Project AURORA Answer Key
A five-chapter family mystery that runs through December. Each chapter's answer is a single word. Put all five together on Christmas Eve.
How it works
One new chapter unlocks each week, at midnight US Central time. Each chapter hides one word. Children can find the puzzles themselves, or you can point them to the right page. Every puzzle has three hints from Mrs. Claus on the page itself, getting more helpful each time. Every clue has a text version, so nothing depends on seeing a picture or hearing a sound.
The puzzles never ask children to contact anyone, go anywhere, post anything, or share anything about themselves. Pip, the elf leaving the clues, always says "Show a grown-up!"
The chapters
| Chapter | Unlocks | Where | Answer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. The Typo | Friday, November 27 | Not yet unlocked | — |
| 2. The Spill | Thursday, December 3 | Not yet unlocked | — |
| 3. Night Shift | Thursday, December 10 | Not yet unlocked | — |
| 4. Compliance Crackdown | Thursday, December 17 | Not yet unlocked | — |
| 5. Launch | Thursday, December 24 | Not yet unlocked | — |
The first chapter unlocks on Friday, November 27. Answers appear here as each chapter opens.
The grown-up rabbit hole (optional)
Show the hidden extras for adults
- The site's
robots.txtfile has a note from Compliance and a "disallowed" page. - That page asks for a clerk number. Pip's number is hidden in an HTML comment in the source of every memo page.
- The browser console has a daily message from Pip (from the first chapter onwards).
- Image files named
pip-was-here-01.svgto-05.svgare tucked into the site. - The project changelog has a few lines Pip wasn't supposed to add.
None of this is needed by children, and all of it is harmless.