How to solve the Cowboy Cipher? The key can be found in the Guide to Solving Ciphers, directly above the Cowboy Cipher. The answer tells you the coordinates for the first time token to be placed on the Time Tangle Travel Tracker.

How to place your Time Tokens? Remove the time tokens from the perforated sheet and place them in order on the Time Tangle Travel Tracker. It does not matter where you start, as long as you continue to place the time tokens consecutively in either direction. Note: You can keep the poster flat and place the time tokens as you go, or you can fix the time tokens to the poster with glue or tape. Keep in mind that if you add anything in the wrong order you may need to remove them and re-stick them, so don’t use too much adhesive.

How to Reveal Your Final Message? This puzzle is ongoing, which means you will be able to answer questions as you progress through the mystery. For now, the only question you will be able to answer is the second (“Now try one for yourself). You will receive your final instructions for solving the entire puzzle in the 6th (final) installment. Keep this puzzle on hand as you will come back to it.

What to keep on hand? The only thing you don’t need to keep on hand is the Inter-timeline Memo. Everything else (the tangle tracker poster, the time tokens, the “How to Reveal your Final Message” puzzle, the book excerpt, the instructions, the ciphers worksheet) can be used, solved, or referred back to along the way.

The Cowboy Cipher says: ADD THE TIME TOKEN TO THE TANGLE TRACKER THAT SAYS C SIX (C6)

How to Reveal Your Final Message: The answer to “Now try one for yourself” is TANGLE.

Write the word TANGLE in the bottom row. The number “2” will be directly above the “G”.

C6

All of the puzzles in this package are interrelated, and to find your dinosaur and the information you need to return him to his prehistoric home, you need to solve them all.

How to put the dinosaur story cards in order

Put the cards in order to tell the story of what happened when you went back to see the dinosaurs. The story starts with you landing in dino times and ends with the dinosaur escaping in the present day park. Keep an eye on the messages on the wrist computer and the location of the backpack. Their status and location can help you figure out the order of events.

If you have the story in the correct order, the symbols on the back will spell a word. The answer key comes in the 4th installment.

The instructions for following the grid map are on the back of the dino cards. Solve the clues from the paleontologist to find your starting point.

How to solve the puzzles in the museum map

The museum map shows the layout of the museum. The starting point for the puzzle can be found on the inside of the bandage box. On the museum map, locate the image of the dinosaur pictured on the bandage box. An arrow points to a hand-drawn dinosaur on the page. Find that dinosaur, and then follow the next arrow. Continue following the dinosaurs until you end up in one of the labs. This is where your dinosaur is being kept.

How to solve the coded note

The handwritten words on the inside of the museum map (bold, pink, uppercase, read all backwards) are your instructions for reading the coded note. Unscramble the message to find your landing coordinates.

Where are the landing coordinates?

You are looking for a number and a letter. The letter is the lab where your dino is being kept. The number is printed on the bandage.

How to find the Time Tokens

Time Token #1 is the landing coordinates: solve museum map and coded note

Time Token #2 is the release coordinates: use the instructions on the back of the cards to follow the grid map and find the location where the dino crawled into your backpack.

What is the correct order of the dino story cards?

#1: View of flowers and trees out the time pod window (dashboard display says 77 million BC)

#2: View of volcano and water bottle: you set out exploring and stop for some water.

#3: Dino eggs: you discover a nest and drop your backpack.

#4: The dinosaur chases you up a tree.

#5: You are stuck in the tree all night.

#6: Morning: you grab your backpack and run back to the time pod.

#7: View of house and trees. You are back home.

#8: The dinosaur escapes from your backpack.

Symbols on the backs of the story cards spell: DINOSAUR

What does the note inside the bandage box say?

Dino in danger you must rescue

Bad guys stole data from your time pod

I stole it back

Landing coordinates are lab where dino is plus exit to escape museum

Landing coordinates: D2 (Lab D, Exit 2)

Release coordinates: H5

You do not need any prior knowledge of art or artists to solve the puzzles. The answers to the clues and logic are all you need.

Most of the answers can be found by identification and elimination (ie this artist painted this one, this artist did not paint that one and so on) but to find one of the answers you must study the dates and figure out which two dates are exactly 31 years apart. 

Popova painted later than Munch and earlier than Mondrian.

Paintbrush puzzle

The only straight brush points to 1981, so we know that Basquiat painted in 1981.

Cube puzzle

To annoy someone: boTHEer

Place you go to learn: SChool

Where to see the Mona Lisa? LouvRE

What you dropped in LDV’s studio: cAMera

Name of painting: THE SCREAM

We know that The Scream was painted in 1893.

Word search

MONDRIAN is the Dutch artist who did not paint The Scream and did not paint in 1912. We know from another clue that he did not paint the Mona Lisa with the face made of odd shapes and uneven eyes.

Color Loop/Kahlo and Kirby

KAHLO (purple forms the loop). We visited her studio 31 years before Jack Kirby. The two dates that are 31 years apart are 1971 and 1940, so we know that Frida Kahlo is 1940 and Jack Kirby is 1971. We know from Parker’s postcard that Jack Kirby is a comic book artist.

The painting with the odd shapes and uneven eyes

It was painted in 1912, and according to the word search Mondrian did not paint in 1912. We know from another clue that it was not Munch. Because Jack Kirby and Frida Kahlo painted 31 years apart, those two are ruled out as well. We know Basquiat painted in 1981. So the painting with the odd shapes and uneven eyes has to be Popova in 1912.

The Scream

We know that The Scream was painted in 1893 and we know from clues that it was not painted by Popova, Basquiat or Mondrian. We also know from the 31 years apart clue that it was not Kahlo or Kirby. So The Scream was painted in 1893 by Edvard Munch.

The Mona Lisa with the crown

We know that Basquiat did not paint the Mona Lisa made of rectangles and squares, so the only painting left that does not have an artist attributed to it is the Mona Lisa with the crown. So Basquiat painted the Mona Lisa with the crown in 1981.

The painting made of rectangles and squares

By process of elimination this means that Mondrian painted the Mona Lisa made of rectangles and squares in 1931.

The correct order of the artists

Edvard Munch: 1893

Lyubov Popova: 1912

Piet Mondrian: 1931

Frida Kahlo: 1940

Jack Kirby: 1971

Jean-Michel Basquiat: 1981

E6 - Edvard Munch: 1893

L6 - Lyubov Popova: 1912

P 4 - Piet Mondrian: 1931

F5 - Frida Kahlo: 1940

J4 - Jack Kirby: 1971

J10 - Jean-Michel Basquiat: 1981

At the end of LDV’s letter there is a hint for reading his message. The hint is written backwards (LDV was famous for his backwards writing). Read it by holding it up to a mirror.

If the message does not make sense

The first word is not part of the message. It starts with the fourth word (“What”). 

LDV’s backwards message says: To read the message start with the first word (“dear”) and then read every fourth word until the last word (“flight”)

When you read every fourth word the message says:

What happened to the Titanic was not your fault

I invented the airplane 400 years before it should have been invented

I am sorry

Your time token is the glider with the best design for flight

The message in the paper airplanes says: I INVENTED THE TIME MACHINE

G3: the airplane that is best designed for flight

You need to study all of the materials in this mailing, including the departure board and the travel brochure, and especially the poster of the future city.

Solve “True/False”, “Hidden Symbols” and “Parking Map” to find your time tokens.

Solve “Where did you go”? to complete the “How to Reveal the Final Message” puzzle that came in the first installment.

How to solve the "True/False" puzzle

Study the Future City poster to answer the questions. When an answer is “true”, shade in the corresponding area. Answer all of the questions to reveal the coordinates for a time token.

How to solve the "Hidden Symbols" puzzle

There is an alphabet of symbols hidden in the future city poster. To solve the “Hidden Symbols” puzzle, you must find each symbol along with its corresponding letter. The message translates to a question, but you don’t know the answer yet. You will find the answer in the next (final) installment.

How to solve the "Parking Map" puzzle

Find the one symbol that is different from all the others. If you can’t find it you can narrow down the possibilities by checking the gate numbers on the departure board.

How to solve "Where Did You Go"

You will find the answers to the 3 questions in the Future City poster. This reveals your flight number. Study the departure board and travel brochure to find more information about your destination.

"True/False" puzzle

Shade in the areas with answers that are true and you are left with the coordinates for your next Time Token: E4

"Hidden Symbols" puzzle

The symbols spell: WHAT IS YOUR CABIN NUMBER ON THE TITANIC?

Answer: You don’t know the cabin number for the Titanic. You will find the answer in the next installment.

"Parking Map" puzzle

Where is your time pod? Q6

"Where Did You Go?"

Carrots on the roof: 6

Pizza delivery guys with number faces: 5

Giant snails: 1

Flight number 651

According to the departure board you went to Bluth. If you study the travel brochure you will see that Bluth is listed as a “relocation opportunity” in the Pinwheel Galaxy. 

E4

? : Leave blank until you find the cabin number on the Titanic

Q6

The puzzles on the postcard are called rebus puzzles. Rebus puzzles are made up of letters, pictures and symbols. For example, the solution to “POTOOOOOOOOs” is Potatoes (Pot + 8 Os). You don’t need any special knowledge to solve these puzzles.

In the time capsule you will find the answer to the question from installment #5: What is your cabin number on the Titanic?

To find the final time token (gate number for your flight) look at the departure board and use what you know about your flight. 

Postcard puzzles

The answer to the first puzzle is LemONadE. The letters in the squares spell out the coordinates for the first time token: L ONE

The answer to the second puzzle is thinKoutSIdetheboX. The letters in the squares spell out the coordinates for the second time token: K SIX

The final time token is the gate number for your flight, which you can find on the departure board. The gate number for flight 651 is: Q14

The missing time token from the previous installment: P2 (What is your cabin number on the Titanic?)

L1

K6

Q14

And the missing time token from installment #5: P2

Once you have entered the letters into the grid you will see that your message does not make sense. You must follow LDV’s final instructions to decipher the message, which is “shift back 6”. If you are not sure how a shift cipher works, go back to the “Guide to Solving Ciphers” that you received in the first installment. If you are using the shift cipher correctly, the first letter of your message will be the letter I and when you shift back 6 you will get the letter C.

Your final set of instructions is to “change the red numbers to letters”. To do this, assign a number to each letter of the alphabet starting with A. So A = 1, B = 2, C = 3 and so on. Once you change the red numbers on the time tokens to letters, your final message will be revealed.  

Depending on which direction you placed your time tokens, your message may be backwards. If so, read counter-clockwise. This is the correct order of the time tokens:

C6

D2

H5

E6

L6

P

F5

J4

J10

G3

E4

P2

Q6

L1

K6

Q14

These are the answers to the questions in Step 1 of the “How to Reveal Your Message”

-Example

-Tangle

-Museum

-Jack

-TheSky

-Z

-Pinwheel

-ToCauseTrouble

-ShiftBack

The letters in the grid will look like this:

INGTMK ZNK XKJ TASHKXY ZU RKZZKXY

Shift back 6 and the message says:

CHANGE THE RED NUMBERS TO LETTERS

The time tokens should be in this order: 

C6: red number 5 = E

D2: red number 13 = M

H5: red number 15 = O

E6: red number 8 = H

L6: red number 5 = E

P: red number 2 = B

F5: red number 15 = O

J4: red number 20 = T

J10: red number 4 = D

G3: red number 15 = O

E4: red number 15 = O

P2: red number 7 = G

Q6: red number 19 = S

L1: red number 9 = I

K6: red number 20 = T

Q14: red number 9 = I

Final message (you may need to read it backwards): IT IS GOOD TO BE HOME

Welcome back!