back to EDDUNN and get hints. You may be able to figure that the lists are sorted by first letter then or after you find a few more locations. That makes them D?? 346, D???? 236, DEN 355, D?? 335, D??? 435, D?? 344, D?? 344, D???? 335, D??? 334, D???? 445 EDDUNN 365, E?? 445, END, E??? 455, E??? 435 NED 355, N?????? 344, N??? 444, N???? 445, N??? 554 S?? 436, S???? 326, S??? 345, S????? 426, S?? 434, S???? 335, S??? 444, S??? 534, S??? 424, S?? 535, S???? 436, S?? 544, S??? 525, S??? 514, S????? 345, S??? 444 U????? 556, U????? 545, U???? 454, U??????? 325 W????? 145, W???? 335, W??????, W?????, W??, W????? I'm going to assume you will discover at some point the words are in alphabetical order -and- that they are divided in lines by letter. If not, I think it is a reasonable guess. ========D======== This allows you to gun down a few smaller letters. D??-346 must have EE. D??-355 must be DES/DSE or DES. D???-455 must have (USE) but then D??-344 and DEW is a word. That means D???-455 is DE??, or DEUS. The DNS acronym may be a bit annoying, but there are not many left. It leaves D???? 335, D??? 334, D???? 445. The 334 is the easiest to work on here. DS(UD) is not a word so DU(SD) is left. DUDS. Now D???? 445 must be after that, or DU(E)(EW/NS/DU). You can probably pick out the synonym, but if not, you should be able to eliminate things to get DUNES. The final one is a bit trickier though you can assume you will start with a vowel. DU(DSE) and DUDES is the only one that works. ========E======== E(NS|EW|UD) is next but the alphabetical order of things leaves only EEW or EDU. E??? 455 and ???? 435 are remaining. E(N+NS/EW/UD) is the name and EE/ED isn't alphabetical. ESNN is nonsense and EU(DN/ND) is too. EN(**) has nothing, but if you try EWEN, it works. Now E??? 435 must be EW?? 435. That leaves SE to go. Or, rather, EWES. ========N======== Next are the N's. Let's tackle N??? since we know we need a S. N (SEW, SSN, UDS) and the middle is clogged and the last leads to nothing. NEWS. NED 355, NE????? 344, NEWS 444, N???? 445, N??? 554 N???? has a SE and (UD|NS|EW) where NEW(U or W) is nonsense, NN/NS/NW clog, and NU gives NU (SDE). NUDES. For the final we must have NU (UD|NS|EW). NUNS. So that 7-letter one looks like a bear. But wait! 344 is clothes, previously referred to as Duds--if we check it out, we get NEWDUDS which fits. ========S======== Next are the S's. SUE and SUN can be determined from their addresses--one of two choices--and so can SEE. SEW can be brute-forced, but you will probably get the clue. That leaves SE???? for three of the locations. SE?? is 345. That means a D-N is left, or SEND. This makes SE??? be SEE?? since you can't have SEN?? before SEND. So, SEEDS. SE???? is left. N, S and U are possible. SEU leaves DES which gives nothing. SES has E(UD|NS|EW) and you can pick that off too. If you tried SEN, you'd notice ESS was left. SENSES. SUSS can also be picked off, which leaves us with SEE 436, SEEDS 326, SEND 345, SENSES 426, SEW 434, S???? 335, S??? 444, S??? 534, S??? 424, SUE 535, S???? 436, SUN 544, S??? 525, SUSS 514, S????? 345, S??? 444 S??? 525 is SU?? with ES remaining, or SUSE. If S?????? 345 is SU????, that leaves SU(DD)(NE). SUDDEN is a possibility but doesn't match with the clue. Nothing else really works. So SW(DEEN) becomes SWEDEN. That leaves your friend SW??, or SWEN. SU??? 436 is next, requiring DEE, or SUEDE. The middle bits are thornier. Let's cut down what's remaining. SEW 434, S???? 335, S??? 444, S??? 534, S??? 424, SUE 535 S??? 444 is key. SS means SSNN. SU is SUDN, SD and SW are unalphabetical, SN(EW|UD) leaves nothing, so SE is the only option. WN is left. SEWN. SEW 434, S???? 335, SEWN 444, S??? 534, S??? 424, SUE 535 This makes S???? 335 rather easy. SEW?? (DE/ED) is SEWED. Note that it's impossible for SEW* to be 534, so we are left with S(NSU) for it and the next. SN?? 424 is SNSS. SS?? 424 is nothing. SU(SD|DS) is SUDS. Now SUD? can't be 534, and SS** is still to clogged, so... SN?? 534 must be SNSU or SNUS. While Snus isn't that widely known, it does exist, and hopefully SUNS clued you that you were close. ========U======== U????? 556, U????? 545, U???? 454, U??????? 325 The U's are rather tricky. Hard logic alone may take a while. If you note a word for clothes, the last one is not bad. But this is where you may want to make use of the UN- prefix to determine a word. If you think of antonyms for invisible, SEEN is one and UNSEEN fits the bill. Similarly for guessing at UN??? 545. If it's there, it needs to be UNSNN (oops) or UNW??, UNWED. UN???? 545 is then UN (SE+UD|NS|EW) -- UNS (due, ens, eew) don't turn up anything, so UNU (DES) is left. UNUSED. UNW????? 325 is not possible. So you need a different letter, UW?????? is UW (DDEESS) which is clogged. So US?????? is a bit tricky--but clothes. We've seen that with DUDS. So, USEDDUDS. Finally the W's. The first two are rather fixed. ========W======== W????? 145, W???? 335, W?????? 447, W????? 356, W?? 434, W????? 514 WDDDEE = WEDDED, then WDEES = WEEDS (WS is nowhere, WD is out of order.) Also note W?? 434 has to be Wes, which is a huge break. W????? 514 is also forced. WESSSU but WE doesn't allow much and WS is clogged. So, WUSSES. WEEDS 335, W?????? 447, W????? 356, WES W????? = WDEEEN and that must be WEE(NED/DEN) which doesn't quite work or WEN***, or WENDEE. The "wend" clue may help here, too. WEEDS 335, W?????? 447, WENDEE 356 Since WEN needs EEES, you must have WEE (EE + NS/UD/EW) -- all w/e is kind of crazy and WEED forces a U and WEEU slurs, so WEE (NSEE) and WEENEES, the misspelled hot dog hut, should follow. ====SPOILERS==== Friends: Dee, Des, Ewen, Ned, Sue, Swen, Wendee, Wes Three: Den, Dew, Dns, Edu, End, See, Sew, Sun Four: Deus, Duds, Ewes, News, Nuns, Send, Sewn, Snus, Suds, Suse, Suss Five: Deeds, Dudes, Dunes, Nudes, Seeds, Sewed, Suede, Unwed, Weeds Six: EdDunn, Senses, Sweden, Unseen, Unused, Wedded, Wusses Seven: NewDuds, Weenees Eight: UsedDuds