Jason Murphy

Official DaVinci Code Quest Cryptex Sent By Google

May 16, 2006 Search and SEO

The DaVinci Code Quest, sponsored by Google, was a set of cryptic puzzles, hidden searches, and mind boggling mini games that ran for the past 3 1/2 weeks. Each day at about 10 AM PST (1:00 PM EST), Google would reveal another puzzle through Google Homepage. The first 10,000 who finished the 24th puzzle move to the finalists round and receive a replica cryptex from the movie.

Guess I’m one of those lucky 10,000. I received my cryptex yesterday. It’s about 4 inches long, 2 inches in diameter. I originally thought this was made of brass, but the Noble Collection website tells us that it is “crafted of die-cast metal and plated in aged gold.” There are 5 dials on it that you use to form a code word to open the cryptex. Inside is a secret compartment that is 3″ long by 3/4″ in diameter. Google had rolled up a little note that said “Congratulations, you have proven worthy of the DaVinci Code Quest on Google, visit www.Google.com/DaVinciCode to see if your journey continues.” Of course, when I visit the site it says to come back on the 19th for my “final challenge”. I imagine if I watch the DaVinci Code movie first, which opens that day, I’ll be more prepared for my “final challenge”.

I guess these are going to be pretty big collectors items for fans of Google and/or the film. I’m seeing cryptex replicas selling for over $200 on ebay. A lot of other DaVinci fanstuff on ebay is selling like crazy too. I think I’ll hold on to my cryptex since I’m a Google fan and this is pretty cool, limited edition, schwag.

An interesting thing I noticed about my cryptex is it only requires the last two notches to match to open. The first three letters are useless. The bottom of the box said the codeword to open the cryptex is “grail”, but after tinkering I know that “email”, “spoil”, “devil” and “until” will all work the same. I think I can hack it to change the last two letters to my preference. I’ll change them to “O N” so that my codeword can be “JASON”. No one will be able to figure that out.

So wish me luck, I was number 103 out of 10,000 to finish the original puzzles(found that out in their “confirmation link” they sent to me the day I finished them). I’m going to give this a true shot and see if I can fall on the grand prize. The book was amazing as most of the world knows already, and I’m trusting the cast and director (all of whom I feel were selected pretty wisely) to deliver a fantastic movie. After I see the movie, I will finish the game. The winner of the game will be crowned the ultimate uber-nerd, but I still hope to win. If I don’t win, I still think I got a pretty cool runners-up prize.

BTW - I took more pictures of my cryptex. You can see them on flickr.