Neon Almanac: Word Trails, a Canal Hunt Quiz

About Neon Almanac: Word Trails

Once a year the Neon Almanac lights the whole city’s canals and sends everyone out on the Night Hunt. You take a lantern punt from the Harbour Gate, and a map of eight moorings branches ahead of you to the Almanac Fountain. Every mooring keeps a clue of its own: sea and ships, food and plants, the night sky, time and numbers, words, or wild animals.

At each mooring you plant beacons of confidence on the answer you trust, one, two or three neon buoys from the boat in a single tap. Right keeps them and scores 100 for each, twice that at a steep mooring; wrong lets them sink. Then you say why, and the sound reason lights a new beacon. Then you choose the next canal: an easy stretch or a steep one, and the theme you fancy. With the boat empty you answer on a hunch, so you can always row on.

Every right answer lifts one letter of the fountain’s secret word out of the water. At the fountain the finale asks for that word, and if you solve it the canal spells it in neon under bursting rockets. A hunt is four moorings and the finale, about five minutes, under one night: clear, foggy, or a spring tide. Beacons are earned in play only and never traded for anything. Your progress stays on this device.

How to play

Read tonight’s night on the hunt card, then push off from the Harbour Gate.
At each mooring, plant one, two or three beacons on an answer (tap a beacon button, or press 1 to 3 and then Q, W or E).
Right keeps the beacons, scores 100 each (more at a steep mooring) and lifts a letter of the fountain’s word; wrong sinks them.
Say why: pick the sound reason (1 to 3) to light a new beacon and score 50.
Choose the next canal on the map (1 or 2). Steep moorings are worth more.
At the Almanac Fountain, solve the finale: the secret word, helped by the letters you lifted.

Controls

Tap a beacon button on an answer, or press 1 to 3 and then Q, W or E
Tap a reason or a canal, or press 1 to 3
Arrow keys or D-pad — move; Enter or Ⓐ — press
Escape or Start — pause

Frequently asked questions

What are the beacons?

Your confidence. You plant one, two or three neon buoys on the answer you trust. A right answer keeps them and scores 100 for each; a wrong one sinks them. They are earned in play only and are never traded for anything.

How do I get beacons back?

Say why. After each answer you pick the reason it is right; the sound one lights a new beacon (two in the fog). With the boat empty you answer on a hunch for half the points.

What is the finale?

Each right answer lifts one letter of the fountain’s secret word out of the water. At the fountain a riddle asks for the word; the letters you lifted help you pick it, and solving it makes the canal spell it in neon.

Does the canal I choose matter?

Yes. Each mooring has its own theme, and steep ones score twice as much, or three times under a spring tide. In the fog you cannot see the themes ahead.