Innovation

Solution

by Lumia Neyo

Answer:
LIMB

Note that some parts of this puzzle are written in strange glyphs. Throughout the Captain's Office round, we will need to deduce the meaning of the glyphs from context and realize these are in a constructed language with its own vocabulary, grammar, and number system. The language is called Blobbish, and it is used by an alien race called the Podomorphs, who Captain Houston has been communicating with.

Here is a full guide to the Blobbish language: A Primer on Blobbish for Earthlings, but note that it may contain spoilers for the entire round.

Re-linking the rules and card list for ease of access:

Rules: https://asmadigames.com/rules/Innovation_Rules.pdf

Card list: https://innovation.isotropic.org/cardz

We see this puzzle is a transcript of a game of Innovation played between the captain and a podomorph. We will need to track the state of the game from the provided starting states to the end. There are a few missing quantities in the script marking A, B, C, and D. We will need to determine these values to use for extraction.

Notes:

Captain boards are in light green, and podomorph boards are in pink
Non-top cards in an unsplayed pile are listed under the top card
Known cards in the score pile are listed with parentheses next to the score pile

Start

Podomorph’s board at the starting state:

red cards: Construction, below Oars, below The Pirate Code, below Flight, below Composites, splayed up. yellow cards: Fermenting, below Vaccination, below Sanitation, splayed left. green cards: Bicycle, not splayed. blue cards: Pottery, below Rocketry, splayed left. purple cards: Empiricism, not splayed. hand: two 2s. score pile: three 4s. achievements: Empire, Monument, 1, 2

Captain’s board at the starting state:

red cards: Combustion, below Explosives, below Coal, splayed right. yellow cards: Steam Engine, not splayed. green cards: Paper, below Banking, splayed left. blue cards: Translation, below Atomic Theory, splayed left. purple cards: Lighting, not splayed. hand: a 7, a 5, a 4. score: two 7s and three 5s. achievements: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

The captain dogmas Coal, tucks Societies, and scores his top two red cards, exposing Combustion. red cards: Combustion, not splayed. yellow cards: Steam Engine, not splayed. green cards: Paper, below Banking, splayed left. blue cards: Translation, below Atomic Theory, splayed left. purple cards: Societies, below Lighting, not splayed. hand: a 7, a 5, a 4. score: three 7s and four 5s, including Coal and Explosives. achievements: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

The captain dogmas Atomic Theory, the podomorph shares, and they both splay their blue cards right.

The captain draws an 8 for sharing.

Podomorph’s board after Atomic Theory:

Captain’s board after Atomic Theory:

red cards: Combustion, not splayed. yellow cards: Steam Engine, not splayed. green cards: Paper, below Banking, splayed left. blue cards: Translation, below Atomic Theory, splayed right. purple cards: Societies, below Lighting, not splayed. board also has an 8 melded somewhere. hand: an 8, a 7, a 5, a 4. score: three 7s and four 5s, including Coal and Explosives. achievements: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Turn 1

The captain has 4 clocks and the podomorph drops to at most 4 clocks.

The captain must have gotten 3 clocks from melding an 8 (it’s an 8 because the podomorph melded the “last 7”), so the podomorph must have covered at least 1 clock from melding that 7.

The podomorph uses a card with an effect depending on clocks. If it’s not the text of Rocketry, it must have clocks on it which means that the podomorph would have more than 4 clocks, so it must be the text of Rocketry.

The only way for the podomorph to lose a clock must be for them to have covered one by melding a card over it. They can't have melded over Rocketry because they use it, so they must have melded a green card without clocks over Bicycle, which must be Electricity.

Also, the captain must have melded an 8 with 3 clocks, which must be Quantum Theory (since the other 8 with 3 clocks is already on the podomorph’s board).

Podomorph’s board before Rocketry:

red cards: Construction, below Oars, below The Pirate Code, below Flight, below Composites, splayed up. yellow cards: Fermenting, below Vaccination, below Sanitation, splayed left. green cards: Bicycle, below Electricity, not splayed. blue cards: Pottery, below Rocketry, splayed right. purple cards: Empiricism, not splayed. hand: two 2s. score pile: three 4s. achievements: Empire, Monument, 1, 2

Captain’s board before Rocketry:

red cards: Combustion, not splayed. yellow cards: Steam Engine, not splayed. green cards: Paper, below Banking, splayed left. blue cards: Translation, below Atomic Theory, below Quantum Theory, splayed right. purple cards: Societies, below Lighting, not splayed. hand: an 8, a 7, a 5, a 4. score: three 7s and four 5s, including Coal and Explosives. achievements: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

We know this means the text of Rocketry, i.e. this says “I return two cards from your score pile”. From the captain’s speech, it would more directly translate to “I return two fragments in your place”. We can use this to figure out a few things about the language:

[I return two fragments in your place] written in Blobbish

Podomorph’s board after both uses of Rocketry:

Captain’s board after both uses of Rocketry:

This is the podomorph “saying” that they are drawing a card for sharing.

[I draw a number 9 fragment] written in Blobbish

The captain dogmas Lighting.

We can tell from the captain’s reply that the podomorph also tucks some stuff but we don’t know what.

[I store satellites fragment]

The turn started with 3 7s in the deck, but the captain scores 22 points, so the 3 scored cards would be 7,7,8, implying that the podomorph tucks 1 card.

The captain draws an 8 for sharing, and immediately returns it along with the last card in his hand for Quantum Theory (which means we don’t know exactly which 3 cards the captain tucks with Lighting but it doesn’t end up mattering).

Captain’s board after he dogmas Lighting:

red cards: Combustion, not splayed. yellow cards: 3 cards below Steam Engine, not splayed. green cards: Paper, below Banking, splayed left. blue cards: Translation, below Atomic Theory, below Quantum Theory, splayed right. purple cards: Societies, below Lighting, not splayed. hand: two 8s. score: an 8, two 7s, three 5s. achievements: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

The captain ends up with two cards in his hand before the podomorph’s first action, which means that he drew an 8 for sharing, which means that the podomorph returned some cards.

In fact, the podomorph says something about drawing, which means they return 2 cards.

[I like-take] written in Blobbish

Captain’s board after he dogmas Quantum Theory:

red cards: Combustion, not splayed. yellow cards: 3 cards below Steam Engine, not splayed. green cards: Paper, below Banking, splayed left. blue cards: Translation, below Atomic Theory, below Quantum Theory, splayed right. purple cards: Societies, below Lighting, not splayed. hand: a 10, an 8. score: a 10, an 8, two 7s, three 5s. achievements: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Podomorph’s board after sharing Quantum Theory:

Turn 2

The podomorph’s first action affects two cards in the captain’s hand. The only card the podomorph can use that does that is Sanitation (Composites doesn’t affect both cards in the captain’s hand, only one).

Therefore the next image is (equivalent to) the text of Sanitation.

“I demand you exchange the two highest cards in your hand with the lowest card in my hand”

[Give me your two largest fragments. I give you my smallest fragment] written in Blobbish

We can tell that the first clause is imperative, and the podomorph refers to itself doing something, so what the podomorph says is closer to

“Give me your two highest fragments, I give you my lowest fragment”

The captain mentions factories and leaves are involved in the 10 he gave the podomorph, which implies that the 10 was Globalization.

Podomorph’s board after Sanitation:

Captain’s board after Sanitation:

red cards: Combustion, not splayed. yellow cards: 3 cards below Steam Engine, not splayed. green cards: Paper, below Banking, splayed left. blue cards: Translation, below Atomic Theory, below Quantum Theory, splayed right. purple cards: Societies, below Lighting, not splayed. hand: either a 2 or a 9. score: a 10, an 8, two 7s, three 5s. achievements: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

The podomorph uses Rocketry again and draws another 9 for sharing.

We see from later dialogue that the podomorph keeps tracks of the 10s, so we want to do that too:

The podomorph sees 3 10s (2 in their hand, 1 in their score pile), there’s 1 in the captain’s score pile, and 6 more in the deck.

The 10 in the podomorph’s score pile is returned first, and the 10 in the captain’s score pile is returned second, so the 10 deck has 8 cards, and the podomorph knows the 7th.

Podomorph’s knowledge of 10s deck after Rocketry: ??? ??? x?

Podomorph’s board after Rocketry:

Captain’s board after Rocketry:

red cards: Combustion, not splayed. yellow cards: 3 cards below Steam Engine, not splayed. green cards: Paper, below Banking, splayed left. blue cards: Translation, below Atomic Theory, below Quantum Theory, splayed right. purple cards: Societies, below Lighting, not splayed. hand: either a 2 or a 9. score: two 7s, three 5s. achievements: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

The captain has 29 points and needs 40 total to achieve the 8.

The captain draws a card and dogmas Quantum Theory.

[I don't want these two cards] written in Blobbish

We can’t quite tell what the podomorph says as a response yet, it’s “I don’t (verb) these cards”. However, the captain says that the podomorph returns a 10 and draws a 10, which implies that the podomorph returns two cards, so the captain draws an 8 for sharing. The podomorph only returns one 10, so they also return either their 8 or 9.

That means there are 5 cards in the 10s deck, and the podomorph knows #3 and #5.

Podomorph’s knowledge of 10s deck after Quantum Theory: ?? x?x

Captain’s board after Quantum Theory:

red cards: Combustion, not splayed. yellow cards: 3 cards below Steam Engine, not splayed. green cards: Paper, below Banking, splayed left. blue cards: Translation, below Atomic Theory, below Quantum Theory, splayed right. purple cards: Societies, below Lighting, not splayed. hand: a 10, maybe an 8. score: a 10, two 7s, three 5s. achievements: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Turn 3

The podomorph says “Give me (not one) of your cards, give my place the largest card in your place”.

This is the text of Composites.

[Give me all but one of your fragments. Give my place the largest fragment in your place] written in Blobbish

The podomorph takes the 10 from the Captain’s score pile and all but one card from the Captain’s hand.

The captain melds and dogmas Robotics next turn which means he kept his 10 and gave the podomorph his 8.

Captain’s board before Composites:

red cards: Combustion, not splayed. yellow cards: 3 cards below Steam Engine, not splayed. green cards: Paper, below Banking, splayed left. blue cards: Translation, below Atomic Theory, below Quantum Theory, splayed right. purple cards: Societies, below Lighting, not splayed. hand: a 10, an 8. score: a 10, two 7s, three 5s. achievements: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Podomorph’s board before Composites:

Captain’s board after Composites:

red cards: Combustion, not splayed. yellow cards: 3 cards below Steam Engine, not splayed. green cards: Paper, below Banking, splayed left. blue cards: Translation, below Atomic Theory, below Quantum Theory, splayed right. purple cards: Societies, below Lighting, not splayed. hand: a 10. score: two 7s, three 5s. achievements: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Podomorph’s board after Composites:

The podomorph uses Rocketry again.

Captain’s board after Rocketry:

Podomorph’s board after Rocketry:

The 10s deck has 7 cards in it, the podomorph knows the third and last three, but not the order of the last two

Podomorph’s knowledge of 10s deck after Rocketry: ?? x?x xx

The captain melds and dogmas Robotics, and the podomorph shares.

The podomorph draws a card that “does nothing” which must be Databases.

The captain draws a card that would immediately lose him the game if Software was on the board. Out of all remaining 10s:

Stem Cells does nothing
Globalization and Self Service would win the game
The Internet would not make the captain lose (it would either not draw enough 10s or draw an 11 and make the captain win)
Miniaturization would not draw enough 10s to end the game
Bioengineering would make the captain lose without Software being on the board

So the captain must have melded AI, drawn and scored a 10, and drawn another 10 for sharing.

Podomorph’s knowledge of 10s deck after Robotics: x xx

The podomorph has seen 9 of the 10s and can deduce what the last 10 they haven't seen is (which is the one the captain just drew for sharing)

[I know your cards] written in Blobbish

[You have Self-Service. You ate Bioengineering.] written in Blobbish

Captain’s board after Robotics:

red cards: Combustion, below Robotics, not splayed. yellow cards: 3 cards below Steam Engine, not splayed. green cards: Paper, not splayed. blue cards: Translation, below Atomic Theory, below Quantum Theory, splayed right. purple cards: Societies, below Lighting, below AI, not splayed. hand: a 10. score: a 10, four 5s, including Banking. achievements: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Podomorph’s board after Robotics:

Turn 4

The podomorph says that they win by getting 6 achievements. This happens before the captain’s next turn, so it is during the dogma action of Computers.

[I have 6 achievements. I win] written in Blobbish

Based on what the captain said, the last card the podomorph melded was Globalization, which is the card the captain guessed that the podomorph returned from Quantum Theory on turn 2.

That would mean that the podomorph got Universe, and they would need either Wonder or World.

Wonder is impossible because there is no way to splay the podomorph’s purple cards up besides using Empiricism, but using Empiricism would require Self Service, which is in the captain’s hand.

So the last achievement must be World, so the podomorph would need 12 clocks.

The captain says the “last two” cards in the 10s deck are Stem Cells and The Internet, so the podomorph needs to have melded Globalization directly.

Podomorph’s board after Computers:

The podomorph has 9 clocks, so the 2 or 9 previously tucked must contribute the last 3 clocks.

That card must therefore be either Fission or Satellites. However, it being Fission would mean that the podomorph would have more clocks than the captain and not share any of their uses of Rocketry. That means the podomorph must have tucked Satellites.

Podomorph’s final board state:

Captain’s final board state:

If Globalization actually got resolved, the podomorph would have 13 points (the 7 in its score pile plus an extra 6 from Globalization effect) while the captain would have 30.

We can check the other things the captain says:

The podomorph has 4 crowns and the captain has 3.
The podomorph has 3 lightbulbs and the captain has 6.
The podomorph has 1 purple card, 3 blue cards, 3 green cards, 4 yellow cards, and 5 red cards, and the card they tucked using Lighting is their third green card.

The podomorph ends up with 8 factories and 2 leaves, and the captain ends up with 4 factories and 0 leaves, for 12 factories and 2 leaves in total.

Using A1Z26 on the missing quantities, we get the answer LIMB.

A = 12 = L

B = 9 = I

C = 13 = M

D = 2 = B

Authors' Notes

image credits to the client on https://www.yucata.de/en/GameInfo/Innovation and https://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/57078/alternate-player-board

so right after mystery hunt 2024, i told asmadigames “eh if you make a good enough game someone will eventually write a puzzle about it”

i then said

“though maybe i shouldn't be the best person to do it given the scope creep of the last puzzle i wrote about a board game”

i then proceeded to write a puzzle about innovation anyways