The Potato Chip Puzzles: The Puzzling World of Winston Breen by Eric Berlin Read Free Book Online Page B

teedly-teedly-TEE! —and then displayed the Simon’s Snack Foods logo. This blinked away after a moment and was replaced with a message: “The Game Has Not Yet Begun.” There was a flashing Enter button under that, so Winston hit the Enter key on the keypad. The device thought about that for a moment and then returned with the same message, almost a rebuke: “The Game Has Not Yet Begun.”
    All around them was the teedly-teedly-TEE ing of little computers starting up. Simon said over the din, “You can turn them on if you want, but you won’t get very far just yet. I want to explain a few things first, and then Game Control—that’s us—will send out the information you need to get going.” He turned to one of the people by his side and said, “I told you the sound effects were a bad idea.”
    When the tweeting had died down, Simon said, “Okay. As you’ve all learned by now, the game has not yet begun. Here’s what’s going to happen. After I’m done talking, my people here will wait five or six minutes so that you can all get back to your cars. Then they’ll push the button or throw the switch or whatever it is they do. . . . Anyway, they’ll start the game.
    “ Then when you turn on your little devices, you’ll get that very annoying start-up sound and you’ll see a menu of six pages. Each page will give you information about one of the puzzles. But—aha!—you’ll soon discover that only the first page is unlocked. Solve that first puzzle, type in your answer, and you’ll learn the location of the second puzzle. Solve that , and you’ll get directions to the third puzzle, and so on.”
    Simon looked slyly at them. “The sixth and final puzzle is a little bit different. You won’t need to go anywhere to solve it. The only thing you’ll find on that sixth page is a clue and the input box for sending us the answer. That’s it.”
    Someone had turned on a computer again, and there was the now-familiar tweedling start-up sound. Everyone tittered restless laughter, and Simon rolled his eyes. “I absolutely promise, the game isn’t going to start until I say so. You can turn those computers on and off all you want—but don’t!” Simon said, realizing he was inviting a chorus of teedly-teedly-tee s.
    “The first team to send us all six answers wins the loot. It’s exactly that simple. We’ll send out a message to all the teams when that happens, and then we can meet back here and have some hamburgers and hot dogs—and potato chips, of course—and I’ll give the winning team a big, fat check.”
    A murmur of excitement buzzed through the room. Winston ached for Simon to dismiss them so they could get going.
    Simon looked around the room. “Are there any questions?”
    There are always questions, and Winston found himself clutching the tabletop in exasperation as they were asked.
    “What if nobody wins?” somebody asked.
    Simon shook his head with a small smile. “Somebody’s going to win, believe me,” he said. “We made the puzzles challenging, but not impossible. And the prize, I think, is big enough that you guys are going to give it your all, am I right?” There was general agreement and a couple of hearty “yeahs!” from around the room. Simon nodded his approval. He said, “If aliens invade and suck out your brains, well, I guess I’ll come up with something. But I’m willing to bet that someone’s going to win without any extra hints or clues. Anything else?”
    Then somebody had to ask if you had to answer all six puzzles to win, which Winston thought was the stupidest question in the history of the world. He slumped down in his chair. He could feel Jake and Mal buzzing with anxiety as well. Yes! You have to answer all six puzzles! Let’s get going!
    But Simon answered that question patiently and a couple of other ones besides. After that, the room filled with a tense silence. There were no more questions. The game could now begin.
    Simon smiled at them all, drawing