Grim’s Haunted Carnival: Carousel Hunt

eyewire, citizen-science, grim, haunted-carnival, carousel

All right: having tried your luck on the midway and warmed yourself up for something bigger, you set off toward a truly classic ride for any carnival. What else but the carousel? It looks like a delightfully spooky one, too, with not just horses to ride but also bats, spiders, and unidentifiable creepy-crawlies.

But alas! Just before you can take a seat, one of Grim’s zombie minions shambles out from the central motor compartment. “Wait,” it drones. “This isn’t working right now.”

“What do you mean, it’s not working?” you ask, but as you poke your head toward where the zombie had been working, this answers your question right away. All the gearing has been overrun with a swarm of mergers! Surely your coordination is a little better than a zombie’s; maybe you can help it identify where all the mergers begin, so that they can be cut away and the carousel can spin again?

There are 12 mergers in the Hunt cell. You have 5.5 days and 24 guesses to locate them all, between midnight EDT on 10/20 and noon EDT on 10/25.

How to identify and report mergers

    1. Select Hunt cell from Change Cell menu. Stay in the overview.
    2. Type /debug into chat. This will reveal a special box with information about the cell (located above the “Start Playing” box).
    3. Use ALT+click to select the origin point of the merger you have identified. It is a good idea to zoom in close on the merger before you select it to get the most accurate coordinates.
    4. Find the coordinates of the merger’s origin in the cell information box. These are next to the word “center.”
    5. In the chat pm thehunt bot your coordinates. For example: /pm thehunt 5123 4321 5678.
    6. thehunt bot will let you know if you got it right or wrong and tell you how many guesses you have left.
    7. To check how many mergers you have found and to check what guesses you have submitted, type “/pm thehunt !list”; the bot will give you a list of all the coordinates you have guessed, and whether or not there was a merger at each set of coordinates. A + means there was a merger there, a — means there was not a merger there.
    8. If you accidentally submit the same coordinate a second time, it does not count as two guesses.

Do not reveal your coordinates to other players. Do not do anything against the spirit of the Hunt. Anyone caught cheating will be automatically disqualified from the event and will not receive any points.

Proximity to merger start point is determined by number of voxels (1 voxel = approx. 1/250th of a cube’s width). Mergers are only counted as found if guessed within a distance of 250 voxels.

Swag (generously sponsored by @susi): The top scoring player will win 1 mug and 1 sticker sheet! Second and third place each also win sticker sheets.

Bonuses:

  • 1000 points for each merger found
  • An additional 7500 points for anyone who locates all 12 mergers
  • 200 point bonus available on each merger to the player whose guess is closest
  • 250 point bonus available to any player who guesses within 10 voxels of a merger

Note:

It is unlikely, but in the event you find a merger HQ did not plant on the cell, please let us know. If we verify it, then we will award you 1000 points. If it is a merger on top of an intentionally added merger, then that will not count.

Pieces of dust floating in space don’t count as mergers, so don’t report them!

This is not a merger!

dust

Artwork by Daniela Gamba & Zach Herman