h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Okay. I called a store last night listed as selling the cards, and was told they didn't have them at all.

Then I called it again about five minutes ago and was told that they carried them.

Obviously they responded to consumer demand.

Oh, yes.

I was pleased to discover that they included Ishihara, the easiest card in the deck. I can get it out of the way now and move on to bigger and better things.

Am I going to have to update your score now? Ah, I'll do it tomorrow.

No rush.

Good, because the site doesn't seem to want to load.

I'm seriously considering going onto eBay for some Silver cards, and maybe even seeing if I can find someone with the Gold Card who doesn't know how valuable it is (or, more to the point, knows how valuable it should be and doesn't sell it for ludicrous loads of money.)

It's kind of quiet on my new page, isn't it? Perhaps there isn't anyone else around doing PC.

Happy Dude is.

Okay, one person is, but I can't find him on Perplex City.

I should probably ask him what his name is on Perplex City.

You might also get a bit more traffic if you can get a mention in The Post.

We're in the classified ads. I suppose I could write an article.

Okay, I'll go and find Happy Dude.

Man. I've been wracking my head for two days over a card called "The World." I don't even know what the card is asking!

I'm seriously tempted to just see what the answer is on another website....but this is the first card that's really been a challenge. I don't wanna give up so soon.

What's the question? Or as best you can make out?

I haven't the faintest idea, despite staring at it for a couple of days.

I see three lines, each of which has shapes on them.

Most of the shapes are kinda tombstone-shaped. The others look like the tombstones have been turned over on the line, with their tops shattered off.

Each shape has a 3 digit number over it, preceded by R. So, "R070" and "R303", etc.

There are two lines of numbers seperated by dashes fiendishly hidden at the lower right-hand corner. One of them is upside-down, so you have to turn the card over to read it (unless you like reading lengthy number strings upside-down.)

The first two lines have 7 of these shapes, organized into two groups. The last line has six of these shapes in one group.

There are weird, tough to see, shapes (mostly multicolored circles, with one or more exceptions) filling up the background on the card. Sometimes I think they're suggestive of a keyhole, other times I think they're reminiscent of a tree. I have no way of knowing if they're involved in the puzzle.

The name of the card is "The World."

That's all I can tell you. I'd be more descriptive, but I left the card in my car, and I'm at a campus computer. I can't look at it at the moment (I suppose I could look it up, but I'm in a crunch for time.)

Oh, and to top it off? I scratched off the scratchy part to reveal the code. I entered the code on a whim, and you know what it said? "Enter your answer" or some similarly useless question.

I've got no idea what it is yet. It might be a puzzle about music (depressed buttons on a pipe organ?), the electrons buzzing around an atom, the population of the planet presented in statistical groupings, some sort of math problem,....I haven't got a clue.

Blimey, that does sound confusing. Is it worth a lot of points?

55.

Some friends who are experienced in the proper field have given me some hints.

Even *with* the hints I found it to be rather infuriatingly challenging. If you ever get this card, it's one that I'd almost suggest that you begin by looking for hints on. If you couldn't solve it based on what I said, then hints will probably be necessary (then again, what I said kinda detracts from the physical appearance of the card. Who knows? Might be easy as pie when you see it, depending on your mindset.

I'll bear that in mind.

Hey, you're ahead of me. I guess I should shell out on some more cards. Must find a cheaper source.

I was wondering when you would notice.

No reply from Happy Dude...