So I've made my first puzzle, party people. I've maxed out my giveaway slots (16) for this weekend puzzle, and I hope you find some enjoyment in it. The theme of the puzzle is Rick and Morty. If you don't know about it yet, you should definitely make time for it. Everything in the puzzle should be fairly simple for fans of the show, but anyone completely unfamiliar with the show should also be able to answer the questions with just a little bit of online searching. Though I really recommend giving the show a shot, it's dark and hilarious and wonderful. Just check out the many layers of humor found in this short clip with a throwaway gag about passing the butter.

And because I love deconstructing humor, let's open up the onion that makes up this joke:

So, you've got the first layer of the joke: He built a robot with AI simply to pass butter.

Then there's the second layer : It's less effort for him to build a robot to pass the butter than to just reach over and grab the butter. Beyond that, the robot is so smart it questions its purpose, which is hilarious overkill.

The third layer starts getting a little dark: This robot is having serious existential angst because he has arguably more intellectual and emotional capacity than the average human (which is communicated by just a few words, "What is my purpose," and "Oh my god," and also through the contrast provided by Morty's dad playing with his tablet throughout the entire scene), and something that complex and beautiful and fragile should be brought into the world with careful consideration, yet Rick casually slapped him together without a second thought about the ethical ramifications, just so he could butter his pancakes.

Fourth layer, even darker: In Rick's simple reply, "Welcome to the club," he reveals the true extent of one of the primary mechanisms of the humor of his character, which is just how much smarter he is than everyone. This level of the joke tells the viewer that Rick's intellect compares to the task of offhandedly creating a sophisticated AI to the extent that the AI's intellect compares to the task of passing butter, which is heartbreaking and hilarious when you realize that the robot's deep and meaningful angst indicates that creating the robot is much, much more complex than passing butter, and so must Rick's angst be in equal measure; and this angst is something that Rick carries with him constantly and ostensibly to a greater extent, which informs his character and the humor behind it.

It's brilliant, nuanced, hilarious, and complex, and yet it's just filler; it draws no extra attention to itself and seamlessly weaves its punchlines between the lines of dialogue from the family that are driving the plot forward. It's just one example of how brilliantly funny this show can be on so many levels. It's dark humor, but with a level of sophistication beyond almost anything else being made right now.

It's amazing and wonderful, and I am going to use my puzzling platform to try and encourage everyone reading to give the show a see at least once.

Please.

And away we goooooooooooooooooooooo!


Well, my first puzzle has ended. Congratulations to all the winners; keys have been released or friend requests have been sent. For those curious about the solution to the puzzles, here you are: the first puzzle and the second puzzle.

I noticed that a lot of people were entering the giveaways, but weren't also bumping the thread as requested. If you didn't, perhaps you should have been more willing to do so. Almost 100 users made it past the second puzzle and onto the back half of the train, but fewer than 30 users entered what I considered to be the best offerings on the train; the two giveaways I had attached as the caboose (behind the "bump the thread" link on Tomb Raider): Hitman: Absolution and Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Director's Cut!

View attached image.
9 years ago*

Comment has been collapsed.

What should the topic of my next puzzle be?

View Results
TV Shows
Films
Music
Books
Games
Molecular Genetics
Potatoes!

Bump for solved!
It isn't hard if you know the show :) Rick and Morty is one of the best recent animated shows! :)

9 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Deleted

This comment was deleted 11 months ago.

9 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

bump :)
thank you for the great puzzles. One of my fav shows :D
Edit: as for your next puzzle..stick to something all have access to like movies , tv shows , novels , music (mostly english media is readily available)... games tend to be platform specific..like I don't have enough knowledge to solve puzzles based on console games on my own. Old NES may be but not PSvita, Wii or current gen. Molecular genetics will be with another open tab of google :P

9 years ago*
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Thanks for the feedback. I threw molecular genetics in there since that's my field of study, but I didn't expect it to gain much traction. Interestingly, it looks like it might win. Rest assured that if I do make a puzzle regarding molecular genetics, it will not be a quiz like this one. I have some ideas about how I might be able to share some of the principles used in the science, and turning that short educational course into a puzzle that anyone should be able to solve with a little bit of logic.

9 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I think that most of the people are trolling by voting on molecular genetics (it's winning even with potato option xD).

And there are lots of possibilities, even decoding DNA -> mRNA is connected to genetics but isn't something super hard to do using google / wiki.

9 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Well, I threw it into the poll at the last second as a whim, since I didn't think it would elicit more than a chuckle or two. I hope people aren't trolling in voting for it, since I actually do have some decent ideas, and I intend to follow through on them if it wins the poll.

Instead of using DNA transcription or translation as a cipher, my ideas were leaning more towards sequencing methods, using giveaway codes as "hits", identified among the noise of random characters by something like the TATA box in DNA. I also have some ideas about using something resembling complementary strand to further obfuscate the information. I might come up with something more in the next couple of days, as well, while waiting for these giveaways to end. Like I said, I didn't think it would gain any traction, but it actually might turn out to be pretty fun. I hope...

9 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

At some point I was thinking about making laboratory equipment puzzle (with photos, so it'd be mostly non-goggable) but in the end I decided it won't be any fun in trying to solve something like this.(tho I think that zelghadis had puzzle like this with photos from some kind of Lego museum :D It was so hard to solve it xD).

Damn I was thinking about your idea and recalled about tool where you paste 2 nucleotide sequences and it shows mutation positions. I must go and read through my bioinformatic notes. That's what happening when you don't use something at all for 2 years :D

9 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

That's not a bad idea, either. Maybe I can do a bit about genetic lineage in order to hide a few giveaway codes. The possibilities aren't exactly endless, but it looks like I might have some options...

9 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I totally didn't want to give you another idea to make better biology related puzzles ! :D

I was also thinking about searching for species using certain nucleotide sequence and BLAST => picking 1st, 2nd, 5th letter as part of GA code, but that's way too extreme xD

View attached image.
9 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

What? I'm so confused, I entered in their names, first and last, capitilized, and it doesn't count. I'm not stupid either, I've seen every rick and morty episode, it's one of my favorite shows on right now, but the names didn't work.

9 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Wow, I don't think once in the show they say their real name.

9 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I'm not sure they do, either, but their nicknames are pretty common ways of shortening their real names. And even if you don't recognize the nicknames, finding the canon answer isn't too hard.

9 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I debated whether or not I should just allow their nicknames as valid answers when asking for their name, but ultimately decided that might make the puzzle a bit too simple. I wanted there to be a tiny bit of challenge to it, even for regular viewers of the show, but I certainly don't want to make you feel that the questions were unfair.

9 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Never seen the show but I've heard good things about it, maybe I should give it a try :D

9 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

It's amazing, just don't be put off by sexual moments, offensiveness and all that.

For me I find that shit funny.

9 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Sexual and offensive stuff? I'm in!

9 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Tiny Rick!

9 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Solved - at least first one :) Also Thanks for introducing this show to me :) Looks awesome :)

9 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Arghh soooolved! So much googleeee

View attached image.
9 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I asked Mr. Meeseeks to solve these for me. Kidding ^^

9 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Gimmie my darn enchiladas!

9 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Deadpool? Is that you?

9 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

No, gazorpazorpfield.

9 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Bump: solved both puzzles. Owned all the games being given, again :(, but we need more Rick and Morty awareness.

9 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Nice avatar.

Sorry to hear that you already own all of the games, but thanks for participating and bumping. I was going to do a tier of bundled games and a tier of unbundled games, but the most recent Humble Bundle turned the few unbundled games I had to give into bundled games, so I just picked out games that I personally enjoyed to give away. Unfortunately, that means giving out bundled games that most collectors here probably already own. Hopefully I'll find something you don't yet own for my next puzzle!

9 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Haven't started the puzzle yet, but I love the show -- immediately had to start watching it after only first becoming aware of it when they did the Simpsons couch gag.

Also, what I got out of the "Welcome to the club." layer was the utter futility of everyone's existence -- the robot looking down at it's functionality and realizing that, yes, this really is all there is to life.

9 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

is there somehting wrong with Q8 i 2nd puzzle?
Or I just need some hint :<

9 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

BUMP for solved

9 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Bump for solving both puzzles... though I'm somehow missing 2 GAs -.-

9 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

There are 16 giveaways in the train. Are you sure you followed it all the way to the end?

9 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Thanks, found the rest now.

9 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

please check q 1 , something is wrong, add more answers

9 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

It's not wrong, it just wants his actual name.

9 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

As mentioned above, I debated about whether to accept nicknames as valid answer when asking for a character's name, but decided that it would be a bit too simple for the puzzle. They always introduce themselves with their nickname, but if the character needed to fill out some official paperwork, they would probably use their birth name. What is that name? You can probably figure it out based on their nickname, but even if you can't, it's not too hard to find online.

9 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

thanks, i`ve finished the puzzle

9 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Too difficult... Can't... Not... Solve... Puzzle...

9 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Any specific troubles? Let me know if I need to address something specific, or add more/different hints somewhere.

9 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Nah, read what I said very carefully :P

9 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Oh, I guess I derped out for a moment there. Glad you enjoyed the puzzle, then!

9 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Bump for solved

9 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I am stuck on 2 questions on the 2nd puzzle, I rewatched the episodes man, I am very certain I had question 6 answered, but nope. And for question 10 I couldn't find his name anywhere, the only thing I know is that he's Evil Rick.

9 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

The hints should helps. They pop up after 60 minutes, but you might be able to figure it out before then.

For Q6, don't go with the answer implied by the episode (or stated outright by Rick at least once). The character introduces himself to others with a name. What name does he use?

For Q10, you're thinking of the wrong character. The character you are thinking about opposed the Council of Ricks, but he never denounced the name Rick. It's only a passing mention, but there is a character who opposed the Council and denounced the name Rick.

9 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Thanks, it's like, 12:30 AM so my brain isn't processing full 100 percent.

9 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Deleted

This comment was deleted 9 years ago.

9 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Wow, I needed to put 2 and 2 together, I was either using the last name or just the first name, I needed to use both facepalm

9 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Glad you figured it out. We'll just blame it on the fatigue.

9 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

First name and last name. The Mr is optional, but should be accepted if you want to add it. But Mr Lastname isn't quite enough.

9 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Amazing show :D The thing that blows my mind is that both Rick and Morty are voiced by the same person. They could not be more different as characters.
I solved 1st puzzle, let's see if I can solve the 2nd one too. Haven't watched all episodes yet.
Thanks, HBNayr!

9 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

You are welcome, dkny! Hope you have luck with the second puzzle. If you have any specific troubles, let me know so I can try to address them as early in the weekend as possible.

I hope you enjoy watching the remaining episodes. It's an amazing show; ranks right up there with Community for me. Maybe I'm just a fan of Dan Harmon...

9 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Thanks a bunch for the puzzles. It was fun kind of remembering all the awesomeness that is Rick and Morty. I'm a pretty big fan and I've been watching it since it started coming on adult swim. It never disappoints :)

9 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Funny and bump.
Only solved the first puzzle, i never watch this cartoon. XD

9 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

You should definitely give it a chance if you find the time. And don't give up on the second puzzle immediately. The hints will pop after 60 minutes, and should make the puzzle solveable even if you haven't seen the show. My goal was to make something entertaining enough to get people to give the show a chance, not something so challenging that only die-hard fans of the show would be able to solve.

9 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Thanks, i will try my best! XD

9 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Bump

9 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Bump for solved :)

9 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Awesome bump :)

9 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I'm Mr Bulldops

9 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Sign in through Steam to add a comment.