Neon Atlas: Cipher School, an Archive Puzzle

About Neon Atlas: Cipher School

The Neon Atlas is a newspaper printed aloft, in the gondola of the Skyline cable that runs between five mountain towns. One winter a gale tore open its archive and scattered a century of clippings over the valley. Readers post them back in bundles, and the paper’s archive school teaches how to put them in order again.

Each lesson teaches one rule: pin the dated clippings first, follow the little words like before and since, count the years, turn ages into dates, place an event inside a span, or spike the misprint that disagrees with everything else. The rule is worked through once, then you get two drawers of clippings to thread onto the archive spike, earliest first. Tap a clipping to put it on next; tap one on the spike to take it back off. When the spike is full the drawer is checked, and the proof tells you how many sit in the right place.

Set both drawers without asking the archivist, and the gondola runs the whole cable with the years unrolling behind it while each town below lights its lamps in order. An edition is two lessons, about six minutes, under one rule of the night. The towns, people and history are invented. Your progress stays on this device.

How to play

Read the lesson card: one rule of putting an archive in order, and a worked example.
Thread the clippings onto the spike earliest first: tap one in the pile (or press 1 to 6) to put it on next.
Tap a clipping on the spike (or press Backspace for the last) to take it back off.
In a misprint drawer, one clipping gives a year the rest cannot allow: press its Spike button to set it aside.
When the spike is full the drawer is checked. The proof says how many clippings sit in the right place.
Ask the archivist (H) to pin the next clipping, but a lesson is only won without help.

Controls

Tap a clipping in the pile, or press 1 to 6 — thread it next
Tap a clipping on the spike, or press Backspace — take it back off
H — ask the archivist; arrow keys or D-pad — move; Enter or Ⓐ — press
Escape or Start — pause

Frequently asked questions

How do I know the order?

Every clipping says something: a year, a gap of years after another event, before or after another, an age, or a span such as a mayor’s time in office. Each lesson teaches one of these rules, and every drawer has exactly one order that fits all its clippings.

What is a misprint?

In the misprint lesson, one clipping gives an event a year that the other clippings cannot allow. Spike it aside with its Spike button, and thread the rest.

What does the proof tell me?

When the spike is full the drawer is checked. If it is not in order yet, the proof says how many clippings sit in the right place (in the proofreader’s edition it only says not yet). Take clippings off and try again.

How is a lesson won?

Set both of its drawers without asking the archivist. Then the gondola runs the cable and the valley lights in order.