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*A Tale of Wit, Blocks, Sausages, and One Very Hungry Dog*  

The Gates Open:

At the stroke of the 90-minute bell, nine teams stormed the castle gates and found themselves in the **Lobby** — the first of four ground-floor rooms concealing the clues they'd need to unpick the tower's first lock. From the Lobby to the **Lounge**, the **Office**, and finally the **Kitchen**, each team scurried through the lower chambers gathering fragments of the riddle.

**Bobs** and **The Grape Escape** snapped up the very first clues before the dust had even settled, with most of the field close behind. The notable exception was **Getfrank**, whose Matt Lacey didn't clear the Kitchen until the 77-minute mark — and when he finally tried the padlock... it didn't budge. Twice. A bold strategy. It did not pay off immediately.

The first teams to crack the padlock and ascend were **Bobs** and **R&E**, both springing free at the 84-minute mark, earning 100 gold apiece. **The Grape Escape** followed swiftly, and the race upwards was on.

The Word Chain Wars:

Level 2 revealed the tower's word-chain puzzle, requiring players to chain together a sequence of passcodes — *note → notebook → laptop → turntable*. Elegant in design. Humbling in execution.

R&E's Eleanor confidently submitted *"lapturn"* — not a word, not a passcode, not found in any dictionary in the kingdom. Ryan of the same team countered with *"turntop"* and then *"topturn"*, as though the puzzle might eventually capitulate through sheer stubbornness. Roderick of PrisonerX also tried *"topturn"*, apparently reading from the same dubious playbook. 

Despite the linguistic adventures, Bobs blazed through fastest, completing the full chain and unlocking the staircase at the 78-minute mark — a full level ahead of most rivals.

The Block Puzzle (or: How to Build a Ladder Badly) :

Level 4 presented the castle's block-stacking challenge: collect blocks from Room 4.1, stage them correctly through Room 4.2, and stack them in the right order at the Up checkpoint to magically fuse them into a ladder. Simple in theory. An extended comedy of errors in practice.

Bobby set the tone — picking up blocks, placing them wrong, being told he couldn't stack a larger block on a smaller one (three times), putting blocks down, picking them back up again. The ladder finally *"magically fused"* at the 65-minute mark. A triumph of persistence over elegance.

Getfrank's Matt Lacey elevated block-stacking to something approaching performance art. His logs around the 31-minute mark show him picking up and placing the same block *eight times in a row* — a hypnotic loop that the castle observed with quiet bewilderment. He completed it with just 18 minutes remaining.

The Grape Escape, R&E, and Wintermute all completed their ladders with considerably more composure. Pairs teams had a natural advantage here, with one player able to manage Room 4.1 while the other handled Room 4.2 — and R&E made light work of it as a result. Special mention however goes to Roderick (PrisonerX), Edmund, and John Pickup (Wintermute), all of whom executed a mathematically perfect solution — the classic Towers of Hanoi puzzle has a minimum of 7 moves for 3 blocks, and all three made exactly 7 pickups and 7 placements without a single error. While others were wrestling with the laws of physics, these three were working from first principles. Flawless performances all round.

Level 5: The Castle's Residents:

With the ladder built, teams emerged onto Level 5 — the castle's social floor, home to six residents each offering gold in exchange for completing their challenges. With 460 gold on offer across all six, and only about an hour left on the clock, teams had to choose wisely.

The Chef  offered 50 gold in exchange for sausages — but the sausages weren't for eating. Sharp-eyed teams will have noticed the hungry dog lurking on Level 3 on their way up, with no obvious explanation and no way past. The Chef's sausages were the missing piece — hurled at the hound to clear the path and claim the reward. For those who'd already met the dog, it was a satisfying moment of joined-up thinking. For those who hadn't, it was a trip back downstairs.

The King  issued a rather less polite request: "Go catch some rats." Worth up to 120 gold for a full extermination, this was the richest physical challenge in the castle. Bobby led all solo hunters with a remarkable 9 rats, closely chased by Wintermute and The Grape Escape on 8 each. As a team however, R&E were the true exterminators — Eleanor and Ryan combined for all 12 rats, a complete royal extermination and the full 120 gold. Not a single rat remained. The King was most pleased.

The Princess  requested the return of her missing cat, Mittens, who had wandered back to the Lounge. Ryan reunited them first at the 17-minute mark, with Gammy's Sam Smith following shortly after — both earning the full 80-gold quest reward. Spike accepted the quest but Mittens, apparently, wanted nothing to do with him. The Princess remained inconsolable.

The Dragon's hoard rewarded the mentally sharp with 60 gold — claimed by Bobby, Ryan, Spike and Gina. The Jester  also offered 60 gold, collected by Spike and Ryan.

The Queen's puzzle was the most demanding of all — a three-layer mental challenge paying out 10, 30, and 50 gold for each layer solved, with a punishing 30-second lockout for wrong answers. Eleanor of R&E was the standout performer, weathering three lockouts without flinching and solving all three layers for the full 90 gold. Edmund and Spike both solved the first two layers. Several teams found the Queen a cruel mistress in the closing minutes, with Bobby and John Pickup taking lockouts late on.

The Final Climb & The Gold Count:

With time running out, teams made their final dash to the Finish checkpoint at the top of the tower, each collecting a **50-gold completion bonus** on the way out. Eight of the nine teams made it —congratulations to all teams for a game well played!

The maximum possible gold is **855 for a pair** and **805 for a solo player** — and the performances are all the more impressive measured against that benchmark 

Game report - Series 2 Round 1 - 🐻‍❄️🎣Deep Blue - 25th March - Surrey Quays

Deep Blue Returns to Surrey Quays ❄️

Wednesday saw us return to Surrey Quays — and back to the Arctic, complete with near zero-degree temperatures. Given that the last time we ran Deep Blue we had frozen ponds in St Katharine’s Dock, it might be time to swap the Arctic for the jungle next time…

For those new to the format, Deep Blue challenges teams to dive beneath the ice, managing a strict 10-minute timer between air holes. Along the way, teams can recruit SEAL units to hunt on their behalf, or upgrade their capabilities with a visit to the Wise Walrus — perched (as ever) on top of a local hill.

Fast Starts and Early Strategy

The SEALs were in high demand from the outset. Seal 2 offered little resistance, recruited four times within the opening two minutes by Wintermute, Bobs, Campbell and SoloSam. Cool Runnings, Last and Furious, and No Pace, All Vibes quickly followed.

Seal 3 became the next key target, with Campbell, R&E and Cool Runnings all securing a second SEAL within the first seven minutes — setting each one up to collect over 35kg of fish.

Seal 1 proved more challenging, with only four teams managing to crack it. The double puzzle required teams to identify anagrams of David, George and Andrew, determine the missing fourth — Patrick — and then rearrange all names back into alphabetical order. SoloSam were first to solve it, closely followed by All Pace, No Vibes.

Big Plays Under Pressure

Beneath the surface, conditions were favourable. An additional air hole meant there was no excuse for running out of air, and despite a demanding loop at the southern end of the map, no fish were lost underwater.

As the clock ticked down, confidence was high and teams began banking significant hauls. Cool Runnings secured 131.5kg with 10 minutes remaining, Last and Furious followed with 165kg with four minutes to go, and Campbell delivered the largest single deposit of the game — 171.5kg — with just three minutes left.

Wintermute left it even later, banking with only two minutes remaining before a final sprint to the finish.

The Walrus Dilemma

The Wise Walrus once again introduced a key strategic decision: invest in further upgrades, or maximise returns at your current level?

Last and Furious and Bobs opted to take the risk, committing to a second lesson with 32 and 26 minutes remaining respectively. Campbell, however, chose to remain at Level 2 — a decision that ultimately proved decisive.

As for the optimal strategy? Still up for debate. One thing is certain: falling down the steps by Seal 3 (as discovered during recce) is not recommended.

Final Results 🏆

A huge congratulations to everyone who took part — and to those who stayed on to celebrate afterwards.

• 1st: Campbell

• 2nd: Cool Runnings (Spike)

• 3rd: Last and Furious (Tom)

In the pairs competition, Ryan & Eleanor continued their winning streak, while No Pace, All Vibes impressed with a second-place finish on debut.