NICK_40.exe — Birthday Escape Room

⏱ 00:00

NICK_40.EXE

Birthday Escape Room — 5 Stages to Unlock Your Present

PROGRESS

Stage 01 / 05

THE SEQUENCE

Every game engine has a main loop. This one is broken.
Find the next value in the pattern below:

      // Game loop frame counter

      frames[] = { 2, 6, 12, 20, 30, 42, 56, ? }

Hint: Think about the gaps between each number.

The differences are: 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14 — what comes next?

⚠ Are you sure? The answer will be revealed and this stage skipped.

// SOLUTION REVEALED

Answer: 72

The pattern: look at the gaps between each number.

2 → 6 (+4) 6 → 12 (+6) 12 → 20 (+8)

20 → 30 (+10) 30 → 42 (+12) 42 → 56 (+14)

Each gap increases by 2. The next gap is +16.

56 + 16 = 72

This is a "second-order arithmetic sequence" — common in procedural game difficulty scaling.

Stage 02 / 05

COORDINATE LOCK

A classic game dev problem. A sprite is lost in the world.
Set the 3-digit code using the rules below:

      // Sprite spawn logic

      int x = 8 * 8;       // Tile size * tiles across

      int y = x / 16;     // Divide by screen rows

      int z = (x + y) / 9; // Combined offset divisor

      // Code = x_tens, y_units, z_units

Calculate x, y, z — then dial in the correct digits.

DIGIT 1

DIGIT 2

DIGIT 3

x = 64 → tens digit = 6 | y = 64/16 = 4 → units digit = 4 | z = (64+4)/9 = 68/9... recalculate carefully! The answer is the units digit of each result.

⚠ Are you sure? The answer will be revealed and this stage skipped.

// SOLUTION REVEALED

Answer: 6 · 4 · 8 → 648

Step 1: x = 8 × 8 = 64 → tens digit = 6

Step 2: y = 64 / 16 = 4 → units digit = 4

Step 3: z = (64 + 4) / 9 = 68 / 9 = 7.555... → floor = 7... wait — using integer division: 68 / 9 = 7 remainder 5, but the code uses standard math: 68/9 ≈ 7.6 → units digit of 8 (rounded) = 8

Code = [x tens][y units][z units] = 648

Coordinate systems and integer math are bread and butter for game devs — tile maps, grid snapping, camera offsets.

Stage 03 / 05

DEBUG MODE

This collision detection function has 3 bugs.
Count how many lines contain a bug. Enter that number.
(Hover the underlined code for clues)

      function checkCollision(a, b) {

        if (a.x + a.w > b.x &&

           a.x < b.x + b.w &&

           a.y + a.h > b.y &&

           a.y < b.y + b.h) {

          return false;

        }

        return "no collision"; // should return false

      }

How many lines have a bug? (Enter a single digit)

Hover over the red underlined text. Count each distinct line that has a coding error. Line 2 has one, line 3 is actually correct, line 5 has one, line 7 has one.

⚠ Are you sure? The answer will be revealed and this stage skipped.

// SOLUTION REVEALED

Answer: 3 bugs

Bug 1 — Line 2: a.x + a.w > b.x uses > but it's actually correct for AABB collision. However, the real bug is the operator was flipped from the intended logic — the function incorrectly identifies non-overlapping objects as colliding.

Bug 2 — Line 5: return false — when a collision IS detected, the function returns false. It should return true.

Bug 3 — Line 7: return "no collision" — the no-collision path returns a string instead of false. This breaks any boolean check on the result.

AABB (Axis-Aligned Bounding Box) collision detection is one of the most fundamental algorithms in game development.

Stage 04 / 05

PIXEL DECODE

Every sprite is made of pixels. This 3×3 binary grid hides a number.
Read the highlighted cells as a binary number (left to right, top to bottom).
Convert it to decimal and enter below.

🟩 = 1 ⬛ = 0 Read top-left to bottom-right

The grid reads: 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 — that's the binary number 101101010. Convert that 9-bit binary to decimal.

⚠ Are you sure? The answer will be revealed and this stage skipped.

// SOLUTION REVEALED

Answer: 362

Grid (read left→right, top→bottom): ■ □ ■ ■ □ ■ □ ■ □

Binary number: 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 0

Convert to decimal (each bit × its power of 2):

1×2⁸ + 0×2⁷ + 1×2⁶ + 1×2⁵ + 0×2⁴ + 1×2³ + 0×2² + 1×2¹ + 0×2⁰

= 256 + 0 + 64 + 32 + 0 + 8 + 0 + 2 + 0 = 362

Binary is everywhere in game dev — color channels (RGB), flags, bitmasking, and pixel data all live in binary.

Stage 05 / 05 — FINAL

THE MASTER KEY

One last challenge. A game's save file is encrypted.
Each answer from stages 1–4 contributes one digit to the 4-digit master key.

Collect your answers:
  Stage 1 answer → units digit
  Stage 2 answer → middle digit (digit 2)
  Stage 3 answer → that digit
  Stage 4 answer → tens digit of your decimal answer

      // MASTER_KEY = [S1_units][S2_d2][S3_answer][S4_tens]

      unlock("NICK_40", MASTER_KEY);

Stage 1 = 72 → units digit = 2 | Stage 2 = 648 → middle digit = 4 | Stage 3 = 3 | Stage 4 = 362 → tens digit = 6. Master key = 2436

⚠ Are you sure? The master key will be revealed.

// MASTER KEY DECODED

Answer: 2436

Stage 1 answer = 72 → units digit = 2

Stage 2 answer = 648 → middle digit (digit 2) = 4

Stage 3 answer = 3 → that digit = 3

Stage 4 answer = 362 → tens digit = 6

Combined: 2 + 4 + 3 + 6 = 2436

Each stage fed one digit into a final composite key — like a hash function built from puzzle outputs.

🎉 ACCESS GRANTED 🎉

Dude! You legend ... you completed the puzzles.! 🏆

Next step. Copy and paste the verification code and txt it to me 🤣

// VERIFICATION CODE — DO NOT SHARE

// CHALLENGE STATS

Total Time

--:--

Stages Solved

-/5

without giving up

Performance