Comments on: Da Vinci Quest Google server errors at crucial final puzzle release time

By: Rose

Rose — Tue, 16 May 2006 22:02:19 +0000

I got both the email and the cryptex today. I had to type in the phrase too. it frustrated me and I thought I wouldnt make it. I had fun.

By: Alistair

Alistair — Tue, 16 May 2006 14:26:58 +0000

Well, I got a cryptex. I think they mailed them all by USPS Priority Mail on Friday. (So pretty much everyone got them yesterday — a few stragglers may arrive today)

The e-mail arrived late last night. So clearly it took at least five minutes for ten thousand people to complete the quest… now, on to the Final Challenge!

By: TDavid

TDavid — Mon, 15 May 2006 23:33:36 +0000

Steve - reports are coming in today that people are receiving cryptex via UPS. No word yet on anybody receiving an email though. UPS comes late here, so we’ll see what happens by 5pm PST.

By: Tim

Tim — Mon, 15 May 2006 23:19:06 +0000

When I clicked on “play puzzle” I had to go through a couple of pages I’ve never seen, getting all kinds of weird new messages… I finally had to restart the process, before entering a capcha, upon which I got dead-ended in some again never before seen page. I restarted the process all over again… got the capcha… and finally got the puzzle. Not sure how much time I wasted just getting the puzzle. I was so flustered by then that I hung on the last question for a bit, and am not sure when I finally finished. Also was quite concerned by never being able to do exactly what the rule require (3 things)… finishing the puzzle, filling out puzzle completion form, THEN FILLING OUT FINAL STAGE APPLICATION (not there). Oh well, I gave it my best… even missed a plane to play the last puzzle! Estimated completion time 1:14 EST, no word yet regarding success as of 7:00 PM EST 5/15/06.

By: Steve

Steve — Thu, 11 May 2006 00:20:20 +0000

Has anybody received confirmation on if you are one of the 10,000? I submitted my info ~10mins after the puzzle opened … but still waiting … hoping

By: TomW

TomW — Wed, 10 May 2006 20:40:42 +0000

I think the CAPTCHA is not because of your requests, but because of the high number of requests the page received in general. From Google algorithm’s perspectives, their home page got a very sudden increase in hits and its responding as if those hits might be a distributed denial of service attack.

I got the message on my first request.

By: Alistair

Alistair — Wed, 10 May 2006 20:28:36 +0000

I got the captcha while I was refreshing too. I assumed it was because I was refreshing every few seconds waiting for the time to tick over to 1pm (and Google doesn’t often get refreshed every few seconds!). Not a problem, I just entered the word and carried on.

I completed the challenge at 1:05pm EDT. No word yet as to whether they’re mailing me a cryptex…

By: Beginnercode.com

Beginnercode.com — Wed, 10 May 2006 18:38:26 +0000

Google captcha ?

I was playing the very last puzzle in the google Da Vinic Quest game. When I logged into my personalized google home page I saw this warning and captcha request:

Apparently I’m not the only one. I’m thinking that this means the whole wo…