Video · 2026-08-03 · 27m · 6 moments

An escape room, but with code?!

✦ AI generated

timeline · colored by role

Context

In this collaborative coding escape room, we need to collect clues Sherlock left in his flat and write code to figure out where he went.

The crew describes the premise: they've been dropped into Sherlock Holmes' apartment at 221B Baker Street and must find clues, write code, and locate Sherlock, using a UI where inputs and outputs can be connected to code.

transcript

CJ: Scott, Wes, and I have been dropped into Sherlock Holmes' apartment at 221B Baker Street. We have to find clues, write some code, and basically figure out where Sherlock Holmes went. ... this is from coding game, the same people that do Clash of Code. They have these collaborative escape rooms. ... We are dropped into Sherlock Holmes' apartment in London, August 6th, 1889.

Mechanism

The letters listed as inputs are knight moves, since A through H correspond to both the notes and the moves of a knight on the chessboard.

The crew deduces that the letter inputs are knight moves: A through H map to both the list of notes and chess moves, connecting to the chessboard output, though they must figure out what letter a knight moving up-left maps to.

transcript

Wes: Um A through H is the list of notes. It's also the list of the chess moves, okay? And yeah, how does it connect to the chessboard? Which is also an input. ... The That's an output. ... Chess is an output and then the list of letters is an input. But, I think the thing to figure out is what letter does A become if it's a knight moving up into the left?

Mechanism

The violin plays a melody using only the notes F, C, A, and G, which we determined by ear and used to unlock the floor.

Listening to the jukebox, the crew determines the violin output plays only the notes F, C, A, and G in the sequence F C A G, and inputting this unlocks a new clue in the floor.

transcript

Wes: It's from the jukebox. We need to make this output do the same thing. ... The violin output needs to be a string containing A B ... Oh, you're right. It's only ... No, so I think it would be F C A G. ... Yes. Nice job, Scott. ... And that unlocks the floor. There's a new clue. It's a map.

Mechanism

The letter fragments scattered around the apartment form a cipher map that we collect and alphabetically sort to build a full substitution map.

The crew collects cipher clues (like E is V, Q is Z) written across the desk and walls, builds a map object mapping each letter, and alphabetically sorts to check they've found all 26 letters, correcting a swapped L and B.

transcript

CJ: We need to take note of these cuz these are written absolute I think it's a cipher. They're written all over the the apartment. Like E is V, Q is Z, O is D, K is E. ... can you throw it into AI to alphabetically sort? ... we should be 26 of them. Which is our our map. ... we have B in here twice. We don't have L. ... V goes to L. ... L goes to B. It's on the butterfly wall.

Mechanism

The butterflies on the walls match the shapes and colors of the railroad lines on the subway map, and clicking them in the right color order unlocks the next piece.

Wes observes the butterflies match the colors of the railroad lines on the map, the crew clicks them in a color order (brown, blue, black, green, orange), and after some speed issues Scott succeeds and unlocks the chimney.

transcript

Wes: The butterflies seem to match up with the colors of the railroad on the map. ... the butterflies clearly match the colors. So, the colors are clearly a clue. The butterflies are connected to the colors, which are connected to the shapes. ... Brown, blue, black, green, orange. ... Yeah, was pushing the butterflies in the initial order that we were trying to do before. ... Good job, Scott.

Prediction◆

The final clue is not an alphabet cipher but a triangulation puzzle: each number means the answer lies N stops in the direction of a given station, solved by brute force to yield an answer on the Piccadilly Line.

The crew realizes the cheeseboard clue isn't a cipher but requires counting stops toward indicated stations; after brute-forcing nearby options, Scott lands on the answer Charing Cross, noting the key was understanding the "direction of" mechanic.

transcript

EJ: It wasn't an exact letter extraction cipher puzzle. It was triangulation by stop count. Each line means the answer is N stops away from this. ... the unlock for me was that you had to write out like street or road when I was testing them. ... I got lucky. ... So the resulting station would have been on the Piccadilly Line and Leicester Square, but it says that didn't open until 1906. ... The answer was Charing Cross Lane. That was the answer.

Highlight slides

Triangulation by stop count, not a cipher✦ from: The final clue is not an alphabet cipher but a triangulation puzzle: each number means the answer lies N stops in the direction of a given station, solved by brute force to yield an answer on the Piccadilly Line.The answer lands on the Piccadilly Line✦ from: The final clue is not an alphabet cipher but a triangulation puzzle: each number means the answer lies N stops in the direction of a given station, solved by brute force to yield an answer on the Piccadilly Line.

Related episodes

Article · Simon Willison's Weblog

Quoting Armin Ronacher

→

Video · No Priors

How Chess.com Became the World’s Biggest Chess Community with CEO Erik Allebest

→

Audio · No Priors

Biohub: The Future of Biology is Open-Source with Co-Founders Mark Zuckerberg, Priscilla Chan, and Head of Science Alex Rives

→