The Hunt 1990 - The Galleria Puzzle

The Galleria Puzzle

Across the top of the page in the centerfold of the puzzle booklet was a strip of paper marked with a dashed line and a little picture of scissors, indicating that the strip should be cut out of the booklet.

Printed along this strip was a simple algebraic equation:

C + 165 - 2C - 302.5 - 2C + 3C + 2C + 330 - 275 + 247.5 + 3C - 137.5 + C - 27.5

Solving this equation gives the value 6C - the coordinates of the Galleria on the Hunt Map.

What else in the puzzle booklet has to do with the Galleria? There is one ad in the entire booklet that advertises a real product, the ad for a Toblerone candy bar. Not only is the Toblerone bar the only serious advertisement for a real product, but the ad also tells you where to get one - in a particular section of the Galleria, and what size you need - the 100g size. The 100g Toblerone bar comes in a long, triangular box.

The Toblerone ad describes the candy bar as "suitable for wrapping." If you were to wrap the strip around the box, the numbers of the equation are now distributed in a different order, yielding another equation. In this new equation, all the C's cancel out, and you are left with the number 275.

Somewhere along the way, you should notice that the logo on the Toblerone box matches that of a coupon in the puzzle booklet for a free item at a particular store number in the Galleria. Unfortunately, the store number is (intentianally) blurred and unreadable on the coupon.

The number 275 can't be the puzzle's final solution because it has three digits; however, it does correspond to a store number in the Galleria, that which the coupon relates to; more specifically, that of Software Etc. When you take the coupon to Software Etc., you are given a computer disk.

The disk that you get from this puzzle is vital; it allows you to turn your 2-digit key codes into clues for the Final Puzzle.

Printed on the label of the disk was this simple riddle giving the final answer to this puzzle:

If a cube is 9 inches on each side, and it is made of solid brass, and each cubic inch of brass weighs 2.657 ounces, and this cube is dropped from a height of 1000 feet directly onto Barry Manilow's piano while he is performing I Write the Songs, wouldn't that be great? The answer to this one is 29.