I'm so GLaD you enjoyed it. Thanks for testing.

Geez Louise, Andi. I once suggested you were the beneficiary of a classical education. Turns out I had no idea. Anywho, reached the exit (after peeking at some of the comments, especially those by jandlml) and happy as a clam.

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This puzzle was an experiment. The put much more time into the chambers than the puzzle and if you liked the chambers, then I consider it a success. The chambers after this do have puzzles, but not nearly as difficult and just one per chamber. Best of all, they do not interlock with each other.

If you want to play a chamber that is completely my own invention, (except for one move), I would love to hear what you have to say about last (and maybe final) chamber “The Dream Chamber”.

Thanks again.

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Firstly, Thanks for playing and for the record, I did not read Dan Brown.

Secondly, I'm sorry you didn't like the puzzle, but unlike the chambers themselves, the puzzle is meant to be insanely difficult and cryptic. Did you ever read 'The Maze'. Talk about difficult and cryptic.

Third, If I remember correctly, the hint in the final dome says to “Look at my previous chamber, Y-N-Z” NOT “Play my previous chamber Y-N-Z” Yes I know it's semantics but it's a hard and inexplicable puzzle.

Lastly, Thank you for leaving such a long comment. Most players never leave any comments therefor I have no idea where I went wrong in trying to devise a puzzle. Truthfully though, I have to admit, you do come off as a bit spiteful but I know you're trying to convey what you're opinion and I thank you for it.

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I really don't want this to sound mean, this map actually brought us a lot of fun. But there are definitely ways to improve it. Firstly, having both colors of numbers, colors of underlining and colors that the text on display says, is really bad. Nobody is going to replay these maps, just because suddenly also the underlining is important. Secondly, the periodic table and Dante's writings are huge puzzle pieces. They cannot(!) be presented as just a prop in a dark room in some random previous map. Thirdly, I even played through your Y-N-Z map and felt cheated.

I might've had other complaints, but all in all: Bad puzzle. I'd be happy to try to solve one more such riddle of yours and see whether you've learned from this failure.

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Oh, I forgot to comment on this one. So I told my girlfriend there's this cypher in a Portal map that I wanted to check out and since she likes codes and such puzzles, we decided to do it together one evening. I had already played the 7 maps and gotten the 18 numbers and colors.

In the end we cracked the code but we felt not only immence frustration, but we were also finding it hillarious how someone would think this riddle is solveable. It felt impossible without the "hint"-buttons, but even with them, it was a good thing we found real hints in the comments (thanks to jandlml). While reading through them, it was getting funnier and funnier, how the solution is visible only to the author of the puzzle. After beating it and even on the next day, we were still thinking about it, about how you've probably read too much Dan Brown, about what it takes to make a good cypher puzzle, etc.

The key is to find the book in chamber 5. It's located in the observation office.

I enjoyed playing your 7 chamber series, the riddle not so much. I still have no idea what you all are talking about for your solution. Oh well.

Thank you so much, I'm GLaD you enjoyed it and thank you for testing.

i will keep an eye out. i really enjoyed it even though i had trouble. i just was thinking totally in a different direction. but i definitely learned alot

The next chamber, which will be released in a few days, is a remake, but no puzzle other than getting to the elevator.

However, I am working on another 'riddle chamber' but it won't be quite this involved as this one.

Congratulations, I'm so happy that you figured it out. But please, don't refer to yourself as a dolt. As Ratatos stated, there are different possible interpretations for this riddle, but then again, I didn't want to make it to obvious where I was going with this so I left it a bit ambiguous.

YES!!!!!! I GOT IT What an outstanding riddle. i was thinking totally in the wrong direction. thank you for being so patient , i know you were probably just thinking what is with this woman she just isnt getting anything.i actually figured out the spheres two days ago .but i just want understanding where to go from there. thanks again. next puzzle maybe a bit simpler so dolts like me can figure it out quicker. lol

ok these are the spheres i have moon 1, venus 3, sun 4, mars 5, saturn 7. so acdeg, oh man i got it!! i even have it written down but i meeded to type it here to see it. cross fingers

oh my gosh when you said who you are? i thought that was in relation to the spheres and paradiso. ive been looking this whole time for which heavenly body fit.

actually earth is 5 1890 if you go by numeral first than two numbers from the periodic table. ar is argon and th is thorium. ar is 18 and th is 90. i know its wrong since it didnt work.lol i know all the spheres bot i am so bad at this puzzle

This riddle is well thought out. Which complicates the resolution it's the different possible interpretations to each steps. I spend a good moment to resolve it.

Just so you know, none of the numbers in the code repeat.

I forgot to mention, the first sphere, the Moon, appears to be white in the night sky. That's why the associated color is white. Also, 5, Mars, appears to be reddish brown.

51890 would spell EAHI* with zero having no meaning. I'll tell you this, 1=A and is the right position. 5=E and is in the wrong position. The riddle says, "These 5 spheres will tell you what you are". Did you look up Paradiso? There are 7 spheres of heaven. Each sphere represents a orb/heavenly body/etc... The first sphere is the moon so it would be translate to A. The fifth sphere is Mars and would translate to E. Once you find out what the other 3 spheres are, they will tell you what you are. When I say that, I mean what is your character in Portal. Are you free to leave Aperture Labs any time you want?

i cant find anything about how these specific five relate.. it says how others relate but not these 5. i thought it was earth because i can get 51890 from those letters.

Jupiter is not one of the celestial bodies that make up the code. Three of them are planets, but the other two aren't, but they are close... space wise that is. When you have all 5 'orbs' check Paradiso to see which sphere they are related to.

Did you press the button after you entered the code?

darn i was sure i had it. i have a word and numbers fit but nothing happened.

well finished the first part. got the words is the final word associated i thought if it was i knew it but i cant seem to match numbers to the letters

ok i think i got the colors hopefully. figured out the one you said.

how do i find out what sphere is pale gold. i looked up like you said. it doesnt say anything about colors. except for one line about silver jupiter looking gold. and you said white is the alphabet and yellow is periodic. but under white there is a number 42 there are not that many letters.

thanks i will keep at it

Yes, heavenly bodies, orbs, planets, moons, stars... this is exactly what I'm referring to. The numbers, when translated, will give you letters. Use the associated colors to group the letters and you'll mostly have a anagram that you'll need to solve, but the words or not long so they should be fairly easy to figure out. For example, one of the associated colors is pale gold. What orb, heavenly body, sphere, etc... gives off that color when viewed.

You don't have to read Paradiso to crack the code. Just type Paradiso and spheres and wiki will tell you all about them.

On the artwork for Y-n-Z, Y is written in yellow and Z is written in white. Z is the 26th letter of the alphabet and Y on the periodic chart is 39. So, for example, if 18 where white, that would be R because R is the 18th letter in the alphabet. If it were yellow, then 18 would be AR because 18 on the periodic chart is AR.

so you said heavenly bodies. in the poem are 9 spheres but only 5 relate to planets. are those the heavenly bodies? i think i may know the word. does me no good since i need numbers to put in place of the letters. hmm hmm

ok i went and read a summary of paradiso ,ive never read the divine comedy. shows how much i would like to understand this puzzle lol im learning alot. i think i still dont understand how it relates to figuring out the cypher.

ok so i wrote everything down and did a little research. i found what you said about the divine comedy. so am i right that each set of numbers under their color is a word? so i need to figure out what order to put them in as you said in the clue below? im still confused with the colors and mendeleev. i know that the 2 numbers on the YnZ page are yellow and white. but i dont understand how that relates to being periodic or alphanumeric. since they are just numerals no other symbols. i tried matching the numbers to any color that matched the periodic table nothing really matches plus the only some of the colors are part of the table.

I agree with you that I believe that you are over thinking it a bit, so take the clues I gave you and I'm sure you'll figure it out.

The Divine Comedy is divided into three parts. Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. Concentrate on Paradiso. That's where you'll get your answer. The word orb is a different name for heavenly body.

The colors of the numbers (yellow and white) are meant to tell you which numbers are alphanumeric and which ones are periodic. Y-n-Z give you that answer.

I realize that this is not an easy puzzle to figure out, but I will give you all of the help you need without giving the answer... unless you really want to know.

i think i need a step by step guide. i looked up the divine comedy have no idea what that has to do with anything. thare are 18 sets of numbers but you only need 5 and single digit ones. i know the author of the book has 5 letters in his name but i couldnt match any of the periodic table to them. i have a feeling im way over thinking this. i really am a pretty smart person but this has managed to make me fell extremely ignorant. and i know when i find out how to do it im going to kick myself.

well i still have no idea how to solve the puzzle but i did find some things that match the ynz. you say its simple substitution but i dont even know what im supposed to be substituting for or what the colors mean. i found that mendeleev set up the periodic table. so there are colors there but they dont match the colors you gave. there are so many different tables. and i still dont know what orbs im supposed to follow

hmm ok i looked it up. so hmm again. at least now i know a little

man i dont know why i cant find it. i went in there several times. let me try again thanks so much

Find the book and everything should be clear.

You can find the book in chamber 5 in the observation room. You don't need to use noclip, you can portal there provided you have the right angle.

also it says let the orbs guide you. what orbs?

where in the level 5 do you find the book?

Happy to help.

OMG, even without the Y-n-Z hint I already had all the parts together and didn't see it. Thanks Andi!

On the other hand, my English is apparently not enough, so a maximum of 120 permutations remain ...

You don't have to play 'Y-n-Z', just look at the cover art for it. It's a very old chamber made in PTI so the hint won't be in the chamber.

You found the book in level 5, 'The Divine Comedy'. So my question is this: Do you know what the story is about and who wrote it? The riddle says to “Let the orbs guide you to a numbered sphere. These 5 spheres will spell out you what you are.” Five spheres, five numbers that can spell out a word.

Also, did you look at the side of the book? That is not the author, that is a major hint in deciphering the numbers and the simple substitution cipher means that you can substitute a number for a letter. When you have the right code, a bell will sound and a portal will open up. The code can be translated into a word.

I feel more or less exactly like jandlml. Just not to continue thinking completely in the wrong direction:
- I couldn't find any hint in the Y-N-Z level, so the hint is in the name of the level itself , right?
- Does the hint in level 5 refer to the substitution cipher and can be found on the spine of "The Divine Comedy" ?

ynz i keep getting that wrong

ok i found the xnz but i dont see anything there . i dont understand what the colors have to do with anything. is there someplace that actually tells the rules of the puzzle.

well i feel completely ignorant. i have no idea what im even supposed to be doing to figure this out. i went back to number 5 and didnt see anything. and i dont know what you mean by xyz. i read al the hints and they made no sense to me. totally lost.