It has been a while since I’ve posted about the Apple II game Alkemstone (and some reading this might have arrived from elsewhere without seeing my previous posts) so a brief summary/recap:
Alkemstone was a game released in 1981 by the company Level-10 with a $5000 prize attached (later upped to $7500) where the titular “Alkemstone” was hidden somewhere in the real world, and the clues on where to find it were hidden inside the game. It was confirmed fairly recently by the lawyer in charge of certification that nobody has claimed the prize. The company that sponsored it is long defunct, and the object buried was not valuable in itself (you didn’t even need to extract it to get the prize, just explaining the location of the Alkemstone was enough), so solving the mystery is only of historical interest, but still — a 40 year old mystery nobody has cracked!
Last year I did a playthrough of the game, which involved running around a maze and finding clues that flashed at irregular intervals on the walls, ceiling, and floor. I managed to extract quite a few clues, but I knew (because someone on Mobygames found a clue I hadn’t) that there were still clues I was missing. I just didn’t know how many.
May I present to you:
A ZIP file with every single clue in Alkemstone
To clarify, a reader (Andy Boroson) did some hacking at the game file itself and managed to extract the locations of the clues as well as a method of stopping the invisible-flashing-clue effect from happening. This led to him making a complete map…
… and the file of images above. They are given the numbers matching the map above; some of the sequential numbers clearly go together (even if they aren’t placed together on the map) so the numbers themselves may serve as a clue. There are 80 clues (84 listed, but one of them is blank, and likely removed some time during development; 3 are “special coded” to be findable at the same location, marked “00” on the map) and I managed previously to find about 3/4 of them, but some of the missing ones have what seem to be essential information, so it is quite possible it was not feasible to crack the mystery until now, the moment I post this.
The ZIP file preserves the screenshots in a complete fashion, so I’m going to survey them numerically and clip images together when possible. (That is, what shows up as separate clues I have merged into the same image, for compactness; again, if you need “clean” images, refer to the ZIP file.) Additionally, some of the text clues are stored as text, so I’ll just give those in text format.
Are you excited? I’m excited.
Just as a note ahead of time, the main guess/presumption based on the clues is that the treasure is hidden somewhere in Washington, DC. However, there is nothing I’d call certain confirmation on this. I will say it is near certain (based on a trio of clues I’ll get to last) that the treasure is in a public place somewhere, meaning it should be in an urban environment, not hidden in some random place in the wilderness.
When booting Alkemstone, this is the first thing visible upon entering the maze…
There’s no “hanging banners” style messages other than this one.
…which is certainly reminiscent of the Albert Einstein statue in Washington DC, which was finished just in time for it to be part of the game (1981).
#1 John F Kennedy
#2 Stonewall Jackson
#3 Zachary Taylor
The #1 and #3 clues are names of US Presidents, while the #2 clue is the name of a Confederate General. This suggests historical US sites rather than something dealing directly with the Presidency itself (like the numbers attached to each president).
#4 (on left)
#5 (on right)
Both suggesting wordplay, and #5 is new. There are multiple anagrams using the letters P, I, N, E, S so I’m not sure which one to prioritize, but I should point out the author’s previous game included an ambiguous anagram puzzle as well.
#6
Bruecke is “bridge” in German but rata isn’t anything in German, but maybe it is wordplay leading up to that. (The Rs being lined up is intentional.)
#7 What You Don’t Do To Go
#8 (written as a fraction) DENVER / 10
Again not sure, although I have suspicion #8 is referring to Denver being the “Mile High City”, that is, the clue refers to a 10th of a mile. I haven’t had luck with zipcode or the like.
#10 Calentadora de dedos del pie
#11 Wo Adler sich sammeln
#10 is “toe warmer” translated from Spanish. #11 is “where eagles gather” translated from German.
#12 JOB
#13 TESS
#14 MARIA
The one and only puzzle I’m certain we have the real solve for. Roger Durrant pointed out that both names appear in the song They Call the Wind Maria from the musical Paint Your Wagon.
A way out here they got a name for rain and wind and fire the rain is Tess the fire’s Joe and they call the wind Maria
“JOB” is a “typo” but it may have just been an honest mishearing. (I don’t think it’s a clue, but you never know.)
#15 144
I theorized long that this possibly references the fact that with 12 zodiac signs you can pair them with another 12 to get 144 angles (there’s zodiac symbols elsewhere). However, I haven’t found any confirmers to put this guess at high confidence.
I also pointed out the War Memorial in Washington DC had a 12-arrowed floor that could be interpreted in a zodiac direction sense.
#16-#22
All 7 images appear in roughly the same spot when drawn, so there may be some relation.
#23
Not quite in the same place as the previous clues, so might be distinct. Possibly hinting as to a time of year, that is, Easter (there are later references to this as well).
#24
Hinting a place with a famous speech? Or perhaps a current place (at least current for 1981) where speeches can be made.
#25 BLACK OR WHITE They Are All The Same To Me
This is where the internal number I think is helpful — it certainly seems likely #24 and #25 are related, perhaps referencing the I Have a Dream speech?
#26 Don’t Smell The Salt
#27 THOSE THAT SEEK TO FIND MUST FIRST SEEK TO PASS
#28 Seemanns-warnung
#26 might mean avoiding the ocean. #28 is “sailor’s warning” in German. I’m not sure if #27 is connected.
#29 The First To Recognize The Second
#30 For Us It Is Already Here
#31 Of All This One Is Equal
Not sure on any of these.
#32 WITH GIN YOU BEGIN THE END
More wordplay? I feel like there’s got to be word fragments being glued together at some point (“join” is a clue later).
#33 For the One You Seek The Two Are Known The Three Are There
Again not sure.
#34
The two theories I’ve heard are a.) the signature of TS Eliot and b.) (courtesy Casey Muratori) a metal access panel.
#35 My first is sixth My second is content Followed by the rest Finally a child could play
One of those riddles indicating letters in positions, perhaps, or word fragments being mashed together? I could see “the rest” being the literal “day of rest”, either “sat” or “sun” depending on your theology.
#36 -CIDE
Another word fragment clue. If it is the same as #35, is SLIDE (“a child could play”) somehow tweaked to be CIDE?
#37 join
Again, internal numbering adds some information; this probably refers to #35 and #36, at least.
#38 Coat Of Blue
Possibly the Civil War song.
#39
Look between the pillars?
#40 ONU
Another word fragment?
#41 To Start Anew
Feels very crossword-clue to me.
#42
Bees tend to be popular in rebuses for the sound “-be-” getting put somewhere.
#43 Don’t Go When Winter Blow
#44 Warmer Than Others
Referring back to the potential Easter clue, this might refer to a time of year. Easter has to (no matter the year) land after winter. This also might be simply fitting in with rebus logic somehow (the fragment “apr”, for instance).
#45
Redundancy with the child playing clue?
#46 GPI
#47 FTN
#48 pnijure
#49 BUSH
Not sure.
#50
I’ve played with this one quite a bit (add the numbers on top, then divide, subtract then divide, etc.) without much luck.
#51 Nothing Runs Like A Deer / And It Is A Beaut
The “Nothing Runs Like a Deere” slogan has been around since 1972 for the company John Deere, but I don’t know if the intent here is a pun or something else.
#52 It’s Best To Rest
Another resting reference.
#53
A word ladder? Don’t know what clue this indicates, though.
#54
#55, #56
The best I could come up with here is a reference to the Battle of Wounded Knee, but I have no idea what that would indicate.
#57, #58
Is the first picture of a train or something else?
#59 It’s Not Right
#60 The road is clear But you may have to leave it To find your way
Is this referring to directions at the actual site, or literal wordplay still?
#61 KAMM
#62 CIBURA
More word fragments, perhaps?
#63 Don’t Tread On Me
Another American History reference? All four words are written on separate lines so it could be the initial letters DTOM.
#64, #65
5 is the base? Don’t know what the deal is with those parallel lines on the 5 then, if that’s the case.
#66 This Is Almost The Age of AQUARIUS
Another day of the year reference?
#67 TIME IS RELATIVE BUT SEVEN HOURS SHOULD BE ENOUGH
#68 THAT WHICH GOES DOWN / MUST COME UP
#69 follow your nose / where taylor goes / but not too far / you’ll find a scar
The last clue may refer to some specific site involving Zachary Taylor, although it is unclear what.
#70 ONE SHOULD BE TEMPORATE IN ALL THINGS
This might intentionally be related to time rather than a misspelling of temperate.
#71 Wherever You May Roam There Is No Place Like Home
#72 a billion stars may show you the way
These (plus clue #81) might reference specific museums in Washington DC. The ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz are at the National Museum of American History, the stars might refer to Phoebe Waterman Haas Public Observatory (or that might just be another astrology reference so the clue goes with #66 etc. instead).
#73 Large And Small – Can’t See Them At All
#74 THE SUN ALWAYS RISES / THE SUN ALWAYS SETS
#75 WHOLE BUT NOT COMPLETE
#76 DO NOT OVERLOOK ANYTHING
#77 After Awhile We All Pay The Price
#78 MIDDLE AGE IS THAT TIME WHEN THE BROAD MIND AND THE NARROW WAIST TRADE PLACES
#79 THE HIGH AND THE MIGHTY MAY BE OF VALUE
#80 97914
#81 If You Want A Scene / Holocene and Pleistocene Might Do
#81 might be the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.
Finally, not with regular numbering, there are three clues in the same dead end (corresponding to the three walls). I’ll give the pictures this time:
Due to the status in the game, I suspect this is a meta-clue showing the structure of what is being solved for “Where I Live” is one set of clues, “Be Upon” is a second set, “A Thought of You” is a third set, and “How Far I May Go” is a fourth. All this is still guesswork, though.
While the “watch them play” feels most likely a park, it is possible this refers instead to “play” as in music; either way, not wilderness? (Although maybe you could stretch with a particular named rock monument.)
I’ve skipped some speculation from my previous posts, so if you’re looking for more inspiration, feel free to read those as well as the comments which include some more ideas. It’s fair to say the puzzle is still wide open at this point.
ADD: I put everything into a Google Sheet. It has all the images in miniature and a place to enter speculation.