Escape Mail season 1: episode 9 HINTS

Keycard and Sign Photo Small Hint↓

Start at the keycard back, don’t be afraid to scratch.
The name’s right under your nose… see where the sign goes?

Keycard and Sign Photo Big Hint↓

Place the card on Serenity’s sign,
note the corners that you must align,
read the newly formed numbers and you’re fine.

Keycard and Sign Photo Solution↓

In order to solve this puzzle, you must first scratch off the security bar on the back of the card and see that 4 numbers have been given to you (8957 - _ _ _ _) while the other 4 are unknown. You may also notice that the signature is “Literally S. Peaking” or “literally speaking” and the instruction above is “SIGN GOES HERE”. So if you place the back of the keycard on the photo of the sign, and align the corners with the crosshairs, you’ll notice that “SERENITY HARBOUR TOTAL OVERSIGHT” gets cut off by the card and only the SE, OUR, T, and IGHT fragments are showing. By combining those fragments with the the card, you spell out the numbers “SEVEN, FOUR, TWO, EIGHT”. So the final code for this puzzle is 8957-7428.

Strange Contraption (Gears) Small Hint↓

Those symbols look familiar to me,
are they similar to something else I can see?
Ah yes, “Hunter Documents” is the key.

Strange Contraption (Gears) Big Hint↓

Get out a pen or a pencil my friend,
and write down the gear teeth from beginning to end.
Compare those drawn shapes to the ones the Hunter’s made,
at the top of that crinkled page that did fade.

Strange Contraption (Gears) Solution↓

The gears on the strange contraption mesh together, one tooth at a time, alternating from one gear to the next. If you write down the icons in order and compare them to the “HUNTER DOCUMENTS” type face, you’ll notice that the symbols correspond to the letters “UNDERCOUCH” and so therefore you can text JJ to look under the couch.

Hidden Trapdoor Small Hint↓

Trapdoor in the floor?!
Envelope tells you more.

Hidden Trapdoor Big Hint↓

Use your eye, the solution trace.
“Draw” what’s not in the place.
Digits hidden in negative space.

Hidden Trapdoor Solution↓

JJ texts you a photo of a trapdoor. The markings on it look similar to the envelope. You’ll notice the words “negative space”. Since you know you are looking for numbers, you can imagine in your mind’s eye that each line is taking up the negative space of the digit you are looking for. If the digits were in a classic digital display format, then the first digit’s negative space leaves the top and right sides open, which creates a “7”. Similarly a “3” and a “2” for the remaining digits. 732 is your answer. To see an image of what the negative space looks like, click here.

The Revolving Rug Small Hint↓

In most mazes, the walls don’t move.
But in some mazes they do.
And in this maze, the walls move while you’re in the maze too!

The Revolving Rug Big Hint↓

Place the rug correctly in the dark square shaded spot.
Now follow these instructions and beware, there is a lot!
Enter the rug then exit the rug and do the following steps 3 times:
enter, rotate, exit, rotate. (Without the last rotation, you’ll get the answer just fine.)

The Revolving Rug Solution↓

Notice the arrows indicating direction of the maze. Also, notice the thick black lines around the darkened square. There are some openings that allow you to enter, and if the maze is placed on the darkened square, you can go from the floorboards to the maze. Once on the rug, you will need to rotate the rug.

Still stuck?

Click here for a video of the puzzle being solved step by step.

Place the rug on the dark square in the middle of the paper. Follow the arrow downwards, through the maze, toward the rug. Make sure that the rug is aligned in the proper orientation so that you can enter through the top left corner. The first number you cross should be 3. Then following the instructions from the Big Hint above, you should do the following actions: cross over “3”, exit rug, enter rug, cross over “4”, rotate rug 90 degrees counter clockwise, exit rug, rotate rug 90 degrees clockwise, enter rug, cross over “2” and "1" and “3”, rotate rug 90 degrees counter clockwise, exit rug, rotate rug 90 degrees clockwise, enter rug, cross over “6” then “2” then “4” and rotate rug, and finally exit rug. The final solution is 34213624.

Mysterious Piano Small Hint↓

Do you hear what JJ hears?
This will require a skill of the ear.

Mysterious Piano Big Hint↓

Match the notes from the mysterious piano chime,
with sounds from JJ’s tuner app - the solution you will find.

Mysterious Piano Solution↓

JJ walks into the room and hears a strange chime: 5 distinct notes that repeat themselves. He sends them to you and you are able to both play the sound and hear it, as well as play individual notes. There is no special trick here. All you need to do is identify which notes are being played in the chime. The notes are BADGE.

Ship planks (6-digit code) Small Hint↓

A gentle nudge is given you, for each column to know what to do:
On the main deck you must advance, by a specific number or miss your chance.

On the poop deck go the other way,
but the quantity of difference will change.

Upper deck, like the main, is a progression too,
but each time you add a unique value.

Lower deck numbers reference each other;
the difference between them is a secret to uncover.

Forecastle sequence is harder to find:
one minus the other and then you must divide.

Super deck is last and trickiest to know;
you’ve been counting one way, now the other you must go!

Ship planks (6-digit code) Big Hint↓

Now a big hint I will explain,
this should make the column logic plain:

On the main deck go up by two each instance.
One row defies this and is not consistent.

On the poop deck you must decrease,
in each and every case, by threes.

Upper deck is a slightly harder to do,
it’s increase increases each time for you.

Lower deck numbers are looked at in pairs,
the right minus left is a consistent affair.

Forecastle sequence: number in the bottom right,
minus top left divide bottom and you’ll be alright!

Super deck is different because up until now,
you’ve been going down, go sideways somehow!

Ship planks (6-digit code) Solution↓

Each of the six columns in the Deck Floor Inventory follows a different logical sequence or pattern. The solution to this puzzle is found by identifying the pattern as well as identifying the row that does not follow the pattern. These errors in each row, in order from left to right, form the sequence of the solution:

Main deck: Increases by two each time, except for the first row. Reading columns left to right, this means the first digit you need is 1.

Poop deck: Decreases by three in every instance except row 4.

Upper deck: Increases each row by the value equivalent to the row label prior. So, for example, row 8 increases by a value of 7. This is true for every row except row 6.

Lower deck: Subtract the bottom right value from the top left and get 2. This is true for all rows except row 3.

Forecastle: Take the bottom right number and subtract the top left. Then, divide by 2 to get the bottom left number. This is true for all except row 7.

Super deck: Add up the bottom right numbers in every row to get a sum. This sum is accurate in every instance except row 5. And since the Row 5 error is found in the last column, 5 must be the final digit.

Therefore, your solution is 146375. To see an image with ALL the wrong digits circled, click here.

Ship knobs (3-digit code) Small Hint↓

Dials and knobs on the back of this ship,
find out where we’re going, and find out quick!
Using the compass as your reference,
observe the knobs and make an inference.

Ship knobs (3-digit code) Big Hint↓

Directions on cloth point on the compass rose.
Translate directions to knobs and you’ll know where they go.
Last you must deduce the lines etched in black,
one line is 1, two lines is 2, the rest follow on track.

Ship knobs (3-digit code) Solution↓

The piece of fabric says 1NW 2E 3SE. There are also 3 knobs. Each direction translates to one of the knobs, with 1 being the top, 2 being the middle and 3 being the bottom. If you imagine these as directions on a compass, NW points up and to the left, E points right and SE points down and right. This is the direction each knob points. How do you deduce the numbers? The numbers on the knobs are discovered by inferring that one line is 1, two lines is 2 and three lines is 3 therefore, counting around the circle in order, the rest of the numbers can be seen as 4-8. Therefore your final combination is 563.