So last year, I talked about the Seven Deadly Sins Riddle Challenge that I gave to my friends on my 21^st birthday.  I basically challenged my friends to solve seven riddles with each riddle based on  one of the Seven Deadly Sins.  If you solved all seven riddles then I rewarded you with a prize.  When everyone wanted a sequel, I decided to rehost the challenge again on my 22^nd birthday but this time, with a little extra flair.  As you can guess from the title, that year’s Riddle Challenge theme was based on Pokémon and this one was really cool in my opinion.

In total, there were eight riddles, representing the eight gyms, and each riddle was based on a Pokémon type.  So for instance, a riddle that took place in a nearby state park was the Forest Badge and it represented Grass Type.

Now, this Pokémon-themed challenge would have been fine with just the badges but I had to take it one step further and make this challenge different from the previous year.  In this case, I printed out Pokémon cards that everyone would have.  These Pokémon (Gallade for instance) knew two attacks (Ice Punch and Psycho Cut) which the competitor could use against the badges.  If the competitor was stuck on a riddle and everyone else had already solved their riddle, they could use their Pokémon and bypass the badge to the next riddle.  There are three catches to this though; one, you can only use moves that are super effective against the badge (Gallade uses Ice Punch on the Forest Badge for instance), two, your Pokémon is used up and can’t be used anymore, and three, the final cash prize is cut by half.  I liked the cards so much I even made one for myself to join in the fun (mine was Porygon2).  It was great because so many people got attached to their Pokémon and did not want to use it up even when they were stuck on their riddle (one of my friends was so excited when he got Garbodor while another was confused what the hell a Hippowdon was).  I liked that.  Once I passed out a Pokémon to everyone at my 22^nd birthday party, I talked about the usual rules and the first riddle to the challenge.

Unfortunately, I do not remember all of the Pokémon riddles and the original file that had all of them I think I lost when my old computer crashed on me.  Nonetheless, here are the ones I remembered along with a few in their original state (which you can try at home if you want!).

Badges

Metamorphous Badge-Bug Type.  Here is the riddle in its original form.

“I am famous.

Or do you not know?

Do I have to take you on a wondrous, whimsical trip, in order for you to understand?  I have given you all an invitation to this event and you came with no hesitation.

I am the son of four men!

Certainly, that idiot up there on that pile of dirt understands perfectly clear.  People don’t particularly adore the idiot but he sees the celestial body setting on the horizon and even his own two pupils!  He sees the Earth revolve around its axis.  Revolve, revolve, revolve.

I contain many stories of all sorts, both good memories and bad ones as well.

It has always been my dream to be an author.  But what should I write?  When I figure out, can I give you a sample of it?  It should be good!  True, it is about as long as War and Peace but I think you would like it!

I know my dads’ lives quite well, from their innocent beginnings to their climatic end.

There’s a girl that I adore, how I love her, how I need her!  But alas, she’s too fat.

My favorite numbers are five and six!

What’s that from afar?  It looks like a whole bunch of single people!  They haven’t been in a relationship in a while so they’re kind of sad.  Emily was one of them, that’s why no one showed up to her funeral.

Don’t you know who I am?

I am Humpty Dumpty!

 

Where can you find me?  Well, for starters, my neighbor is Earth!  I’m at a place where the host is a crazy addict whose a bit of a dork.  I hold your riddle!  Come and find me!”

­The answer to this riddle?  The Beetles!  The riddle was hid in the Magical Mystery Tour album in a record store.

Granite Badge-Rock Type.  Pretty standard, this riddle was located in the geology building on campus.  I used the student lounge room and hid it in one of the never-used drawers.  The riddle was a series of codes and letters that filled out the location of the riddle (address, room number, drawer number, etc.)

Forest Badge-Grass Type.  Mentioned this one before but this one was more of a challenge than a riddle as it depended on the first 8 out of 10 people to find the riddle.  The riddle was a simple word game and the trainer had to guess what grass-type Pokémon the words spell out.

Spectre Badge-Ghost Type.  One of my favorite, and most longwinded, of the riddles!  The trainer is given five names, arranged in a pentagram, and that’s it.  The five names are actually tombstones in a local cemetery and the five names surround a tombstone of a person whom a campus library was named after.  I placed a flower basket on that tombstone and it had a code which took the trainer to a book in the said library, inside the book was the next riddle (the book btw, was Legend of the Sleepy Hollow).

Stratigraphic Badge-Ground Type.  The last of the eight riddles, the trainer was simply given the phrase “TM28” along with six Pokémon.  The Pokémon represented latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates based on their pokedex number and “TM28” is the Pokémon move, Dig.  The trainer had to go to this spot and dig up the treasure.

Freedom Badge-Flying Type.  I actually have the original riddle right here “Follow, from beginning to end, the flight of the Jayhawk and on its doorsteps you will find the next riddle.”

The University of Kansas has a lot of Jayhawks, but this riddle talks about our mascot’s evolution which can be seen on the Union Floor.  If you follow their path, you are taken to the doorsteps of the Art Museum which is where I hid the next riddle.

Antidote Badge-Poison Type.  Finally, we get to the Antidote Badge, maybe my actual favorite riddle of the eight.  In this challenge, instead of trainers trying to find a riddle, they are trying to solve a logic puzzle as seen below.  I’ll set out the rules and guidelines, but basically there are nine potions but only one of them is the antidote. You have to drink the antidote (with some exceptions) to move on.  Trainers have to tell me which potion they drink in person and I tell them if they drank the antidote or a poison.  Take a look

“Explanation:

There are nine potions in total and they are laid out in the table in front of you as seen in the diagram above.  6 of the potions are poisonous and will kill you instantly (these potions are known as the “Regulars”).  1 is the Antidote which allows you to go on to the next riddle if you choose to drink it.  1 is the Slow Poison which allows you 15 seconds to live before you die.  Finally, 1 is the Sacrifice Potion; the Sacrifice Potion gives you two options, either forfeit your Pokemon or choose another competitor to die in your place.  Either option will allow you to move on to the next riddle.

The Slow Poison is special in that you’re given the chance to correct your mistake by either A. drink the Antidote/Sacrifice Potion or B. use your Pokemon to save you from your error.  You are only given 15 seconds to decide though.

All nine potions have two statements that will help you determine which of them is the Antidote.  However, one of their statements is false and the other is true.  It is thus your duty to sort out the truths from the lies and narrow the selection down.

Some of the statements may seem confusing to this paragraph sorts out any inquires you may have.

• For example, Green’s first statement is “The Slow Potion is not below me or to my right,” therefore, if this was true then the Slow Potion is not Blue, Purple or Brown. If this was false then the Slow Potion is either Blue, Purple or Brown.
• “Rows” are the horizontal layers.
• For other statements that mention several potions at once you will have to think carefully on. For example, Yellow’s second statement is “For Red, Blue, Green and Black.  All but one is a ‘Regular’.” If this was true then one of the four potions would be a special potion (the Antidote, the Slow Poison or the Sacrifice Potion) and the rest would be “Regulars.”  If this statement was false then it could be that more than one of them was a special potion or maybe none of them was a special potion.
• Primary Colors are Red, Blue, Yellow. Secondary Colors are Green, Purple and Orange.”

I was later told by my friends that there are actually two solutions to this puzzle, whoops!  But that’s okay, this was my first shot in making a puzzle like this and it was fuuuuuuun.  I really liked this one because the trainer can be a dick if he or she wanted and kill someone else with the poison so they could eliminate competition.  No one did that, of course, but I figured I would throw it in.  I enjoy this riddle so see if you can figure it out!

In the end, this challenge was a lot of fun and my friends and I enjoyed it a lot.  I didn’t do another Birthday Riddle Challenge after this as I was kind of burnt out on riddles but still, it was great and I had a splendid time.