My Very Own Cryptex

I just got my free cryptex in the mail for the Da Vinci Code Quest contest. It's actually pretty cool. It's has some weight to it, and feels like some sort of metal. There are five plastic, alphabetic dials that run around the cylinder.

My roommate and I were fiddling around with it, trying out various combinations like "Vinci," when Josh began to test out the reverse ("icnvi") and suddenly it opened.



Turns out, only the last two reels had any sort of locking mechanism on them, and the combination needed was "_,_,_,I,L". (Edit: I looked inside and noticed that indeed, each of the reels had a notch cut out to represent a five letter combination. The entire code is "ORJIL".)

Inside is a tiny scroll of paper with the following inscription:

Congratulations,
you have proven worthy of the Da Vinci Code Quest on Google, visit www.Google.com/DaVinciCode to see if your journey continues.

But the contest doesn't really start until May 19th (opening day for the movie), so I guess I will have to wait to begin the final round. All in all, even though the majority of the puzzles weren't exactly challenging, I think it was worth doing just to get this "Easter egg" cryptex in the mail.


* pics courtesy of my somewhat new Sony Ericsson W600i

Look how small it is! Alas.. no sign of a even smaller cryptex or gurgling glass bottle of vinegar inside. Oh well.

Update: I looked inside and noticed that indeed, each of the reels had a notch cut out to represent a five letter combination. The entire code is "ORJIL". I think it was supposed to actually read "GRAIL". Perhaps the rumors on the googlefact blog were correct in stating that it was a manufacturing error.